Time flies, almost as much as I do.

At the beginning of this year we were all in Perpignan talking about producing a new web site (hope you like it by the way and make sure you sign up for your accreditation) for the show and looking forward to our twenty year anniversary year coming up. It seemed then that we had all the time in the world but, as ever, time slips and events happen and we find ourselves just one month away before we all gather again in sunny Perpignan and celebrate and share our passion for photography.

It has been a busy year World Press in Amsterdam, London, Milan, Paris, New York and so many more places I lose track and not to mention luggage.

I went to Arles a few weeks ago and was so pleased to see old friends and encouraged to see that photography is alive and well. A big congratulations to the team that put on this great show - we know what it takes.

If you have been tracking the web site you will see that new exhibitions are being added all the time. Recently we have added some exciting new names to the show and I am proud to have in our festival, Brent Stirton (Getty Images) images of Virunda National Park in the Congo, Bangladesh ‘ Standing on the Edge' by Munem Wasif (Vu) and Kenya - post election violence by Enrico Dagnino (2e Bureau).

The exhibitions 'Congo in Limbo' by Cédric Gerbehaye (Vu), 'The Portrait Test' by Pierre Gonnord, and an examination of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans by Kadir van Lohuizen (Noor) will feature at Visa pour l'Image.

We also look forward to a great body of work from AFP between 1989 and 2008 as well as a selection of the five best entries in the Grand Prix CARE International du Reportage Humanitaire contest for pictures that highlight situations or abuses of human rights. The winner of the 2008 CARE contest will be revealed during the Visa pour l'Image event. The work of Axelle de Russé (winner of the 2007 Canon AFJ Award for female photojournalists) on the return of concubines in Chinese society will also feature.

To celebrate the 20th Visa pour l'Image festival, which began in 1989, another key part of the programme for 2008 is a series of special features put together in association with leading magazines and the world's leading photojournalists. Recent additions to this major programme are Nina Berman (Redux Pictures) who is shooting for The Sunday Times Magazine on 'Homeland, USA'; Stanley Greene (Noor), who will be producing a report on drug smuggling routes from Afghanistan for the Russian Reporter Magazine; and The Iraqi Diaspora' by Paolo Pellegrin (Magnum Photos) for Vanity Fair.

The two headlining exhibitions at the 2008 Visa festival are ‘This is War' featuring the work of legendary Life magazine photographer David Douglas Duncan and a major Horst Faas retrospective ‘Horst Faas, 50 years of Photojournalism' that covers the long career of the former Keystone Picture Agency and Associated Press photographer.

As you can see the team have been working very hard to be able to present this work to you and we continue to burn the midnight oil all the way up to our Welcome launch at the Hotel Pams.

Then it is your show. It will be great to see you all very soon.