Festival Photo De Maîche avec la Nature

Nature enhanced by photography

Each early September, the Parc du Château du Désert in Maîche transforms into an open-air gallery dedicated to nature and wildlife photography. The Festival Photo De Maîche avec la Nature, created in 2022, has quickly become a must-attend event for nature photography enthusiasts in the Haut-Doubs region and beyond.

A heritage setting for photography

The festival's setting is an invitation to contemplation in itself. The Château du Désert, a historic residence surrounded by a vast wooded park on the outskirts of Maîche, offers an ideal backdrop for the large-format exhibitions that line the park's pathways. The monumental prints, hung from trees and placed along the paths, create a striking dialogue between photographic art and the surrounding nature.

Over 40 photographers to discover

Since the 2024 edition, the festival has hosted over 40 photographers and artists, each offering their artistic sensibility and unique perspective on nature. The exhibitions are displayed in the castle park as well as in complementary locations such as the church and the Salle Jeanne d'Arc in Maîche. Visitors can discover works covering a wide variety of subjects: local wildlife of the Doubs, birds, mammals, insects, wild landscapes, flora, as well as distant photographic reports such as the Arctic foxes of Iceland presented by the 2024 guest of honor, Ananda Joinet.

Meet-and-greets, contests, and activities

Beyond the exhibitions, the festival offers a rich program of activities: meet-and-greets with photographers, conferences on nature and biodiversity, a photo contest open to amateurs, guided nature outings, and educational workshops. The festival is also an opportunity to raise public awareness about biodiversity conservation in the Haut-Doubs, a region rich in remarkable fauna and flora between forests, valleys, peat bogs, and rivers.

A growing festival

After two successful initial editions, the festival took on a new dimension in 2024 with the expansion of exhibition spaces and the hosting of 40 photographers. The 3rd edition in September 2025 and the 4th edition planned for 2026 confirm the event's anchoring in the cultural landscape of the Pays de Maîche and the Haut-Doubs.