CONTACT
CZECH PHOTO o.p.s., 110 00 Praha 1, Rytířská 10
E-mail: czech.photo@volny.cz
FAX:
+420 236 002 828
GSM:
organizační záležitosti: Zdena Poděbradská +420 605 228 483, Lenka Tůmová +420 603 177 792
obrazový materiál, web: Jiří Kocián +420 602 259 249
ředitelka soutěže: Daniela Mrázková +420 723 310 978
CZECH PRESS PHOTO
Czech Press Photo competition and the subsequent exhibition yield an independent and authentic visual testimony about life at home and abroad as seen by professional photojournalists living in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The purpose of the annual competitions and exhibitions, which have been in existence since 1995, is to enable the public to become direct witnesses of events and phenomena that took place during the previous year, to motivate photographers to a more personal approach in their everyday work routine and to stimulate the development of the media of photography. Czech Press Photo facilitates the exposure of photographs, which for various reasons and despite its qualities, do not get published in the media. In the interest of impartiality the work is judged by an independent international jury of experts, which changes every year. Czech Press Photo supports the interest in photojournalism as a tool of interpersonal understanding and recognition.
Introduction by the Director of Czech Press Photo
Czech press photo is a challenge
“I would wish my accomplished image transcend literal truth by intensifying its truthful accuracy, indicating even of the spirit and symbolising more.”
W.E.Smith
Photojournalism or picture journalism, whose modern image has been developing since the second half of the 1920s, is not just a simple visual recording of events and happenings, but goes beyond the visible reality. The photographer is not just an ordinary registrar of facts anymore but he immerses himself in the action and interprets it through his feelings, character, education and his whole personality. Words like “to see”, “experience” and “to convey a message” are interconnected in his images. The documentary principle of photojournalism thus acquires emotional and rational dimensions marked by the photographer, who thus becomes a valuable witness. Unfortunately, modern photojournalism did not always and not everywhere have the opportunity to develop because, after all, the quality of journalism and photojournalism is only proportionate to the quality of democracy. That is the reason why, after the Nazis seized power in Germany, photojournalism became the victim of demagogy and totalitarianism and its main founding personalities moved to Britain and the USA. That is the reason why photojournalism was suffocated in Soviet Russia right from the beginning and replaced by a state propaganda. And that is also the reason why photojournalism was stifled for a long time in the countries of Europe and other continents, which adopted totalitarian systems of all kinds and names. When in 1995, Czech Press Photo and the following exhibition entered its first year, it was with the credo “to yield independent visual testimony of life”. The word ‘independent’ played a key role in the formulation of the credo and it did not only mean the fact that after more than forty years of serving the communist propaganda, Czech and Slovak journalistic photography finally had the opportunity to record visual testimonies regardless of political systems. Furthermore, it wanted to be independent from the expanding commercialism and the tabloisation of the media, from the fast establishing „picture industry“, from the many pressures on newspaper offices, from this or that taste and even from the indifference of the media. Right from its beginnings, Czech Press Photo wanted to be a platform for photographers‘ personal testimonies, including those the media had rejected for one reason or another. Today, fifteen years later, we can state that we are doing well. The competition has become an important platform for the confrontation of the qualities of photographers’ work; it inspires them to a more intensive performance and even provokes them to work on non-commissioned stories for which they have to find a publisher later. It often happens that the international jury’s appraisal and the public appreciation of the exhibitions can revive media interest in something they had rejected earlier. Another big ambition with which Czech Press Photo started its existence - “to enable the general public to eyewitness the happenings and trends of the previous year” – has also been achieved. The high attendance at the annual exhibitions is the proof. All generations of people come: whole families, schools and expeditions from all corners of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They stand in front of the photographs in quiet contemplation, or they discuss them with excitement, they laugh, they cry and read the accompanying texts with interest. Some even return several times in succession. What more can we wish for? After all, however much a photographer is devoted to his mission to share his testimony, the most he can do is to address a receptive viewer with all the means in his power. Even the most brilliant work is meaningless without the will of the viewer to understand it. The popularity of Czech Press Photo, which apart from the awards in the eight competition categories, the Photograph of the Year title, the Prague Mayor‘s special scholarship the Grant of Prague and various company awards, has gradually led to the establishment of other prizes and so enriching Czech Press Photo’s content and its impact on the viewer. In the eighth year of the competition, the International Jury was joined by the Children’s Jury, organised by the Czech Committee for Unicef, to select the Children’s Award. And lo, the first children’s jury’s choice was a shocking surprise, first for the adults and later for the public: no cuddly animals, no admiration for sports achievements or celebrities; but after a considerate, adult-like discussion, there emerged the picture of a small Afghan boy holding a gun: “ we thought it was terrible that such a small boy would hold a weapon that could kill”, explained the children. And more surprises came in the following years. Doesn’t it say something very important about a child’s soul? In 2005, the first UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) prize was awarded and helped to highlight one of the biggest problems of our world: the tragedy of people who are forced to leave their homes. This award, which the United Nations office publicises internationally, also stirs a reaction from the Czech public. The Audience Award – the result of public voting - is a phenomenon, which deserves a special attention. It is just as though it was designed for psychological and sociological analysis. The prize, which is only disclosed after the exhibition in Prague ends, has been in existence since 2002 and inspires thought; whether we like it or not. Which photographs have the biggest impact on the viewers? What is the nature of their appeal? What is their communication role? Each year the results are surprising. Jan Sibik’s picture from 2002 “Al-Qaeda and Taliban Prisoners” was evidently appreciated primarily for its aesthetic qualities – executed in beautiful Rembrandt-like chiaroscuro – while the aftermath of the terrorist attack on New York the previous year also played a subconscious role in the impact of the photograph. A year later, the award went to Karel Cudlin for his picture “Vaclav Havel is leaving” and in this choice, apart from the respect for the president who was leaving office, the public might have sensed the closing of a chapter of a revolutionary epoch full of euphoria and hope, which was to end with Havel‘s departure from office. According to the psychologist Cyril Hoschl, satisfaction played a part in the choice of the portrait of the incurably ill minister Pavel Dostal by Jan Zatorsky, which won the Audience Award in 2005. Apart from feelings of compassion for the minister looking up into some new worlds just before his death, the psychologist says that the key role in the choice of the images was the feeling of relief that ‘it was not me” or “not yet”. And Michael Krumphanzl’s picture of the eighteen year old mentally handicapped Adelka Strakova, who received the Golden Lifesavers Cross for saving a child from freezing to death? The picture won the Audience Award 2008 probably thanks to the intoxicating smile on the girl’s face, President Klaus’ obvious embarrassment and not in the least for the handicapped girl‘s expression of unrestrained joy. Very interesting thing about this prize is also the fact that every year the winning picture gets a higher numbers of votes than all the other pictures and that therefore it is not a play of chance but of a strange accord in people’s reactions. It appears that thanks to the technological changes in the media, an important phenomenon of the last two decades, the nature and the role of photojournalism have been changing significantly. Or perhaps photojournalism is losing its importance. It’s even possible that the printed press could cease to exist tomorrow and its role will be taken over by the Internet. These days,the ubiquitous digital cameras with sound recording facility already generate the web version of newspapers and magazines and the extended parallel of television broadcasting. After all, people are now used to looking for everything - from information to education to entertainment - on the net... But appearances are deceptive. Despite everything, the phenomenon of the static photographic image still remains irreplaceable. The power of a moment frozen in a peak instance is invincible and the expressiveness of a series of these frozen instances is unmistakeable. Lets compare the effects of a TV recording and a photograph presenting the same situation. What is more likely to stay in our memory? What will remain as our visual symbol? Answers to these questions can be found at the Czech Press Photo exhibitions, where people attentively watch the visual testimonies of what they had already seen on television, read in the press and heard on the radio. But here, they can stop and contemplate the images, discover other meanings, communicate with them... And so, regardless of what technology may be producing photojournalism in the future and disseminate it with whatever carrier, its nature and objectives will remain the same: to go after the visible reality and - as W.E. Smith would say - to witness the ‘inner truth” of events and phenomena. This is precisely why it is so important that Czech Press Photo continues reflecting the widest possible scale of possibilities in visual language and opens the door to not only a classical reportage and document but also to conceptual, comparative forms of expression and subjective manifestations – obviously with the exclusion of image manipulation. And this is also why it is important to motivate students and college graduates from institutions with focus on photography and art towards the broadening of the expressive and stylistic range of photojournalism and to introduce new, fresh talent to the media world. After all, the language of photojournalism has to continue developing to be able to communicate with the digital age public. The important guarantee of all these efforts is the International Jury, renewed annually. Firstly it guarantees independence and fair assessment; something the homegown jury cannot. Secondly, because it is composed of reputable photographers, editors and art directors, curators, educators, art historians and gallerists, it asseses the work from all possible angles. And in my opinion, that is the only way to get optimal results. In the end I have to reveal one big wish of mine, the Head of International Juries Andrej Reiser’s and of all the jurists to this day: it is the ambition of Czech Press Photo to be a showcase of all the rich potential of contemporary photojournalism. I am pleased that some kind of a dialogue about the use of this potential has already began with our media. The basic prerequisites are already in place: the photographers - talented, educated, sensitive, inventive and devoted to their mission. And so is the public, interested in learning. Lets hope that with a joint effort we can overcome the differences in ethical interests between the commercial aims of publishers and the aims of media editors. Because ethics should mean the same to both sides.
Daniela Mrazkova
Remarks by the Chairman of the International Juries CPP
There are several reasons to be proud
The fifteen-year duration of Czech Press Photo competitions is in itself a success. How many competitions start and disappear before they become established? If the fifteen-year duration of Czech Press Photo were its only success, I wouldn’t be, together with all the others who take the credit for its existence, so proud. But there are other aspects, viewed from different angles, which entitle me to be proud:
Aspect of non-provincialism of CPP
In the second year of the competition, the organisers decided to start inviting renowned personalities from the international photography scene as jury members. Since then, photographers from some of the best media in the world, picture editors from the biggest and most influential newspapers and magazines, directors of famous picture agencies, museums and universities come to Prague every October to deliberate for three days, from early morning to late night, looking at several thousand images, and to decide, after many hours of intensive work, which photographs are the best. And so it happens that a good number of personalities, whose names read like the entries in WHO IS WHO of the international media world, have been meeting in Prague for the last fifteen years.
Educational aspect
I dare say that the presence of these jurors is of a significant educational benefit to Czech, Slovak and other photographers. The winning photographs, presented every year in a large exhibition at the Old Town Hall in Prague, are in themselves an exclusive textbook on how to work with photography and how to put together good compelling stories with a good selection of photographs, often even by reducing the number of pictures in the set. Every photographer can gain an invaluable experience from the annual Czech Press Photo exhibitions. It is an experience, which sadly the majority of our photography schools and newspaper and magazine offices, which work with images taken by Czech and Slovak photographers, do not offer in such intensity and concentration.
Chance to break into the world aspect
It happens from time to time that a photographer’s participation in the competition develops into a successful cooperation with the world’s media. After all, many of the jury members who come to judge Czech Press Photo are important commissioning editors of photographic projects. And so Czech Press Photo has also become a source of professional opportunities for many young talented Czech and Slovak professional photographers. This way Czech Press Photo offers a chance to break through and be successful in the field of international photojournalism.
Czech and Slovak aspect
It’s not by accident that I keep mentioning Czech and Slovak photographers for whom the competition has been intended right from the beginning. The firm decision by the organisers of Czech Press Photo not to break the continuity of the many years of joint development of Czech and Slovak photojournalism is a very important and positive aspect for me.
Benefit for the Capital City of Prague aspect
Since its beginnings, one of the main awards in the competition has been the Grant of Prague. It is a one-year grant, which provides funds for long-term photographic projects documenting the Capital and its transition from all angles. At first glance, there is nothing unusual in this. But from the aspect of the passing of time, this documentation of Prague will, in the following decades, become an invaluable historical photographic archive. Which other city can boast with such blueprint mapping the various aspects of its development and changes?
Aspect of Czech Press Photo exhibition as a mass cultural event
Czech Press Photo competition is not intended solely for professional photographers. Thanks to the annual exhibition, where people can see the best photographs showing contemporary life, Czech Press Photo has become a mass cultural event when up to forty thousand people visit the exhibition at the Old Town Hall in Prague. Which other cultural happening – perhaps with the exception of pop music festivals – can claim such success with the broadest range of people?
Aspect of Czech Press Photo exhibitions as a vehicle for national publicity
As is well known, the Czech Republic and Slovakia spend significant resources on its international publicity. Czech Press Photo exhibitions, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been presenting in various parts of the world for fifteen years, easily fulfil the propaganda objectives of both countries, effectively and for free. Isn’t it great?
Andrej Reiser
Comments from members of the International Juries CPP
“For many years now I have been looking forward to the four days when friendships and hospitality allow me to forget long and tiring hours of work,
Four days when I discover things about the world, particularly about the Czech Republic and Slovakia,
Four days when I can listen to people who view photographs from so many different angles,
Four days when my faith in the power of the media is strengthened even more,
Four days for which I wait impatiently every year: the days of the Czech Press Photo jury.”
Peter Korniss, photographer,
International Advisory Board World Press Photo,
Member of International Jury Czech Press Photo 1996-2009
“The level of the Czech Press Photo competition has been very high all through its existence. The International Jury has the opportunity to see the majority of important events of the year through the eyes of talented and professionally engaged photographers. Thanks to the good selection of competition categories, various photographic styles and trends are represented here, along with the traditionally strong Czech and Slovak documentary photography. Such competitions and exhibitions as Czech Press Photo are highly important for photographers because they inspire them and enable them to showcase their best work independently from media commissions.”
Peter Korniss, photographer
Member of International Advisory Board World Press Photo, Hungary
Member of International Jury Czech Press Photo 1996-2009
"Czech Press Photo provides a showcase for photography that all too often goes unrecognised. As the media increasingly plays a less important role in supporting photojournalists, it is crucial that Czech Press Photo continues to champion their cause. I never fail to be impressed by the standard of entries, which stand as a testament to the vitality and strength of contemporary Czech photography. I look forward with anticipation for what the next 15 years will bring.”
Adrian Evans, director of Panos Pictures, Great Britain,
member of International Jury Czech Press Photo 2005-2006, 2008-2009
“I was caught by surprise by the high quality of photographs in the Czech Press Photo competition. I didn’t expect it. Now I know that the standard of photographers is very high, the photographic language varied and rich, and that many photographers submit very interesting works with new, unconventional and effective photojournalistic language. The attention to new forms makes Czech Press Photo not only a remarkable journalistic competition and exhibition but also a platform for the pursuit and presentation of new forms of expression. Furthermore, the organisation, which stands behind the competition, is excellent. No neurosis or chaos, but highly professional work by all members of the organisational team, so the work of the jury flows in calm, warm atmosphere and the debates over the photographs are businesslike and instructive for all jurors, leading to the only objective: to reward the best of the best. By the way, the decision to engage an international jury to judge the competition is an excellent idea because it gives the winners a worldwide reputation. I am even a little jealous that the Czechs and the Slovaks have such a prestigious competition; we Italians don’t have anything even similar. Finally, let me say that competitions which showcase the qualities of independent journalism, as Czech Press Photo undoubtedly is, are very important because they represent milestones of democracy.”
Ellio Piazza, professor Milano University, editor Fotografia, Italy
Member of International Jury Czech Press Photo 2007-2009
“Czech photography is marked by a certain propensity for honesty, a courageous attitude to truth: so vital to press and documentary photography, it is also the source of vitality – that much is evident when we survey the fifteen years of Czech Press Photo. It is hard work, keeping a world-class competition fresh and energetic year after year: it is not invidious to call out Daniela and her team for congratulations. Respected competitions such as Czech Press Photo reward achievement, bring young talent to the world stage and help reinforce the highest standards of skill and ethics. But the true value and the measure of Daniela’s vision, is that the parade of meritorious work is both a document of contemporary life whose value will grow with the years; and it is a testament to the valour, commitment and skill of Czech press photographers.
Tom Ang, photographer, publicist,
professor at University of Westminster, Great Britain
Member of International Jury Czech Press Photo 1998 and 2009
“I didn’t expect the high quality of photographs I encountered in the Czech Press Photo competition. It wasn’t just the sense for key moments, the basic stones with which to build a story and for composition, but also for the gentle sense of humour, poetry, the grotesque and absurdity – it all surprised and captured me. A great experience.”
Christopher Morris, photographer VII Agency, USA
Member of International Jury Czech Press Photo 2007
“Czech photographers have been participating in the formation of photographic history from the start of its existence. I particularly like Josef Sudek and Josef Koudelka. I welcomed the invitation to Czech Press Photo jury because I was curious to see who the current talent were. And I wasn’t disappointed! Competitions are very important, especially photographic ones. They open the door to new styles of work, new approaches and they encourage. Without competitions, many excellent images wouldn’t be known. Photojournalistic competitions are not only about style, but mainly about content. The objective of these photographs is to inform through an articulate, unforgettable image. At the same time, the photographer has to remember that our world is going through significant changes. The new generation has been growing up with video, video clips and You Tube and their visual culture has been formed by commerce and advertising. The public is used to communicating through images and understands visual concepts. Photographers now have to address the new public in ways to captivate them. Journalistic photography has reached a milestone. New technology and the mass production of images are putting pressure on professional photographers. Photojournalism of the 21st century has to look for new ways. Czech and Slovak photographers have all the prerequisits to join this movement. And Czech Press Photo competitions are helping them.”
Ruth Eichhorn, Art Director GEO magazines, Germany
Member of International Jury Czech Press Photo 2008- 2009
I was amazed by what I had seen in the Czech Press Photo competition. I was especially amazed by the interest Czech and Slovak photographers take in internal politics and people, in their way of thinking, their opinions, feelings and their way of living. I value that. The competition is very important for all sorts of reasons. For photographers it means the opportunity to introduce their work to the authoritarian international jury and compare it with the work of their colleagues; for the jurors it is a chance to gain new experience and express their stance, because every decisions is a certain manifest. For the audience it is a meeting with a visual retrospective of their lives, interpreted through excellent photographs, and the country gets an invaluable history in pictures.
Sergey Maximishin, photographer, Russia
Member of International Juries CPP 2008 and 2009
„As a person, whose eyes get to see hundreds of photographs from around the world every day, I very much welcome the opportunity to work in the Jury of the Czech Press Photo competition which enables me to become more familiar with the work, mentality, and philosophy of those, who – even though they live in the very center of Europe – could not have, for several decades, enter the free mainstream of visual information on our planet. I think, that it is interesting both for us as the jurors as well as for the participants of the competition. No journey to international integration would exist without similar confrontations.”
Robert Pledge, director of Contact Press Images, USA-France. Member of the International Jury Czech Press Photo 97
“I have accepted to participate in the Jury of the Czech Press Photo since it enables me to learn more about that, which happens in one of the most important places in the world today – in the heart of Europe. Local photographers are as sensitive as seismographs and also have a sense of humor. My personal sympathies belong to them.”
Colin Jacobson, editor in chief of the Reportage magazine, professor at Cardiff University, Great Britain. Member of the International Jury Czech Press Photo 96 and 97
"Thanks to the Czech Press Photo, Czech and Slovak photojournalism, which because of the totalitarian political regime was isolated for years, opens up to the world again through the international evaluation.”
Andrej Reiser, Bilderberg photographer, Czech Republic. Chairman of the International Jury Czech Press Photo 1995-2000
“Competitions like the Czech Press Photo are very important. They enable confrontation with the work and opinions of others. But what is more important – they provide publicity to that which has a small or no chance of being published within the commercialized media. It happens very often that it takes such a competition to raise interest from the side of the public, and consequently of the media, in a certain issue. Such competition can also provoke photographers to begin working with enthusiasm on something which does not relate to any assignment. It is simply their own subject to cover. They look for the use of the final result afterwards. I am myself used to working in such a way. For example for the whole fifteen years I have been investing into the project on Eastern Europe. I spent million dollars on it. I don’t have a car up till now and sleep on a mattress on the floor in my apartment. But I do have a book: Broken Dream. I did not make even a cent on it, but it was worth it never the less. It has brought attention to the subject thanks to which I received grants and got assignments. Of course I invest everything back into photography and other projects. So and so one must know that first you need to sow before you can harvest. Such a competition is a great impulse.”
Antonín Kratochvíl, photographer, USA-Czech Republic. Member of the International Jury Czech Press Photo 99 and 2000
"I consider the Czech Press Photo to be a challenge. It is a great opportunity to present that, which I have done during the past year and to confront and become familiar with that done by other colleagues. Plus the work is judged by experienced Jury members, and that is a very valuable feedback for me. With regards to the exceptional number of visitors, who come to the exhibition home or abroad, it is also a question of prestige when one has photographs in it.”
Herbert Slavík, MF DNES photographer, received many prizes within Czech Press Photo and special awards from Canon, Kodak, and Nikon
"Competitions like the Czech Press Photo or the World Press Photo are a visual chronicle of the time and - thanks to the great number of visitors at the exhibitions, which take place annually after the competitions – help to point out the problems of the world we live in, as well as the new phenomena, with regards to which the public takes a stand and generates opinions.”
Jan Šibík, photographer of the Reflex magazine, winner of the Photograph of the Year in 1995 and 1999
"Confrontation – above all that is what Czech Press Photo means to the photographers. And also the opportunity to give publicity to that which can get only a little or none at all in the media."
Karel Cudlín, free-lance photographer, winner of the Czech Press Photo 98 Grant of the City of Prague and many other prizes
"Competitions like the Czech Press Photo or the World Press Photo represent the best opportunity to show the public top work by photographers, either free-lancers or those employed directly by publishers, for whom these competitions become very prestigious, should they succeed. Consequent exhibitions remind us of the events which moved our lives during the past year. The great popularity and high number of visitors, coming to these exhibitions, are a logical result of these factors.”
Jaroslav Kučera, Bilderberg photographer, winner of the Grant of the City of Prague 95 and winner of the Photograph of the Year in the Czech Press Photo 2000
Photos 1999. Left: Nikon prize to Jiří Pekárek´s photo (Týden) - from the left president Nikon Europe B.V. pan Myiauchi, vice president Nikon Corporation Tokio Mr. Turuta and Pavel Marek, director of the Czech Nikon comp. Photo right - director Canon CZ Ladislav Paleček (prize Canon for Libor Zavoral, ČTK)
