Wilfrid Esteve
Since 1995, his work has appeared in publications including ELLE, Libération, Le Monde, Geo France, Marie-Claire, National Geographic France, Paris Match and VSD, and was awarded a "special mention" award in the 2005 Prix Nadar competition, along with other co-authors, for his work 'Photojournalism at the crossroads'.
Based on a philosophy of bearing witness and of inquiry, his photographic work concentrates on conflict zones and areas of breaking news, in (West Africa, Europe, and the Middle East).
Anchored in the political photography of the newspaper Libération, where most of the members of the agency do freelance work, the photographers of MYOP have done assignments for the most famous French and international newspapers such as Le Monde and magazines such as Elle, Géo, Marie Claire, National Geographic, Newsweek, Paris Match and The Times.
MYOP photographers have received awards for their work, including the W. Eugene Smith grant (Alain Keler in 1997), the Agena best humanitarian reportage prize (Alexis Cordesse in 1992), the Bourse 3P de Yann Arthus Bertrand (Alain Keler in 2004), two Bourses FIACR (Oan Kim in 2008), the Prix Nadar (Wilfrid Estève in 2005), the Paris Match prize (Alain Keler in 1986), World Press Photo (Alain Keler in the nature section, 1986), World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass (Alexis Cordesse in 1993), third prize Observer Hodge Award (Alexis Cordesse in 1995), Prix des Voies Off des rencontres photographiques d'Arles (Wilfrid Estève in 2000).
Since 2004, Wilfrid Estève has led Freelens-France, formerly known as The National Association of FreeLens Journalist Reporters, Photographers and Filmmakers.
Founded in 1962, in the last five decades it has brought together some of the major figures of photojournalism, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Raymond Depardon, Gisèle Freund, Marc Riboud, Sebastião Salgado.
In earlier years, the organization was led by Robert Doisneau, Roger Pic, Patrick Bard and Lorenzo Virgili.
In 2007, he put together the Prix Tremplin Photo, a scholarship awarded during the festival "Visa pour l'image" and dedicated to photojournalism.
In 2005, Wilfrid Estève launched the multimedia project "Territories of fiction," with Virginie Terrasse and Benjamin Boccas acting as artistic editors.
The project made its 2006 debut at the Galerie du Château d'eau, as well as on the walls of the Toulouse subway (usually dedicated to advertisements).
Marta Eloy Cichocka, journalist and university professor, writes of "Territories of fiction": "[In] this bridge between information and art...the artists confront social frustration, the lack of confidence in politics and democracy, the revival of radical political parties, as well as problems linked to immigration and integration".
The agency won many prestigious photography awards (including the World Press Photo and Prix Kodak de la critique) and contributed to renowned international publications.
It is unusual in France that a young photographer claims to be a photojournalist, that he develops a point of view, a relevant angle.
