Seventeen years of photographed history, 115 photo exhibits in Ukrainian cities and towns, 778 award-winning photographers. On top of it, 35 cities that housed the photo exhibits, and 335,000 kilometers of roads from Chernihiv to Sevastopol to Uzhhorod to Donetsk. Just a few impressive facts about Den’s International Photo Competition, dating back to September 15, 1998.
All these years, Den has been demonstrating Ukrainian photographers’ best achievements, setting pace for budding authors, and stimulating renowned masters to expand their artistic horizons. According to the participants of the competition, they cannot wait till November, when the exhibit of the best works traditionally opens. This is Ukraine’s only platform where they can socialize, size up the year’s top achievements and – last but not least – receive impressive awards, since Den’s competition has an unprecedented prize fund. The viewers, in their turn, keep calling and mailing the editorial office to say that they are looking forward to seeing the outcome of the competition because it offers “a substantially different view of the country.”
Sunday, September 18, ought to have been the deadline for submission of works to this year’s contest. However (and despite the fact that on Den’s 20th anniversary an unprecedented high number of works have been submitted), the jury announced that the deadline would be extended till September 30. First of all, it was done to satisfy the requests of some authors, who are now in the ATO zone and were not able to meet the deadline. We would like to remind our readers that the terms of our competition can be seen on Den/The Day’s website, on the pages of this newspaper, and on our pages in social networks. The quality of the content remains the key criterion of works. As Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna put it, “the submitted photographs must be more than just one’s own picture.”
“Photography is an immense force accumulating huge senses. A photo is only admitted to the contest when it has something more than just one’s own picture. There is the photographer’s energy, his sharp eye that can see through, into the depth of the subject,” remarked Ivshyna in her foreword to the glossy supplement Route No. 1. The Country’s Photo Biennial. “It seems to me that photographers are so taciturn just because they have shown everything in their pictures. The only thing that the viewers need to do is to read the photo.”
THE PHOTO-DEN’S HARVEST. FIVE COLLECTIONS OF BEST WORKS BY WINNERS AND MEDALISTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PHOTO COMPETITION HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED SINCE ITS LAUNCH 18 YEARS AGO / Photo collage by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day
According to Mykola Tymchenko, jury member and Den/The Day’s photo editor, last year’s statistics for the competition were striking: nearly 200 participants submitted over 3,200 works. However, this year – when the paper marks its 20th anniversary – there could be even more submissions. “A lot of reportage photos were submitted from the ATO zone. Pictures of our troops, their housing conditions, their morale, and the photos of local residents who have to run for dear life and take shelter during bombardments, are sent by both professional photographers and amateurs,” tells Tymchenko. “However, most works are not only about war. The pictures show this year’s milestones for our country. The contents, perspective, focus, and general composition of some photographs promise an unbelievably impressive and strong exhibit this year.”
Stanislav Kozliuk became one of the discoveries of past year’s competition. By the jury’s decision he received five awards simultaneously, in particular, for his work Uneven Fight from VeganoHooliganoFamily cafe and the chain of vegan supermarkets, and for The Anniversary of Maidan, from the Georgia-Ukraine Art and Culture Center. Kozliuk has already submitted his works for this year’s competition, is waiting for the jury’s decision, and urges other photographers to hurry up.
“I have been submitting my works for Den’s photo contest for three years in a row. The other day, I sent 25 recent works, some of my best. I hope the jury will reward them,” said Kozliuk in his comment to Den/The Day. “Sadly enough, Ukraine is slipping out of the limelight on the international arena. With the end of the active phase of war the world loses interest instantly, cynical as it sounds. Foreign media ask for photo reportages only when fighting flares up. If you do not capture the moment of shelling, the fight self, then Western media are practically not interested in the shots. And while the world, the West in particular, is becoming crueler and more cynical, in Ukraine these photos remain in demand. And not only war shots, not only shots of fighting. Den is a leader in this attitude.”
Kozliuk says that most of Ukrainian photo reporters maintain friendly contacts, there is a certain sort of solidarity, and they follow each other’s artistic achievements. The nation’s chief photo contest, Den’s competition, is for all of them an important platform for consolidating their efforts.
“I absolutely agree with Den’s standpoint that today a photo must be something more than just a picture, a mere illustration, a document. A top quality photograph must be socially loaded, it must get across an idea, a clear message to society. These are crucial criteria. And it is such shots that are the hardest to capture,” continues Kozliuk. “A photo without a message is no photo. I, for one, not merely take pictures. I write stories to go with them. I must confess that I noticed more than once that you can write several pages of text, yet it will never have such a strong impact as one picture: for instance, that of amber-diggers. You can describe over and over again how the woods are destroyed by illegal amber-mining. Or you can take one photo, and land onto Den/The Day’s front page and in its photo exhibit.”
COMMENTARIES
Oleksandr KLYMENKO, photographer, holder of the Golden Day Prize of Prizes, Den’s Photo Competition 2015:
“No flattery meant: Den’s photo exhibits have always been incredibly cool, they are unique in Ukraine. I am very thankful to Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna, due to whom the International Photo Competition and the subsequent photo exhibit take place. Photography is, generally speaking, very subjective stuff. I am an experienced photographer, to put it mildly. I have seen millions of pictures and have taken thousands, which is why it is hard to judge which is the best of them all. But personally I find the winning photos in this competition really the best. Traditionally, lots of works from each exhibit are imprinted in my memory.”
Natalia KRAVCHUK, photographer, holder of the Golden Day Prize of Prizes, Den’s Photo Competition 2013:
“Den’s International Photo Competition is Ukraine’s only and oldest photo contest. It is great that it exists. It seems to me that some government support would come in handy, as the competition self and the subsequent photo exhibit are possible only thanks to the personal initiative of Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna, while public support could open new horizons. What our country has been doing in the recent years, Den’s editor-in-chief has done for two decades. I would like to see Den’s future photo contests reach the heights of World Press Photo. It totally deserves this.”
Mykola TYMCHENKO, Den/The Day’s photography editor, holder of the Grand Prix of Den’s Photo Competition 2014:
“Den’s photo competition has always been a big event. Lots of colleagues show new aspects of their work to me. I know many of them, and I am more or less aware of what they do and what and where they publish. But it is the photo competition that allows me to estimate the scale of the work they have been doing. Many of the pictures do not fit into the standards of the media where they work, or they are working on a special theme, developing entire projects and submitting them to our photo contest. So I am glad I can see this, can learn more about my friends and colleagues, about their work and their ideas. Den’s competition discovers new names. There were a few remarkable cases when a photographer submitted his work for the first time in the nomination ‘World through the Eyes of Children,’ in other words, when they were still under age; and later they grew professionally until they got the Grand Prix. These processes could go unnoticed by broad public, but we know these stories from the inside. That is why I will not say that we are creating a competition field; I would rather say that we are shaping solidarity environment. You saw photographers jump for joy when their colleagues were awarded, didn’t you?”
