Veteran photojournalist Yuri Kozyrev attends Istanbul Photo Awards Talks

By Ahmet Esad Sani

ISTANBUL (AA) – Yuri Kozyrev, a jury member of the Istanbul Photo Awards and and veteran photojournalist, on Tuesday held a special talk.

The Istanbul Photo Awards Talks were hosted at the Rami Library on the competition's 10th anniversary.

The talk was moderated by Anadolu photojournalist Arif Hudaverdi Yaman.

In a career spanning several decades, Kozyrev documented major conflicts.

Kozyrev said that when the opportunity came to visit Iraq in 2002, he knew very little about the region.

"I managed to be in Iraq before the war and made connections without knowing that the war would start,” Kozyrev said.

“I lived there. Even though I was not on assignment, I stayed in Iraq for three months because I thought spending more time there was interesting,” he recalled.

“Then I began to prepare for the big story and knew that it would be my story," said Kozyrev.

The first exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Istanbul Photo Awards, organized by Turkish international news agency Anadolu, opened Monday.

Istanbul Governor Davut Gul, jury members of the competition, winning photographers, members of the international press and many others from the world of photography attended the opening of the exhibition and award ceremony featuring this year's award-winning photographs.

The competition, which evaluates single and series photographs in the categories of news, sports, environment, portrait and daily life, received over 20,000 submissions this year. A total of 32 photographers were awarded in 10 categories.

This year, the competition was sponsored by Turkcell as the communication sponsor, Sony as the award sponsor, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) as the overseas events sponsor, and Turkish Airlines (THY) as the airline sponsor.

Supported by the Rami Library, the exhibition features photos covering global events from last year including Israel's ongoing attacks in Palestine and the earthquakes in Türkiye, described as the "Disaster of the Century," as well as on subjects including Mexican crime organizations, refugee camps in Afghanistan, plastic usage in Nigeria, the lives of elephants in Sri Lanka's landfills, the world swimming championships in Japan, the Wimbledon tennis tournament, discrimination in India, and migrants who died in Spanish waters.

Information about the award-winning photos can be found on istanbulphotoawards.com and the exhibition will be open until June 23 at the Rami Library's F3 hall.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz in Ankara