Exhibition "Press Photo Bavaria 2021" in the Antoniersaal Memmingen

Created: 05/22/2022, 02:00 p.m

By: Tom Otto

Photographer Sven Hoppe won the competition with his photo 'Gläserner Landtag', which received more than 850 entries.

It shows the Bavarian state parliament, in which the members of parliament, separated from each other by plexiglass panes, listen to the government statement on the corona measures.

© Tom Otto

Memmingen - As part of the supporting program of the "Memminger Freedom Prize", the photo exhibition "Pressefoto Bayern 2021" by the Bavarian Association of Journalists (BJV) was opened in the Antoniersaal last week.

Around 80 photos by Bavarian press photographers will be shown, and a total of a good 850 works have been submitted to this annual competition.

Because this year's "Memminger Freedom Prize" focused on the topic of "freedom of the press", the exhibition can be seen in Memmingen for the first time this year.

Michael Busch, Chairman of the BJV, suggested in his opening speech to around thirty invited guests that press photos should be the bridge to freedom of the press.

Germany has not improved in terms of “press freedom” in recent years: in the ranking of the organization “Reporters Without Borders”, the country has slipped from 13th to 16th place.

The non-profit organization sees the reasons for this primarily in the local decrease in media diversity, the legal attacks on the protection of sources and the violence against journalists.

Press freedom endangered

In the 22 years since the Pressefoto Bayern competition has existed, the number of daily newspapers in this country has decreased by a good third, and circulation has since fallen by more than half.

In the foreword to the exhibition catalog Busch writes that the cost pressure on the editors has increased significantly, there are fewer photo orders with less and less time and fees for them.

This development also contributes to endangering the freedom of the press.

Press photographers "show what others would like to see unseen," says Busch.

The photos should not “make themselves common with what they show”, are committed to truth and classification.

traces of the restrictions

The men and women behind the press cameras suffered particularly badly last year: the restrictions imposed by the Corona measures can be seen in almost all of the photos on display.

The major cultural and sporting events simply did not take place and even seemingly harmless photos still show the traces of the restrictions.

Michael Busch refers to a photo in the forest showing the first occupation of a tree in Bavaria: The occupation of the tree is standing on a platform on the tree at a height of seven meters and giving an interview to a colleague from Bavarian Radio on the forest floor.

And the tree squatter wears an FFP2 mask despite all protestations.

At a height of seven meters.

In the forest.

The exhibition is worthwhile for anyone who likes to be out and about with a camera and has a penchant for liveliness, the enigmatic and the human.

It can be seen free of charge in the Antoniersaal from Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. until June 6th.