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Saturday, March 02, 2013
Embassy of Netherlands reveals ‘Discovering the Netherlands in Pakistan’ winnersIslamabad: National Photography Competition, organised by the Embassy of the Netherlands, was announced at Islamabad. Ambassador Gajus Scheltema awarded the winners their prizes. The theme, ‘Discovering the Netherlands in Pakistan’ gave young Pakistani photographers the opportunity to learn about the Dutch presence and its relationship with Pakistan, which dates back to the Dutch East India Company and nowadays finds expression in the presence of large companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Akzo-Nobel.
The submissions were judged by a panel of four based upon the visual and photographic quality as well as originality in rendering the subject. The jury comprised of Ambassador Scheltema (chair), award-winning news cameraman Bhasker Solanki of the BBC, Chairman of Hunerkada Jamal Shah and Diego Sanchez Ibarra, a Spanish documentary photographer.
A jury member said, “The winner was chosen due to the creative idea behind it, using light as a focal point which is important to photographers and also representing a Dutch Company. The runner up was chosen for being the more artistic and the third could have been the winner if the photographer had composed it better. The central focus was not strong enough which makes the viewer’s eye wander in different places.” The winners of the competition were Anna Maria Akhtar Alliende (First prize), Farah Jamal Khan (Second prize), from Islamabad and Rawalpindi and Syed Murtaza Ali (Third prize) from Lahore. The winners received an IPad, an IPad Mini and an IPod, respectively. All entrants in the competition also received a Certificate of Participation.
The Competition was held in conjunction with various other events initiated by the Embassy of Netherlands highlighting the art of photography and visual media. The award-giving ceremony followed the inauguration on February 25 of the World Press Photo 2012 in Lahore at the Alhamra Art Gallery where the winning photographs of the international photojournalists’ competition are on display until March 12, 2013. The WPP exhibition has been brought to Pakistan for the time with the support of Shell, Akzo-Nobel and FM89.
The Embassy of Netherlands has also organized two training workshops for photojournalists in Lahore and Islamabad on the subject of ‘Ethics in Photojournalism’. The workshops, to be held at the Lahore Arts Council on March 7 and at the Islamabad Press Club on the March 9, will discuss ethical issues faced by photojournalists.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk