The international photojournalist collective VII and the world's largest news cooperative, The Associated Press, have agreed on a distribution deal Under the arrangement, AP clients, including member newspapers and communications professionals, gain access to VII's extensive archive and to an exclusive weekly topical picture story package that will be made available via the AP PhotoArchive and AP Wide World Photos.
VII, based in Paris, is an independent group of nine photojournalists, founded in 2001. Founding members Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey and John Stanmeyer were joined in 2002 by Lauren Greenfield and in 2004 by Joachim Ladefoged. VII's central purpose is to maximize the distribution of its output through all appropriate channels, and by this means to fund the production of innovative and diverse work.
"This agreement with AP extends the work of VII to a new editorial market," said Gary Knight of the VII photo agency. The exclusive weekly topical picture story package will be drawn from VII's archive and its more recent production, he said.
The announcement was made at Visa pour l'image, the International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, France.
"The addition of VII's catalogue of in-depth feature and documentary photography adds a new dimension to the material available to AP's clients," said Andrew Hill, director of sales for AP Wide World.
VII derives its name from the number of founding photojournalists who, in September 2001, formed this collectively owned agency. Designed from the outset to be an efficient, technologically enabled distribution hub for some of the world's finest photojournalism, VII has been responsible for creating and relaying to the world many of the images that define the turbulent opening years of the 21st century. Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey, John Stanmeyer, Lauren Greenfield and Joachim Ladefoged document conflict -- environmental, social and political, both violent and non-violent -- to produce an unflinching record of the injustices created and experienced by people caught up in the events they describe.
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