Pulitzer prize photos

[Graeme]

I was impressed with syscom3's thread on the 'Napalm Girl', Kim Phuc, and the associated Pulitzer prize photo. I'm hoping to start a long thread showing many of these award winning photos and the stories behind them. Please contribute.

In no particular order I'm starting with 'The Vulture and the Baby' of 1994.



Taken by Kevin Carter in the Sudan. Stopping in Ayod he was photographing horrific scenes of starving people and came across this little girl making her way to a feeding station. At that moment, a vulture landed nearby, sensing carrion. Carter snapped some photos and chased the bird away.
Carter's friends later reported that he was depressed after making the picture, but the poignant image touched a global nerve. In March, the New York Times, seeking a photo from Sudan, used Carter's gut-wrenching picture. It was quickly picked up by others and widely published internationally; it soon became a worldwide icon of African suffering.
Personal tragedies followed Carter and there was stinging criticism of his photo. Some believed that it was a fluke or that he had somehow set it up. Others described him as the vulture for taking the photograph.
On the night of July 28, 1994, shortly after being presented with the Pulitzer award Carter committed suicide in Johannesburg. The explanatory note he left behind told of a man frustrated by lack of money and haunted by the unrelenting memories of killings, madmen with guns, starving children, of corpses and pain. He was 33 years old.

[evangilder]

"haunted by the unrelenting memories of killings, madmen with guns, starving children, of corpses and pain"

I think there are a few of us here that have been there. It drives some insane, others it kills inside. While he indeed took a very telling photograph, it ultimately cost him his life. But anyone who has actually been to Africa and seen what is going on there is changed forever.

[evangilder]

Ramadi - U.S. Marines pay their respects at a memorial service for 1st Marine Division Combat Photographer Cpl. William Salazar, 26, at Camp Blue Diamond. Salazar, of Las Vegas, Nev., was killed in action in Anbar Province. (Photo by Jim MacMillan, October 18, 2004.)

The say a picture is worth a thousand words, this one speaks volumes...

[Graeme]

Taken by Virgina Schau-May 3 1953. Pitt River Bridge, over Lake Shasta.
A professional photographer would say that it was the wrong camera, the wrong lens, and the wrong film, but those same professionals would also admit the importance of being at the right place at the right time-with any camera.
It was taken with a Brownie camera.
And yes, he survived.

[syscom3]

I started the thread of the picture of the napalm girl!

[Graeme]

Originally Posted by syscom3

I started the thread of the picture of the napalm girl!

My apologies! Fixed!

[syscom3]

1975

On July 22, 1975, photograph Stanley J. Forman working for the Boston Herald American newspaper when a police scanner picked up an emergency: “Fire on Marlborough Street!”
Climbed on a the fire truck, Forman shot the picture of a young woman, Diana Bryant, and a very young girl, Tiare Jones when they fell helplessly. Diana Bryant was pronounced dead at the scene. The young girl lived. Despite a heroic effort, the fireman who tried to grab them had been just seconds away from saving the lives of both.

Photo coverage from the tragic event garnered Stanley Forman a Pulitzer Prize. But more important, his work paved the way for Boston and other states to mandate tougher fire safety codes.

[evangilder]

"A professional photographer would say that it was the wrong camera, the wrong lens, and the wrong film, but those same professionals would also admit the importance of being at the right place at the right time-with any camera."

If it won a Pulitzer Prize, and the photo stirs emotion, who cares what gear was used. The second part is probably the key, being in the right place at the right time.

[v2]

Slava Veder's “Burst of Joy.” 1974

Coming Home

[syscom3]

Great one V2!

[Graeme]

Having performed CPR on people in various locations I can empathise with pole linesman Jimmy Thompson's dilemma.
Fellow linesman Randall Champion suffered a 21,000 Volt shock while working to restore power in a Jacksonville suburb July 17 1967. The current burnt through his feet and knocked him from the pole, his harness holding him inverted. Thompson reached him first and commenced CPR. Champion survived.
The photo was captured by Rocco Morabito working for the Jacksonville (Florida) Journal.

"Back at the Journal, Morabito processed his film. It was a little past the deadline, but the editor said he would hold it for the photo. Printed big on the front page, it was a positive photo that showed one human saving another, in stark contrast to the coverage of the Vietnam war, civil rights issues, and demonstrations in the streets that readers so often faced during the era."
'Moments'-Hal Buell

[lastwarrior]

He is a real hero.

[syscom3]

I remember that picture. They showed us that in Jr High school when we had "shop" classes. The dangers of electricity and why we need to learn CPR.

[Thorlifter]

Wow, that's a cool shot. I haven't seen that one before.

[ccheese]

You have to go a long way to beat this shot by Joe Rosenthal. No other
explanation is needed.

Charles