Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay 2012 Magazine is now available for download. Inside, photos and all the details on the exhibitions of the third edition of the festival.

Zoom Photo Festival Magazine 2012

Location : Pulperie de Chicoutimi / Musée régional

Location : Pulperie de Chicoutimi / Musée régional

The “Paris Match” cover ! A legend in its own right and a weekly challenge. Whatever is on it – whether a star, an anonymous crowd or an exceptional event – it enters History. Those who create it spend frantic hours deciding which story to pick. The Paris Match cover is unique. A full-page picture, usually no other. The cover’s big issue lies here: electing, among all the world’s great beats of the pulse, the one that will resonate most in the following week. Match is a news magazine that zooms in on all the fields of life. During a little more than sixty years, its covers have swept across the world.

The cover is the magazine’s signature, its world-view. Roger Thérond’s eye, the legendary boss of the 1976 to 1999 years, accompanied the birth of each cover. These days, under the watchful gaze of the editor, Olivier Royant, it is a whole team’s delivery, a climax. Beyond the main story the appropriate photo also has to be carefully picked. At times there are precious few to choose from. This is when the picture department’s hunters come into play with their sixth sense and talent for negotiation. At other times taking one’s pick will be daunting. On September 11th 2001 “Paris Match” was offered 3 500 pictures within a few hours. Making the right choice under such pressure requires nerves of steel. The text comes next. Paris Match being a news magazine, short and sharp headlines are part of the covers’ saga : “War”, “Crash”, “Hell In Bali”, “Code 881”, “Diana, “A Destin”, “The Heart’s Battle”, “The Moon”… All compose the soundtrack of contemporary History. The art director and graphic designers edit the picture, sometimes reframing it for more focus and emotional impact. They also choose the fonts, and their colours and sizes. They are the cover’s magicians, guardians of the Paris Match touch.

Paris Match cover’s power stems from its capacity to embody History.

Photographers : Dirk-Jan Visser & Arthur Huizinga

Location : Bibliothèque publique de Chicoutimi

Dirk-Jan Visser (1978) is an independent documentary photographer based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He works freelance for different media, focusing on social, economic and political issues around the world. In 2005 he photographed the people of Kosovo on the brink of transformation, which resulted in the book Brave New Kosovo. He won a number of awards for his photo book Zimbabwe Exodus. In 2009 he participated in the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass.

Arthur Huizinga (1980) is a freelance journalist and writer living in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Since 2008 he has been a regular guest at FK Qaraba A dam, researching its remarkable story and general refugee-issues in the South Caucasus, which led to several publications in among others De Groene Amsterdammer, NRC Handelsbladand NRC Next. Right now he’s finishing a non-fiction novel on FK Qaraba A dam, has been published by Uitgeverij Prometheus in the course of 2011.

The geopolitical conflict in the Nagorno Karabakh region is a forgotten one. Even as the war raged on from 1991-1994, it received little attention from the West. Today, the unresolved yet frozen conflict remains a reality for up to hundreds of thousands Azerbaijani and Armenian refugees

FK Qaraba A dam is an Azerbaijani football club currently based in the capital Baku. During the war with Armenian separatists over Nagorno Karabakh, the Imaret stadium in downtown A dam remained packed for home matches. In 1993, Karabakh-Armenian forces occupied and destroyed A dam and it has been a ghost town ever since. The club has become the symbol of hope and pride for over half a million Azerbaijani refugees scattered around Azerbaijan. In 2009, the team enjoyed an unprecedented international run until it was eventually knocked out by FC Twente (Netherlands).

The ‘armed peace’ in Nagorno Karabakh is the greatest threat to stability in this part of the world and potentially beyond. Sooner rather than later the conflict will be back on the international agenda, as economic interests and disparities in the region have increased tremendously in recent years. While Azerbaijan grows richer with every oil shipment, Armenia sinks further into economic isolation. The human tragedy of this situation is revealed through the eyes of six people, each one connected to the respective football teams: players and coaches, fighters and refugees, sons and daughters, wives and widows. The story of the Armenian FK Karabakh Stepanakert counterbalances the story of the Azeri FK Qaraba A dam. The project will be developed into a book and a travelling exhibition which is being presented at the Saguenay Zoom Photo Festival.

Location : 132 rue Racine Est

With their work entitled Interversions, the photographers from the KAHEM association are showing a photographic exhibit on the lateral wall of the Séquence Gallery. Exhibiting in a public space is their way of communicating with citizens, bringing art directly to the public. Several photographic narratives will emerge from these fragmented images and the onlooker will be able to put together his own interpretation of a story.

The KAHEM photographers’ association is founded on an exchange of ideas and reflection about the practice of documentary photography. The KAHEM members’ projects, both individual and collective, are diversified in nature. With classical or contemporary vision, they explore the many and varied forms of documentary photography.

Photographer : Vincent Munier

Location : Galerie d’art La Corniche

Born in 1976, Vincent Munier lives in the Vosges, his homeland, and collects a permanent contact of the secrets and savagery of the wilderness. Positively influenced by his father, he chose photography to express his dreams, emotions and encounters. After his success at various prestigious contests such as the « BBC wildlife photographer of the year, » he decided to devote himself entirely to photography. Vincent is now considered one of the best wildlife photographers. His images have been exhibited in more than 35 countries and are the subject of numerous publications.

By nature, I am sensitive to mist and ice… Amazed by the immense hibernal cloak : white is fascinating to me. It’s not a color, but the sum of all colors. It does not cast a veil over the world, but creates a new world in itself. With the occasional accent of wildlife in places where we least expect it. This exhibition is an invitation to discover privileged moments, some taken near my home, atop the summit of the ancient mountainous Vosges and others during my recent travels around the boreal circle. In both cases, the initial objective is the same : put myself in the animal’s place for a better understanding and on how to approach them, to better understand their emotions and reactions in the most extreme circumstances. To perfect these images, I went looking for the storm. The storm found me. On the island of Hokkaido with the cranes and swans; in the Scandinavian tundra with the musk oxen ; in the vast Canadian plains home to the majestic Snowy Owl… The storm is an eraser which removes the unnecessary and leaves the essential. It seems as if nothing remains, and then off in the distance an aloof beast, the rare animal stands. Every gust becomes a lesson in humility and respect for these beings who brave these elements naturally…

Photographer : Robert Fréchette

Location : Zone portuaire de Chicoutimi

Well before the arrival of international whalers to the North and, for many centuries, the Inuit hunted bowhead whales for their subsistence.  This was a fundamental activity that differentiated the Inuit from the populations of the Arctic that preceded them.  Several archeological sites, oral tradition and Inuit art confirm this.  Hunting the bowhead whale, as done by the Inuit, was a complex and dangerous endeavour.  Despite the benefits provided to the community by the capture of a whale, it is hard to imagine today how the Inuit of the time, equipped only with kayaks and animal skin boats, would have dared to go up against such a huge animal.

Based on scientific evaluations that confirm the observations by the Inuit that the population of bowhead whales is increasing, Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued, in 2008, a permit to capture one specimen within the framework of a pilot project.

As a result of this, hunters from the community of Kangiqsujuaq in Nunavik had the opportunity to renew a lost tradition.  This exhibit is a testimony of their experience and to their incredible hunting instinct which has not disappeared.

Robert Fréchette founded the Stock Photo Agency in 1987 with other photographer friends. This is the first independent agency in Quebec to produce photojournalists’ exhibits. Following many visits to different Native communities and after numerous exhibits, Robert Fréchette moved, in 1993, to Kangiqsujuaq with his family to live with the Inuit of Nunavik.  He returned to Montreal in 2008.  He is presently the director general of the Avataq Cultural Institute.

Photographer : Rémi Ochlick

Location : La Pulperie de Chicoutimi – Musée régional

Watch the video of the exhibition.

Photojournalist Rémi Ochlik was killed on February 22^nd, 2012, during a bombing raid of the Syrian opposition quarters in Homs.  Just a few days before his death, he was recognized by the World Press Photo Awards 2012 for his earlier work in Libya.

Rémi Ochlik was only 28 years old when he died but already had an established career as a photojournalist specializing in the coverage of world conflicts.  He spent 2011 covering the “Arab Spring” uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

“2011 was an exceptional year.  Each country that I visited had a unique view of the regimes under which they lived but the hope, drive and slogans expressed by the people were the same.  The people were animated by a sense of enough-is-enough and I, being there, got to experience history in the making.”  said M. Ochlik at the time.

In collaboration with “Visa pour l’image’, Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay, International Meeting of Photojournalism, presents an important retrospective of Rémi Ochlik’s work.

Rémi Ochlick 1983-2012

 

Photographer : Paul Chiasson

Location : La Pulperie de Chicoutimi – Musée régional

Paul Chiasson spent the year in 1981 working in Paris as a freelancer for the Associated Press and for France Soir.  We has worked as a freelancer for McLean’s Magazine, L’Actualité, Chatelaine, Time, the New York Times, the Gamma-Liaison Agency, the ACDI and other publications.

Working with the Canadian Press office in Montreal since 1984, he has covered nine Olympic Games, 19 World Figure Skating Championships, over 20 Grey Cup games, many Stanley Cup finals, federal and provincial elections, official international travel by the Prime Minister of Canada, and other national and international events.

Paul Chiasson offers, by means of this exhibit, a voyage through time as he retraces his visits to countries around the world.

Location : Pavillon des croisières internationales de La Baie

“50 Greatest Photographs by National Geographic” showcases some of the most compelling imagery published in the history of the magazine.

This exhibit will transport visitors behind the lens of some of National Geographic’s most engaging images. From Steve McCurry’s unforgettable Afghan girl, to Nick Nichols’s iconic photograph of Jane Goodall and a chimpanzee, to Thomas Abercrombie’s never-before-seen view of Mecca, the exhibition features 50 of the magazine’s most remembered and celebrated photographs from its more than 120-year history.

In addition to seeing the photographs as they appeared in the magazine, visitors to the exhibition will learn the stories behind the photos, and more about the photographers themselves. For some images, visitors will be able to see the “near frames” taken by the photographer: the sequence of images made in the field before and after the perfect shot.

Photographer : Léopold Rousseau

Location : Zone portuaire de Chicoutimi

Once grocer, butcher, and then a cemetery plot salesclerk, Léopold Rousseau took a rather curious detour before becoming a photographer! After almost 30 years of service for the Quotidien and the Journal de Québec, his images are witness to large and small media events. Recently, his work for an NGO in the Dominican Republic was part of an exhibition at the Musée de la Civilisation in Québec.

When I had traveled down to Havana, to a little hotel in the Old Town, to live in this mythical city, while walking adventurously around through unknown neighborhoods, weapon in hand, I wasn’t sure what I would find. Afro-Cuban gods watched over the grain. Just after arriving, I miraculously happened on (a one in two million chance), an old acquaintance which I had not seen in ages : a former Québec resident who had immigrated there, recognized me in the street, and invited me to his home, with his Cuban family.

This was the starting point of my discovery of these kind people who live most of their life outside, for all to see, with no preoccupations, in their everyday actions, ordinary. A homemade kind of life, which has been created with what was available. A life which vibrates in flexibility amongst the ravaged terrain and ambient humidity. A life nestled in the ruins of what were once magnificent palaces, mansions, temples…

Those were magical days, during which I had done a lot of walking, as everyone does, under the sun, and where I rested in the shade, with everyone else.

Photographer : Alexis Aubin

Location : Centre des Arts et de la Culture de Chicoutimi

At the heart of Bolivia, in the arid plains of the Andes, lie the indigenous territories of the Quechuas. Mining exploitation there recalls a colonial past that has forever marked South America. The open wounds in this part of the world will trace the path of the lode we relentlessly seek to exploit.

In Llallagua, the region’s capital, the exhausted mines continue to provide the subsistence of thousands of individuals. After the armed conflict for control of ores, capital fled the camps it had once erected, leaving behind the wreckage of a population that had to rely on itself to ensure the continued extraction of natural resources covered by a mountainous desert.

While the Bolivian state renounced the nationalization of the mine, deemed obsolete, those miners who had always been invested have continued their activities in a structured disorder simply by personal initiative, devoid of appeal.

The conditions are even more difficult now that the machinery is almost non-existent. Some cooperatives have been formed, but only 30% of workers are members. Children and the elderly span the rocky arch every morning to leave offerings of coca and alcohol to “Pacha Mama” (Mother Nature in Quechua) in exchange for the tin that they will extract from the Earth.

Photographer : Jayanta Guha

Location : Complexe CEGERDEV

Jayanta Guha started taking photographs from the age of seven. His philosophy as a photographer is summed up in his poem “A photographer’s dream.” He believes that the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder. His exhibitions have been supported by organisations such as Centre National d’Exposition, Musée du Fjord, Alcan Ltd., UNESCO, the city of Montréal and others. Jayanta Guha’s photographs have been exhibited in various cities in Canada, India and China and his work has been subject to documentaries.

Freeing itself from the yokes of the “cultural revolution” and the opening of its borders, it is no longer a secret that the winds of change are rapidly changing China.

Although there is no dearth of photo-essays depicting this change, be it in terms of urban development, lifestyle, fashion, or transportation systems, we seldom see the lens looking down at feet to take notice of an explosion of styles and colours of the footwear expressing this new found liberty. Gone are the stereotype canvas shoes so prevalent in the aftermath of the austerity of the seventies and the early eighties. This is more so the case for women’s footwear however styles for male footwear, especially for the young, are not far behind.

Here is a photojournalistic approach with a certain bit of humour to depict the change in China seen through their footwear.

Photographer : Josep Marti Fornons

Location : Place CEGERDEV

Spanish photographer born in 1971 in Almenar, Josep Marti-Fornons was trained as a television cameraman. He studied photography and film in Barcelona. In 2010, he won the “Man and the Environment” contest under the Zoom Photo Festival Saguenay and published his first book “Pastores” (shepherds). He worked previously on various documentary projects (television and film in Spain).

Transhumance paths have served as a means of communication for residents all over the Iberian Peninsula, especially in Spain. They were once the trade routes of products and culture, beyond the migration of animals. Thus, the pastoral paths (drailles) act as ecological corridors, linking areas of great ecological interest and promoting the biodiversity of flora and fauna.

Traditional pastoral practices are adapted to the cycles of nature. The hardiness of different breeds of, sheep, goats and cattle, allows them to travel along these difficult routes. Instinct guides the animals. During the length of the path, the landscapes change becoming more mountainous. We discover a land shaped by extensive farming and transhumance : the Pyrenees in Catalonia, Aragon and in Navarre, the grain fields, the salt and the mountain.

Nowadays, transhumance has changed with new vehicles and means of communication, but the spirit of these migrations on foot stays the same. Although the busy world of today defies traditional transhumance, sheep, cows and shepherds will go again in another year and face the draille.