Mads Nissen

My picture from Libya on the the cover of the ‘The Year in Pictures’

Together with photographer Jan Grarup, Jacob Ehrbahn and Tine Harden I was invited for a two hour long debate about our work and experiences in the field this year. More info here (Danish). The host Louise Bokkenheuser (a former Newsweek reporter herself) does an excellent job and I can highly recommend her programs.

Victoria’s story is nominated for the Cavling-prisen (Cavling Prize), Denmark’s most prestigious journalist prize. The final winner will be announced on January 4th, 2012. Læs mere her (Danish only)

The Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is currently exhibiting at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark. Some time ago I meet him in his studio in Beijing where I shot a series of portraits (a pretty demanding task, since he insisted of taking pictures of me while I took pictures of him…). One of these portraits in now being used on the poster for his exhibition.

In November I had the chance to visit Athens for a few days. Together with an excellent reporter I made a few stories on how the crises effects ordinary people, especially the youth. Here’s some of the tear sheets…

The picture story In the Name of Victoria is featured (runs over 32 pages) in the latest issue of the amazing photo magazine 6 MOIS. Take a look here.

Following the tragic massacre in Norway on July 22nd, I photographed Oslo the island of Utøya where most people were killed. After the funeral of ‘Mother Utøya’ Monica Elisabeth Bøsei, a long time friend of the Jens Stoltenberg, I got the chance to meet the prime minister and take this picture.

This week I’ll be super busy covering the election for the Danish parliament… Here’s a image of opposition leader, Helle Thorning Smith giving interviews.

Available for meetings… +45 30421798 / info@madsnissen.com

After editing the participants work for a whole week we all had a small presentation for friends of Photo Circle. Really amazing work… Now I’m back in Denmark for a short while, and in November 2011 the stories will be exhibited in Kathmandu and published in a book. Keep you posted…

This week I’ll be back at photo.circle in Kathmandu, Nepal to conduct a workshop together with Søren Pagter, Head of the department of photojournalism from The Danish Media and Journalism School. The workshop is the final part of a master class for 12 Nepali photographers. The 12 photogrpahers have been working for two months with the theme evolution and now it’s time to edit their stories. The final result will be an exhibition and a book. Photo: Uma Bista

My website have been completely redesigned. Browse around and you’ll find plenty of new stuff: Picture stories, tear sheets, multimedia, news and much more… The website is designed by www.mending.dk

I’ve received a grant from The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for International Photography. The grant will help me complete a story on the internally displaced people in Colombia. Read much more here.

Jury member Mr. Jon Levy explains:

 “[for me] it came down to the way that the photography made me feel — which became so much a part of the judging process. Each project elicited a different type of emotional response especially when it came to the photographers’ vision of how they went about trying to tell their stories. With Mads,” he continues, “there was something deeply disturbing about his pictures that made them stand out. I felt that his approach had the necessary part to it on how to properly tell stories that do not hide behind the facade of ‘good picture.’ How he uses photography could only be judged by his deep- seated knowledge of the topic”

My work from the revolution in Libya is published over 14 pages in the latest issue of  FOTO8. The work was photographed during two trips this spring.

A group of photographers along with myself have been interview in a very interesting article about the risk of photographing war. You can find the article “The shot that nearly killed me” here.

Pictures from the ongoing workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal. More about the workshop and the amazing photo.circle on this link.

“Participants will use photojournalism and documentary photography to discover, investigate and convey stories about places and people, that they believe the world should care about. These can be both big and small stories- as long as they are important to the person telling the story. By analyzing picture stories, looking at their structure, discussing the journalism behind them, participants will find out how visual language can be used to tell their specific stories.”

During the summer 2011, I’ve been invited to teach at a 3 months workshop in photographic storytelling in Kathmandu for young docu-photo-talents of Nepal. The workshop is an initiative by a group called photo.circle who is trying hard, and with great success, to establish an environment for documentary photography in the Himalayan country. Check out more about the workshop and the inspiring photo.circle here.

My photo essay In the Name of Victoria has received a Gold Medal in the Feature Story category at the annual Px3 contest. Read more about Px3 here.

My photo essay In the Name of Victoria has received a 2nd prize in the Best Published Picture Story category at the annual Best of Photojournalism 2011 (NPPA’s BoP) contest. Furthermore my story Risking Life, Giving Life about maternity health in Nepal received a Honorable Mention in the same category. The last award was another HM in Singles, Enterprise.  You can visit the Best of Photojournalism site here.

In June part (13 images) of my long term project ‘The Fallen’ will be exhibit in Øksnehallen as part of Copenhagen Photo festival. It’s a group exhibition called 5 x Personal Projects and consist of works from five young Danish documentary photographers. Here’s a bit about the work that  I am exhibiting (you can also find it on this website)

’The Fallen’

Over a period of two years, and in close collaboration with the relatives of fallen soldiers, photographer Mads Nissen has made collages from private pictures of fallen soldiers. The work gives an intimate and touching insight into the life of the person behind the military uniform. These collages are exhibited next to Mads Nissen’s own photograps taken in Denmark and Afghanistan.

I’m now represented by Panos Pictures (except in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy). Read more here

I’m now represented by LAIF in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Read more here

I’m now represented by Prospekt in Italy. Read more here.

I Victorias Navn from Mads Nissen on Vimeo.

My multimedia In the Name of Victoria has received the first prize as the Best Danish Multimedia at the annual Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto). Visit the Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto) here. You can find the multimedia in Danish and English on this website.

‘Informations Fotopris’ is a photo award giving to a student from the Danish School of Journalism once a year. The student is judged on his/ her photographic work produces during their 1 1/2 year internship at a newspaper. I’ve been both a student and a teacher at the school myself and without reveling too much, I must say that I was happily surprised by how much personal passion and interpretation that was present in much of the work…

I’m happy and proud to share with you that my picture story ‘In the Name of Victoria’ has received the 3rd. prize in the Daily Life picture story category at the annual World Press Photo. In the beginning of May, I’ll participate in the Award Days and ceremonies in Amsterdam.

I’m glad to announce that I’ve been nominated for this years Danish Press Photo of the Year contest (Årets Pressefoto). It’s still unclear which of my stories or images will be rewarded, since the final result will not be revealed until March 4th.

In the fall of 2010 I was invited to join a interesting project called ‘Young Men – a close up on a generation under pressure’ (Unge Mænd – Nærbilleder af en presset generation).

The project, or the experiment as it is called, is by initiative of The Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute and the idea is to increase understanding between Denmark and the Arabic world. Three photographers from the Arabic world; Algeria, Egypt and Lebanon were invited to Denmark to do a story of their own choices. And virce-versa –  three Danish photographers each went to one of their countries to create a feature story. The project resulted in a book (in Danish and Arabic only) and exhibitions accross our countries. My story was from Lebanon and is called ‘Oasis Beirut’.

Check out Antero De Alda’s blog about documentary photography “os dias todos iguais, esses assassinos…“ he wrote a bit about me too. Link to website

Work from my ongoing project AMAZONAS has once again been selected and will be exhibit at the ‘Lumix – Festival for young photojournalism’, which will take place in Hannover, Germany in June 2010. This year it’s ‘Fever, Gold Fever’ that will be exhibited.The story from South American biggest illegal goldmine is part of my personal long term project AMAZONAS. Take a look at the Lumix website here (there A LOT of great work….).

In May and April I went back into the Amazon rainforest for yet another time. But this stay was different. Over huge distances I travelled back to many of the places were it all started for me; the forest near Puerto Ayacucho in Venezuela, and visiting old friends in Leticia, Colombia and Belen Bajo in Peru. It might turnout to be the last trip before the long term project is finished – the next couple of month of processing and editing will tell… I’ll keep you posted, but until then here’s an image from my stay with the Yanomami in south Venezuela.

Join my workshop at Fatamorgana! This summer I’ll be teaching a three days workshop at Fatamorgana – Danmarks Fotografiske Billedkunstskole. We will be concentrating on telling important stories in the personal language of the photographer. It’s in Danish and you can read much more here and visit Fatamorganas website here.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also know as Doctors Without Borders, have assigned me to photograph two projects in Colombia.

First, I’m visiting is a maternity hospital in the city of Quibdo. For two years MSF have been running the hospital, training the staff, suppling new equipment and so on. Now it’s been handed back to the local government.

Second project is in the province of Arauca. For a long time Arauca have been a battle zone with regular fights between Government troops, guerilla groups such as FARC-EP and other armed groups of the civil war in Colombia. As a result it’s often very complicated to access and give medical attention to patients. In mobile clinics MSF visits vulnerable communities and also scan and treat for Chagas-disease (as seen on picture above).

I’ve been waiting for this moment for some time…. Finally I can present to you the photo essay: Oumas Weddng – A Child is Getting Married. It’s a short story on a 14-year old girl from Niger who is being married. Niger has the world record of child marriages.

My photo essay ‘Fever, Gold Fever’ has received a 2nd prize in the Environmental Picture Story category at the annual Best of Photojournalism 2010 (BoP) contest. The photo essay is from South Americas largest illegal goldmine Eldorado do Juma located in the middle of the Brazilian rain forest. The essay was made during the Joop Swart Masterclass and is part of my long term project AMAZONAS. You can visit the Best of Photojournalism sitehere.

The picture story Ouma – A Child is Getting Married received an Award of Excellence at the annual UNICEF Photo of the Year. You can see the images here and read about the UNICEF award here.

At the annual Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto) I was selected as the best photographer of the year! Visit the Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto) and take a look at my portfolio here

My picture from the mass arrest of nearly 1000 protesters during the international climate summit COP15 in Copenhagen in December 2009 has received a first prize as the best Danish news picture at the annual Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto). Visit the Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto) here.

My picture story ‘The Fieldhospital’ has received a first prize as the best foreign news picture story at the annual Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto). Visit the Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto) and see the story here.

My picture essay ‘Fever, Gold Fever’ has received a first prize as the best foreign picture story at the annual Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto). The picture essay is from South Americas largest illegal goldmine Eldorado do Juma located in the middle of the Brazilian rain forest. The essay was made during the Joop Swart Masterclass and is part of my long term project AMAZONAS. See the essay here. Visit the Danish Picture of the Year (Årets Pressefoto) here.

I’ve been selected as the second best ‘Photographer of the Year’ at POYi (Picture of the Year International). Photographers from all over the world participated with portfolios existing of approximately 40 images taken during the year 2009. See my portfolio here

My picture essay ‘Fever, Gold Fever’ has received a third prize in POYi – Picture of the Year International!! The picture essay is from South Americas largest illegal goldmine Eldorado do Juma located in the middle of the Brazilian rain forest. The essay was made during the Joop Swart Masterclass and is part of my long term project AMAZONAS.

I’m glad to announce that I’ve been nominated for this years Danish Press Photo of the Year contest (Årets Pressefoto). It’s still unclear which of my stories or images will be rewarded, since the final result will not be revealed until March 5th. I’ve contributed with three stories, a multimedia and a few single images from the year 2009; One story is on the Field Hospital in Afghanistan that I visited in October, another story, or picture essay, is the Fragment of Afghanistan. And last, but not least, is Fever, Gold Fever – a picture essay which is a part of my personal long term project ‘AMAZONAS’. Part of this story can be seen at the Joop Swart Masterclass website. In 2007 my image on overpopulation in the Philippines won the first prize of the contest.

In December my hometown Copenhagen, Denmark hosted the international UN climate summit COP15. I mainly covered the variety of protests that took place in the streets. But I also had an exclusive opportunity to witness the last sleepy meeting of the delegates on the night between December 18 and 19, 2009. On this night the agreement was finally turned down…

VISIT THE ONLINE GALLERY AT WORLD PRESS PHOTO HERE

‘Sort of Safe’ – Photo essays on Nordic Welfare.
“Fifteen young Nordic photographers present us with diverse and sharp view on the welfare state. Their essays should inspire us to rethink our notion of welfare and democracy.”
Exhibitions in most Nordic countries during this summer and fall. Currently (-until 16.10) exhibit at Store Strandstræde 18, Copenhagen (near Nyhavn)

“I found the whole experience to be somehow surreal and felt myself surrounded by fear. (…) This photo essay tries to reflect that ambiance…” 

The photo essay Fragments from Afghanistan was recently published in the Danish newspaper Berlingske. (July 19th. 2009, 6 pages)

I’m happy to announce that among 179 candidates I’ve been selected as one of 12 participants for the 16th Joop Swart Masterclass, which will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in November 2009. During the next months I’ll be shooting a photo essay for this year’s theme ‘Touch’. Read more here….

“Considering the number of rounds that the Jury has already been through, being nominated is truly an award in and of itself.  We are very proud of this year’s Nominees.  It is clear that they represent the Future of Contemporary Photography, and we wish them continued success.”
Read more here…

The national Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star wrote an article on my ‘Tibetan Unrest’ story when it was exhibited at The Chobi Mela V international festival of photography. The Daily Star is the largest circulating English daily newspaper in Bangladesh.  Read the article here

Until April 2nd I’ll be in Helmand, Afghanistan on assignment for Berlingske Tidende. Among other things we’ll be focusing on the rebuilding of the war torn country. I’ll try to keep you posted with images…

Last Friday my picture story from the Sichuan earthquake in China received a second prize in the ‘Best Foreign News Picture Story’ category (Bedste Udlandsreportage) at the Danish Press Photo of the Year contest (Årets Pressefoto).

This week I’ll be in Aarhus, Denmark teaching the photojournalists at theDanish School of Journalism. The same school from where I graduated two years ago.

Tonight the nominations for the Danish Press Photo of the Year (Årets Pressefoto) was announced. I contributed with three stories, a multimedia and a few single images from the year 2008; One story was on the Sichuan-earthquake in China in May, another from Niger on a 14-year old girl, Ouma, and her day of marriage. And last, but not least, a more broader story called The Chinese Olympic Dream which among other things deals with patriotism and how some ordinary Chinese reacted towards the games. It’s still unclear which of my stories or images will be rewarded. The final result will be revealed on March 6 at Brandt Klædefabrik in Odense.

After freelancing almost two years in China I decided to return to Copenhagen, Denmark, where I’ve been offered a job as staff photographer at Berlingske Tidende, one of the leading Danish newspapers.

It’s been some exiting and unusual years for both China and myself. Dramatic events that I covered such as the Tibetan unrest, the Sichuan Earthquake, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the poor state of the country’s environment all left me deeply affected.

What triggered my initial interest in China was the last decades of amazing development and growth. I was fascinated and curious about this blooming superpower and the Chinese who have undergone so much. But also frightened and worried about the conditions and the consequences of all this.

And though I’d already read and heard much about China’s rise before, I guess I had never expected it to be so overwhelming – in a both fascinating and frightening way. I’m grateful that I could experience and document a glimpse of this historic moment and I sincerely hope that my images left you just a little wiser and feeling closer to the millions of ordinary Chinese who with clenched teeth are struggling to move upwards.

China is not the easiest place to work as a photojournalist, but despite putting themselves in danger many people opened their homes to me and my camera. Many thanks to all of you.

Mads Nissen, 2009

My picture story from the Tibetan unrest last spring has been selected for ‘The Chobi Mela V International festival of photography’. The festival is being held in Bangladesh from Januar 2009 and is one of the largest photographic festivals in Asia. This years theme is “Freedom”.

I spent most of October in the Ecuadorian Amazon working on my book. I had some amazing weeks with some amazing people and I look forward to showing the images to you all. Now, I’m back home in Shanghai, China and am once again available for assignments. Please note that my cell number has changed, my new number is: +86 151 021 76 163.

From October 22 until the 24 I’ll be attending the first Nordic Master Class in Norway. For more info read previous blog.

From August 2nd to August 26, I’ll be working in Beijing covering the Olympics for Der Spiegel. The focus will be the Hutongs, the people and everything in between.

In July I spend two weeks in Japan with freelance writer Rasmus Thirup Beck. During the two weeks we covered a range of stories from the famous annual Fuji Rock Festival to the Amami-Islands in South Japan; the place on earth where people live the longest.

A 8.0 sized Earthquake hit Sichuan province on the 12th of May. Almost one month after the earthquake, death toll is measured at nearly 70 000, with 17 500 still missing. For Der Spiegel I covered the terrible event.

This story is about a Chinese Elite Athletes School and it was recently published in the Danish magazine PLEASURE.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been selected for the first Nordic Master Class. The Nordic Master Class is a brand new after education seminar launched by Nordisk Journaliscenter and Update in cooperation with The Danish Photojournalism Programme.

The first part of the seminar will be in Norway in September and from during September and November all the participants will be working on a story from either of the Nordic countries. Finally we’ll meet again in the end of November to discuss and edit the stories and all stories will be published on a new website and released in a photo book. Read more here (Danish only)

My ongoing project AMAZONAS has been selected and will be exhibit at the ‘Lumix – Festival for young photojournalism’, which will take place from June 18- 22 in Hannover, Germany. My next trip into the Amazon will take place in the fall/ winther 2008.
Link to ‘Lumix – Festival for young photojournalism’.

In Marts I covered the Tibetan unrest in China for Newsweek.

Picture story from the opening of the 11th National People’s Congress in The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China

For Greenpeace Magazine I travelled into the jungle of Borneo, Indonesia to do a story on deforestation, the orangutans and the incredible work of the local organization ’Borneo Orangutan Survival’. (10 pages, February 2008 issue)

I just arrived back in Shanghai after three weeks on assignment in Niger. This image is from the marriage of a 15 year old girl named Oma in the Hausa-village of Gabi. More pictures will be published this spring.

I’m on assignment in Niger from January 26 until February 18th, 2008. The first time I visited was back in 2005, during the worst food crisis this poor country had experienced in more than 20 years.

This time I’m going back together with ‘Care International’ and a Danish student NGO named ‘Operation Dagsværk’. The aim is to raise money for schools and education for kids in Niger so they will be able to break the cycle of poverty.

Care International
Operation Dagsværk (Danish)

“Beijing 2008, building/ rebuilding” is the story about one of the biggest transformations that a city capital has ever experienced. A visit to the Olympic sites; witness world class architecture and the migrant workers who are building it all… So far published in Der Spiegel and Børsen Pleasure-Magazine.

New book ‘Asien Buldrer’ by Jan Lund and Jørgen Ørstøm Møller.
Front cover photo from Shanghai by me. Buy it

Pictures from my overpopulation story are now being published as part of a campaign in the Philippines by “U.P. Population Institute”.

Henning Larsen Foundation has arranged an international photography competition on “the soul of architecture”, from spatiality in modern architecture to inspired innovations in architectural photography.
Together with photographer Casper Balslev, I received an award for our long-term project on Outsourcing in Denmark.

Selected photographs are displayed at an exhibition at Tuborg’s administration building , the Rosen building , Strandvejen 54 in Hellerup, Denmark from 22 August to 2 September. The exhibition will be open every day from 14 to 18.
See Outsourced picture story here
www.spaceimage.dk

The Amazonas picture-story will be showed at the 12th Festival Voies Off, which will take place from July 3rd to 7th in Arles, France.
www.voiesoff.com

Earlier this year I shot the 2006 Annual Report for PKA – one of Denmark’s major pension funds. The idea was to show the daily life of Danish kids.

AMAZONAS, FOTO8-Magazine, May 2007, 8 pages

The long-term project “Outsourced – End of the Industrial Revolution” is now being published in FAGBLADET. Together with photographer Casper Balslev I have documented companies compounds which were left empty in Denmark after their production has been outsourced to other countries.

My ongoing picture story AMAZONAS won the Kravling-award 2007 given to a young journalist or photojournalist in Denmark.

I decided to move to Shanghai,China to take a deeper look at the country – its economic boom and the consequences of it.
I am available for freelance assignments in Shanghai, Beijing, China and the rest of the region.

Mit billede fra en fødeklinik i Filippinerne er blevet Årets Pressefoto 2006-7. Billedet er fra en reportage om overbefolkning i Filippinerne. En reportage der desuden vandt en anden plads i feature kategorien.

My picture from a maternity ward in the Philippines was selected as the best picture of the year 2006-7 in the Danish Press Photo of the Year contest. The picture is from a story about overpopulation in the Philippines. This story was also awarded with a 2nd place in best feature of the year.

The story about overpopulation in the Philippines received an Award of Excellence at this year’s Picture Of The Year (POYi) in the ‘Issue Reporting Picture Story’ category.
POYi

Once again this year I received the 3rd prize in ‘DAYS JAPAN – International Photojournalism Award’. This time it was for the story about overpopulation in Manila, the Philippines.

The Scanpix-prize is given to a photojournalist for the best Bachelor Project at The Danish School of Journalism.
My bachelor project AMAZONAS is a personal voyage into the wilderness of the Amazon.
Scanpix-prize
The Danish Scool of Journalism
Læs begrundelse her (Danish)

Today I graduated from The Danish School of Journalism where I have been studying Photojournalism for the last four years. My bachelor project AMAZONAS is a personal voyage into the wilderness of the amazon in South America. It’s an ongoing book project.

From February I will be working freelance based in Shanghai, China.

Pictures from my story about overpopulation in Manila, Philippines will be part of a group exhibition on humanitarian photography. In 2007, the exhibition will be on display in Spain, Portugal, France, England, Netherlands, Germany and Japan.

Øjenvidner 2006/ Eyewitness 2006.

Photos of the year by the photographers from Politiken.
Photo book and exhibition in Øksnehallen, Copenhagen from November to December the 4th. Together with the annual World Press Photo exhibition.
Buy book here

Too many people. Too little space.

With every passing second, there are more and more of us. By the year 2050, the global population is expected to pass nine billion people, a significant increase from the six-and-a-half billion today. In the Philippines, they are already running out of space. The capital of Manila is one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the world.

With Freedom Came Poverty – a reportage from Moldova
Moldova was one of the richest states in the former Soviet Union. Today it’s the poorest country in Europe. 34 percent of the population survive on less than 1,70 Euro a day. But the European Union (EU) is getting closer to Moldova. When Moldova’s neighbour Romania joins, it will be just next door. That may be as soon as in January 2007. Published in Euroman, November 2006.

This august Mads Nissen represented Denmark in the Asia-Europe Forum for young photographers.

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), World Press Photo Foundation (WPPF) and the Philippine Center for Photojournalism (PCP) co-organised the Asia-Europe Forum for Young Photographers 2006 in Manila, Philippines, bringing together 21 young photojournalists from Europe and Asia. More pictures will be released in late september.

Mads Nissen will participate in a Médecins du Monde exhibition, about forgotten crisis at Visa pour l’image in Perpignan, from the 2nd to the 17th of September 2006, on the esplanade in front of the Palais des Congrès. His contribution will be a picture of a woman who lost eight children during the food crisis in Niger 2005.
www.medecinsdumonde.org

Mads Nissen received Honorable Mention for his story about the foodcrisis in Niger -the poorest country in the world.
The Honorable Mention was given in the ‘Daily Life -picturestory category’ in China International Press Contest (CHIPP).

New book by Michael Jeppesen and Anders Lund Madsen ‘Hold masken eller der falder brænde ned’.

And Front cover photo by Mads Nissen.

It has been called ‘The Suicide Skyscraper’, ‘A Vertical Village’, and ‘The Perfect ‘Domus Vista’ – The home with a view; with its 29 floors rising 102 meters above ground. It is the tallest residential building in Denmark. Inside every window is a different story.
Published in Politiken the March 11th 2006.

Mads Nissen received the third prize in ‘Days Japan, International Photojournalism Award’, for his story about the foodcrisis in Niger -the poorest country in the world.

Øjenvidner 2005/ Eyewitness 2005.

Photos of the year by the photographers from Politiken. Photo book and exhibition in Øksnehallen, Copenhagen from November to December the 4th. Together with the annual World Press Photo exhibition. Buy the book here