Eyedea Group, which has a reserve of over 100 million photos, held a photo exhibition at the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing in late September, showcasing the 40-year history of its renowned Gamma photo agency.

The exhibition covered significant topics from the Vietnam War to the Gulf War, tracking the leading role taken by the French company in recording history with the camera.

Gamma was established in 1967 by photographers Hubert Henrotte, Hughes Vassal and Raymond Depardon, an event that is labeled a landmark in "new journalism".

Forty years after its foundation, the Gamma photo agency, one of the three biggest such agencies in Europe, bought seven other famous image companies - Rapho, Top, Hoa-Qui, Jacana, Explorer, Keystone and Stills - to found the Eyedea Group in 2007.

At present, more than 1,000 photographers work for Gamma around the world, providing more than 500 high-quality news photos every day.

In July this year, Gamma opened its branch in China in cooperation with Xinhua News Agency, supplying photos as an agent for foreign photo services in China.

As one of its three branches, the Beijing-based Gamma China is in charge of the agency's business across the world, along with its two other branches in Paris and New York.

Gamma has, in fact, attached great importance to China since two decades ago.

In 1985, Gamma began to cooperate with Xinhua News Agency, releasing Xinhua's 300 series photos to the whole world every day.

When Deputy-Director of Xinhua News Agency Lu Wei met his Gamma counterpart, he said: "Our cooperation is very fruitful and we hope Gamma persists in its professional journalism."

Gamma staff lived up to Lu's hopes. In fact, Gamma has established its brand by taking professional news photos since the day it was founded.

Since the photo agency came into being in 1967, its young professionals rapidly took over the market in France and Europe because of their quick reaction to breaking news.

In 1972, Gamma's photos told the whole world about the hostage crisis at the Munich Olympics.

In 1981, Gamma photographers witnessed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat being assassinated in Cairo, as well as the assassination attempt on then US President Ronald Reagan. The same year, many newspapers' devoted prime space to Gamma's photos of Diana Spencer's wedding with Prince Charles.

In 1982, Gamma was the only agency that managed to take photos of Britain's attacks on Falkland Islands the minute war broke out.

Minutes after the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, Gamma photographers sent back photos of the tragedy to their copy desk, once again demonstrating Gamma's commitment to professionalism and journalism.

Since its successful entry into the US photo market, Gamma's credit along with its photographers' names have impressed readers. The agency's service has also spread to Japan and other Asian countries.

Many photographers around the world are proud of their working experience at Gamma, where the greatest photographers are born.

Sebastiao Salgado, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and an honorary member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States, is a case in point. He has received numerous prizes, including several honorary doctorates and many other accolades for his photographic work.

In fact, Salgado was one of the greatest photographers to work at Gamma. He joined the Gamma photographic agency in 1975 and worked on many stories covering almost all of Africa, Europe and Latin America.

(China Daily 11/26/2007 page16)