
Across Lake Geneva in 22 hours
On 6 August 1986, Alain Charmey from Vaud became the first person to swim the entire length of Lake Geneva. A press photographer was on the spot to capture the moment.


Alain Charmey shortly before the start in Villeneuve. Swiss National Museum / ASL
Coverage by RTS from 6 August 1986. The video shows Charmey taking on some much-needed nutrition while in the water. YouTube / RTS

The press photo agency ASL

Actualités Suisses Lausanne (ASL) was founded by Roland Schlaefli in 1954, and until its closure in 1999 was the leading press photo agency in western Switzerland. In 1973, Schlaefli also took over the archive of Agentur Presse Diffusion Lausanne (PDL), founded in 1937. The holdings of the two agencies comprise approximately six million images (negatives, prints, slides). In the broad range of subjects covered, there is a focus on federal politics, sport and western Switzerland. The agency opted not to take the step into the digital age. Since 2007, the archives of ASL and PDL have been held by the Swiss National Museum. The blog presents, in a loose chronology, images and photo sequences that particularly stood out when the collections were being recatalogued.