[Leica] OT: world press winners 2006

[lug at steveunsworth.co.uk (Steve Unsworth)]

Nathan, speaking of photo-journalism, are you going to Perpignan this
summer?

And speaking of Perpignan, congratulations to the rugby league team who beat
Wigan on their first ever match last night. As one Wigan fan said before the
game 'it's just like going to Salford'. Believe me, Perpignan is _nothing_
like Salford :-)

Steve


-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+lug=steveunsworth.co.uk@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+lug=steveunsworth.co.uk@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Nathan Wajsman
Sent: 12 February 2006 10:08
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] OT: world press winners 2006

Ric,

Yes, I did look at the pictures, and I go to the exhibition every year. 
I am not saying that the winning image is bad, but I AM saying that it 
is not the best of the images on show and that the winners of this 
competition are selected based on the committee's desire to highlight 
certain issues as much as on the photography.

Let me put it in another way: if a Martian looked at the winning entries 
of World Press Photo over the years, he would invariably conclude that 
life on earth is an unending misery of wars, famines and natural 
disasters. Of course I understand how the media work and that these 
tragedies generate lots of news and lots of coverage, but surely that is 
not all that life is about?

I remember a few years ago the award was won by a Danish photographer 
with a headshot of a wounded man in Kosovo (or Bosnia, I don't remember 
exactly). While I was happy to see a Dane win, I must honestly say that 
I found the image to be quite ordinary compared to many other images in 
that year's exhibition. There was no doubt in my mind that it had won 
because the committee wished to focus on that war. In other years it has 
been equally clear that a political agenda rather than photographic 
merit is often the determining factor.

When I go to the exhibition, I invariably find images that are superior 
to the winners but did not win because they did not fit that agenda.

Nathan 

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