The VII Foundation | ACF

Automobile Club de France

@viifoundation

The VII Foundation, in its ongoing pursuit of excellence in visual storytelling and education, is delighted to propose a series of specialized photography workshops and lectures to be hosted at the Automobile Club de France (ACF). Our proposal is designed to cater exclusively to ACF members, with the option to open certain events to the public based on interest and relevance.

About The VII Foundation and VII Photo

Education is at the core of The VII Foundation, whose mission is to offer a diverse range of programs designed to upskill an emerging generation of young visual storytellers and photographers. With a focus on both technical skills and the art of visual communication, the foundation’s educational initiatives offer students a comprehensive platform for skill development.

The recent acquisition of VII Photo Agency by The VII Foundation offers foundation students unparalleled access to mentorship from VII Photo’s renowned photographers. Additionally, VII Photo can now offer extensive educational packages in creative photography, editing, and writing to the public.

These programs enable participants to enhance their involvement with nonfiction media, and 100% of all profits from the workshops support the nonprofit mission of the foundation.

The VII Foundation is excited about the possibility of this partnership, which promises not only to elevate the photographic techniques of ACF members but also to contribute significantly to the broader photographic discourse in Paris.

We invite the ACF to discuss this proposal further and refine it to meet the club’s standards and the interests of its membership.

Proposal Overview

Language

• All events will be conducted in French.

Workshops

• Lead by a VII Photo contributing photographer assisted by a local photographer.

• Limited to small groups (8-12 members) for an intimate and immersive experience.

• Each workshop will be held over two 8-hour days.

Portfolio Reviews

• The portfolio review sessions will be conducted by a VII Photo contributing photographer over four hours. ACF will determine the length of each individual review based on member interest and demand. We suggest a 30-minute minimum for each review.

• On site logistical support to be provided by a local assistant.

• These half-day sessions can be scheduled as standalone events or held on the same day as lectures.

Lectures and Events

• Lectures curated for the ACF’s photography interest group and open to external guests based on the topic’s appeal.

• Opportunity to host a lecture on the day of portfolio reviews and/or followed by a dinner at the club.

Venue

• Utilizing ACF’s facilities, including the auditorium and meeting rooms with full technical support.

Topics, Themes and Educators

Potential Workshops

These workshops include hands-on guided shooting, work reviews, editing, and post-production sessions.

• Street Photography: Participants explore Paris on foot accompanied by the workshop leader(s) and assistants, learning techniques to move with the camera and capture the city’s atmosphere and daily life.

• Photo Essays: This workshop guides members through the process of developing photo essays, from concept to execution, emphasizing storytelling and thematic coherence.

• Narrative Photography: Focused on the art of conveying a story through a single image, this workshop delves into compositional and emotive elements in photography.

• Urban Landscape: Participants discover how to represent urban environments, focusing on Paris’s unique architecture.

Potential Lecture and Screenings

These lectures and screenings last between 1 to 1.5 hours, followed by a dedicated Q&A session ranging from 30 minutes to one hour.

Africa Without Electricity

Pascal Maitre’s project, “Africa Without Electricity,” reveals the struggles of millions living without power. Over two years, Maitre’s poignant photos unveil the challenges faced by African communities due to energy poverty. In sub-Saharan Africa, where only a quarter have electricity, rural areas often have 8% access, hindering development. Maitre’s work exposes how the lack of power impacts education, healthcare, and daily life, highlighting the need for change. Despite technical obstacles, Maitre’s high ISO images authentically depict this crisis, urging action through powerful storytelling. His documentation illuminates the urgency of addressing energy poverty, amplifying voices and advocating for sustainable solutions.

Cinema Mundi

Stefano De Luigi’s project, “Cinema Mundi,” explores the vibrant world of world cinema, encompassing diverse cinematic productions beyond the scope of Hollywood’s influence. From European classics to Bollywood hits, from contemporary Chinese dramas to Iranian biographies, Cinema Mundi delves into this rich tapestry of global filmmaking.

It goes beyond mere entertainment, offering a cultural and economic perspective distinct from Hollywood’s dominance. Through his passionate photographic lens, De Luigi narrates the story of this alternative cinematic universe, spanning the globe from Shanghai to Lagos, Moscow to Tehran. “Cinema Mundi” sheds light on this lesser known but thriving film world, poised for well-deserved recognition.

Elevations

“Elevations” reflects Eric Bouvet’s three decades of exploration in Chamonix. With a passion for both photography and the mountains, Bouvet sought originality, avoiding redundancy in his work. Despite recognizing his limitations compared to other mountaineering photographers, he drew on his resilience from thirty-five years of conflict to capture the essence of endurance and suffering. Transitioning from a large 8X10 to a smaller 4X5 camera due to physical constraints, Bouvet embraced the Calotype process, utilizing bamboo paper —a sustainable option — instead of film to create surprising negatives. Through “Elevations,” Bouvet captures the beauty of the mountains while embracing sustainability.

Far West – The Hidden History

In the 55-minute documentary film “Far West – The Hidden History,” co-directed by Mathilde Damoisel and inspired by the book “Lines and Lineage,” photographer Tomas van Houtryve confronts America’s collective amnesia by revealing the hidden legacy of the Far West. Through encounters and photographs of the descendants of families inhabiting these lands long before the American conquest, including indigenous, black, and mestizo families, the documentary unveils a narrative where the border crossed them, rendering them strangers in their own land. By pushing back against the founding myths of the American Frontier, these individuals contribute overlooked stories to our common history, shedding light on a forgotten aspect of the American landscape.

Notre-Dame After the Fire

For over eight centuries, she has drawn the gaze of Parisians and marked their hours and rites with her bells. On April 15, 2019, fire devastated the iconic Notre-Dame cathedral of Paris. After her bells fell silent and her charred structure was fenced off from the public, Tomas van Houtryve obtained privileged access to the Notre-Dame cathedral and the teams working to save her from ruin. For over a year, he explored the sacred, the grotesque, the graceful and the defaced surfaces of Notre-Dame, turning the monument into a prism for self-expression while documenting this historical moment of devastation and rebirth.

Potential Educators

ERIC BOUVET

Contributing photographer

Eric Bouvet (b. 1961, France) lives and works on the edge. When he is not carrying 20kgs of 8×10 large format film cameras on his back to the highest Alpine peaks, he is a tireless photographer of conflict, social upheaval, politics, and culture. His photographic oeuvre is one of the most diverse in VII Photo. Eric is a photographer’s photographer lauded by his colleagues for his courage, humanity, and humility for over 42 years in some of the most aggressive and violent territories, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the war in Ukraine.

STEFANO DE LUIGI

Contributing photographer

As a child, Stefano De Luigi (b. 1964, Germany) discovered photograph albums that recorded decades of unconventional family histories; his father’s family intertwined with the legacy of the Italian colonies in Africa. He found grainy prints from Libya, Eritrea, Somalia, and Ethiopia that sparked in him a lifelong fascination with the image and its ability to represent our inner voices. Multi-lingual Stefano regards societies’ pop culture — from television, fashion, pornography, cinema and political propaganda — and scrapes away the make-up and the polish to ask, is what you’re seeing actually what you think you see?

His numerous awards include four World Press Photo awards (1998, 2007, 2010, 2011), the Eugene Smith Fellowship Grant (2008), the Getty Grant for editorial photography, the Days Japan International Photojournalism Award (2010), and the Syngenta Photography Award (2015).

Stefano works regularly with several international publications including The New Yorker, Geo, Paris Match, and Stern, and has exhibited his work in New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Rome, London, Istanbul, and Athens.

| ©Eric Bouvet/VII

PASCAL MAITRE

Contributing photographer

After studying psychology, Pascal Maitre (b. 1955) began his career as a photojournalist in 1979 with the Groupe Jeune Afrique. In 1984, he joined the staff of the Gamma agency. In 1989, he co-founded Odyssey Images. From 1994 to 2018, he was a member of the Cosmos agency.

Pascal Maitre has worked with prestigious international publications: Géo, Paris Match, Le Figaro Magazine, L’Express, and ELLE in France; Geo and Stern in Germany; and National Geographic in the United States.

In more than forty countries, he has covered different aspects of Africa: people and their way of life, politics and conflicts, traditions. Since 1985, he has covered Afghanistan: the Mujahideen against the Russians, Kabul in 1992, Bamiyan and the Great Buddhas in 1996, Commander Massoud in 1998, and the return of the Taliban.

While Africa remains his preferred terrain, Pascal Maitre has also produced several photo essays on other parts of the world, including the Middle East, South America, and Siberia. He also works on in-depth projects, including those focused on topics such as the living conditions of 650 million people in Africa without electricity, the challenges faced by the Sahel region, the Peuls community, and the daily reliance of 2.5 billion people on charcoal for cooking and sustenance.

@viifoundation

TOMAS VAN HOUTRYVE

Contributing photographer

Tomas van Houtryve is an artist, photographer and author who engages critical issues around the world. His major works interweave contemporary concepts, investigative journalism and metaphor, occupying the intersection between art and pure documentary. Many of his projects push the technical limits of photography, from 19th century chemical processes to thermal imaging and Augmented Reality.

Van Houtryve’s work is included in the permanent collections of the International Center of Photography Museum (ICP), the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago (MoCP). He is the author of the book Behind the Curtains of 21st Century Communism. His groundbreaking Blue Sky Days series about America’s drone wars was published in Harper’s in 2014 as the largest photo portfolio in the magazine’s 164-year history.

Van Houtryve has been honored with over a dozen top awards, including the ICP Infinity Award, World Press Photo, POY Photographer of the Year and the Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents. He is frequently invited for public speaking engagements and has appeared on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, ARTE and France 5. He is a CatchLight Pulitzer Fellow.

| ©Tomas van Houtryve/VII

Total Package Price: $7,900

This all encompassing education package comprises three key components, detailed as follows:

Workshop: $6,000

• A 2-day workshop accommodating 8-12 participants, spanning two full 8-hour days.

• Led by a contributing photographer from VII Photo, with support from a local assistant photographer.

Portfolio Review: $1,200

• A total of four hours of personalized review sessions by a contributing photographer from VII Photo.

• CCF will tailor the length of each review to match member interest and demand.

Lecture: $700

• A lecture spanning 60 to 90 minutes.

• Followed by a dedicated Q&A session, ranging from 30 to 60 minutes.

Net Price with a 20% discount for a fully equipped venue: $6,320.

This package includes: lead instructor fee, assistant fee, reviewer fee, speaker fee, VII Photo operations costs, contingencies, and related expenses.