Gamma: a story of photographers, the story of an agency, one of the best. An Éditions de la Martinère book (Gamma : Une histoire de photographes) is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It is astounding. The texts by Hubert Henrotte and Floris de Bonneville are sumptuous. Each week, L’Œil de la Photographie publishes some of the images from what was the golden era of photojournalism.
Founded in 1966, by photographers, for photographers, this new agency was to become a world leader within a few months. “Six new photographers, six new views of the world,” was Gamma’s slogan. From its creation, Gamma knew to develop and highlight photojournalism to be informative, to anticipate the news by bringing a personal view to the events. 300,000 black and white contact sheets and 200,000 color selections produced by 5,000 photographers were made over five decades. A real journalistic richness of which this book is its quintessence. It presents the work of those who really created, constructed, and developed the agency, a company often copied but never matched.
All of Gamma’s major photos are in this book. Just like the major photographers who contributed to its history. Today, L’Œil de la Photographie is publishing a selection of François Lochon’s best photographs. He joined Gamma in December 1974 and has spent his whole career at the agency. François Lochon became a shareholder in 1978, after the departure of Raymond Depardon, he then took over the management of the agency in 1993. As a photographer, he covered numerous current events including the Iran-Iraq war and most of the voyages of John Paul II throughout the world. His passion for Antarctica has led him several times to the southern continent.
Gamma, Une histoire de photographes
Published by La Martinière
59€
