Jean-François Leroy, Champion of Photography at Its Rawest, Dies at 69

Jean-François Leroy, who co-founded and directed the world's leading festival of photojournalism, bringing images of conflict to wide attention and shaping the careers of many photographers, died on Aug. 31 at his home in Paris. He was 69. The cause was cancer, his nephew Vincent Jolly, a journalist, said. In a statement after the death, President Emmanuel Macron of France called Mr. Leroy's festival, Visa Pour l'Image, held annually in the southern French city of Perpignan, 'a home, a public square, sometimes a refuge for a profession he saw was threatened.' Mr. Leroy was, Mr. Macron wrote, 'a great defender of reality.' For over 30 years, he was an impassioned cheerleader for a form of journalism that is as risky as it is vital: the photography of war, suffering and environmental disaster. For a few weeks at the end of each summer, hundreds of photographers — major names like Stanley Greene, Don McCullin, Raymond Depardon and Véronique de Viguerie, as well as young unknowns like Rémi Ochlik, who was killed in Syria in 2012 — descend on Perpignan, a medieval city with crumbling ocher walls, to show their work, argue about it, meet with agents and receive prizes. Visa, with almost 30 exhibitions each year, draws over 200,000 visitors from around the world. The 2026 installment, which began on Aug. 29, includes David Guttenfelder's searing images in 'The People of Minneapolis vs. ICE,' Elise Blanchard's disturbing photographs from Afghanistan of child brides sold by their families, and Khames Alrefi's powerful shot of a boy watching his neighborhood exploding in Gaza. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.