The Day’s photojournalist Mykola Lazarenko received two awards at once at the InterFoto International Photo Exhibition in Moscow. His work titled At the Meeting of Vladimir Putin and Leonid Kuchma ranked third in Russia’s Press Photo contest’s most prestigious nomination, News- Photo. His second photo, The Rain, which brought him a prize from the editor-in-chief at Den’/The Day’s Fifth Photo Contest under the title, Private Territory, won the silver prize in the City Festivals nomination of the My Canon contest among professionals. It is noteworthy that this year, according to the jury’s decision, first place among professionals was not adjudged to anybody in this contest, which means that Mykola Lazarenko is the winner. Though he shared his second place with a Russian colleague, they both received sophisticated photo cameras with a long name, EF 70-200 MM 1:4 L USM.
Mr. Lazarenko shared his impressions of the contest and plans for the future in an interview with his newspaper:
“What does a victory in such a prestigious contest mean to you?”
“To a certain extent it means self-assertion. Getting emotional feedback from ordinary people is one thing, and being assessed by professionals is quite different. In the case of Russia’s Press Photo contest, [the jury members] were the Associated Press and Time magazine photojournalists, Russian Ogonyok magazine photo editors, and so forth. They are true authorities whose opinion is important for photo artists.”
“Which international photo contest would you like to win most?”
“The most prestigious one for any professional photographer is the World Press Photo held in Amsterdam. Winning this contest is like receiving a photo Oscar.”
“What are the main criteria for winning photo? Does an author somehow feel that a certain picture is destined to win?”
“I don’t think so. Any competition is, after all, a matter of subjective judgment. There are many criteria on which the jury’s decision depends. The InterFoto founder Lucian Perkins has spent 18 years working to receive his highest award. The victory depends on the level of the event, on the jury members. Some believe that if the jury members assess the same photo in the morning or at night, the results can be totally different. Thus, winning a competition is in a sense like winning a lottery. However, there are pictures destined to be winners.”
Den’/The Day’s staff congratulates our colleague on his double victory and wishes for the jury of all prestigious contests to always make unanimous decisions in his favor.
THE DAY’S REFERENCE
InterFoto is a Russian-American non-profit organization founded in 1995. Its main activity is holding the Russia’s Press Photo Annual Contest and Moscow Annual InterFoto International Festival of Professional Photography. Its founders are Lucian Perkins, Washington Post staff photo correspondent, winner of the World Press Photo contest and two Pulitzer prizes, who was named the Newspaper Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association, and Bill Swersey. The information on the InterFoto is released by email and along with a database containing over 6000 addresses of professional photographers, journalists, students, amateurs, design and advertisement professionals, foreign journalists accredited in Russia and other CIS countries, and the editors of Russian regional and central print media. The contest becomes more popular with each passing year: last year the organization received over 2300 works, up 30% from 2001.
