“What is Denmark for you?” – This was the headline of the mail I received recently… In short, I was praised for my work and then invited to participate in a photo contest on behalf of the Danish Embassy in Ukraine. The competition was relatively simple – I just had to submit one or more photographs in response to the question “What is Denmark for you?”!
Try asking yourself the same question and replace your answer with a photograph – is it simple or what do you think?
Probably spam
I want to be honest and say that at first I thought that this might be spam and therefore did not put more effort into it and was just about to delete the mail, but in contrast to deleting the message (the message seemed very credible), I chose to check the content and individual links as well as references – they praised me a lot… what to say!
The result was against my expectations that it may not be spam anyway, but that it was a real call. I chose to jump into it and sent some photos back with thanks for your inquiry. Then silence … is it normal in Ukraine? I have to admit that I have not thought much about it for a long period, until the beginning of this week, when a new mail was typed from the former sender…
Your photo has been selected
The mail simply explained that my photograph had been selected as part of the photo exhibition in Ukraine on 6-14 October 2017, where they hold a huge event with participants from the Danish elite business community…
I’m still a little confused but also a little proud – proud because I chose to participate despite a huge skepticism and proud because I delivered “my Denmark” as a contribution to a Danish initiative and thus became a representative of Denmark abroad!
And the price is…
The only disadvantage is that I myself will not see the exhibition as this was not part of the prize. It would, however, be a fantastic experience and not least a fun adventure, but it might be just pressing a bunny bag a tooth too much or what? I have to admit that I totally wanted to see the overall result – 20 professional photographers with each of their photographs with their version of Denmark.
My call to you – and this is also the learning from this story – Open your mind and take on the tasks you become asked, even though it may not always be something that you control or are safe with. Usually it will be a success…
Trust yourself and your skills. You can do much more than you think, and you may also learn it along the way!
Additional information
- You can see more about the exhibition at http://ukraine.um.dk/en/danish-days-in-kharkiv-2017/photo-contest-and-exhibition (Opens in a new windows)
- The photo I submitted was from the “Alone in the Dark” series, which you can watch http://www.falkenbergthomsen.dk/project/alene-i-moerket/
- The image that won is the same as I used for this article and it’s a photo of Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark.
