In this interview, Brent Stirton talks about his method of working, and his two stories that won 2012 World Press Photo awards - Rhino Wars and AIDS in Ukraine.
On the bureaucracy that goes along with working on a wildlife story:
“I often don’t come to those stories as a journalist. I come as a dealer, or a hunter, or a buyer, or a soldier. I’ve been a priest, I’ve been a seed farmer. I’ve performed many roles to get into different places. I justify that to myself and to a journalistic audience in terms of - it’s for the greater good.”
Please see more interviews with the 2012 winners on the World Press Photo website.
Our own Aidan Sullivan, recent Jury Chair for the World Press Photo competition, has now returned from two weeks of reviewing over 100,000 images shot 2011. In recent press he shares some thoughts on his experience.
From the British Journal of Photography:
“2011 was a momentous year…in the end, we tried to distill it down to what was the most important thing - the people.
The people who were brave enough, and courageous enough to come out of their homes and businesses, and get on the streets and stand up to dictatorships….there was this collective feeling that enough was enough. Brave, ordinary people were taking to the streets to fight these regimes that had been in power for so long. That personal element of the Arab Spring was the main subject of discussion in the last few days of judging.”
From CNN Photoblog:
“I locked myself in a room for 48 hours and looked at all the events of 2011.
There’s intelligent discussion and debate…very passionate discussions”
Aidan Sullivan, Getty Images Vice President of Photo Assignment and World Press Photo jury chair, speaks about the process of choosing a single image as Photo of the Year.
Congratulations go to Brent Stirton for his double win at World Press Photo 2012! He won a 1st prize for Rhino Wars (shot for National Geographic) in the Nature; Stories category, and a 1st prize in Contemporary Issues; Singles, for his portrait of Maria, a drug addicted sex worker from his AIDS in Ukraine story.
Aidan Sullivan, Vice President of Photo Assignment at Getty Images, is currently serving as Jury Chairman for the judging of World Press Photo. Here he shares his thoughts on the process of judging, his role as chairman, and how the jury decides which images to send through to the next round.
Please see more interviews with the jury members here.
World Press Photo Press release - Aidan Sullivan, vice president of photo assignments for Getty Images, will chair the 2012 World Press Photo Photo Contest jury. He takes over the task from David Friend who has been forced to pull out for medical reasons.
Aidan Sullivan started his career as a staff photographer for a local newspaper in the UK at the age of 18, and then freelanced as a news photographer in Fleet Street, covering events and conflicts around the globe. He later joined The Sunday Times in London as deputy picture editor, soon becoming the picture editor and subsequently joining The Sunday Times Magazine as assistant editor responsible for photography. In 2005, Sullivan joined Getty Images and relocated to New York. He created Reportage for Getty Images in 2009, representing some of the leading international photojournalists and documentary photographers in 2009. Sullivan is currently based in London. He was previously a member of the 2011 World Press Photo contest jury.
World Press Photo managing director Michiel Munneke comments: “We were looking forward to welcoming David Friend to head this year’s jury and we wish him a speedy recovery. At the same time, we are thrilled that Aidan Sullivan is able and willing to replace him at such a short notice. Aidan’s association with World Press Photo goes back a long way, and having participated in last year’s contest jury, Aidan has the right experience to tackle the demanding task of the jury chair.”
Nineteen recognized professionals in the field of press photography worldwide are judging the entries of the 55th World Press Photo contest at the foundation’s office in Amsterdam from 28 January until 9 February 2012. The winners will be announced on 10 February in a press conference at the Amsterdam City Hall and on the foundation’s website.
In this video from the World Press Photo Masterclass, Antonio Bolfo discusses how he came to photography, his work with people living on a massive garbage dump in Haiti, and where he wants to go from here.
Please click here to see more videos from the Masterclass participants, including Reportage photographers Sebastian Liste, Kitra Cahana, and Alinka Echeverria.
On April 5th, 2011 South African photojournalist Anton Hammerl was seized by the Libyan militia loyal to Colonel Gaddafi, near Brega.
On Sunday May 8th Jodi Bieber, a fellow South African photographer, won Photo of the Year at the World Press Photography Awards. In her acceptance speech she appealed not only for Mr. Hammerl’s release, but for help in raising awareness of his disappearance and the killing and disappearances of other journalists and photojournalists all over the world.
Sadly, news later surfaced that Anton’s body had been found in the desert. He had been shot and left to die there, another tragic loss of life of a photojournalist in a conflict zone, and specifically in Libya where others also lost their lives this year.
Shortly after, Anton’s friends and collegaues rallied together to set up a web site through which fellow photographers (including the likes of David Burnett, Bruno Stevens and Kenneth Jarecke) could donate prints which could then be sold, with the proceeds going towards paying for the education of Anton’s three children.
Please visit the web site by clicking here, and for any photographers wishing to donate an image please click here.
