Jerzy Brinkhof, Exhibition’s
curator for the World Press Photo Foundation, the Netherlands
Jerzy Brinkhof, the manager of the World Press Photo Foundation in tour to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan participated to Exhibition’s opening in Astana, instructed the Erkindik Kanaty Foundation’s volunteers, prepared Opening Ceremony and a press-tour.
Jerzy Brinkhof:
This exhibition was a result of the annual photo contest, organized by the World Press Photo Foundation. Starting from 1955 the contest had become the most important within the photojournalism. We can see a selection of the best press photography of the last year. Visitors had an opportunity to see photos in diverse topics, this year we also added a new category – “Environment”.
The main goal of the photojournalism is to inform society. It provides people what is happening in the World both very close and far away, being know about places and situations they are not familiar with. While looking at the photos all together, it is hard to look at some of them, while others are positive. In the end, visitors get a very balanced picture of issues around the world. They make you stop and think, feel, and, maybe, then act. My advice is to look at your own position in relation to what you see on the pictures. Because it is always about what photographer decided to show. It is not objective. The way everybody interprets is personal. We give a good understanding about the situation but you have to make your own opinion.
Some people call the World Press Photo Exhibition as an Art, but for me it is mostly about the News; very often politics. It shows the way we deal with the war, the way we deal with the environment, the way we deal with the Human rights and any type of freedom. It all relates to politics.
The contest has strict criteria for applied works, technical ones such as using a single frame, single exposure, which influence on the whole image. The most significant rule that photos have to be real. Photographers must demonstrate the truth on the photo and provide captions, they cannot twist the information and make situation look favorably for them. Otherwise, they will be disqualified. We can honestly call those photos “the best press photography”, because judging and the guidelines are very strict, we make researches into the stories, we check every single detail for correctness, that is why public can trust what they see on the Exhibition is actually truthful.
This year we had two contest participants from Kazakhstan and one from Kyrgyzstan. The only advice I can give to photographers from Kazakhstan for winning is to send their works and join the contest.
Dana Buralkiyeva
