Meet our contest’s jury member: Yuri Kozyrev

Biography

Yuri Kozyrev is a Russian photojournalist, and founder of the NOOR photo agency. He was born on October 20, 1963 in Moscow. Kozyrev graduated from Moscow State University’s Faculty of Journalism.

Yuri began his professional career in photography in the late 1980s. Early in his career, as a special photojournalist for the LA Times, he covered the events related to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Then the most important topic of his photography career was the military conflict in Chechnya. In 2001, after the events of September 11, Yuri worked in Afghanistan. He spent seven years, from 2002 to 2009 in Iraq, shooting different sides of the military conflict for Time magazine. Since February 2011, Kozyrev has covered the unrest and its aftermath in Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia, as well as in Egypt and Libya. In 2015-2016, the photojournalist decided to take on non-military projects and delve deeper into Russia in search of stories depicting everyday life.

Yuri Kozyrev has collaborated with such publications as the Los Angeles Times, The Times, Time Magazine, Het Parool, Elseiver, Ogonyok, Itogi and a number of other media. He is a six-time World Press Photo laureate, recipient of Visa Pour l'Image International Photojournalism Festival, the 2011 Trophee and Public Prizes Prix Bayeux-Calvados Award. In August 2020, he was awarded the Kamerton prize, honoring the late Anna Politkovskaya, including for reporting from the "red zone" of the 52nd Moscow hospital, where patients with COVID-19 were being treated.

- Yuri, how did you enter the profession and what enables you to remain inspired by photography today?

- As for the second part of the question, the secret is very simple, since it is interesting and challenging to live and meet people, this career can and should be pursued. I was lucky in every sense. I joined the profession at the right time. That was more than 30 years ago, when great changes were brewing in the country. What we saw and recorded then were historical events. My entry into the profession is also a wonderful coincidence, and I got incredible help from friends and my brother who introduced me to many independent photographers (at that time it was very rare, because photojournalists were assigned to certain media). This is how I met my future teacher, Valery Arutyunov. People from his circle have remained my friends; and it’s mostly thanks to them that I’ve understood the meaning of our profession. I had the opportunity to communicate a lot with Evgeny Khaldei, and listen to his stories and anecdotes. I was a spoiled young man surrounded by brilliant photographers.

Then the time came for me to make independent decisions. For a long while, I captured military conflicts in Chechnya, Afghanistan on film ... For about 8 years I photographed the war in Iraq - hardly anyone stayed there longer than I did. But war is a matter for the young. Thus, in 2015-2016, I decided for myself that there are other important stories, and began to learn to photograph them. It is a different rhythm, a different immersion, a different degree of analysis. Here you often have to wait for your picture. Sometimes it's hard.

Now I can say that at first I fell into the same trap as all novice photographers. For some reason, at the dawn of our careers, we all think that we need to look for stories in psychiatric hospitals, or in prisons. I have devoted quite a lot of time to researching life in dark, confined spaces. Thank God that I had a mentor who told me an important thing: all this can and should be done, but there must be an understanding of why you are doing this and an awareness of the responsibility. Responsibility is the key in photojournalism. Now it's easy to shoot. New social platforms have emerged enabling you to engage in self-expression, cameras have become so cool that it is possible to get a quick result, but, at the same time, not everyone understands the ethical code of our profession.

- Why did you decide to respond to the invitation to become a jury member of the first International Photo Contest NEWS PHOTO AWARDS?

- Unfortunately, there are not many professional contests in Russia. This is important when a major, high-profile agency like TASS comes up with such an initiative. Thank you for inviting me to participate in the contest’s jury. First of all, it is an opportunity to see a large number of works of my colleagues that I could not have seen. And for young photographers, the participation and appreciation of their pictures is an important factor which ensures that they are on the right track and doing their job well.

The categories of many of the existing contests are difficult to understand where an author should submit their photos. When the framework of the topic is introduced, in this case indicated by life, it becomes clear to photographers what material they can work with and what they can submit to this contest. I am in favor of more such platforms in our country. It's great that there are people who are ready to spend time on organization, since building logistics and making this competition truly significant is a tremendous and difficult job.

- Why do you think NEWS PHOTO AWARDS contest is important?

- A career in photography has its limits. There is a time when you are very active - in fact, you live and sleep with a camera. I remember that feeling when you get your first Nikon or Leica. The camera becomes a part of you. And then suddenly there comes a time when you slow down. These eight months have been challenging. This is a historical event for the whole world, and we are living in it. Taking part in the contest gives the photographer an opportunity to evaluate what he has done over the year. It is not true that in conditions of "complete isolation" there is nothing to shoot. Even the most mundane story becomes exceptional because it occurs at such a time. Of course, if you've ever been in the "red zone", it becomes clear to you that this is quite serious and dangerous. But life also goes on during a pandemic - children are being born, and weddings are celebrated. I would like to see more stories like that during the contest. My stories from Iraq were not always about the military, but also about love, and conflicts.  Apart from the front line and the fleeing recruits or rebels with weapons in their hands, ordinary life still went on even under such unusual conditions. You just need to find your way to tell the story. Photographers have the privilege of being in places where other people cannot be. And anyone who misses this opportunity may regret it later. We will live with this event, and in 50 years people looking at the photographs will understand what life was like during this time.