A year later, the winners of the Digital Photography and Short Film Competition – intended for children of Slovaks living abroad – met in Banská Bystrica on 27-30 June 2016. The expert committee composed by Lukáš Matejka (TRAKT) and Martina Krčová in cooperation with the main organizer of the Mateja Bela Methodological Center prepared for children, besides interesting prices, also a photo workshop in the Čierny Balog plein and a workshop of pixel and luminography in Banská Bystrica. During the stay, children from primary and secondary schools from Serbia and Hungary learned about professional photography and learned how to creatively enhance their artistic practices in photography and short films.

Photography as a medium and, in particular, digital photography is now more and more popular in the eyes of professionals and the general public. Capture an interesting picture and give it a static in an attractive composition, if colorfulness is a difficult task in the past. Children have done very well with this creative task and have managed not only a photo but also a short film or animation. Static and moving images are easy to get into mobile phones, giving them a new look and versatility. These mobile forms offer space for the development of creativity, invention and creativity. The competition of photography and short film productions has an increasing trend of interest every year for Slovak pupils and students living abroad. The concept is based on three photographic and one film categories. In 2016, 635 photojournalists were presented before a professional jury (in the different categories: landscape 270, experiment 254 and action 111). In addition to the photo, 33 films from 4 countries (Serbia, Croatia, Hungary and Ukraine) were recorded.

Children’s greatest interest is traditionally in photography. The first category In AKCII presented a variety of approaches, mostly documentary character. She mapped people and situations. In some photographs, besides classical documentation, the children also worked with fine-grained stylized images. This aspect helped many photographers. The selection of the winning photos was 5 pictures, 2 of which were honored. Portrait portrait of youth and youth in black and white tone and fine vintage occupied 3rd place. A nice design in the form of generational contrast with the love of grandmother and child was placed above the cross. The winning photo shows a trio of girls on a cycle trip with a gently bent horizon that dramatically highlights an unidentifiable forced pause.

Category LANDSCAPE is a popular theme for kids that has the most frames. However, the landscape requires a concentrated focus and a perfect moment to shoot the shutter on the camera. Views of the natural and urban units also reached the winning trio. A night city in a perfect composition, or a house on the hill called Spring Mood with Grandma. An excellent moment was captured by a young photographer in the Sun Theater. The crane’s industrial arm in strong sunlight looks natural to the camera’s composer frame.

The last and also new category of the photo in the contest is EXPERIMENT. The task of the children was to experiment with light, shadow and all the settings the technology offers them. Four photos came to the final, in which a book from the book offered a sun-beam viewfinder. The First Fire is built on a distinct contrast to the orange-red fire and darkness in the focal pyramid. A fire that blows the hearth out of the image in the viewer creates a “hot” feeling. The penetration of the light rays of the street lamp over the tree crown became the dominant point of photography in the second place. The triple plan (tree, surface and ground) very nice to feel in the detailed view of the winning photo underlined by the delicate melancholy mood.

The Short Film and Video category brought up to six awards this year. Autumn rose was a time-consuming visual work, as a young photographer mapped the entire plant growth process that lasted for several days. In the end, static images were embedded in authentic animation. The animation was also central in a short, almost as out of the action film cut out, a car hobby part. A special prize was won by the Kovacice School for 6 minutes for a demanding one-stop shop. The third place includes a 2-minute animation on how the letter A was selected for the vandrovka. The current subject was very well captured by a pupil in a 3-minute film showing the risks and difficulties of social networks. The first place was defended last year’s winner from Serbia with a stopmotion drawing animation titled The Future is now. Nice idea and pleasant art decides. The expert committee is enjoying this year’s significant image quality and quality. An increase in animations and short films, as compared with the previous year, shows that children are also keen to work on time-consuming forms – such as movie media or animation. Children are actively demonstrating that they are watching and reflecting current themes and are able to give them a creative form and content from the perspective of the child’s eye.