Main Echo photographer Stefan Gregor wins in four categories

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The jury of the “Pressefoto Unterfranken 2021” competition has awarded our Main Echo photographer Stefan Gregor four times. He easily accepted the quadruple award on Thursday during the ceremony at the district of Lower Franconia in Würzburg. On the other hand, he found it more difficult to answer the question: What makes the perfect press photo?

That’s difficult to say, Gregor thinks. Perhaps it has “to do with the right view for the decisive moment – as Henri Cartier-Bresson so beautifully called it?”

The French photographer, director, actor, draftsman and painter Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) is considered one of the most influential photographers. He also owes his fame to his artistic black-and-white photographs. “Henri Cartier-Bresson not only deeply influenced generations of news photographers, but also shaped the genre of street photography,” says a review of the illustrated book “Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Photographs – Homage to a Photographer of the Century.”

Gergor describes one of his winning photos as “a classic motif of the genre of street photography”: “The Tired Snowman” (category “Local Stories”). It shows a slumped snowman as a witness to the winter that appeared briefly in December but then disappeared again. During a tour for a series of reports, Gregor accidentally discovered and recorded him at the end of December 2020. With the photo, the long-time Main-Echo photographer shows an example of what he is trying to explain about the ceremony in the district of Lower Franconia: What makes the perfect press photo? “The photographer’s attention to perhaps seeing something that is worth a picture, even when working purely on appointments away from the main event.”

Gregor’s winning photos “Looking Up” (category “Culture”) and “It’s going on again” (category “Country&People)” are such moments of attention. There is the little girl, shy and spellbound, looking over a barrier. It observes a dance to the music of the Halkevi Youth Choir during the ‘Brotherhood of Nations’ festival in Aschaffenburg’s Nilkheimer Park in July 2021. And there is the scenery on March 1, 2021 in downtown Aschaffenburg, a photo, ‘in passing from the hips,” remembers Gregor. Several men are standing in front of a hairdresser and are waiting with mouth-nose protection and at a distance for the first haircut after the winter lockdown.

There are press photos like those of Gregor and those of the other winners “which unfold their very own language”, as District President Erwin Dotzel put it in his opening speech at the award ceremony. “Good press photos tell stories. They captivate us, they arouse our curiosity, they cheer us up – or they shock us, like the pictures from Ukraine are doing at the moment.”

The shock is not reflected in the face of the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder. It’s the concern. The shock after the knife attack in downtown Würzburg with three dead and several seriously injured in June 2021. Gregor on his fourth winning photo with the title “Affected” (category “City of Würzburg”): “Söder remains in silent memory at the scene of the crime. It was all around Silence in these moments of helplessness in the face of this act of violence. The Prime Minister, who was otherwise so bold, stood motionless in front of the wreath and his dismay was almost palpable. That is the moment when the photo was taken.”

Was it one of those moments for the perfect press photo? Maybe. Gregor keeps searching for the perfect answer. He, the fan of Leica photo cameras, points to the photographer Nik Ut. One photo in particular by the Vietnamese-American photographer, who was born in 1951, has become a symbol of the Vietnam War worldwide: The “Napalm Girl” On June 8, exactly 50 years ago, Nik Ut photographed the girl with his Leica, who was naked and screaming with other children fleeing a napalm attack. Gregor: “The photo has become a media icon and an indictment of the war, although it may not appear particularly spectacular at first glance. But it stuck in my memory, and THAT is what makes a ‘perfect’ press photo for me. “

Gregor’s photos and those of the other award-winning photographers always show the viewer “a very special and at the same time very subjective view of reality,” says Dotzel. And: Press photos don’t have to be pretty, “they don’t have to please”. Yes, you don’t need both. But if one of the winning photos manages to stick in your mind, then maybe it’s one of those perfect press photos. Torsten Maier

Photo series: These are the winning photos “Press photo Lower Franconia 2021”

The story about the photos: That’s what our photographer Stefan Gregor says

Affected (06/27/2021), category “City of Würzburg”: “Laying a wreath on Barbarossaplatz in Würzburg at the commemoration ceremony for the act of violence on June 25th, 2021. Prime Minister Markus Söder has dismay written on his face, he remains in silent remembrance at the scene of the crime – that is the moment when the photo was taken. There was silence all around these moments of helplessness in the face of this act of violence, the Prime Minister, who was otherwise so bold, stood motionless in front of the wreath and his dismay was almost palpable.I tried to photograph as carefully and quietly as possible so as not to disturb this moment – although I yes stood a few meters away…”

Here we go again (March 1st, 2021), Category “Country and People”: “Waiting in line for the first haircut after the winter lockdown at a hairdresser in downtown Aschaffenburg. The picture was literally taken in ‘passing by’ from the hip, in my opinion the scenery on the morning of March 1st, 2021 had something funny and was also a symbol for the time of the second corona lockdown, which gradually ended on that day. “Normal” life slowly began again.”

The tired Snowman (12/11/2020), Category “Local Stories”: “Walking through the high-altitude town of Hambrunn, a district of Schneeberg: this snowman has become tired and has made himself comfortable on the ground… A classic motif of the genre of street photography, whose motifs are actually never predictable and are therefore often particularly attractive. Recorded during a tour of the Höhenort as part of the series of reports on the 75th anniversary of the Main-Echo in 2020. I am particularly pleased and fills me with pride that with this picture I have donated the photo by his sister Maria Goblirsch in memory of Rainer Reichert I won the “Local Stories” prize. Because Rainer was not just a colleague for me, he was my mentor in the Bavarian Association of Journalists and, above all, he was my friend, whose much too early death left a big gap.”

Look up (07/17/2021), category “Culture”: “I called the photo ‘Looking Up’. A little girl is standing at the barrier in front of the stage of the “Brotherhood of Nations” festival in Nilkheimer Park in Aschaffenburg and is watching shyly and spellbound a dance to the music of the Halkevi Youth Choir. Nach the forced break of the previous year due to Corona, the 2021 festival was held in a much slimmed-down form, despite or perhaps because of it, with a great response from the audience.”

Background: Lower Franconia press photo

The “Pressefoto Unterfranken” competition has been around for around 30 years now. It is initiated by the Mainfranken district association in the Bavarian Association of Journalists (BJV) with the support of press and public relations work in the Lower Franconia district. According to the initiators, it is “one of the few competitions – the only one at regional level – that focuses on the press photo”.

Every year, an expert jury not only selects the Lower Franconia press photo from hundreds of submissions from press photographers. It also selects the winners in the categories, Land&People, City of Würzburg, Culture, Sport, Environment&Energy, University&Science, Series, Young Talent Award and local stories from Lower Franconia.

In particular, the prize in the local history category, which was explored for the first time last year, is reminiscent of the man who launched the competition at the time: Rainer Reichert, long-time Main Echo editor who died unexpectedly in 2019. Around 30 years ago, Reichert’s intention was to bring the work of press photographers to the fore in the public eye. Reichert’s sister, the journalist Maria Goblirsch, offered the prize after her brother’s death. The “Local Stories” category has its origins in a summer series of the same name that Rainer Reichert had written for the Main-Echo for years. A total of 5,250 euros in prize money goes to the winners. (May)

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