at the Ismet V. Güney Art
Centre Nicosia from April 5 – 16, 2016
By Heidi Trautmann
I am always amazed to see
the results of photo competitions, to see how photographers – they may not even
be professionals but amateurs – find this very special memento, have the
patience to either wait for the right light or have their camera ready to catch
it, yes to catch it. I mean, anglers patiently waiting along the coast for the
catch of the day, have this similar excitement and preparedness in them. To
catch the movement, a sun ray breaking through the dark cloud, a bee settling
on a flower…. or to talk about portraits…they are often landscapes, especially
the elderly people with laughter behind their wrinkles. I know that some nature
photographers wait for hours for the opening of a blossom or they wait for the
Praying Mantis to lift her head and look directly in one’s eyes. Or discovering
the laws of shade vs. light and composition with set up objects like a spoon
and a fork, how exciting! Experiments, the playfulness of the approach.
Watching the many guests flocking
into the Ismet Güney Art Centre on April 05, 2016, and the deep attention they
paid to the photos on display we have to realise that photography has become a
very popular activity and even great art. However, this art form is within
reach for the normal citizen and with some sensibility and some training they
can achieve nice results which in return gives them satisfaction and
appreciation. With ongoing experimenting
and gaining knowledge and lots of patience one can even become a master of the
trade as we could see at the opening of the exhibition. Photography courses have sprung up around the
island and associations meet on a regular basis, and as I could hear, there was
the Greek Cypriot Photo Association present for the show and award ceremony.
HE Mustafa Akinci and his
wife Meral alongside the Mayor of Günyeli and Mayor of Nicosia and other
officials together cut the red ribbon to open the exhibition. The awards (hardware
or monetary, a certificate and a plaquette) ) were handed over to the winners
by them and by the many sponsors – Merit Nicosia Hotel, Türkiye Is Bank,
Denktaş Foundation, KOOP-Süt, Alpet Cyprus, Atakom Ltd. And the Jury Members
Reha Bilir, AFIAP, ESFIAP; Erol Doğaner EFIAP and Tevfik Iteri EFIAP/b.
A total of 2313 (I repeat:
two thousand three hundred and thirteen) photos by 120 participants were
submitted…..just imagine the work to go through them one by one….and on the day
of the jury altogether 112 photos by 50 participants were chosen for the
exhibition.
The award winners were:
Öztan Özatay Başarı Ödülü
Osman Yüksek : Üç Damlanın
Aşkı 6
Denktaş Vakfı Özel Ödülü
Tevfik Camgöz: Kaplumbağa Uç
Kemal Saraçoğlu Özel Ödülü
Özlem Ersoy: Aşk Buluşma Mantis
Renkli Juri özel ödülü
Çağın Çağaşan: Balerin Yalusa
Koop-Süt Başarı Ödülü
Pedro Luis Ajuriaguerra Saiz Niemeyer: 26-ABN Rays
Türkiye İş Bankası Özel Ödülü
Pedro Luis Ajuriaguerra Saiz : Dialogos en la ciudad
SB Juri Özel ödülü
Altuğ Galip: Nature Conquers
Türkiye İş Bankası Başarı Ödülü
Altuğ Galip: Yeşilin Dansı
Öztan Özatay Özel Ödülü
Tevfik Camgöz: Deniz Atı
Doğa Juri Özel Ödülü
Hasan Bağlar: Let's Party
Özatay Fotoğrafçılık Özel Ödülü
Osman Arsal: Özgürsün
I have scanned the list of
acceptances for your information.
What more can I tell you.
Click into Buket Özatay’s website http://www.buketozatay.com/ , it is a space of a fully active and creative woman
and art photographer, who has just recently been accepted to contribute three
of her winning photos to the Berlin Biennale.
I wished I could show all the photos but I would sit all night to place them. There is a CD of all photos in the exhibition for TL 5,oo and a catalogue for free; so if you are a photography enthusiast then go there, it is really worth it.
The exhibition is open until
April 16; viewing times are weekdays 10:00 – 17:00 hrs and Saturdays: 10:00 –
14:00 hrs.