A daily section of JFC at the Visa Festival for Image from August 31 to September 8, 2019.
Just a year ago, Jean-François Leroy had told me, as an aside, his wish to solicit Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres to succeed Jean-Paul Griolet as president of the Visa for Image Association. I immediately found this idea interesting. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, as we say, is a man of experience who has always supported Visa and has a large network, thanks in particular to his former position as Minister of Culture under Jacques Chirac. The mayor of Perpignan Jean-Marc Pujol was of the same opinion, he knew him since the time of the “Republicans Independents”. The Board of Directors thus unanimously elected Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres as Chairman of the Visa pour l’Image Association. This concordance of two apparently very different personalities is, for me, a chance. We met several times with Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres and I was immediately struck by the spirit of synthesis and by his long-term vision, his calm as well as his sense of human relationships. However, the task is arduous, photojournalism is in disarray: magazines no longer order reportages and photographers are terribly alone. The most urgent, of course, is to find new funding, through sponsors, patrons, and partners who want to defend the freedom of the press. This new challenge, the Renaud Donnedieu tandem of Vabres & Jean-François Leroy must succeed. Jean-François Leroy is a charismatic, demanding, deeply loyal friend. He directed the brilliant formula of Roger Théron, the boss of Paris Match, to give an opportunity to unpublished reportages. This is a palpable success and, as of Monday, the first evening of screenings was sold out at Campo Santo.
The whole profession, photographers, press, publishers, not to mention the Town Hall of Perpignan, which is very much involved in this event, count on this success and I am convinced that this new complementary team will find the way to a better balance, guarantee of sustainability.
JFC
Jean-François Camp :
Former owner of the DUPON laboratories, sponsors of the Visa pour l’Image festival for 30 years, but also the Rencontres D’Arles, the Images and Nature Festival of La Gacilly, the Bayeux Prize for war correspondents. Vice President of the association Visa pour l’Image, creator and in charge of the International Center for Photojournalism and CEO of DUREV Events dedicated to the promotion of the photographic image in Paris.
https://www.visapourlimage.com/en
