Photographers Blog

The problem with prizes

By Radu Sigheti

As I prepared pictures to submit to a contest I could not stop thinking that all these past years the main photo contests chose their winners from among the pictures depicting wars and conflicts. I think that this year will be the same, due to the many bloody events around the world.

I do not know why those pictures are still chosen, they show horrors. They show the pain of the helpless victims and the joy of the gun-toting bullies. They show, some in a dignified way, some in a gruesome way, humanity at its worst, people killed by other people. They will haunt your memory; they will be published again and again. The photographers took great risks to shoot those images; we praise them for their pictures and courage to be where others do not dare to go. There were amazing photos depicting war and those photographers deserve to be praised for their work. But do their images really belong to a pictures contest? Does anyone think about their impact in the future, about their impact on young photographers? Was Susan Sontag right in her last book, “Regarding the pain of others”?

Throughout those years, many young photographers looked at those pictures and what have they learned? They have learned that to be a great photographer and to make a great picture you must go to a conflict or a war zone, because you get instant recognition. But that’s built on others’ ordeals. Generations of photographers thought this way, even today, in an easily accessible conflict zone, the place is swarming with photographers, sometimes they outnumber the combatants.

What happens in a war zone must be documented, the story must be told, because we are supposed to learn from mistakes, we are supposed to intervene if something happens against humanity. The rest of the world must see what is going on elsewhere.

I have been shooting photographs because of this; in the hope that what I picture today will never happen again. But I see that it happens again and again and again.

Adrees Latif wins ICP Infinity Award for Photojournalism

Pakistan chief photographer Adrees Latif has won the prestigious ICP Infinity Award in Photojournalism for his outstanding coverage of last year’s Pakistan floods. Working under the most difficult of conditions he led the Reuters pictures team to tell the story from every possible angle. His images were published daily across international front pages, bringing attention to the enormity of the catastrophe from its early stages. Latif’s work has received numerous industry accolades including the Pulitzer prize for Breaking News Photography in 2008.

Adrees recounts how he took the award-winning image of marooned flood victims grasping on to an army helicopter as they tried to escape.

Reuters aces Canadian Photos of the Year competition

Corinne Perkins

Apr 28, 2009 18:26 EDT

Reuters News has aced four categories, as well as ranking in three other categories, in the annual News Photographers Association of Canada Photos of the Year competition. This year’s competition drew over 2,000 entries from 125 photographers. Thomas Szlukovenyi, Global Editor of Pictures, said “These awards pay tribute to the high quality of Reuters photography and further cement our reputation with clients as the leading source of photojournalism in Canada. Congratulations to all the winners.”

Reuters photographers were honored with the following 7 awards:

General News: 1st – Mark Blinch

Feature: 1st – Andy Clark

Honourable Mention – Mathieu Belanger