Où est Le Palais? Qu’est ce que c’est Le Palais?

Monday, 3 September 2007

Situated on the north side of the centre of Perpignan on the Promenades des Platanes, this steel, glass and wood Palais des Congrès contrasts sharply with most of the other major landmarks in the area.

It is now an essential hub of Visa pour l’Image, having taken in many of the functions once staged in Hotel Pams. The ground floor hosts the Canon space, Apple demonstration centre and the auditorium used for press conferences, of which there are several held throughout the day. The first and second floors are reserved for the agency representatives who review photographers’ portfolios and discuss assignments.

The first floor is a large collective area housing 18 agencies from Argos to World Information Resources. On the next floor many of the big names camp out such as Getty Images, Corbis, Reuters, AFP, Polaris Images, VII Photo and PA Photos. In total, there are 59 agencies spread over the two floors. And it’s not just picture researchers either – it’s the top brass, the guys and girls who make the important decisions within the agencies and therefore the photographic world as a whole. These goings-on can appear arcane, but can also set the scene for the direction the industry takes over the coming year. The seventh floor is also worth a mention as it plays host to many of the social gatherings held towards the end of Professional Week.

The Canon space features five counters. The CPS professional service desk is where photographers can bring their kit to be checked, cleaned and, if necessary, repaired. The second counter is where the majority of the EOS products are displayed. These range from an EOS 400D with an EF-S 60mm lens and MT-24EX macro flash all the way up to the recently-launched 21-megapixel EOS-1Ds Mark III. There are also a range of lenses including the super telephotos, the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM, EF 500mm f/4L IS USM and EF 600mm f/4L IS USM and most of the range of fast prime lenses like the new EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM and EF 50mm f/1.2L USM. The HD video stand features the XL H1, XH A1, XH G1 and HV20 high definition video cameras. Canon expects a lot of interest in these this year as many newspapers are pushing the new media angle in a bid to gain readers in the online world.

The PIXMA Pro printers and large format printer group complete the last two desks. Both PIXMA pro A3+ printers, the PIXMA Pro 9000 and PIXMA Pro 9500, are on display and running off prints all day long. The large format printer group features three printers: a 17-inch iPF5100, a 24-inch iPF6100 and the 60-inch iPF9000. The latter is capable of printing as standard in the driver a 15m-long print or in the custom setting, pretty much as long as the roll of paper you can find.

For the second year both the Canon Consumer Imaging (CCI) group (cameras, video and PIXMA Pro) and the Canon Business Solutions (CBS) group (large format printers) have exhibited together at Visa pour l’Image, demonstrating the growing trend in the photographic market to have control of the entire system from capture to print. No longer do you need to send your images to a lab to be printed in large sizes.

At the other side of the Canon space, there is a professional photo studio area where French photographer Rémy Cortin, a festival stalwart of seven years demonstrates the whole Canon workflow in a live environment. This year, he’s using the EOS 5D, EOS-1D Mark III and the new EOS-1Ds Mark III. The two Mark III cameras are being used with the WFT-E2 WiFi pack to wirelessly stream images back to the Apple workstation. From there, an editor quickly retouches the images and they are output through the Canon iPF6100. This is a 12-pigment ink, 24-inch large format printer.

Throughout the Canon space, images from photographers working in all genres of photography are displayed. These include many from AFP photographers and from those about to form a new agency later this week, dubbed Ocean’s 9 by the festival’s director, Jean-Francois Leroy.