“Visual journalism of the future”

Lviv became the seventh city to be visited by the exhibition of the best photos of Den’s 19th Inter­national Photo Contest. From May 31 to June 10, thousands of Leopolitans and guests of the city saw it at Lviv Polytechnic National University.

“THANKS TO THESE PHOTOS, WE GET TO UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF LIFE”

These were 11 really productive days. This is evidenced by the guestbook as well, which traditionally accompanies all the photo exhibitions held by Den. This is its 10th volume, marking a major anniversary. All previous nine books, written by you, our visitors, are stored in the newspaper’s editorial office. So, what did the visitors of this year’s photo exhibition in Lviv write in it?

“Thank you for the positive (true) emotions. And the picture The Fragments of Civilization is an apt characterization of the state of the modern society!” wrote lecturer of the management of organizations department of Lviv Polytechnic National University Ihor Hrybyk.

“I thank the photographers very much! I was moved to the point of being tearful. I wish you luck in the future!” Liudmyla Trofimova sincerely remarked.

“Your work is inspiring, while the art of photography touches the heart and moves the soul and consciousness. Thank you, Ms. Ivshyna!” one of Lviv Polytechnic’s students addressed Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief.

“Thank you for an hour of emotional saturation, compassion and admiration for our best people,” writes graduate of the Lviv Polytechnic Z.B. Lototska. “I am captivated, moved by the photo exhibition and the Den newspaper as a whole,” another graduate of that university added in an unsigned entry.

“Thank you very much for the wonderful photos! Thanks to these photos we get to understand the value of life,” students of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences of Lviv Polytechnic wrote in a collective entry.

“Thank you for the exhibition! These strong photos make us remember: the war is going on, but our life is going on as well,” Iryna from Lviv stressed in her comment.

“My favorite newspaper Den! Dear Ms. Ivshyna! Thank you for existing! Thank you for the Word, thank you for the exhibition! I wish you energy and strength in your service to Ukraine!” wrote Halyna Poliuva.

These are just a few of the written impressions. There are many more in the guestbook. Each review is unique, as is its handwriting, as well as the inimitable emotions experienced by each of the visitors of the photo exhibition while looking at this or that image. Traditionally, many tourists visited the exhibition in Lviv. In particular, a few short reviews were written by guests from abroad.

“THIS IS A UKRAINIAN PHOTO-DIMENSION, A PHOTO PORTRAIT OF ME AND YOU”

Natalia ULYNETS, Slavske joint commune council member, manager of the Dyvys.info news agency:

“I am saying it without pathos, but Den’s photo projects are a kind of Ukrainian photo-dimension, a photo portrait of me and you. Literality and metaphoricity, emotions and events, strength of spirit, energy of nature and people, voices, circumstances, and challenges – this is what I saw in the works of this year’s exhibition.

“Frankly, I confess that it is not enough to visit Den’s exhibition just once, passing along the corridors and past the stands. Some photos focus one’s attention for a long time and strike a chord seriously and deeply. These photos reflect history, moments and processes of national significance, because this is the experience of Ukrainians in the fullest sense of the word.”

“DEN OFFERS A DISCUSSION WHICH HELPS US GROW”

Yosyp LOS, professor, head of the department of foreign press and information, Faculty of Journalism, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv:

“I call Den’s Photo Exhibition a display of the visual journalism of the future. Why do I call it this? The fact is that recording episodes of life, and especially people, leaves a major legacy for the future generations, because one gesture, one look at the pictures can often say a lot, often much more than other formats. Hundreds of books have already been written that deal in detail with these peculiarities of masterfully made photos.

“Den is an activist newspaper. It not only reflects life, but also looks for new forms of realization of the whole worldview sphere. It includes book publishing, photo exhibitions, and other projects of the publication. It is important to get people interested through photos and photography art in reading high-brow literature, to encourage them to take interest in such individuals and their positions as are worthy of attention in the modern world. It is, for example, about such people as Yevhen Sverstiuk and other great figures who left us in their writings great examples of highly effective journalism.

“The Den newspaper tries to change all aspects of life for the better. This is not a form of self-affirmation, but a specific mission to change the world for the better. Giuseppe Mazzini, the most prominent figure of the19th-century Italy, whose ideas united the country, spoke about such a duty. These positions are still extremely relevant today.

“For instance, I like Den’s idea to celebrate the Centennial of Pavlo Skoropadsky’s Hetmanate very much. I have read all the contributions on this topic in your publication. This is a real encyclopedia, the ideas of which are extremely relevant for Ukraine today.

“We must look for great individuals. The Den newspaper deals with this task as it seeks the positive features in our figures who made the right choices, contributed and are still contributing to the development of the Ukrainian state. The publication acquaints its readers with such people, analyzes their examples, and explains their ideas. The Den newspaper offers a discussion that helps us grow. I regularly read each issue and tell all my students about it. I have just published and presented to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Larysa Ivshyna a three-volume collection of my journalistic works, where Den is mentioned every two, three, or ten pages. The ideas of the newspaper are constantly being used.

“The Den newspaper is a club of new ideals and ideas based on our heritage that gives us an opportunity to remember ourselves, to believe in ourselves, and to be ourselves. Den is looking for and offers variants of new guidelines of the 21st century, since the commercial manipulative civilization is so passe. We must move on to a civilization where a person will be a true phenomenon, not a social animal, or simply a cog in a large economic or production mechanism. The humanity is destined for a better fate. Den’s contributors give these issues a thought and analyze them all, starting with the nature that the humanity destroys, and ending with an organic way of life.”