An American in Perpignan.

Wednesday, 5 September 2007

John McDermott Dispatch from Perpignan Day three.

The pace of the festival picked up dramatically today. Jane Evelyn Atwood's work in Haiti has been one of the most talked-about exhibitions here. Today the photographer was interviewed at a press conference where she spoke about her experiences working in the Western hemisphere’s poorest country.

Immediately thereafter, one of the greatest of the early Magnum photographers, Dennis Stock, took the same stage and captivated the audience with stories of his early work photographing James Dean, the legends of jazz and the hippies of the Sixties in California. He delivered a passionate request to the younger generation to seize the opportunity offered by the internet and to counter-act the tendency of publishers to avoid sensitive photo reportage in favor of the sensational and celebrity-oriented coverage.

Later in the day I had the pleasure of meeting 2006 World Press Photo of the Year winner Spencer Platt of Getty Images. I did some portraits of him for the CPN site and then we went for a drink at, where else, Café de la Poste. There we met up with Elizabeth Kreutz, an outstanding cycling photographer whose work was recently featured on the site. It turns out that Spencer, who had just left Iraq a couple of days ago, is a passionate cyclist and cycling fan. He and Elizabeth had a long chat and forged a new friendship. It's a great example of what Visa pour l'Image is about.

John McDermott Dispatch from Perpignan Day Three.