The First Image and the Modern Eye

Jean‑Pierre Laffont on 200 Years of Photography

Join acclaimed photographer Jean‑Pierre Laffont for a bicentennial look at photography’s origins, legacy, and impact, from Niépce to today.

As part of the global celebration marking 200 years of photography, this special lecture invites American audiences to rediscover the powerful origins of the medium through a rare and historic document: a letter by Nicéphore Niépce. In it, Niépce describes heliography—one of the earliest photographic processes—offering a remarkable window into the birth of image-making as we know it today. 

Bridging past and present, the program will feature a dynamic conversation and keynote lecture by Jean-Pierre Laffont, the renowned French-American photographer whose work has shaped visual storytelling in the United States for decades.

As co-founder of Contact Press Images and a recipient of the prestigious ICP Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement, Laffont has chronicled defining moments in American political, social, and cultural life, with work featured in major publications including The New York Times, Time, and Newsweek. 

The conversation will be moderated by Olivier Laurent, Deputy Director of Photography at The Washington Post, bringing additional historical depth and national context to the discussion. 

The evening may also include a curated film screening and documentary component, expanding the audience’s experience of photography’s evolution and impact. 

In a powerful tribute to history and legacy, the program envisions the donation of an iconic photograph by Laffont to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

During his career, Laffont photographed Martin Luther King Jr. amid the Civil Rights Movement—images that were published nationally and internationally and remain enduring visual records of one of the most transformative eras in American history. 

This program is in partnership with Villa Albertine, and the Embassy of France.

Biography: Jean-Pierre Laffont

Jean-Pierre Laffont, born in Algeria in 1935, studied in Morocco before earning a master’s degree in Art and Photography from the renowned “Arts et Métiers” school in Vevey, Switzerland. He began his career in Paris as an assistant to famed photographers Sam Levin and Choura, later serving in the French Army during the Algerian War, where he received recognition for humanitarian service. After working in portrait, fashion, and film photography in Paris and Rome, Laffont moved to the United States, launching a groundbreaking career in photojournalism. He became the first U.S. correspondent for the Gamma Agency and later co-founded Sygma with his wife, Eliane. His global reporting, including the first comprehensive photo essay on child labor, earned major honors such as the World Press Award and the Madeline Ross Award. Laffont’s work has appeared in leading international publications, and in 1996 he was named Chevalier of the French Order of Arts and Letters.

Biography: Olivier Laurent

Olivier Laurent is the Deputy Director of Photography at The Washington Post, managing photo editors and staff photographers across the newsroom, with a specific emphasis on the international, climate, science and technology desks, as well as our live and breaking news operations. Previously, he was a senior photo assignment editor overseeing photo coverage across the international, climate and health & science desks, while also working with the organization’s network of worldwide correspondents and writers to offer a comprehensive international report, with a special focus on Africa, the Middle-East and Europe. Over the years, he has received multiple photo editing awards in the Best of Photojournalism and Pictures of the Year International contests, including Visual Editor of the Year in 2023. In 2019, he was part of the climate team that won the Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for the 2ºC: Beyond the Limit series, which "showed with scientific clarity the dire effects of extreme temperatures on the planet." In 2018, he coordinated the newspaper's visual coverage of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, working with Lorenzo Tugnoli, a contract photographer with the Post. The photo essay won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography as well as a World Press Photo. He joined the Post from TIME where he was the Editor of LightBox, the magazine’s photography website. LightBox provided a window into the process of how great photographs are made, and drew attention to inspiring projects and groundbreaking work by established masters and new pioneers. Previously, he was the Associate Editor for British Journal of Photography, the world’s longest running photography magazine established in 1854, and the Editor of FLTR, the first weekly magazine on smartphone photography. Born in France in 1980, he graduated from the American University of Paris in 2005 and immediately moved to London to pursue a career in journalism, starting as a financial writer for B2B publications such as Dealing With Technology and Post Magazine, before joining British Journal of Photography in 2008. He is based in Washington, D.C.

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