The following 12 photographers – 5 men and 7 women of 10 different nationalities – will participate in the 2013 Joop Swart Masterclass:
- Evgenia Arbugaeva, Russia
- Fatemeh Behboudi, Iran
- Arnau Blanch Vilageliu, Spain
- Peter Dicampo, USA
- Maika Elan, Vietnam
- Edouard Elias, France
- An-Sofie Kesteleyn, Belgium
- Diana Markosian, Russia/USA
- Ali Noureldine, Palestinian Territories
- Dina Oganova, Georgia
- Maria Turchenkova, Russia
- Veejay Villafranca, The Philippines
Acceptance to the masterclass is exclusively by nomination and selection. This year’s participants were chosen among 174 candidates from 54 countries, who had submitted their portfolios after having been nominated earlier by World Press Photo’s 18 international committees around the world. On Wednesday 24 April, an independent selection committee met in Amsterdam to make the final selection. The final committee consisted of:
Els Barents (the Netherlands), director Huis Marseille museum for photography; Manoocher Deghati (France/Iran) Middle East photo manager The Associated Press; Silvia Omedes (Spain), curator and director at Photographic Social Vision Foundation; Paolo Patrizi (Italy) photographer; and Larry Towell (Canada), photographer Magnum Photos.
Regarding the 174 portfolios that were submitted, the committee reflected:
“We recognized certain trends in the work, fashionable styles. On the one hand were pictures that seemed heavily influenced by photo magazines that publish new documentary styles—a tendency to make images more dramatic, to go for texture rather than narrative. On the other were those that followed more traditional photojournalistic formulae, derived from newspaper photography. Both these tendencies were strongly evident. But we were interested in freshness, in finding photographers who would move into new ground through the masterclass.”
Regarding the selected participants, they commented: “After we had settled on the final twelve choices, we were surprised at the wide range of countries they came from, and also at the even gender balance. This had come quite naturally, through the quality of the images, rather than through any preconceived plan.”
In preparation for the masterclass meeting in November, the participants will execute a photo essay on a theme, which for this year is “hope”. The essays will be discussed with the masters and edited to be published in Next #03, the third edition of the book in the masterclass series, designed by Teun van der Heijden and co-published with Schilt Publishing.
Since 1994, the Joop Swart Masterclass has brought together some of the finest young photographers from around world, and leading professionals in the fields of documentary photography and photojournalism. It offers a focused, intimate and reflective learning experience to young photographers, aiming to foster their intellectual, artistic and professional growth. The Joop Swart Masterclass holds prime position among the seminars, debates and other educational programs regularly organized within the World Press Photo Academy. It is named after the foundation’s late chairman, who was a passionate supporter of young photographic talent.
The masters of the 2013 Joop Swart Masterclass will be announced later this year.
For more information about the Joop Swart Masterclass, please visit: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/joop-swart-masterclass
