24 March 2017•Update: 24 March 2017
ANKARA
A three-day workshop on photography as part of Anadolu Agency's third Istanbul Photo Awards event began at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in the port city on Friday.
This is the first time such a workshop has been held under the banner of the awards.
A total of 16 participants are taking part in the Istanbul Photo Awards Workshop, including from Anadolu Agency, young photojournalists employed in national media organization and students from the university’s photography department.
Yuri Kozyrev, an international jury member of the Istanbul Photo Awards 2017, and Stanly Greene, a highly-experienced photojournalist, will share key points from their careers apart from sharing their portfolios with the participants.
After the workshop, Kozyrev and Greene will meet photography enthusiasts on Sunday at 2 p.m. (1100 GMT) in the university’s Sedad Hakki Eldem Auditorium and share their valuable experience during the Istanbul Photo Awards Talks event.
Anadolu Agency’s Visual News Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Sel said the workshop once again highlights the importance of photojournalism in Anadolu Agency.
"Development of photojournalism is one of the missions of Anadolu Agency,” Sel said, adding the workshop gives an opportunity to young photo journalists to learn from the best in the field.
Among the participants are three young photojournalists from the country’s national media and four promising photojournalism students from Mimar Sinan University, he said.
“It is important for us that news photographs find a wider audience and become more accessible to masses, and also is able to convey stories of humanity to viewers through photo interviews. This requires well-trained professionals,” he added.
He said the Istanbul Photo Awards and the workshop being carried out under it will increasingly widen the scope of photography in Turkey.
Sel also said an exhibition displaying the winning photos will open on April 2 in Turkey.
“We believe the Istanbul Photo Awards will contribute to journalism in Turkey,” he added.
Turkish Airlines is sponsoring the awards along with the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency.
This year's jury members include Cameron Spencer, a Getty Images sports correspondent who has been doing professional photography since 2004; Shanghai Center of Photography Director Liu Heung Shing, Getty Images executive Georges De Keerle, AFP Photo Business Development Director Michel Scotto, curator Liza Faktor who is famous for her multimedia work; and Anadolu Agency’s Ahmet Sel and Photo Editor Firat Yurdakul.
The results of the contest will be announced by the end of March 2017.
Last year, Abd Doumany’s image of an injured Syrian boy was chosen as Photo of the Year by an international jury, while Sergey Ponomarev, who captured images of refugees arriving at a Greek island, won the Single News Category at the Istanbul Photo Awards and went on to also win the Pulitzer Prize.
Reporting by Meltem Bulur;Writing by Didar Yusra Dilruba Oz
