Silver camera. Photo exhibition “Silver Camera. An excerpt characterizing the Silver Chamber

29.03.2020

Exhibition " silver camera– 2014”, which will be held from February 6 to 25, 2015 at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall, is an annual competition between professionals and amateurs for the best photo reports about the capital. Over the 15 years of the competition's existence, several hundred talented photographers have taken part in it, thanks to the skill of which it was possible to create a kind of photo chronicle of Moscow life at the beginning of the 21st century.

In accordance with the rules, both experienced masters and novice photographers can participate in the competition. The main condition of the competition is to capture the scene of metropolitan life from an unusual point of view and make a report from 7-15 photographs.

The exhibition-competition "Silver Camera" is held in several categories:

"Faces";
"Architecture";
"New Moscow in the focus of Lumix";
"Events and everyday life».

All photographs presented at the exhibition in will have only a series and a number, which will enable visitors to impartially vote for the photo essay they like. According to the results of the voting of the audience, the winner will be determined, who will be awarded the prize. In each nomination, two awards and a Grand Prix will be awarded.

The uniqueness of the photo contest lies in the fact that it not only encourages and supports talented photographers in their creative activities, but also annually captures the history of the capital of our country in an original way.

Moscow, pl. Manezhnaya, 1.

Competition "Silver Camera"- a regular annual competition for the best photo essay about Moscow. Held by the Moscow House of Photography.

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The competition was established by the Government of Moscow and the Committee for Culture of Moscow and is held under the patronage of Mayor Yu. M. Luzhkov.

The Silver Camera competition is held in three categories:

"Architecture",
"Events and everyday life",
"Faces".

The competition is open, both professionals and amateurs can take part in it. The Moscow Government established three awards in each category, as well as special prizes from partners and sponsors of the competition.

The total prize fund today is about 50 thousand dollars.

Grand Prix, Moscow Government Prize

Over the years, the winners of the Grand Prix in various categories were Vladimir Mishukov, Georgy Pervov, Vladimir Sumovsky, Sergey Bermeniev, Yulia Bychkova, Ilya Keitelgisser, Lyudmila Zinchenko, Vladimir Vyatkin, Sasha Auerbach, Igor Makov, Igor Mukhin, Nadezhda Filatova and Andrey Fioletov, Alexander Abaza and many others.

Results of the competition "Silver Camera 2005"

"Architecture of Moscow" was awarded to Oleg Parshin for the series "Construction of Moscow City", "View of Moscow from the Copernicus House"
"Events and everyday life" won Lyudmila Zinchenko, series "Europe Square"
"Faces" Vladimir Vyatkin, series "The Outgoing Generation"

Results of the competition "Silver Camera 2009"

Grand Prix in the nomination:

"Architecture of Moscow" received for the series "Moscow: 25th frame",
"Events and everyday life" won Alexander Gronsky with the series "Outskirts"
“Faces” became the best Vladimir Vyatkin, who received an award for two series at once: “Lords of Musical Instruments” and “Generation of Vasily Aksenov”

Results of the competition "Silver Camera 2010"

Results of the competition "Silver Camera 2011"

The main winners who received the Grand Prix:

In the nomination "Architecture" Grand Prix received: Georgy Pervov for "Human landscape",
in the nomination "Events and everyday life" won Anatoly Belyasov,
Vladimir Vyatkin won in the Faces category with his series Richard Wagner's Valkyrie in close-ups by the American conductor Kent Nagano.

Results of the competition "Silver Camera 2012"

In the nomination "Architecture" Eduard Ilyin for the series "Architectural Relay Race".
in the nomination "Events and everyday life" won Vasily Popov with the series "It's hard to be Lenin."
in the Faces nomination, Vladimir Vyatkin became the best for the series of works “Generations of Moscow in Faces”.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Silver Chamber

Have you seen him, auntie? said Princess Mary in a calm voice, not knowing herself how she could be so outwardly calm and natural.
When Rostov entered the room, the princess lowered her head for a moment, as if giving time to the guest to greet her aunt, and then, at the very moment that Nikolai turned to her, she raised her head and met his gaze with shining eyes. With a movement full of dignity and grace, she rose with a joyful smile, extended her thin, tender hand to him, and spoke in a voice in which for the first time new, feminine chest sounds sounded. M lle Bourienne, who was in the drawing room, looked at Princess Mary with perplexed surprise. The most skillful coquette, she herself could not have maneuvered better when meeting a person who needed to please.
“Either black suits her so much, or she really got so prettier, and I didn’t notice. And most importantly - this tact and grace! m lle Bourienne thought.
If Princess Mary had been able to think at that moment, she would have been even more surprised than m lle Bourienne at the change that had taken place in her. From the moment she saw that sweet, beloved face, some new force of life took possession of her and compelled her, against her will, to speak and act. Her face, from the time Rostov entered, suddenly changed. Suddenly, on the walls of a painted and carved lantern, that complex, skillful artistic work, which previously seemed rough, dark and meaningless, appears with unexpected striking beauty, when the light inside is lit: so suddenly the face of Princess Marya was transformed. For the first time, all that pure spiritual inner work by which she had lived until now came out. All her inner work, dissatisfied with herself, her suffering, striving for good, humility, love, self-sacrifice - all this now shone in those radiant eyes, in a thin smile, in every line of her tender face.
Rostov saw all this as clearly as if he had known her all her life. He felt that the creature that was before him was completely different, better than all those he had met up to now, and better, most importantly, than himself.
The conversation was the simplest and most insignificant. They talked about the war, involuntarily, like everyone else, exaggerating their sadness about this event, they talked about the last meeting, and Nikolai tried to divert the conversation to another subject, they talked about the good governor, about the relatives of Nikolai and Princess Mary.
Princess Mary did not speak of her brother, diverting the conversation to another subject as soon as her aunt spoke of Andrei. It was evident that she could speak of the misfortunes of Russia in a pretense, but her brother was a subject too close to her heart, and she did not want and could not talk lightly about him. Nikolai noticed this, as he generally, with penetrating observation unusual for him, noticed all the shades of Princess Marya's character, which all only confirmed his conviction that she was a very special and extraordinary creature. Nikolai, just like Princess Marya, blushed and was embarrassed when they told him about the princess and even when he thought about her, but in her presence he felt completely free and said not at all what he was preparing, but what instantaneously and always incidentally occurred to him.
During the short visit of Nicholas, as always, where there are children, in a moment of silence, Nicholas resorted to the little son of Prince Andrei, caressing him and asking if he wants to be a hussar? He took the boy in his arms, began to twirl him merrily, and looked round at Princess Mary. A touched, happy and timid look followed her beloved boy in the arms of a loved one. Nikolai noticed this look too and, as if understanding its meaning, blushed with pleasure and began to kiss the boy good-naturedly and cheerfully.
Princess Mary did not leave on the occasion of mourning, and Nikolai did not consider it decent to visit them; but the governor's wife nevertheless continued her business of matchmaking and, having conveyed to Nikolai the flattering things that Princess Marya had said about him, and vice versa, insisted that Rostov explain himself to Princess Marya. For this explanation, she arranged a meeting between young people at the bishop's before mass.

Museum "Moscow House of Photography" presents an exhibition of participants of the 15th anniversary competition for the best photo essay about Moscow "Silver Camera 2014". Like fifteen years ago, the exhibition will be held at the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall. This time, in addition to the works of the contestants for 2014, the exposition includes a series of winners of the Grand Prix of the competition for all years, in addition, the exhibition includes a large historical section telling about how professional and non-professional photographers saw Moscow in the last century.

The idea of the Silver Camera contest was born in the late 90s, it was a unique time when the most seemingly incredible ideas arose and developed every day, the most daring dreams and projects came true, creative Moscow seethed like a huge cauldron, the image of the city changed rapidly, the faces of Muscovites changed. The desire to record and document these changes seemed completely natural and necessary, especially since such a tradition already existed in one form or another in many European capitals. Thus, for many years, the French Department of Culture has been systematically collecting and exhibiting works of both old and modern photographic art dedicated to Paris, which, as a rule, are regularly donated to the city by the photographers themselves. The photographs are stored in the Museum contemporary art Paris, in the Historical Library of Paris, in the collection of the European House of Photography, etc.

The objectives of the competition, established by the Moscow Government and the Department of Culture of Moscow, were to create a photo chronicle of modern Moscow, as well as to support Russian photographers. After all, today photojournalism or street-photography, which performs the most important role of photo archiving of modern history, is going through hard times - a state order for targeted shooting, thanks to which we have the opportunity to get acquainted with the history of Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries, which was the norm until the early 80s of the last century , later disappeared completely. In addition, one of the objectives of the competition was to attract non-professionals to participate in it, to discover new names, to captivate young people with photography and photojournalism.

The first Silver Camera competition was held in 2000. A series of photographs made in 1999-2000 were selected for participation. Like today, the competition was held in three categories: "Architecture", "Events and everyday life", "Persons". The competition has always been open, both amateurs and professionals, both schoolchildren and students, as well as masters of Russian photography, could take part in it. The winners of the Grand Prix are selected at a jury meeting, which includes leading photographers, build editors of reputable metropolitan media, heads of museums and galleries in Moscow.

For 15 years now, the Silver Camera has been the only photographic award in Russia with a serious monetary reward. In addition, one of the main prizes is the opportunity to go on an internship abroad - more than 50 photographers have been trained in Paris and Düsseldorf, and another 10 have taken part in the world's largest photography forums, including Paris Photo and Photographic Meetings in Arles. This happens thanks to strategic partners competition: MasterCard, Rosbank, Renault, Ahmad Tea, Panasonic, whom we would like to thank for their many years of support.

A lot has changed over the years of the competition. The traditional exhibition of the participants of the Silver Camera moved from the Manege to the Moscow House of Photography Museum, and then to the Tsarskaya Tower of the Kazan Station. Technology is advancing rapidly, opening up contemporary photographers new and new possibilities. In 2000, only one series of photographs was accepted for the competition, made with the help of digital camera- Today, more than half of the participants work with digital. The curator of the competition recalls that during the selection of series for the competition, photographers often came with backpacks full of pictures, in recent years, works are sent directly to the competition website. Participants' attention to details has noticeably increased: the level of printing, the quality of paper, etc.

Stars have taken part in the competition since 2000 contemporary photography, among which: Igor Mukhin, Boris Savelyev, Alexander Abaza, Valery Shchekoldin, Vadim Gushchin, Sergey Bermenyev, Yuri Palmin, Pavel Kassin, and others, largely thanks to the competition, the audience discovered the work of Vladimir Mishukov, Natalia Maksimova, Vasily Popov, Eduard Ilyin, Ilya Yegorkin. The youngest participant of the competition was 10 years old, the oldest winner of the Grand Prix - Igor Makov - 75 years old.

For 15 years, the participants in the Silver Camera contest have been sensitive to the prevailing moods in society, notice all the changes taking place in the city, as evidenced by annual exhibitions. In 2012, mass protests, the historical reconstruction of the Battle of Borodino, the updated TsPKiO named after I.I. Gorky; in 2013, the focus was on the celebration of the 120th anniversary of GUM, the environmental problems of the city, the problems of loneliness and computer addiction. Reports made for the "Silver Camera 2014" tell about the reconstruction of VDNKh, holidays and festivals, the March of Peace, family values. This year, many personal, chamber stories were sent to the competition, exploring the relationship of a person with the world, analyzing the difficulties and joys that the heroes face along the way.

One of the most important prizes of the Silver Camera competition is still the Audience Choice Award (Ahmad Tea Prize). As always, each visitor of the exhibition will be able to feel like a member of the jury and choose the winners of the competition by filling out a questionnaire in the hall or by voting on the competition website www.silvercamera.ru. All photographs exhibited in the Manezh have only the name of the series and a number, which will allow everyone to vote for their favorite photo essay in an absolutely impartial manner. According to the results of the voting of the audience, the winner will be determined, who will receive a prize comparable to the main prizes of the competition.

A solemn ceremony of awarding the winners of the Silver Camera photo contest took place at the Multimedia Art Museum.

For more than 10 years, the competition, established by the Moscow House of Photography Museum, has been fulfilling the task of preserving modern national history, popularizing and developing Russian photography, and supporting young authors. Amateurs and professionals, novice photographers and recognized masters can take part in the show.

“Photographers who send their work create a photo chronicle of the city, document important events and phenomena. The pictures of the laureates end up in our fund, and then shown at exhibitions, thanks to which we see how Moscow and Muscovites are changing, ”said the deputy director of the Moscow House of Photography Museum for exhibition work and curator of the Silver Camera contest Nina Levitina. She also stressed that the competition began with scattered individual photographs, while today photographers bring entire projects and work purposefully.

In 2013, more than 600 series of photographs were submitted for the Silver Camera competition. Of these, the jury, headed by the director of the museum "Moscow House of Photography" Olga Sviblova, selected about 700 photographs. The photographers captured the celebration of the 120th anniversary of GUM, everyday life of library and museum staff, environmental problems of the city, numerous park visitors and various types of leisure activities.

Traditionally, the awards were presented in three categories. The winner in the nomination "Events and Everyday Life" was Andrey Stenin for the series "They and Us". In the nomination "Architecture" the main award was received by Ivan Mikhailov for the series "House-Temple". The winner of the prize in the nomination "Persons" was Natalia Maksimova for the "Generation T" series. Each laureate received 176 thousand rubles.

In addition, an award was presented in the nomination "People's Choice Award" - 144 thousand rubles. In the period from January to February 2014, the works of applicants could be seen at the exhibition, held in the Tsarskaya Tower of the Kazan railway station. The photographs had only the name of the series and the number - so the visitors of the exhibition absolutely impartially voted for their favorite series, filling out questionnaires in the hall or on the competition website. The winner of this award was Daria Nabieva for the series "Generals of Concrete Walls".

The Silver Camera photo contest was established by the Moscow House of Photography museum, the Moscow Government, the Moscow Department of Culture and is supported by Russian Railways. Its main goal is to support Russia's photojournalists. According to the organizers, "photojournalism or street-photography, which plays an important role in the photo archiving of modern history, is going through hard times." But thanks to the competition, interest in photographic works of this kind is being revived.

MDF IN SEARCH FOR ANDREAS GURSKY

Hello!
I managed to visit the “Silver Camera 2007” in the Manezh before closing. It’s not that he really wanted to get there: he still couldn’t get out, but it would be wrong not to go to the exhibition at all: I wanted to see what our Moscow photographers breathe, what Moscow they see.
The overall impression of the exhibition is rather depressing: no more than 5-7 episodes really deserve to go and see. Everything else is very, very weak. And not at all interesting. In addition, compositions are lame, photographers strive for a color solution where black / white can be dispensed with and vice versa. Many unprocessed shots: shot = printed in the lab = given away. Probably, the chain was lost, which provided for the author's vision, which involved the participation of the photographer at all stages of preparing the image for printing (taken, developed / processed in a computer, printed / controlled printing in the laboratory).
So what about the individual nominations? If we talk about "Architecture", perhaps several series and one pattern can be distinguished, which I will dwell on later.
About series. I really liked “20 Views of a Picturesque Bridge” by Lyudmila Zinchenko. Silence, enjoyment of light, lines, COLOR... Great pleasure from viewing photos. Perhaps, L. Zinchenko is more representative than the Moscow, but rather the Leningrad (namely, the Leningrad, established in the Soviet years) school of photography, only perhaps the color version of this school.
Somewhat strange, but quite professional photos of Raul Skrylev look.
If we talk about the undisputed leader in this nomination, then it certainly is the series "New Photos of Disappearing Buildings", prepared by the young Moscow photographer Sasha Auebach. And most importantly: hand-printed photos! And this is a single copy.
The next nomination is "Events and everyday life". This is the most numerous nomination. We managed to find worthy works here as well. Firstly, these are photographs by Andrey Luft "Heat" with crazy, "absolutely fucking youth" ©
It is impossible not to notice two series by Dmitry Zverev: "Metro" (for some reason not presented in the main exhibition in the Manezh) and "Moscow Out of Time".
The series of Alexander Slyusarev "Passing by" attracts attention. On the Internet, it looks much less interesting than on the wall in the Manege. Professional processing, professional printing, good hanging - everything plays into the hands of San Sanych (smile). I repeat - the Internet version is several orders of magnitude worse.
And, finally, the final nomination - "Persons". I don't even know what to say. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. On the most successful, "watchable" places hang two series of Vladimir Mishukov: "Child" and "Glory". And if the first - "Child" - with all the professionalism of performance and with all the desire, can in no way be attributed to reportage photography (and to photography in general: it is more like a movie, a very professional movie), then the second ... some kind of inhumane set of pictures . "Glory" is completely out of my picture of Vladimir Mishukov as a photographer. If everything is as shown in the Manezh, then Vyacheslav Polunin must be urgently saved. The series left a deep impression. But this is if you bother, stop, look and think. Most spectators do not do this: they just pass by.
In conclusion, I want to say about the pattern observed. This trend has passed through all the series, most fully expressed in "Architecture". There was a strong impression that MDF was looking for our Russian Andreas Gursky. But he is not. In any case, not yet. From what did I draw such a conclusion? Yes, from a number of photographs (?) of different authors (you can see it on my LiveJournal page here: http://michael-kondrov.livejournal.com/)
So what's in the bottom line? Yes, actually, nothing special, everything is as it was in the past few years. It is difficult to say whether the Silver Chamber has reached its bottom. Since such an idea was already in relation to last year's competition. But no, this one, 2007, is even weaker. It is also sad that there are very few bright "bursts" that would somehow justify the expediency of holding, if not an exhibition, then a competition as a whole. Let's hope for the best. As always.