Finesse, topicality, and social meaning. These things can be combined, as has been proved by the The Day’s photo competition traditionally held at the Ukrainian Home for the past ten years. The first competition took place a decade ago and eventually turned to be one of the newspaper’s largest project and its calling card. Every year the jury selects the best from hundreds of photos submitted (every year their numbers increase) to form a mobile photo exhibit, for after launching it in Kyiv the The Day travels with it all over Ukraine.
Larysa Ivshyna, The Day’s editor in chief, calls this year’s exhibit a “studio of good taste. Good captions and the photographers’ professionalism are the exhibit’s invariable feature. Yet amateurs often win awards. Olha Kuznetsova received the editor’s prize for her photo I’m Fond of Watermelons. She took up photography half a year ago and her picture, albeit lacking in professionalism, radiates such positive emotions that it became the calling card of this year’s exhibit.
As was to be expected, this 10th photo exhibit had several pleasant surprises, including the newly instituted nomination The “World through the Eyes of Children.“ Young photographers appear capable of capturing more moments of joy. This is probably why visitors noticed that most photos had a positive mood, and there were more positive aspects to the exhibit in general despite a large number of photos with tragic scenes.
The competition’s Grand Prix traditionally spells a considerable sum which is presented by the Savings Bank of Russia (recently it was NRB Bank) under the aegis of Viacheslav Yutkin who is both a brilliant financier and photography buff.
This year, however, it was decided to institute the Prize of Prizes of the newspaper Zolotyi Den‘ (Golden Day). This prize will be conferred on a photo that not just accurately portrays a scene, but also arouses empathy in the viewer. The prize went to the 22-year-old Kyivite Ihor Dobrovolsky for his photo Flood Kills Three Children.
COMMENTARIES
Raisa BOHATYRIOVA, secretary, National Security and Defense Council:
I like all photos on display. We Ukrainians look so different in these photos. Some look happy, others sad, still others desperate. We look different and at the same time very much alike in the way we show our feelings. The press photographers did a great deal of work; it doesn’t take a sociologist to see what we Ukrainians are all about, what kind of nation we have, what we are after. Everything is there in these photos. I am sentimental, so I was especially impressed by a photo with a woman who has lost three children during a flood.
She is so grief-stricken. We must be more understanding and friendly to each other, for life passes so quickly. As for the political photos, quite honestly I didn’t pay much attention. I see these things every day, if not in the corridors of power where I am now, then at the Verkhovna Rada when I watch the television.
Yevhen MARCHUK, advisor to the President of Ukraine, ex-minister of foreign affairs, ex-secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, former chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU):
The overall impression from the photo exhibit is good. I saw last year’s positive, good Ukraine, although there were many tragic moments, with political cataclysms against the backdrop of calamities. Nature seemed to make our politicians ponder not only their own problems of office, but also problems of nature. I think the positive aspect is that many people in Ukraine are distancing themselves from political affiliations and concentrating on solving their own problems. On the one hand, this is proof that our people are losing confidence in their political system - and this apathy is quite understandable. Yet photos like the one with a chunk of fatback five fingers thick testifies to Ukrainian optimism.
I especially liked the photo from Simferopol entitled During Landslide. It is apparent that the photographer made it during the process. Two boys are trying to escape the calamity. One has jumped over the crack in the ground, but the other was too late, so he pushed away from the sliding mass and is reaching for his friend who is also reaching for him, trying to help him. The photographer is standing on the ground sliding down. The circumstances, the photographer’s precarious position make this photo very special.
Of course, there are optimistic photos like the one with fatback, I’m Fond of Watermelons, Control Toast, etc. The idea of the photo exhibit that marks its tenth anniversary belongs to Larysa Ivshyna. She is working hard on this project to make it the way we see it today. Also, a great deal of credit is due The Day’s team, its staff photographers and readers. By the way, a number of photographers who are currently working for Viktor and Kateryna Yushchenko, Leonid Chernovetsky, and others began their career at The Day. Other periodicals are trying to organize similar photo exhibits, but they have to go a long way to reach The Day’s standard. I’m sure that The Day’s photo competition and other such projects have a very positive meaning for Ukraine and all who come to explore them. Even though there are many sad photos, you leave with pleasant memories.
