24th Visa pour l’Image – Perpignan

Yet another year of change?
On October 5, 2011, the death of Steve Jobs dominated the news, overshadowing the death of Göksin Sipahioglu; yet he was the man, with Huber t Henrotte and Jean Monteux, behind the formidable success of the three “A”s – Gamma, Sygma and Sipa – the three that made Paris the international capital of photojournalism. But those times are long past; they are now a source of deep nostalgia.
On January 11, 2012, Gilles Jacquier, a feature reporter for the TV program Envoyé Spécial broadcast by France 2, was killed in Homs, under circumstances that are far from transparent.
February 22, 2012, once again in Homs, Syria, targeted shooting killed Rémi Ochlik and Marie Colvin (a feature journalist for the Sunday Times). International opinion reached emotional heights, but there was no action.
In late April 2012, a picture editor was red by the paper where he had been working for six years. The reason given by HR management was: “Your job doesn’t exist any more.” They then promptly recruited a young picture assistant paid little more than the minimum wage because: “We don’t need a guy who knows the whole history of photography.”
A tweet* sent out a few weeks ago seems particularly apposite: “Twitter makes you think you are a personality, Instagram makes you think you are a photographer, and Facebook makes you think you have friends. It’s going to be hard when reality hits!” We are still (Alas!) receiving dozens of Hipstamatic reports.And we’d only just got over the Lomo craze!
An amazing year! Fortunately we can still find what we like.There are incredible reports, extraordinary first-hand stories, moving tales – telling the tale of the world as it is.
Welcome to Visa pour l’Image!

Jean-François Leroy
April 25, 2012

EXHIBITIONS
AFP – Pedro Ugarte & Ed Jones – North Koea
AFP – Louisa Gouliamaki, Angelos Tzortzinis & Aris Messinis – The Shock Wave in Greece
Mathias Braschler & Monika Fischer – Guantanamo
Jean-Louis Fernandez – Intimité
Julien Goldstein – Kurdistan. People with no rights, but anger
Stanley Greene – Standing at the graveyards of e-waste
Robin Hammond – Condemned – mental health in African countries in crisis
Massoud Hossaini – Afghanistan : regard de l’intérieur
Justin Jin – Zone of absolute discomfort advance and retreat in Russia’s Arctic
Krisanne Johnson – I love you real fast Swaziland, 2006-2011
Bénédicte Kurzen – Nigeria, a nation lost to the gods
Erika Larsen – Sámi, the people that walk with reindeer (2007-2011)
Sebastián Liste – Urban Quilombo
Jim Lo Scalzo – These American States
Mani – Syrie, inside Homs
Doug Menuez – Fearless genius : the digital revolution in Silicon Valley 1985-2000
Ilvy Njiokiktjien – Afrikaner blood. The born free generation
Rémi Ochlik – 2004-2012
Noël Quidu – The Rastafari Movement
Johann Rousselot – Freedom fighters
Damir Sagolj – North Korea. Hunger crisis
Stephanie Sinclair – Child Brides
Hady Sy – One Blood, Beirut 2012. Unity in Diversity
Amy Toensing – Homelands : Indigenous Australia
Nik Wheeler – The Marsh. Arabs of Iraq
International Daily Press
World Press Photo 2012

Visa d’or
Visa d’or News Award: Eric Bouvet
Visa d’or Feature Award: Stephanie Sinclair
Visa d’or Daily Press Award: The New York Times (USA)
ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’or Award – International Committee of the Red Cross: Mani

Awards
Canon Female Photojournalist Award: Sarah Caron
City of Perpignan Young Reporter Award: Sebastián Liste
FRANCE24-RFI Web Documentary Award: Jeanne Thibord, Sidonie Garnier & François Le Gall
Pierre & Alexandra Boulat Award: Maciek Nabrdalik
Ani-PixPalace Award: Misha Friedman
Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography
FNAC Grant: Pascal Maitre,