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2017 Nikon-NOOR Masterclass Germany

Between 7 and 10 March 2017, the Nikon-NOOR Workshop took place at C/O Berlin in Germany. This workshop is part of the Nikon-NOOR Academy 2017, also organized in Amsterdam, Paris & Manchester. Fifteen young photographers and photojournalists from Germany came together for an inspiring four days of learning and sharing with NOOR photographers Yuri Kozyrev, Bénédicte Kurzen & Kadir van Lohuizen and NOOR team represented by Asmara Pelupessy and Anastasia Muratova.

During the four intensive days, the group reviewed and shared their portfolios, listened to presentations by the photographers, held in-depth discussions on practical and creative issues, and edited their visual stories. Below you will find a showcase of the participants’ work.

Ever wondered what it’s like to participate in the Nikon-NOOR Academy? Watch video from workshop in Berlin

The masterclass has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Nikon Europe.

Astrid Dill

null and void

On August 21st, 2014, Uganda’s constitutional court overturned the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was signed the same year, on February 24th, on a technicality. It criminalized consensual and repeated same sex relations, punishable by life in prison. African political and religious leaders erect the widespread belief that homosexuality is un-African and against the order of nature. The impact was wide-reaching and the ensuing fear pervasive. Even though Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act was scrapped in August 2014, the homophobic ideology of the society, politicians and religious leaders remains. Uganda plans to introduce a new Anti-gay law that will withstand any legal challenge.

The work null and void follows up the Ugandan LGBTI community, to show their personal struggle and the impact and aftermath of the anti-gay law on every aspect of their life. In particular, it focuses on the invisible realities, the emotional experience of the situation and the sense of isolation.

Astrid Dill

Astrid Dill is a documentary photographer, currently based in Berlin. After a training as a photographer, she completed her studies in Photodesign at Munich University of Applied Sciences and started freelancing in 2010. In 2013 Astrid was selected for Noorderlicht Photography Masterclass. Her work deals mostly with subjects and issues that involve the society and human relationships, focused on marginalized groups.

This includes the work “I’m still with you”, about the Memory Books in Uganda. Since 2010, she has been documenting the influence of breakdance and Hip Hop for socially disadvantaged young people in Uganda. In 2011, she captured individual stories of immigration on behalf of the Goethe Institut. In March 2014 Astrid started ongoing longterm project “Null and Void”, documenting the impact of Ugandas Anti-Homosexuality Law.

She has been working for clients such as WWF Germany, Médecins du Monde, UNICEF and Goethe Institut. Her work has been published in different media like Nido, missio magazin, emotion, GEOlino and stern.de.

Daniela Koening

Patients wait for their medical treatment in the narrow gangways of the train.

Kuragino, Krasnoyarsk Krai,
Russia, 13.11.2016.

Emile Ducke

Son is the first stop on the
route of the medical train in
November. Once a strong
forestry and farming industry
was situated in Son, in the late
1960s there were almost 5500
inhabitants. When the first
undertakings had been shot
down in the 1970s,

Patients register at the reception
in the beginning of the train
where they will be assigned to
their treatment dates with the
doctors. The treatments are
free of charge.

Son, Khakassia, Russia,
06.11.2016.

Patients wait at the entrance
to the registration carriage
at the beginning of the train.
In November 2016 outside
temperatures reached until -38°
Celsius.

Kuragino, Krasnoyarsk Krai,
Russia, 12.11.2016.

Elena Semina from the town
of Kuragino waits for the
beginning of her examination
by EEG. She came to the small
village of Tuba, where the train
stops before reaching Kuragino,
in order to circumvent the rush
demand there.
Tuba, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Ru

The therapist Danilova Lyudmila
Mikhailovna (l.) and her
assistant analyse the data of
their diagnoses in a narrow
compartment. Every day they
are supposed to check around
37 patients.

Kuragino, Krasnoyarsk Krai,
Russia,
13.11.2016.

Patients wait in the narrow
gangways of the train for their
medical treatment. The clinic
train gives them the chance to
consult several specialists on a
single day.

Tuba, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia,
09.11.2016.

Kuzmin Vladimir Pavlovich
made his way from the village
Karatus to Kuragino in order
to visit the medical train. He
consulted almost all doctors on
the train and is being radiographed
in the end of the day as a
chest injury has been detected.
The do

As the medical train is named
in honour of Saint Lukas, a
priest and doctor who operated
in Krasnoyarsk in the time of
the Second World War, the
train carries its own cathedral
wagon. Priest Igor from
Kuragino is holding a service
which is frequente

The medical train on its stay in
the village of Son. The duration
of stay is depending on the
size of the village - in Son (740
inhabitants) the medical train
stopped of for a day, the next scheduled stop over is going to be in a year’s time only.

Diagnosis

There is a lack of doctors in the Russian backcountry and a part of the residents does not have regular access to medical treatment. Five medical trains of the Russian federal railways provide basic medical service. The medical train “Saint Lukas” supplies remote areas in the Siberian Region of Krasnoyarsk, which in size is six times larger than Germany. Equipped with a laboratory for blood tests, sonography, EEG, ECG, and x-ray devices seventeen doctors and their assistants examine about 15000 patients per year. The medical treatment on the train is free of charge. Medical specialists make diagnoses and prescribe medication. Once a year the medical train passes one of the stations on the defined route.

Emile Ducke

Emile Ducke was born in 1994 in Munich, Germany. Since 2013 he studies Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany. In 2016 he spent his semester abroad at the Faculty of Journalism at Tomsk State University, Siberia.

Emine Akbaba, Turkey, Ankara, November 2016.
Necmiye Ceren Baran (20) was killed at one of the most crowded spots in Ankara by her ex Boyfriend, a police officer. She did not reply to his confession of love and and was shot dead with a shotgun on t

Emine Ekbaba

precious blossom

“Precious blossom” is a story about the increasing violence against women in Turkey: both in number and brutality.

The project confronts the murder of women in Turkey who revolt against abuse and push for independence. Most women were killed by their husband or boyfriend because they requested a divorce or separation from their partners. Others were killed because they did not reply to their confession of love. Women are being killed by beating, beheading, burning alive, shooting into the heart or head with a shotgun, stab- bing up to 25 times or slitting their throat in the middle of the street when children passing by. It should be noted that the women not only were murdered, but their bodies were mutilated before and after their deaths. These brutal deaths occur in broad daylight on the street in front of everyone and at home while their three year old child is playing in the living room. The Umut (Hope Foundation) has stated in a new report that the trend has been increasing from year after year. According to a women’s rights activist organization, 1,638 women were murdered between 2010-2016.

Emine Ekbaba

Emine Akbaba (b. 1987) is an Turkish-German documentary photographer. Her works are related to women‘s rights, gender equality and the freedom of speech, especially in the Middle East, which is her cultural heritage. Therefore, she is continually anxious to act as an interpreter for these women who cannot speak for themselves. In her freelance assignments, Emine works with local and international NGO, non-profit organisations, Newspapers and Magazine. Her photographic works are long-term projects.

Arne Piepke and Ingmar Björn Nolting

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Water without salt

Te Kura is the longest river of the Caucasus region. It rises in Turkey, crosses Georgia and Azerbaijan and drains into the Caspian Sea. In Georgia the river is called "Mtkwari", which can be translated as "water without salt". Our project gives an insight into the Georgian culture, the environment and our personal encounters with the people who live close to the river, to tell about their personal stories.

Arne Piepke and Ingmar Björn Nolting

Arne Piepke (1991) studies photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Dortmund, Germany focussing on documentary photography. He deals with diferent aspects of home and his personal relation to it. Recently he worked on social-documentaries in Georgia and Kosovo. He took part in group exhibitions in Dortmund and two of his photobook-dummies were shown at the Frankfurt book fair in 2015 and at the Miss Read 2016 in Berlin. In December 2016 he took part at the portfoliowalk of the DFA (Deutsche Fotografsche Akademie) in Augsburg. Ingmar Björn Nolting (1995) studies photography at the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Germany. His work focuses on long-term documentary projects and portraits. With one of his projects he was one of the awardees of 2016 “German Youth Photo Award”. Ingmar's work was also chosen for 2016 “Portfoliowalk” at Deichtorhallen, Hamburg and also for the "Portfoliowalk" at H2 Center for Contemporary Art, Augsburg. His photographs were presented at several exhibitions and he held a scholarship granted by the German Ministry for Education and Research BMBF.

Religion is an important part of the daily life in Kleinfontein.

Jonas Kako

A security guard loads his revolver shortly before his night shift begins.

At the Gate of Kleinfontein, Security Guards check every Vehicle going through around the clock. Visitors need an Invitation from an inhabitant to enter.

At the annual celebration of the blood river battle at Kleinfonteins community church a family reads prayers on the stage.

A list of banished people in the main gate fffice. The "kooperatie" of Kleinfontein has strict rules. If you don't follow them, you will be banished and are not allowed to reenter.

The community pool is a meeting point for Kleinfonteins young generation.

Ruan (25,l) and Johan (19, r) are working as Security Guards at Kleinfontein. Growing up in Pretoria, they moved to Kleinfontein in 2016 due the lack of Job opportunities outside of Kleinfontein, as they say.

James Swart (35) lives in Kleinfontein with his wife and his three Children since five years, working as a community gardener.

Willie (63) singing nationalist boer songs at the boskombois.

Willie (63)and his wife at the Boskombois celebration in December.

Dries Oncke lives in Kleinfonteins Caravan Park. He lost both legs and one arm in a train accident.

Kids climbing through the fence surrounding the village.

Stuck in the past

Just a half an hour’s drive outside of Johannesburg sits the small, quiet village of Kleinfontein. In some ways it’s a place little different from other rural South African communities: vast open space is in abundance, everyone knows each other’s business, there’s a sense of community spirit that runs through the streets. But look a little closer at this village of 1200 people, and there’s something disconcertingly different about this small pocket in the heart of the Rainbow Nation: every one of the villagers is white. In the secluded village of Kleinfontein residents refuse to accept the diversity of South Africa as the modern Rainbow Nation, instead living a life of segregation and racism, as they long to return to their Apartheid past.

Jonas Kako

Jonas Kako, born 1992 in Kappeln, Germany. After traveling for some months, internships he began studying photojournalism and documentary photography at the University of applied Science and Arts Hannover.

Lena Mucha

Girl in her uniform in the backyard of their dormitories, Yerevan.

Two girls chatting during free time, Yerevan Military University.

Two girls hugging each other in their private room in the dormitory, Yerevan

Female adets on the campus during their freetime and view over Yerevan.

Girls in the library dressing their hair, Yerevan.

Cadets saluting, Yerevan Military University

In Armenia and Karabakh, female cadets challenge stereotypes

Since the frozen war between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted again in April 2016, more and more young girls are joining the army. But in Armenia and Karabakh, societies that often confine them to traditional gender roles, its only the second year that they are allowed to become combatants.

The young women are a first in conservative Armenia. But faced with a declining population, the government has decided to admit women into the army.

Despite objections against the girls active role in the military, they shrug off the criticisms and are sure that one day they will serve on the frontline.

Lena Mucha

Lena Mucha (b. 1983, Germany), is a freelance photographer based in Berlin. In 2011 she graduated with a Master of Arts in Social Anthropology and Political Sciences from the University of Cologne, Germany.

Lena had lived several years in Latinamerica and Spain, working on research projects about gender violence and civil resistance for NGOs such as Doctors without Borders. She has been awarded with different international prices as the Photo Annual Awards 2015, the Reporters in the Field Scholarship as well as a scholarship for Magnum photographer Patrick Zachmanns workshop and David Alan Harveys workshop in New York in 2016. With her work about young female cadets in Armenia and Karabakh she has been nominated for the Unicef Photo of the Year Award 2016.

Lenas work has been exhibited and published internationally (Spiegel, Washington Post, GEO, Stern, BURN Magazine, VICE Colombia, Leica Magazine, Huffington Post, El Pais, Nido Stern, 6mois, Lensculture).

Now, in the winter, showering is a little cumbersome; Kadi and Korbi help themselves with a provisional plastic and a tub construction. They can hang it up in the warm kitchen if necessary. The water must be carried in cans from the source outside t

Lisa Hermes

Kadi with her son Lean and the freshly skinned deer.

The family does not actively hunt, but a feast like this - a deer caught by a wild dog - can not be missed.
"Before I came here, I could not even bend the branch of a tree without a bad conscience,
now I even eat meat. Life here is different, we had

Kadi (f, 30 years) and Korbi (m, 28 years), got to know each other while traveling. To take a break from traveling, they built a hut in the forest in 2012, where they lived until Kadi got pregnant with Lean.

Almost exactly three years ago, the family bought this property in Romania. Electricity is available because of the shepherd's huts.

Life in freedom has its price: solitude. Even if the family has a lot to do and among themselves an intimate relationship, they sometimes long for other social contacts.

Even though the outside temperature is below zero, Lean wants to play naked in the hay.
Balana the cow lives with her newborn calf in the right corner of the stable. The calf is soon to be sold so that the family can finally eat the long-awaited d

The family bands are strong; Kadi, Korbi, Lean and Muna have already experienced some ups and downs. Already the beginning was not easy; Kadi gave birth to Lean and Muna without medical assistance in the valley. Lean's birth took two days and would

For all a special event; Two days ago, Korbi had seen an injured deer. But it quickly disappeared and he lost the track. Today they found it near the house. It was torn by one of the wild shepherd dogs. The meat stock can be refilled; nothing can be

Muna looks at her father eagerly while he is removing the organs of the deer. "The children should learn all the important skills you need to survive out here from the beginning.", says Korbi.

Kadi bakes bread every two days. Now, towards the end of the winter, fresh bread is one of the culinary highlights, because the food stored in autumn (especially the fresh), are slowly coming to an end. A handful of pumpkins and afew shriveled apple

Doyna spent the winter in the dark barn. Now she enjoys the first warm days outside in nature. She is essential for the family; for wood-transportation, for plowing the fields and gardens, for occasional duty visits in the next village-shop and of c

Lean (3 years) and Muna (1.5 years) are making fun at the dinner table. "Lucky that the two have themselfs as friends," says Kadi, "I would still be happy, if other families would come to the valley to live here. A couple more playmates would be goo

Evening is family time; While the parents are talking about this and that, Lean and Muna are almost sleeping - exhausted from the day. "Today Lean helped me with the wood for the first time," says Korbi proudly.

The days are still short, but will soon be longer. The whole family is looking forward to the spring, when it finally warm enough to realize the many plans; Building stables, planting the garden, building a pond and an outside kitchen... There is st

Living Utopia

"Living Utopia" is an ongoing project about people who decided to live outside the system and/or society. At the first glimpse the idea of a self-sufficient life sounds quite romantic - but what's behind this idea? Is it a new way of living or just a repetition of the existing social structures with its problems but only in a smaller extent?What difficulties do the people face and what are their living conditions like?

Kadi and Korbi are living a self-sufficient live in Romania since three years. For them, the birth of their son Lean was the decisive impulse to realize their dream of dropping out of the system. For both of them, it quickly became clear, that a self - determined life with a child in Germany is not possible. "Many rules in Germany contradict the self-sufficiency idea - the insurance-obligation for example commits someone to have a high income."

Lisa Hermes

Lisa Hermes is a freelance documentary photographer based in Berlin (Germany). She studied photography at the University of applied Sciences in Bielefeld. Her work is mostly telling intimate and personal stories which carry political subtexts. At the moment she is working on various free projects.

Lukas Schulze

Natalya Reznik

Aging

"It is a project in progress about my grandmother. I’ve been working on it about 8 years. Her name is Nadezda Pavlovna, she is 92 and she lives in Perm, Russia with my mom. She has desire to love and to be loved – and at the same time she feels being unworthy of it. She thinks that people have the laugh of her, because of her weakness (doesn’t hear properly, almost blind). Sometimes she tells that she hates herself. But she still has a hope that everything will be fine again".

Natalya Reznik

Natalya Reznik was born in Perm (Russia). She studied design, then took part in several workshops organised by Fotodepartament in St-Petersburg (Fotodepartament), by Objective Reality Foundation, by Ostkreuz Agency (Berlin). In her projects she reflects political and social issues of Soviet and Post-soviet Russia (emigration, problems of elderly people, politics of Russia in the Soviet time). Her works were exhibited widely including International Photography Festival "Encontros da Imagem” (Braga, Portugal), International Photofestival FestFoto (Porto Alegre, Brazil), PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art (Perm, Russia), Metenkov's House Museum of Photography (Ekaterinburg, Russia), International Photography Festival "Warsaw Photo Days" (Warsaw, Poland), Ural Branch of the National Centre for contemporary arts (Ekaterinburg, Russia) etc. Reznik's first photo book "Secrets" (2014) was selected for several international festivals and photo book shows. Her second photo book “Looking for my father” was self-published in 2016. Now she is working on her third book about her grandmother “Aging”.

Mother Larisa wants to visit her adopted daughter Vera with newl

Ksenia Les

One of the rituals of the family is to deep into the see to celebrate an Ortodox Epiphany. Though only boys are allowed to go to the water because according to
the parents „it‘s too risky for girls as they need to give birth later on“. Baltic Sea Co

Children have a separate
dining room. Only older kids
are allowed to eat from time
to time in the kitchen with
parents. Blood brothers Ilya,
6, Andrey, 8, and Sergey, 6,
are having lunch after the
returning from school and
kindergarten. May, 2016

A calm saturday afternoon. Children are returning back from scho

Brothers Andrey,8 Sergey,6 Ilya,7 and Sergey,14 and mom Larissa,51 are watching series before going to sleep. January, 2017
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The chosen family

I depict a story of the Russian family Morozovy from Kaliningrad who adopted 13 children (also brothers and sisters) starting from 2009 after their own children became grownups and left the house. The family receives 8000 rubles subsidy for a child per month (around 100 euros) and is allowed to live in a former kindergarten. The couple (Larisa and Sergey, former construction store chain manager and her employee), lives on the poverty line and thus experiences problems with educating the adopted children. Order and house rules are enforced by strong authoritative methods. Nevertheless, all children call Larisa and Sergey „mom“and „dad“ and enjoy a life without existential fears. Only a few families in Russia adopt children due to possible prejudices of society and the fear of raising traumatized children. Children who grow up in orphanages are often not given adequate psychological and physical care. Former orphans in Russia are often stereotyped as alcoholics, criminals or too stupid to work.

Paul Lovis Wagner

State of Exception

In July 2017 more than 13000 police forces will come to Hamburg from all over Germany. The summit of the 20 biggest world economies will take place in the town hall and the exhibition halls. Trump, Erdoğan and Putin are among the attending G20 presidents. The politicians will be secured in an architecture of power. Police is gearing up and lately bought new tanks and machine guns. Paul Lovis Wagner visually investigates the state of exception as governance strategy. He visits key places of the summits and their preparation. In times of growing detachment between the rulers and the ruled, his focus lies on the representations of (in-)security and power.

Paul Lovis Wagner

Paul Lovis Wagner, 25, studied Journalism, Photography and Political Science at Sciences Po Paris, EGE Rabat, FH Hanover and FU Berlin. His work is driven by curiosity and the will to change something for the better. Being trapped in contradictions he reports about migration, social movements and politics. He is part of the jib-collective.

Sebastian Wells

Olympia

Olympic Games are a world of perfect staging of big heros, nations and powerful people. A world apart, which won´t work without the images of countless media. The always-the-same depiction of spectacle produces new icons steadily. In my series, I try to stand back of that spectacle and take a look behind the scenes by separating myself from the "official" pictures, which normally show the newsworthy stories.

All images of this series were created in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during the Olympic Summer Games 2016 from August 5 to August 21 in its venues.

Sebastian Wells

Sebastian Wells, 20, lives in Berlin. He studies photography at Ostkreuzschule photography and works for newspapers and magazines in Berlin and Germany. Sebastian already received several awards for his work on sports.

Sebi Berens

A young Ultra Orthodox Haredi runs over the main cross that connects the big Ultra Orthodox neighbourhoods like Meah Shearim, in the heart of Jerusalem on 9th January, 2016. Most of the Ultra Orthodox Areas are divided between the main Family tribes

Jewish worshippers cover themselves with prayer shawls as they pray in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City, during the Cohen Benediction priestly blessing at the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, October 19, 201

Young Ultra Orthodox kids seen at a seperation barrier during the Simhat Torah celebrations in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood on October 24, 2016. Jews marking the end of the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah and the beginning of the n

A young Ultra-Orthodox Haredi throws a bunch of flyer on a protest in Jerusalem on 2th March, 2017, at a bill that would cut their community's military exemptions and end a tradition upheld since Israel's foundation. Ultra-Orthodox leaders had call

Dozens of black suits in a Ultra Orthodox Haredim clothes shop seen in Meah Shearim on 9th January,2017 in Jerusalem. Yeshivish in general, including the new Sephardic generation in Israel that became influenced by the Yeshivish, wear more modern cl

A group of Ultra Orthodox Haredi men seen singing in a pub near the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem´s neighbourhood of Nahlaot on 27th December, 2016. Photo by Sebi Berens

Young Ultra Orthodox girls watching the Simhat Torah celebrations from outside of windows in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood on October 24, 2016. Jews marking the end of the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah and the beginning of the nex

Two Ultra Orthodox Haredim seen chatting in a small supermarket in the Ultra Orthodox neighbourhood of Meah Shearim, Jerusalem on Januar 9th, 2016. The Haredim are relatively materially poor, compared to other Israelis, but represent an important ma

Young Ultra-Orthodox Haredim try to catch demonstration signs on a protest in Jerusalem on 2th March, 2017, at a bill that would cut their community's military exemptions and end a tradition upheld since Israel's foundation. Ultra-Orthodox leaders h

Being Ultra

A loud voice in my back screamed in a nearly crying tone: “messiah“. I turned around and in front of me a men with closed eyes, covered with a prayer shawl and holding a bundle of a palm, a lemon and a branch in his hands. This scene not out of a freaky movie, it was at the Western Wall in Jerusalem during Sukkoth, an intimate moment, a special tradition.

Nearly 250.000 Haredim live in Jerusalem, the number of children per women is up to 6.2 and the tradition and believes are more stricter than elsewhere. Who ever visit neighbourhoods like Meah Shearim, right next to the modern and western city life of new Jerusalem, feels in a world far away from ours. Century old buildings and black dressed men uniformed with hats and suits flit around the streets deeply in thoughts about the upcoming holy holiday. In total there are 14 different holidays, all are important for the Jewish tradition and all have different practices.

Regarding the specific lifestyle of Ultra Orthodox Haredim, focusing their life on learning the Torah, the exemption causes huge controversy about the equal responsibilities from the citizens of Israel to the democratic state. Weekly Haredim get confronted with the security forces e.g. during the conviction of deserters.

My series „being ultra“ tries to gives a small insight in a few of these holidays and the sub cosmos, the Haredim live in and the problems they have with the government.

Sebi Berens

Now student of photojournalism and documentary photography in Hanover, Germany I do live in up north of Germany in a small town called Bremen. Before and during my time as a photography student I spent so far in total almost two years in Israel and Palestine, getting in touch with the vibe of a country, that carries the mother of all current conflicts. My main project is to create my own visual language, so that I feel expressed and understood through my viewer eyes regarding the sincereness of my message. For my future I want to focus on news photography and long-term projects about social issues in different countries.