The town of Le Creusot offered a welcome drink at the town hall’s grand salon, the opportunity to receive praise from the first leader of the Fédé, Jean Saleilles, from Perpignan, who envies us everything, even our rain.
“I had already come to Le Creusot for a national competition, I had, on this occasion, met the mayor, David Marti, and he had offered to host what we used to call, a congress, today, a Festival. And it is with great joy that we launched the organization. This Festival has five exhibition locations, more than 300 photos spread across two towns, Le Creusot and Torcy. Our Federation brings together 8,000 licensees, 500 clubs and that of Le Creusot holds an important place, undeniably. »
Five exhibitions, spread across the two cities, the arrival of a photography lover, known above all for his passion for sport and TV, Gérard Holtz, as a “guest-star” this Saturday, the small dishes were put into the big ones, the proof, 22 regional unions, out of the 24, came from all over France.
The city’s first deputy, Evelyne Couillerot, thanked all the participants: “We are delighted to welcome so many of you, for us, this is a novelty, we have never been so “machine-gunned”! Thanks to the members of the Photo Club du Creusot we are hosting this Festival, we thank them.
Our city willingly welcomes these events, the city is happy to host a national event, we have, thanks to our associations, always open arms to everything that can show how alive our city is, to what extent it knows host and organize such events, with equipment that allows it. With Torcy, we are well equipped in the living area to support these exhibitions. I would like to salute the members of the Le Creusot photo club for their work, their actions, they are always present at our events, they are in the daily life of Le Creusot. Not only do they have fun, but they also help to build social bonds in our city.
I greet you, you delegates, there are, over the two days, almost 400, I hope that you will appreciate your beautiful city, it is the most beautiful city in France, even through the photos of the local club which was one of the first to take magnificent photos of our region from the sky, well before the advent of drones. The importance of the photo, the weight of words, the shock of photos, as we often say, remains a reality. We send so many messages with a photo. I would like to quote a sentence from a committed photographer, Marc Riboud: to photograph is to taste life, every hundredth of a second, intensely. »
The president of the Photo Club du Creusot, Thierry Martinet thanks his team and the city: “We already had the chance to organize the National Congress in 2017, today it is called Festival. In just two years, we managed to organize this gathering.
To set up the exhibitions, organize the whole weekend, I must say, I have an extraordinary team, they are always there, always present, I take my hat off to them. What pleases me is the recognition you express to us, our club and our city, with all our venues. I believe that we, the Creusotins, do not measure our luck, we can easily explain how often I hear my colleagues tell me, we in our town do not have that. For those who have not yet seen the exhibitions, you will be amazed. I would like to thank the members of the Photo Club du Creusot, the towns of Le Creusot and Torcy. »
The president of the Federation presented books to elected officials, the town of Le Creusot offered a drink of friendship to all the festival-goers, and there were many of them.
Vincent Brucci
