Last week I was delighted to receive a Coup de Coeur nomination for the 2014 ANI – Pix Palace photography prize at this year’s VISA Pour L’Image photojournalism Festival for my photo story Bachanal Mas’s Liquid Gold.
Each year ANI (Association Nationale d’Iconographes) run open portfolio reviews at VISA Pour L’Image, which is now an integral part of the professional week and one that which many of the attending photographers take advantage of. Based on the work they see, the ANI photo editors will then award ‘Coup de Coeurs’ nominations for the best work and small selections of each nominated story are printed by Canon and exhibited at La Palais de Congrès in Perpignan. Each of the nominated stories then are further analysed in their entirety and whittled to down to a selection of three stories with the final ANI – Pix Palace Award winner being announced at the following year’s VISA Pour L’Image festival. The quality of the feedback on these reviews makes the trip to Perpignan worthwhile on its own and really helps by informing you on what to consider and concentrate on next in moving forward with your work.
This nomination was especially memorable for the fact that a selection of these images are currently on display in London (Sept-Dec) using a special direct-to-media printing process with ultra violet light. By using this technique the images have been printed directly onto sheet metal and use the base colour of the metal (in this case, gold) through the image itself. A huge thanks must go out to Frederic and Christelle at Canon France for the great work they did at this year’s VISA Pour L’Image in printing the images from this series and approximating the colour we’ve achieved on metal using photo paper. It’s not an easy task to do but it is one they pulled off beautifully.
All in all it was great week this year with many fantastic images in display throughout the town’s galleries and shops. If you have never been to VISA Pour L’Image then I would say that you should definitely add it to your list for 2015. Hopefully see you there.
Mark
September 2014