Get Ready for the Festival of the Photograph

You may want to start setting aside some time to attend the Festival of the Photograph, goes on from June 7 to 9 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Organized by National Geographic photographer Michael K. "Nick" Nichols, the festival is something new for the U.S., and it promises to be one of the big photo events of the year. Indeed, the official advertisement for the festival promises nothing less than “three days of peace, love, and photography.” At this point I’d take two out of three of those possibilities. You can get more information at the festival’s website.

Old friends of Nick Nichols will tell you that the festival is an offshoot of a very informal photographic get-together he’s had each summer in his own backyard in Charlottesville. “It just got to be way too big,” he says.

The new festival will take advantage of several locations around Charlottesville  (home of the University of Virgina’s beautiful campus, originally designed by Thomas Jefferson). The festival will feature exhibitions of the work of three major photographers: Sally Mann, William Albert Allard, and Eugene Richards. In addition there will be opportunities for sharing work, as well as symposiums.

Nichols is careful to say that the Festival of the Photograph is not “an American Perpignan,” referring to the Visa Pour L’Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France. Given its limited timeframe and exhibition scope, he’s right. But clearly this is the first move toward establishing in the U.S. the kind of photo festivals that have proven so popular in France. Maybe it’s more like the American Arles.

There has also been talk about a photo festival in Charleston, South Carolina, planning for which was begun by MaryAnne Golan before she was promoted to director of photography at Time magazine. Time’s former photo director, Michele Stephenson, who recently retired, is apparently assuming responsibility for the festival, which is in fact being billed as an American Perpignan. Visa director Jean Francois Leroy has in fact been talking with organizers about sharing material with this festival. But, as the saying goes, there’s many a slip between cup and lip.
—David Schonauer