Agence France-Presse is a proud partner of the first ever "Sportfolio", the Narbonne sports photography festival on 2-10 June.

AFP is taking part this year in the Sportfolio festival, an international event launched this year with nearly 100 sport images selected both for their artistic qualities and for the emotion they convey.

The Sportfolio festival aims to become a must for professional sports photographers and an event that sets the standard for the general public. The festival will feature “action”, “reporting”, “investigation” and “history” categories and will be awarding prizes starting next year.

This year AFP will present some 50 images depicting both professional and amateur sportsmen with the aim of showing the full range of the multi-faceted talents of its photographers. AFP covers it all, from Formula 1 racing to Nordic skiing, from soccer to cricket, from the New York marathon to sailing across the Atlantic single-handed.

The agency’s sporting images account for over half its annual output. For the London Olympics it will be deploying 70 special correspondents transmitting nearly 2,000 images in real time. A dozen remote-controlled cameras positioned at the bottom of the swimming pool and on lights over the stadium will show the games from a whole new angle.

For the 2012 Euro in Poland and Ukraine, AFP photographers will follow all 16 national squads at all times and will cover every match along with the high spirits on the terraces and outside the stadium.

“AFP has constantly innovated in imaging with cutting-edge technology and is now delighted to team up with the promising sports photography festival at the moment of its birth”, said Chairman and Chief Executive Emmanuel Hoog.