Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The International Dialogue for Environmental Action (IDEA) held an opening ceremony of the first International Youth Photography Festival & Exhibition in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on Sunday.

The Festival & Exhibition follows the Children's Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest held last summer.

The Children's Eyes On Earth global initiative was organized by Leyla Aliyeva, Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the founder of IDEA, a non-governmental organization, and Reza Deghati, a renowned Iranian-French photo journalist and founder of the non-governmental organization AINA.

The exhibition and festival, which will continue until May 14, aims to raise public awareness of environmental issues through the eyes of young people and their photographs, which is also a chance to view the best 100 images from the Contest.

Leyla Aliyeva attended the opening ceremony and addressed the event.

"This exhibition is organized jointly with Reza Deghati Photography and the IDEA campaign, without whose efforts and valuable contributions, we could not have drawn such a huge international interest to the festival. I am happy that today we are launching the first of its scale and kind environmental Youth Photography Festival & Exhibition here, in Baku," she said.

Aliyeva said that Azerbaijan is known well for its scenic nature and rich wildlife, and recently, much attention has been paid to the preservation of its biodiversity.

"A few decades ago, our country lacked solid environmental development plans, falling behind most countries of the region in environmental sustainability. To redress the mistakes of the past, we implemented a range of initiatives that have significantly improved our environmental performance and fostered cooperation among the neighboring states," Aliyeva said.

She believes that Children's Eyes on Earth is a platform where young talents from all over the world can communicate important environmental issues to experts, decision-makers and the international community at large.

Aliyeva went on to say that the exhibition and festival will be held annually to step up Azerbaijan's effort to raise awareness and help draw attention to important environmental issues.

"One thing that I believe, needs to change, is how photographers portray nature. Too often we see simply 'pretty pictures' in social media, like those on Facebook or Instagram. As an artist myself, it is my belief that reducing nature photography to only that is not a good trend. The pictures we see today, selected from thousands of entries by young artists from over 90 countries, are quite different. The authors of these images, despite their young age, have demonstrated astonishing creativity in depicting the planet's social and environmental problems," Aliyeva said.

According to Aliyeva, the Festival & Exhibition will provide young contestants with the unique opportunity to develop their photography skills through a series of events and workshops in Baku.

"These days we celebrate the 90th anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev and the traditional Flower Festival will be a perfect avenue for young talents to see our capital in full blossom. We are also joined here today by representatives of leading photography magazines and world-renowned experts in the field of arts and culture. For most of them, it is their first visit to Azerbaijan," she said.

Aliyeva noted that Baku has always captured the hearts and minds of its visitors, regardless of their backgrounds and preferences.

The Festival was supported by World Photography Organization (WPO), National Geographic Kids, Social Documentary Network (SDN), Azerbaijan's Youth and Sports Ministry, FotoEvidence, SFR Jeunes Talents and Webistan Photo Agency.

With the themes "I Love Nature" and "I Fear Pollution", the Contest received over 4,000 images from young people in over 90 countries around the world.

Eight-year-old Anastasya Vorobko from Saint Petersburg, Russia was the winner of the Children`s Eyes On Earth contest, with her "SOS!" image, showing an artistic maturity beyond her years. The photograph depicts a bird flying over the thick smog being emitted from a factory funnel and conveys her fear of environmental pollution.

The six winners of the contest were awarded trophies at the Festival & Exhibition Awards Ceremony and will participate in different photography workshops with Reza Deghati.

The best 100 images and the six winning images were selected by an international jury, led by acclaimed photographer Reza and including Ayperi Ecer, Reuters Vice President of Picture Development, Alain Genestar, founder of Polka magazine, Chris Rainier, National Geographic photographer, Francoise Lemarchand, founder of Canopee, Nature & Decouvertes magazine, Frederic Chevance, Managing Director of Fox International, France, Sylvie Brieu, Senior Editor of National Geographic, France, Marco Pinna, journalist, Franck Meo, founder of PhotoCloser.com, Shahidul Alam, photographer, and Santiago Lyon, Vice President of Associated Press.

The judges selected the first, second and third-place winners and the special prizewinner, whilst the public vote results determined the winner of the "Your Choice" prize.