For the past thirty years, the Month of the Photo has dedicated every other month of November to major events in the art of photography. This year, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie is putting its twenty thousand contemporary pieces of work on show.

They can be seen in fifty-eight exhibitions around Paris, based on the theme “Paris collectionne” (Paris collects). Debates, conferences and symposiums are also organised by photography professionals and artists in various places, such as in the Maison de l’Amérique Latine or in the Musée d’Orsay, with an exhibition on Heinrich Kühn.

The Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson shows the collection presented to the MEP by American photographer Harry Callahan made up of over a hundred prints; while the Institut Culturel Italien presents the public with forty photographs by contemporary artist Mario Giacomelli, who died in 2000.

Other exhibitions not to miss include that in the Galerie Agathe Gaillard on accidental masterpieces, of which L’Enfant flou (Blurred Child) by Jean-Philippe Charbonnier is the best known example.

The visual author of the Month of the Photo 2010, this year’s guest of honour is Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz, famous for his transformations of unlikely matter such as earth, jam and diamonds.