Regional photography meetings: Occitanie sees great

Bring together a selection of works from photo clubs from a whole region. This is the objective of the Regional Meetings of Photography. We are just a short walk from Montpellier, Juvignac (Hérault). We make several photos known and wink at our archives. Jeanne also takes us to Brittany and Normandy.

Last update: 29/01/2026 (Text on the mines of Saint Etienne)

Photos out of competition

Several exhibitions are offered next to the selections of the different clubs. There is the photo reporter Gilles Favier. This photo of Ireland reminds us of a photo of André Abbe in Provence.

In a text posted at the exhibition, Gilles Favier says: "1981, I subscribe to Reporter-Objective a monthly photo magazine. It explains how to become a war correspondent in the middle of a bunch of useful practical tips such as: choosing the right bag, the right device, the right shoes...

According to them, the most affordable conflict, the cheapest for apprentice photographers like me, is Northern Ireland. It is necessary to take the bus to the Madeleine in the evening at around 10 pm, then a boat to Calais in the middle of the night, a train to London where we change train station for another train to Stranraër north of Liverpool, and finally the ferry to Larne before a last bus to Belfast. Two days of guaranteed rainy travel, a never convenient crossing, but an unbeatable price for

That summer, I work on the French Riviera, in a dry cleaning during the day, and for a good part of the night I develop and draw the images of a beach photographer, a kind of Apollo in mini swimwear. Every morning I buy Libé. It's also the first thing I do. There is often a Sorj Chalandon paper about the Republican prisoners on hunger strike in Northern Ireland, because it is there, on the advice of Reporters-Objective, that I decided to make my weapons. I stick all the items in a green Oxford notebook, I'm getting ready!

In the autumn, my bag is ready, my equipment is ready, and it is finally by boat that I go via Roscoff and Cork in the Republic of Ireland. A first erratic journey, few landmarks, trouble with the police but a few images anyway. My grandfather Joseph dies during my absence. I loved it. I'm not here for the funeral or the rest.

I want to leave very quickly and I decide to meet Sorj Chalandon in Libé and Christian Caujolle too. Need help. Sorj pays me a half to the ambassadors, the bistro near the newspaper, at the top of Christiani Street, and advises me to go to Sinn Fein. Christian, from the bottom of his tiny basement office, gives me a letter of accreditation from Libé, in case..."

Still out of competition and closer to Montpellier (and Juvignac where the exhibition was held):

Ideas for trips and trips in France

Mont Saint-Michel : Normandy or Brittany ? A subject of controversy!

Today, it seems definitely admitted that Mont Saint-Michel is Norman.

« … it seems » Only... because if you're in a hurry to meet people from these beautiful provinces, ask them – innocently of course! – the question:

– Tell me... where do we put Mont Saint-Michel?

Immediately, the Normand will call: – Everyone knows that the « Couesnon in his madness put the Mount in Normandy » (1) !

To this claim, Breton will boldly reply: – But know that when the Couesnon finds his reason, the Mount will become Breton again!

It takes more to silence a Normand; the response will be immediate: – If the Couesnon changes by madness, the Mount never ceases to be in Normandy!

Wonderful Picrocholine War between the two provinces, a war that has lasted since the Middle Ages!

It is said that in a very distant time the river would have moved west of the Mount bringing the abbey into the Norman zone. That the river has varied in its downstream part is attested; that it has passed to the right of the island is not proven. For Pierre Bouet (Professor at the University of Caen), « the Mount [is] neither Breton nor Norman, it is above all Benedictine ».

Are the passions soothed? Only nenni!

In 2018, noting that the European flag floating on the Mount near the Norman banner was torn by the wind, Yann Galton (2) replaced it with the Gwenn ha Du Armoricain ; he declares (3): « What we call the Emerald Coast, it's from Saint-Malo, it's going to Granville, so Normand, Breton, it's the same ».

He will receive hundreds of protest emails: "To set this flag aside is to deny the history of the Mount. Mayor, put the Mont in Normandy and the Breton flag in his box" In the face of the growing controversy, the mayor gives in, removes the black and white flag, raises Europe's flag and brings peace to this Wonder of the West what is Mount Saint-Michel, a World Heritage site of Unesco since 1979.

Jeanne Monin

(1) This sentence appears in Bertrand d'Argentré's very serious book (1519-1590, a lawyer and Breton historian): The history of Brittany, kings, dukes, Counts and princes of Greece. (1582).

(2) Mayor of Mont-Saint-Michel from 2014 to 2020. Number of inhabitants in 2025: 23... but millions of visitors every year.

(3) On France 3 Normandy.

These beautiful clichés are all ideas of exits.

Above: Photo Workshop of Clapiers – Luc Bernard – The swimming pool – beach of good assistance – Saint Malo (Bretagne)

We go further south:

This system of hanging baskets is found in virtually all mines; So we gain room and, if necessary, this allows the clothes to dry. Each hanger has a number, the same as the one on the minor's lamp.

Hanging room... Reaction of a former minor (Lewarde – North): "When I read this, I almost strangled* Hey! This stupid designation of « Hanging Room » is an invention of Parisian journalists! Never a minor in our region used this term, this room was called « sink room » "

The same applies in other countries where miners also speak of bathrooms, dressing rooms and washbasins. When the miner comes up from the pit, his lamp is deposited, the miner passes into the shower room, adjoining the locker room.

Jeanne Monin

*Sources: Daily "La Voix du Nord" – Searches on different sites.