For the past fifteen years, it has been common to say that photojournalism is in crisis. Indeed, it is becoming more and more difficult for professional photographers to get the material resources to practice their jobs.

The economic crisis in the press sector and the development of digital publishing have undermined the traditional economic models of the field. In France, once a bastion of photojournalism, the vanishing of photo agencies gives credence to this observation. The topic always raises a lot of questions, but few solutions. The International Photoreporter Festival aims to bring some answers to the problem.

A community of large and small private businesses all contributed to the cause, with the idea of creating a photojournalism festival that would attract attention to their region, and their businesses, and also give them all an opportunity to work together in collaboration. This is the second year for this model, and it seems to be a success, at least on this small scale of funding 13 important photojournalism projects

The submissions were not guided by any specific theme. The call was as open-ended as possible, in order to leave the photographers with a high level of freedom for their proposals.

Among 300 applicants from 46 countries, 13 were selected. Here is a list of the photographers and their projects. Click on the name of the project to get more info.

Catalina Martin Chico, "Saint Martin, or, the Paradoxes of Paradise"
Donald Weber, "War Sand"
JB Russell, "An Iraqi Journey"
Claude Rives, "The Invaders of the Loire"
Kosuke Okahara, "Surviving for the existence of Abkhazia, a country that doesn’t exist"
Guy Martin, "The Emergence of Turkey's Soft Power" 
Robin Hammond, "Lagos"
Stefano De Luigi, "Reality Wedding"
Marie Dorigny, "Is This How Women Live?"
Agnès Dherbeys, "Mother"
Peter Dench, "The British Abroad"
Darcy Padilla, "'Drill Baby Drill' A New Black Gold Rush" 
Philip Blenkinsop, "Burma Before the Change" 

See an exhibition of all these works in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, from October 19 to November 11, 2013.

—LensCulture