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“Taking photographs of random strangers can be risky,” explains 24-year-old Dragos Rapeanu, as he discusses his winning image in the 2010 eNATO photography competition. His picture is one of 25 winning images of south-eastern Europe taken by the region’s 18- to 27-year-old photographers.
The image of a barber peering out through his shop window in Istanbul gives the viewer a small glimpse into his life, but such images are not always easy to capture, he says. “People here are a lot easier to work with, in my opinion,” says Rapeanu from Romania, suggesting that elsewhere issues of privacy and protecting individuals might make a photographer think twice about snapping shots of strangers.
Hobby or work?
For Rapeanu, a telecoms engineer, exploring the world through his camera lens is a pleasure and a hobby. For others, such as fellow winner Igor Markov from Serbia, it is a job.
Working as a freelance photographer, Markov, 26, uses his work to travel a lot around his homeland and the region taking photographs. “I had been interested in photography since my early childhood,” he says. “I used to cut out photos to make an album out of them. Some twenty years later, with the rise of digital photography, it is much simpler for everyone to make photos.”
It was as Markov was on a birthday trip to the southern Serbian town of Novi Pazar that he caught on film the beauty of a Muslim woman walking past an old decrepit house. “I wandered the streets looking for a shot to represent the town’s oriental past and present,” he says. “It is really difficult to portray Muslim women because they hide from the camera. I saw her approaching from the other side, saw an old house and waited for the right moment.”
It’s not Markov’s first victory in a photography competition. His winning entry in a 2008 competition gave him the capital to invest in professional equipment and kick-started his career as a photographer.
Analogue or digital?
For others, such as Serbian art and design student, Hristina Papadopulos, 23, photography was a subject at school. “I found my father’s old analogue Zenit camera when I was at school,” she says. “Since then I’ve been taking photos, but I really began to understand photography at university. What I like most about analogue cameras is that I cannot predict the end result of the photo I have taken.”
Papadopulos’ winning entry of a kite covering her friend’s face was the result of an opportune moment during a school video project. “During a break I took out my camera to take a few panoramic shots of the Belgrade skyline,” she explains. “The wind was blowing very strong and the moment I shot my friend got the kite in her face. I almost always bring my camera with me…photography for me is a hobby.”
Similarly, Albanian artist Brilanta Kadillari, works in various mediums. She selected her winning image from a photographic project she put together on the harmony, contradictions and dissonance of Albanian beaches. “Photography is a message to people and a mirror of the reality where we live,” says the 24-year-old. “The picture of the boy and a bunker is not posed because he was playing there as if nothing was happening.”
Building trust and promoting talent
Euro-Atlantic integration is about people: it is about building bridges, partnerships and cooperation to achieve lasting peace and security in Europe and beyond. It is about building confidence and trust.
The eNATO competition, which attracted 230 entrants from the region and some 30,000 hits to its website, aimed to bring the area’s young people together and promote their talent.
“I think that good promotion is just as important as making good photos,” says Markov. “Of course, promoting high quality and unique photography is also important.”
“We don’t have any iconic pictures from the last 20 years,” says Rapeanu, who cites Czech photographer Josef Koudelka as inspiration. “I think digitization played a major role in this...people focus more on quantity than on quality.”
The exhibition of winning entries is available at www.enato.org and will be travelling around galleries in south-eastern Europe throughout 2011.