Second Prize, category Nature. WHALE WHISPERERS by Anuar Patjane Floriuk (2015).

Clement, Denise, Kilian, Marie explain why they chose this picture.

The photo we chose is called the „Whale Whisperers“

This picture is our winning one. This is a black and white picture. It was taken on the 28th of January 2015 by Anuar Patjane Floriuk. It won the second prize in the category "Nature"

The picture was shot near the island Roca Partida, which is the smallest island of the Revillagigedo archipelago, off the Pacific coast.

On this picture we can see a humpback whale with her calf, swimming between a hord of scuba divers . We can only see the adult whales tale, because we see her from behind .......

This picture was taken during the mating season, the specific season in the year which animals can mate and reproduce themselves.

The island waters are becoming homeplace to a large population of humpback whales, and are also a popular diving destination for the tourists.

The islands are volcanic and uninhabited, even if there is a small naval presence. They were declared a biosphere reserve in 1994, and are currently under consideration as a UNESCO natural heritage site.

We chose this picture as our favorite for 3 main reasons, 3 main aspects. The first aspect that I’d like to point out is the aesthetic aspect: the black and white picture itself is mesmerizing thanks to the rich contrast in it, created by the sunlight breaking through the water surface. Furthermore, the beauty of this photograph lays in it’s asymmetry: the whale is not directly in the centre of the picture, which creates an interesting effect (symmetry is boring).

The second aspect that I’d like to talk about is „the story behind the picture“. As there are for the other photographs, 2 larger and darker stories are hidden behind this one as well. The first story is about the baby whale that is depicted on the upper right. Two weeks after the picture was shot, the calf was brutally mauled by 2 orcas. The photographer got a shot of the murderer aswell, but didn’t chose to enroll at the competition with the violent picture.

He did so in order not to worsen the image that people have about orcas, which is quite important, especially nowadays. The photographer chose to publish something beautiful and win only the 2nd prize instead of a shocking picture that would have probably won the first prize. In these facts we can see the humility of the photographer which is important in such a job.

Furthermore, this picture brings a refreshing view and is even a relief, totally welcome after such a heavy exhibition, full of violence. Indeed, „Whale Whisperers” is a picture that embodies peace and the fusion between animals and humans. And after seeing the rest of the exhibition, it seems (according to this picture) that humans and animals manage to cohabit better than humans and humans, which is quite surprising. The choice of the photographer to put the picture in black and white gives a stronger effect to the impression of fusion between animals and humans. In fact, if the photographer would have let the picture in original colors,  there would have been a big contrast between the ocean and the whales (nature) in blue and the scuba divers (humans) in their black suits. But since the picture is in black and white, there is no contrast. Everything is in the same shade, which gives us the feeling that nature and humans become one

Summing everything up, we can say that the aesthetic aspect, the story behind the picture and it's symbolic are the 3 main reasons that turn this photograph into our winning picture.

DUSK OVER CENTRAL PYONG YANG by David GUTTENFELDER, Long-Term Projects, third prize stories

Evaggelos, Julie, Pierre, Yesmine

Pierre managed to convince the other members of the group that this was their winning picture.

This picture shows a deserted, sad city, the city looks like a dead city : it shows nearly no light sources, and there are only a few people in the street. The sad color of the picture increases the city's loneliness and emptiness.

This picture was authorized by the North Korean State so it means they don't think it shows something wrong but for us it is a very uncommon thing to see. It is an intriguing picture, it looks calm but it seems a lot is going on behind that impression.

What is more, this isn't a common subject (for example almost every picture in the exhibition dealt with war). Again, it is a neutral and calm picture but with a twist inside.

Our winning picture : TALIBE, MODERN-DAY SLAVES, Mario Cruz (Contempory Issues, first prize story)

by Marie-Alexandra Aubert, Alejandro De Luis, Sarah Duhaze, Lino Komaretho.

1) This picture really changed the situation. The photograph showed that laws weren’t executed. Thanks to that picture human rights in those boarding schools improved. So this picture doesn’t just show it changed things compared to other photos. This picture led to investigation and the government’s implication. The government decided that teachers weren’t allowed anymore to exploit children (begging in streets, child trafficking)

2) The child’s face in the picture is cut, in order not to focus our attention on this child in particular but on all the children victim of child abuse in the world. We think that this picture universalizes child abuse because every child who is victim of child abuse could be this child. For us this picture is timeless and that’s why we chose it.

3) After the Paris attacks for example or with everything that is going on in the Middle East we forget to think about what happens in Africa. We all know that Africa is a poor country and that there are things happening there but we’re not really aware of it. This picture reminds us what happens there and informs us on something that we didn’t know could happen.

IS FIGHTER TREATED AT KURDISH HOSPITAL by Mauricio LIMA, general news. first prize single.

Bene, Mathieu, Leonie and Chiara account for their discussion to select their best picture:

We began our work by discussing which picture should be our winning image. It didn't happen to be easy, because each member of the group had its own favorite photograph and would stand its grounds by defending its image with statements:
First of all, there was Chiara who had chosen "Hope for a new life" by Warren Richardson- She claimed that the picture conveys hope, strength and courage in an extremely dangerous situation, which we all agreed on. However had she told us that she felt the rush and the hectic throughout the picture, which we didn't really approve. Second of all, Léonie had made her decision by choosing "March against terrorism in Paris" by Corentin Fohlen, a very moving picture which shows that Parisians, French people, and population of the world are alive, brave and standing against terrorism. Béné and Mathieu had chosen the picture "IS fighter treated at Kurdish Hospital" by Maurico Lima, which they thought was an uncommon picture, with bright colors and particular perspective and lines.

Today we are presenting our winning photograph of 2016: IS FIGHTER TREATED AT KURDISH HOSPITAL by Mauricio LIMA, general news. first prize single.

by Max Brandstätter, Eloïse Harmenter, Louis Krieger-Ferrari, Kristy Grisius.

 
     First we chose our favorite pictures and discussed why we selected them. Louis’s chosen photograph was shot by Chen Jie, Tianjin explosion, Eloïse’s was from John J. Kim, March against police violence, Kristy’s was the series Talibes Modern-day slaves from Mario Cruz and Max’s was from Mauricio Lima's IS fighter treated at Kurdish hospital. To us, the main criterium in order to find the winning picture was an appealing story behind the artwork. Therefore louis’s favorite was not optimal due to the fact that is based on an event, an explosion, and not a historical issue. Kristy’s preferred a series and could not really decide for the most powerful photograph out of 4 different ones. Eloïse’s favorite photograph had a story behind it, but to us it was not as symbolical as Max’s.

     Therefore our winning photograph is Max’s: IS fighter treated at Kurdish hospital, by Mauricio Lima. (...)

     This photograph is very colorful and divided into two parts, the two men in the foreground and the portrayer, which is the focus of the picture, in the background. This bright part is the face of Abdullah Ocalan a jailed hero and leader of Kurdistan Workers Party. In the bottom half on the left we recognize a Kurdish doctor who is healing the burned wounds of an injured man. At the bottom is the actual shocking issue a burnt IS fighter who is a 16 year-old teenager named Jacob and also the only survivor of his squad.

     It seems that Mauricio Lima wanted to raise awareness about humanity, meaning that humans should help each other no matter the ideologies you follow, race, gender, sexual orientation, physical appearance, illness, and so on. He sensitizes the public opinion to charity, truth the strong opposition between the injury and the cure, the doctor and the wounded, the standing man and the lying man, and finally the symbol of the Kurdish man and the IS member. The photograph emphasizes the love between human beings. Because of this strong story, opposition and symbols we chose this photograph as the winning one 2016.

MARCH AGAINST POLICE VIOLENCE, John J.KIM. Contemporary Issues, third prize singles

Paul, Lara, Zoe, Andreas proudly presents their winning picture, which also happened to be the class's favourite.

In the group our pictures couldn´t have been more different. On one hand we had the drug war represented by a bloody crime scene in Columbia, then we had the syrian refugee crisis, a blind girl in front of a landscape and a picture of a black male protestor who was photographed facing a police officer of color just like him. So it was difficult to chose a picture because we had such a variety of pictures that not only evoked our emotions and rections but also we thought had a great story and voice behind it. Every single one of them was unique in its own kind of way. We finally chose the picture „March against police violence“ by John J. Kim. Inspired by the #blacklivesmatter movement, this picture currently might be more representative of an issue we as europeans often dont knowledge. The race issue and police brutality against people of color (POC) in the U.S. can´t be ignored any longer. What we saw in that picture was the mixed emotions of the two men starring in each others eyes. On one hand a young black protestor, protesting against the killing of a young black teenager, shot 16 times by a police officer, who „felt threatened“ after the kid pulled out a knife.The young man seems to have a conflict with the police officer, his look expressing „i think you´re on the wrong side“. The black and white makes this picture and the situation timeless, which as long as the conflict between the police and POC is ignored will stay that way. Our group is happy to say, that this picture won because now that we have a new american president who supports hate crimes and violence against minorities, this issue simply can´t be ignored any longer.