Q. How did you find out about getting a gold medal? What was your first reaction?
A. I was working late at the newspaper that day and just finished editing some pictures. While I waited for Photo Mechanic to transfer the images I went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. The water was boiling and I got my cellphone to check Facebook for some updates. There it hit me; "Add another gold to the list for interpretive eye, folks!", someone wrote in the group for danish photojournalist students. I couldn't believe it – my name was tagged to me message. I forgot all about the coffee and ran down to my computer, cancelled Photo Mechanic and got to CPOY website. They were right. And I was very happy.
Q. Can you tell us something about making the winning photo?
A. The picture is a part of a series made with young winter swimmers from ISS Icebear on Amager Strand, Copenhagen. The series was made for a weekly photo spread in the danish newspaper Politiken back in March when the winter was really bad and there was snow everywhere. Somebody told me about this group of children who had been swimming all winter. I thought it might be a funny and different way to illustrate the weather situation.
The winning photo is the first image of the series. It is the only reportage photo where the others are portraits made on a white background. I think that the photo sets the scene without showing too much. It tells us something about where we are and what is going on but still it asks some questions.
Q. What got you first into photography?
A. I first got into photography in my first year of high school when I bought a DSLR camera. In the beginning I did not have any idea about becoming a photographer or working with photography as a serious matter. I just wanted to photograph the things around me; my family, my friends and my neighborhood.
Today I still love photographing the ordinary and close things.
Q. Do you have a photographer you admire/ inspires you? Can you tell us something about that?
A. As much as I like taking photos, I love looking at others work. I get my inspiration from many aspect of photography and art – not only from photojournalism. To me photography is best when you mix different genres to tell your story.
I think that these photographers does that very good:
James Mollison, Christopher Morris, Roger Ballen and of course, the Master of Color, Martin Parr – just to mention a few.
Q. Do you have any tips for other college photographers?
A. Shoot every day. But also think about what you are shooting and how you are doing it. To me photography is storytelling so it all comes down to how you want to tell your story. As a photographer it is your unique view on the world that matters.
To see more of Daniel's work, click here.
Interview by Hany Hawasly
