As soon as our editorial board announced it was accepting submissions for the Den’s 19th International Photo Competition, amateurs and professionals from all over the country began to send their works in droves. Let us recall that we invite professional photographers, photojournalists, and amateur photographers, including children under 18, to participate in the photo competition. We accept black-and-white and color photos of exhibition quality (not less than 3,000 pixels on the larger side, with the size of the file not less than 3 MB) in electronic format, but no more than 20 works from a participant. One needs to add a completed questionnaire to the pictures. Works will be accepted until September 17. For more details, see the following link: https://day.kyiv.Ua/uk/content/hvii-mizhnarodnyy-fotokonkurs-gazety-den.
For many years, Alina Komarova (director of photography of the newspaper Priazovskiy Rabochiy, who regularly works in the ATO area) has followed and taken part in Den’s photography competition. It was her work The Survivor that led the pack in the nomination Audience Award in many regions of this country where Den’s Photo Exhibition was invited past year. In addition, it was Mariupol photographer Komarova’s The Survivor along with Anastasia Ivanova’s photo Beside a Friend’s Grave that received a special award of the exhibition from Ukraine’s representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group and First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko. We asked Komarova how the Ukrainian photojournalism had changed after the beginning of the war with Russia and what works she would submit to our competition this time. “There are no boys and girls on the frontlines, there are no men and women there, they are all professionals at their jobs. Mutual help is a saving grace in many situations, not only among photographers, but also with journalists in general. We work very amicably there, with all of us united by our job, because everyone actually understands that we work for one purpose in the end, so all the colleagues with whom I have to work together at the front act as if we are one team. The support coming from soldiers also helps. They understand the peculiarities of our work, appreciate and respect it. It is really important for soldiers that journalists come to them and tell honest stories about the war,” Komarova said.
“I have learned many things which I would rather never learn, as one needs to understand, for instance, what a 120 mm mortar is and how to identify it by the sound of its shells flying. Over the war years, I have had to learn a lot of military terminology and realities. First of all, I needed it for myself, to be able to escape danger. People who go to the ATO area on work assignments always have to work a lot. Of course, we did not think that there would be a war, and were not ready for it. However, the Ukrainian journalism should be on the side of the Ukrainian military today. Only then can we win. I said on a previous occasion that a professional photojournalist had to work on the frontlines at least once. No matter how scary it is, it is necessary. The frontline experience helps journalists to feel the essence of the tragedy and the level of danger.”
Your works impressed visitors of 2016 Den’s Photo Exhibition. Are you already selecting photos for this year’s competition?
“Yes, I know that Den has already announced the start of the competition. However, it is growing ever stronger by the year, and one needs to be at an appropriate professional level. I am speaking sincerely and frankly now – one must carefully and self-critically review one’s fresh work and assess if one really has something that deserves to enter Den’s exhibition, to be seen by tens of thousands of people from all over Ukraine. You attract both amateurs and very strong professional participants. Thanks to a professional jury, the ultimate selection includes only the best photographers of the country. I hope that some work of mine will make it this year as well. Probably it will be something military-themed, because I am working in the warzone a lot now.
“In fact, Den offers the most powerful incentive for young photojournalists. I have followed the competition from the very start. It is very important that you have long gone beyond Kyiv. People see you coming to the provinces. However, I am absolutely convinced that this exhibition is needed not only in Ukraine – from small towns and villages to big cities – but also abroad. It is very powerful and important, and everyone comes to look at it, young and old alike, and soldiers often visit your exhibitions as well. I now recall how 2016 Den’s Photo Exhibition arrived in Mariupol and Sloviansk... and I realize that, absolutely without exaggeration, this is one of the important components of our ultimate victory.”
