Until Sunday, September 22, 2024, exhibitions, screenings, meetings, photo hikes… Phot’Aubrac welcomes 65 photographers on more than fourteen sites spread across Aubrac, from Nasbinals to Peyre-en-Aubrac, as far as Laguiole or Saint-Urcize… The exhibitions are free.
For four days, on the paths of Aubrac, hiking enthusiasts and photography enthusiasts cross paths. They often have the same hiking boots on their feet and cameras slung over their shoulders. And they are spoiled: from Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 September 2024, the Phot’Aubrac festival is being held. A renowned event that attracts up to 25,000 visitors each year.
“A light to fall”
This festival is a story of encounters. Starting with that of Jean-Pierre Montiel, a photo reporter specializing in extreme sports, with Nasbinals and Aubrac, somewhat by chance, during a detour on the way back from vacation.When I arrived in Nasbinals, there was a light to die for“, he remembers. The photographer’s eye is captured, he will return several times, in all seasons.
The meeting also with the local farmers, of whom he took a series of photographs in winter, as part of a Natura 2000 project.Between culture and farmers there is a glass wall. These two worlds do not dare to go towards each other, a little out of shyness.“Jean-Pierre Montiel creates a bond with the farmers he photographs.”They finally told me, “We’ll clean the stables for you and you’ll put pictures in them!” And now they ask me every year what I’m going to put in them!“
Midi Libre – STEPHANIE BOULOIR
He who worked for fifteen years for the Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles took over the small local photography festival. For its first year, in 2012, it brought together fifteen photographers, then twenty-five, then the festival grew, grew… Today, 65 photographers (45 selected from 300 applications and about twenty guests) exhibit their work and present it to visitors in agricultural buildings, and a few other rooms, around Nasbinals, Marchastel, Peyre-en-Aubrac, as far as Saint-Urcize, Laguiole, Aubrac…
Volunteers
This requires a lot of preparation, a lot of cleaning, hanging… Eighty volunteers make these meetings possible, between photographers, locals, shopkeepers, visitors…
Midi Libre – STEPHANIE BOULOIR
Among the exhibitors, Ugo Breysse from Mende has installed his photographs in the barn next to the Déroc waterfall, with three other young photographers. For his very first photo festival as an exhibitor, he chose Phot’Aubrac. For the proximity and for the reputation. “There is an incredible atmosphere, the exhibition venues are really beautiful. It’s just pleasure!“
A journey
A few kilometers away, after the bridge over the Bès, a long path winds through the Aubrac landscape, lined with photos, to the Bouquincan farm. As he advances towards the building, the visitor crosses Africa, Romania, Brazil… The magic works: “At first, I was asked why I wanted to exhibit photos here when you just have to look at the landscape around you. I answered that there are beautiful landscapes everywhere in the world.“, says Jean-Pierre Montiel. At the end of the path, the traveler enters the stable. New exhibitions await him there.
Midi Libre – STEPHANIE BOULOIR
From place to place, the gaze will be directed to the other side of the world or to the street corner. With Aubrac, always, as a meeting point.
