There is nothing more French than this small village in the Loir Valley—not to be confused with the Loire Valley—where our “good” kings would come to taste the pleasures of the flesh on the banks of the Loir. It is in this charming locale that Odile Andrieu organized the 8th edition of the Promenades photographiques de Vendôme.

Last year, a Gustave Le Gray print broke records when it sold for 917,000€. This year, bidders kept their heads. The photograph “Pierre Écoutant” by the Brothers Nadar-Tournachon, estimated at 12,000€, fetched 50,000€ following an intense battle between long-distance buyers, glued to their phones and computer screens.

Another big winner of the night was the French national library, which picked up Maurice Tabard’s archives for use in a future exhibition. Sadly, I missed out on bidding for a charming set of naughty photographs because I was on duty for the Prix Mark Grosset. This prize honors the memory of Mark Grosset by rewarding the work of student photographers in their last year of study. Founded in 2007 after the untimely death of Mark Grosset, the prize has two categories: “Reportage” and “Visual Arts”. The jury met on Friday night in the stables where the 23 submissions were on display.

Throughout the entire summer, the town fills with more than 20 exhibitions: a group show about vacations on the Rue de Change, Laurent Villeret’s Héliotropes at the museum, Robert Charles Mann’s pinhole photographs, and an exhibition of photography by inmates, presented by the Atelier PEM in the local abbey.

Every year at Vendome a photography star is featured. This year, viewers had the pleasure of seeing Sebastian Salgado’s La main de l’homme and Les couleurs des années noires by the Farm Security Administration.

The cell phone pictures by the Syrian Mulham Al Jundi pale next to these two series. This young Syrian documented the aftermath of a visit by Syrian troops. A few of the pictures are remarkable, but there are 200 of them! A selection would have been nice—not to mention a reminder of those reporters who lost their lives for the necessity to bear witness.

Unable to attend last year, this was my first opportunity to see Prix ANI 2001 winner Maïté Guerrero’s series on the blind. It’s a sensitive—even visionary—work, which is a real compliment coming from a visually impaired person like yours truly. This year Aline Manoukian, president of the National Association of Iconographers (ANI) awarded the prize to Cyrus Cornut, a young photographer who already caught the eye of many professionals.

Another interesting exhibition captures Albania as seen by Miraprospekt, a group of six photographers of six different nationalities: Gilles Roudière, Georg Knoll, Sebastian Laraia, Jan Michalko, Andreas Pein and Jan Zappner. They offer complementary perspectives on this country whose dictator was said to fear that, “his mountains would be stolen from him.”

Finally, after we climb a steep path, we arrive at the chateau overlooking the town. It’s a magnificent view. The park features the Frédéric Froger’s golf pictures and another surprise: wildebeest migration photos taken by the wildlife photographers Denis-Huot. These two exhibitions couldn’t have been shown in a better setting!

This 8th edition of the festival nearly didn’t taken place after Nikon pulled out as a sponsor. Luckily, the organizers were able to find others before it was too late. But it’s clear that in order to survive, the festival will need more funding. One more thing: the Promenades de Vendôme is a youth magnet. Private donors and others should take notice.

For a more exhaustive review of the festival, read the full version of this article on the French version of La Lettre.