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I’ve just returned from Visa Pour L’image 2008. It’s been a privilege to be in the company of so many great photographers over the past week and I find myself now more inspired than ever.  Above is a short multimedia piece (my first ever) which features some of the photographs i took on the trip, i hope it gives you a better impression of what it’s like to be at the festival.

The city of Perpignan is situated on the South East coast of France half way between Marseille and Barcelona. Its a small place but with plenty of character, winding streets and colourful locals. September was a nice time of year to be there.  Each day a comfortable 30 degrees and sunny, enough to put a smile on my face as back home in Scotland was 15 degrees and raining.  A typical mild day in Scotland.

Coinciding with the main festival is Visa Off, an unofficial sister festival with hundreds of exhibitions dotted throughout the city.  I didn’t have time to visit any of the Visa Off exhibitions but there were some that were definitely worth a visit.

The main festival is centered around three main locations throughout the city, Hotel Pams, Palais des Congres and Campo Santo with other venues playing host to the many exhibitions on offer.  Hotel Pams is the main festival HQ and photographer hang out.  Here you can pick up your accreditation for professional week.  A well spent 60 euros which gave me full access to Hotel Pams, all exhibitions, lectures and more.  Plus there is free coffee, wine and soft drinks there to keep us photographers happy.  The courtyard at Pams is a great place to relax, meet people and catch some sun.

Palais des Congres hosts the lectures, Canon room, Apple Computer room, Agency hall and on the roof there is a cafe, another great place to meet people.  I went to see a few lectures of note.  The Getty Editorial Grants Award which this year was awarded to Eugene Richards, Lynsey Addario and Scottish photographer David Gillanders. To see their work go here.  I also went to see Paula Bronstein’s talk on her work from Afghanistan.  Her work was definitely some of the best I’d seen in Perpignan and it was very interesting to hear what its like to be a woman working in Afghanistan with the difficulties she encounters every day.

The Canon room had nearly every camera, lens, printer on offer for photographers to try out or borrow for the day and Apple’s room had free demonstrations of their RAW editing software Aperture and some beautiful 24″ imac’s to play on. Sorry Apple i still love PC’s.  Upstairs the Agency hall was always a hive of activity with agencies from around the world selling their services to picture editors and photographers visiting to show their portfolio book.

Campo Santo is an outdoor auditorium with a capacity of about 3000.  Every evening throughout professional week there are screenings showcasing photography from the year’s most prominent news stories as well special reports on the worlds social issues. I couldn’t quite believe it when there were so many people turning up to see a slide show!!  If you can’t get in at Campo Santo you can always head along to Place de la Republique where a duplicate projection is shown.  The square hosts a number of bars and cafes which all have tables outside so its a good alternative if you just want to relax with some wine and watch the slide show.

With regards to exhibitions there are so many to talk about I think it would be easier for you to see for yourselves.  Check out the work from a few of my favorites.

Cédric Gerbehaye - Yuri Kozyrev - Brent Stirton

I spent a total of 7 days in Perpignan with both Monday morning and nearly all of Sunday taken up with travel.  I’d have to say this was not enough time as there is simply too much to see and do and I think its better to take your time instead of trying to cram it all in.  I’ve definitely come away more inspired and its been good to have some time to reflect on the photography I’ve seen.  Already I’m thinking of booking my ticket for next year.