Photoreporter is organised by entrepreneur Alexandre Solacolu, with the aim to use public and private funds from local companies to finance the production of new bodies of work by independently selected photographers.

"The idea was to develop new resources for the creation of new photographic work, using small and medium companies as investors," Solacolu told BJP in December. "Private companies have often sponsored the work of photographers - I'm thinking mainly about banks and other financial institutions. But what I wanted to show was that you don't need a large organisation to finance photography."

For its second edition, 13 photographers were chosen from more than 300 entrants fron 46 different countries. The selected photographers are: Philip Blenkinsop (Burma before the change), Peter Dench (The British Abroad), Darcy Padilla (Drill Baby Drill), Agnès Dherbeys (Mother), Stefano Di Luigi (Reality wedding), Marie Dorigny (Women paythe price of peace), Robin Hammond (Lagos), Guy Martin (The rise of Turkish soft power), Catalina Martin Chico (Saint-Martin), Kosuke Okahara (Surviving for the existence), Claude Rives (The River Loire), J.B. Russel (An Iraqi Journey); and Donald Weber (War sand).

The photographers were chosen by an independent jury that included BJP's acting deputy editor Olivier Laurent; Gary Knight, a photographer and founding member of VII Photo; Alain Genestar of of Polka magazine; Annie Boulat, founder of Cosmos agency; and Jean-Luc Monterosso of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie.

The bodies of work will be shown for the first time during the second edition of the Photoreporter festival from 19 October to 11 November.

Didier Rapaud (pictured above), one of the festival's directors, stepped down earlier this year for "personal reasons," Le Journal de la Photographie reported.

For more information, visit www.festival-photoreporter.fr.