NOOR photographers and Nikon Ambassadors Benedicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde won the jury prize in China at Lianzhou Foto for their series "Land of Ibeji". They showcased their photos as part of the “A Chance for the Unpredictable” exhibition.
Kadir van Lohuizen | Member of the jury at the Slovak Press Photo photojournalism contest
NOOR's Kadir van Lohuizen is a member of the jury for the 8th edition of the SLOVAK PRESS PHOTO photojournalism contest. SLOVAK PRESS PHOTO is a contest and a subsequent photo exhibition presenting an independent and authentic visual testimony of life, as seen by journalists from Slovakia and Eastern Europe.
Bénédicte Kurzen & Sanne De Wilde | Land of Ibeji winners of the 2019 Voies Off Awards
The project "Land of Ibeji" by Bénédicte Kurzen & Sanne De Wilde won the 2019 Voies Off Awards. The Voies Off Festival gathers a selection of exhibitions and independent photographic initiatives that blossom in Arles every year for the Rencontres d'Arles.
© Sanne De Wilde and Bénédicte Kurzen
Pep Bonet | Winner of the 2019 Worldwide Dunkerbeck Windspeed Speed Challenge
NOOR's Pep Bonet has won the Bonaire 2019 Dunkerbeck GPS Speed Worldwide Challenge, with an average speed of 41,26 knots / 76,41km/h (average speed over 500m). Follow Pep Bonet's year long journey to beat the speed world record in Luderitz Speed Challenge, Namibia and his preparation on his Instagram and Facebook page.
© Sebastian Liste / NOOR
Arctic: New Frontier at the Festival L'Homme et la Mer
We are pleased to invite you to the Festival L'Homme et la Mer in Guilvinec, France, where the project "Arctic: New Frontier" by Kadir van Lohuizen and Yuri Kozyrev will be exhibitied. The photographers documented the irreversible impact climate change has had on the entire Arctic territory.
This project has been awarded the 9th Prix Carmignac for Photojournalism, supported by the Carmignac Foundation.
NOOR at World Press Photo | Bénédicte Kurzen & Sanne De Wilde Win the Portrait Category
We're extremly proud to share that our Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde were awarded 1st prize of the World Press Photo Contest, Portrait series with their collaborative photographic project Land of Ibeji discovering the mythology of twinhood in Nigeria.
Through a visual narrative and an aesthetic language that is meant to reflect and empower the Yoruba culture that celebrates twins, Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde extend their gaze beyond appearance - with symmetry and resemblance as tools - to open the eyes to the twin as a mythological figure and a powerful metaphor: for the duality within a human being and the duality we experience in the world that surrounds us.
Communities have developed cultural practices in response to this high twin birth rate that vary from veneration to demonisation. In some areas, shrines are built to worship the spirit of the twin and celebrations are held in their honour. In others, twins are vilified and persecuted for their perceived role in bringing bad luck in particular to rural communities.
In Yoruba beliefs, each human has a spiritual counterpart, an unborn spirit double. In the case of twins the spiritual double has been born on earth. The friction, between communities celebrating twins and rejecting them, lies in perception of the twin as an extremely powerful spirit. Some see it as threat and as something that cannot remain on earth and has to be sent back to the heavens where it normally resides.
On receiving their award, Bénédicte Kurzen and Sanne De Wilde shared:
"The project is an invitation to look beyond identity as appearance and beyond the exoticism of the identical by calling upon a universal mythological figure: The Twin. It is an invitation for the viewer to travel back into the past and through that rediscover the present and move into the future.
We hope the ‘Ibeji’ project will inspire other creators. We would love for Nigerian artists to contribute from their perspective and expand on the project. We are very grateful for the participation and patience of the people we photographed and the time they spent with us."
Sanne De Wilde continues: "It's so special to share this together, for us this project really symbolises doing something that you often feel that you are doing alone, but we are all doing together. We want to convey a universal experience through storytelling. We also want to thank the NOOR Family and Nikon Europe in believing and supporting this challenging project and allowing us to develop this project fully."
"We would like to have a special thought tonight for a man who was very close to us, his name is Stanley Greene, and we think he would be super proud. We're very happy that a story that is conveying depth and diversity, that is shaping Nigeria, which is a beautiful country that we owe so much to - it has been my home for a very long time - is being recognised for its beauty and values. Finally, I have a special thought for all my brothers and sister from Nigeria, photographers that don't have the same opportunities and we will keep talking about them and pushing them in the world," concludes Bénédicte Kurzen.
This project was graciously supported
by the Nikon Europe Ambassador program.
Kadir van Lohuizen & Yuri Kozyrev | Arctic: New Frontier at the De Donkere Kamer, in Antwerp, Belgium
We are pleased to invite you to the De Donkere Kamer for “Arctic: New Frontier,” on April 4th, in Antwerp, Belgium, where Kadir van Lohuizen will present this pioneering double polar expedition . Photojournalists Yuri Kozyrev and Kadir van Lohuizen documented the irreversible impact climate change has had on the entire Arctic territory.
This project has been awarded the 9th Prix Carmignac for Photojournalism, supported by the Carmignac Foundation.
NOOR and its partners awarded funding by Google Digital News Innovation Fund
With its partners World Crunch and Internazionale, we are proud to share that NOOR was awarded funding by the Google Digital News Innovation Fund to develop a new collaborate project "Pix.T: The Blockchain-Driven Marketplace For Photojournalism, Digital Publishing & Exclusive Art Photo Prints".
Pix.T aims to create a vast new marketplace at the service of both photojournalism and online news operations. Turning the digital-print dichotomy on its head, we will build an innovative e-commerce platform powered by blockchain technology to manage the licensing rights of digital images and scale the selling of limited edition prints to the mass market of digital news readership.
Our March Monthly Newsletter is out!
Our March Monthly Newsletter is out now, so make sure to check out the latest activities and opportunities to engage with us here!
Link to the newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp/noorimages/march-2019-monthly-newsletter-v2
Kadir van Lohuizen tests the Nikon Z6 Mirrorless camera in the Norwegian Arctic
Kadir Van Lohuizen recently tested the performance of the latest Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera, in the Norwegian Arctic!
Testing the Nikon Z6 in the Norwegian Arctic, performed in pretty extreme temperatures really well and battery lasted much longer then expected. I am a Nikon ambassador, but not writing this to advertise, but because I was impressed