Alongside Joel Meyerowitz, Brian Griffin is one of the Format International Photo Festival's patron this year, and has been since 2009. In his opening speech, last night, he praised the festival's organisers for taking the lead by organising one of the most comprehensive photography festival in the UK.

"This country is so difficult. I've been a photographer for 40 years, it's so painful. It's painful place to be a photographer," he said. "Okay, we go to St-Pancras and we go down to Paris. Paris loves photography, France loves photography. We all go down there. It so wonderful to jump on a different railway system and go up here; to come to Derby. Because Derby is brave enough to do something. So many people talk about stuff, but they never do anything. The people in Derby actually make things happen."

He added: "Curatorially, institution-wise, photographically, this country is really right the way down the pecking order. Derby isn't listening to that negativity, it's getting off it's backside and doing something. It's a wonderful festival and a wonderful, wonderful time we're going to have over the next four days."

Watch a four-minute video of Brian Griffin's speech:

BJP will be providing continuous coverage of the festival until 06 March - find all related articles on our dedicated page here.