Ideally nestled in an old building near the Castle of Nyon and located on a charming square, FOCALE is one of the oldest places in Switzerland entirely dedicated to photography. Its history is above all that of a passion. In 1982, two darkroom enthusiasts, Daniel Baudraz and Constantin Fernandez, set themselves a magnificent challenge by opening a non-profit gallery, intended to promote expressive photography. Their desire was to privilege a rather realistic approach of the medium, close to documentary photography or photo-reportage but including an aesthetic research of quality bordering on the poetic and generating emotional reactions. The FOCALE spirit was born.

Later, wishing to stimulate meetings between professionals and the general public in love with the image, the two founders created in 1985 the FOCALE Association. In 1989, next to the gallery, a specialized bookshop opened its doors. With time, FOCALE has become a quality label, a convivial meeting place, a concrete crossroads dedicated to photography, whose reputation has gradually spread beyond the Swiss borders.

About ten exhibitions are organized each year in the FOCALE gallery, which has had the pleasure of welcoming photographers from all over Europe as well as from the USA, Mexico, Paraguay, Cuba and Russia. Famous photographers such as Robert Frank, Leonard Freed, Mario Giacomelli and Gilbert Garcin have presented their works.
However, as one of the main vocations of the association is to support and encourage young talent, FOCALE has always made it a point of honour to welcome in its gallery professionals who are still little known or in the process of being recognized.


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.