French photographer wins World Press Photo < Gotta See This>

Reuters ^ | 13 February 2004 | Reuters

[Helms]

French photographer wins World Press Photo

13 February 2004

AMSTERDAM — French photographer Jean-Marc Bouju was named on Friday as the winner of the World Press Photo competition.

The international jury of the 47th annual World Press Photo, which is run from Amsterdam in the Netherlands, chose a colour image from Bouju that shows an Iraqi man comforting his 4-year-old-son at a Prisoner of War centre near Najaf, Iraq.

The picture was taken on 31 March 2003 and can be viewed at http://www.worldpressphoto.nl/index.jsp.

Some 4,176 professional photographers from 124 countries participated in this year’s contest, the premier annual international competition in press photography. More than 63,000 images were entered.

The organisers said 81 percent of the photographs entered, including Bouju's winning photo, were taken with a digital camera. The number of digital camera pictures submitted to the contest this year was the highest ever.

Bouju will receive his award and a cash prize of EUR 10,000 at an awards ceremony in the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, on Sunday 25 April 2004.

The ceremony will be preceded by a three-day program of lectures, discussions and screenings of photography. Two exhibitions will be shown in the Oude Kerk: the annual award-winning pictures and a special selection of Bouju's work.

The exhibitions are open to the public from 26 April through to 20 June and will subsequently visit more than 80 locations around the world.

Bouju works for the Associated Press news agency. He shared the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography with three photojournalists with the Associated Press. The team was awarded the prize for its coverage of the devastating ethnic violence in Rwanda.

Bouju's 1995 entry was a photograph of refugee children pleading to be allowed to cross a bridge from Rwanda to Zaire.

He also shared the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography with John McConnico, a former UT Department of Journalism student in Texas, and four other photographers.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch and French news

[Helms]

[new cruelty]

It is a touching picture... the one with the father and son is also interesting.

[mountaineer]

He's probably hiding WMDs in that hat.

[Ken522]

Forget the Coneheads for a second - what's the Palestinian got on his head, or wrapped around his head?

[Howie66]

After taking the picture, the photographer promptly surrendered to the son.

[Aggie Mama]

My favorite is Cigar Man resting in one of Saddam's palaces.

[Timesink]

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[dangus]

*chuckle* He is from France.

[Aggie Mama]

I wonder what the picture was in 2001? Somehow I don't think it revolved around 9/11.

[Paradox]

That is a sad picture. I feel sorry for that boy, and for the man, as a father. However, I dont know what he is being held for, so I dont neccessarily feel sorry for the guy in general.

[prion]

Awww...isn't it nice of the Americans to let prisoners of war have access to their children to comfort them? Wait...that's not what I was supposed to take away from this picture?

[dangus]

Actually, what's amazing about it is that it is a strikingly bad photo. I'm sure the fascist World Press Corp loves it because it elicits sympathy for terrorists, but you can't see the father's face at all, and the child's face is alrgely darkened, and not terribly emotive either. You have no idea what the hood is about, nor can you tell much about the context.

[TheBigB]

Compare and contrast.

[Right_Handed_Writer]

The only thing a frenchman can shoot is a camera!

[Alberta's Child]

Someone posted a story the other day about that 15 year-old Afghan kid who was just released from Guantanamo Bay after being held there as an "enemy combatant" for the last year and a half. He was hardly recognizable to his family back in Afghanistan, since he's about six inches taller than when he arrived at Gitmo, has a physique that looks like an NFL linebacker compared to a typical Afghan, and now speaks pretty good English. LOL.

[Tamzee]

What's "interesting" is that the fact this man's head is covered injects a great amount of the emotional content. The men have to have their heads covered when there are photographers there according to the Geneva Convention. It's the PHOTOGRAPHER who is causing that man's head to be covered... if the press left the scene it would no longer be necessary. The press are PART of the scene there...

[Wright is right!]

"Actually, what's amazing about it is that it is a strikingly bad photo."

That was my first thought. In fact, I couldn't even tell what it was a photo OF. It just looked like some shrouded figure sitting on the ground behind - or in front of - some barbed wire. It took the caption to tell me what the picture was all about. VERY bad photo.

Michael

[Tricorn]

Looks like he's holding the kid hostage. Let me go or the kid gets it!

[texasflower]

The man is an Iraqi. The first or second sentence describes him as an Iraqi man comforting his 4 year old son.

The thing on his head is the bag that they have been putting on detainees that prevents them from causing problems. They can't see to run away or to fight the soldiers.

[Lancey Howard]

"Now, poot your hand on zee child's head. That's eet.... No, up a leetle.... a leetle more.... that's eet. Bow your head a leetle.... Goooood.... Sacre bleu! - - Make zee child stop giggling! That's eet..... Purrrrr-fect!" (click)

[cyborg]

Nope it wasn't according to a sentence in this article...
however I don't have a problem with another photo besides 9-11 winning since USA doesn't have a lock on tragedy.

http://www.southafrica.info/what_happening/arts_entertainment/wpressphoto.htm

[P.O.E.]

Bring that man a shrubbery.

[cwb]

Yeah...and I heard that kid contradicted the claims of Human Rights Watch, saying he was treated very well, with good food, clothing and shelter...something the people of Afghanistan rarely get.

[DeSoto]

This is indeed a sad picture. I reacted to it strongly when it first came out last spring. The story at the time was that the man was taken prisoner and was made to wear the head covering to curb inter-communication between prisoners. The boy was allowed to stay with his father until other relatives could be found.

This picture is a strong reminder to all of us parents, that our actions are not our own, that our children must pay for our decisions, mistakes, and behavior. I couldn't care less about the fate of the man, but the 4 year old child is innocent and is in emotional pain. Anyone who is insensitive to that pain must not be able to remember what being a child was like, or can't relate to being a parent of small children.

The situation depicted in this photo illustrates another aspect of the ravages of war. War isn't just blood, guts, and death; it is the children of those who were killed on 9/11 as well as this little boy and others who feel the same pain regardless of where they are.

War may be necessary, and I fully support the WOT, but it has innocent victims on both sides. This picture should win an award as it forcefully reiterates that point to all of us.

[TheRightResponse]

"Bouju will receive his award and a cash prize of EUR 10,000"

What is that, about $2.45?

[GunnyHartman]

What a touching picture....



FOR ME TO POOP ON!

[AgThorn]

"Bouju will receive his award and a cash prize of EUR 10,000"

What is that, about $2.45?

Actually, it's more like $12-13,000! Not bad for a not so good picture!

[wvnavyvet]

Wouldn't you hide your face with whatever you could if you knew a French-person (since they are gender nuetral)was taking your picture. Could very well be the photographer was behind the barb-wire and the other guy was trying to hide the fact he was laughing at it (ah, the French person)

[OXENinFLA]

Did you know that's not the first Flag raising at Iwo Jima?

This is the 1st one taken.

USMC

[Dead Dog]

I guess this just isn't of import.

[Luis Gonzalez]

It's a daddy comforting his son, isn't it?

That's all it is.

It isn't a political image, it's an intrusion into a touching, chaotic scene, and it's sad.

It shows the impact of war and on otherwise normal people, and it shows that parents love their kids, and kids love their parents when all else falls apart around them.

I hope and pray they both survived their ordeal, and that they are together today.

And I hope and pray that me and my kids are never the subject of such a picture.

[dts32041]

So if I don't have any children, I don't have to worry about them?

[plastic_positive]

well, seeing as thisa was the award for 2003, I don't think a completely unrelated photo from 2001 would have much impact, would it?

[bikerman]

Iraqi KKK?

[bikerman]

Iraqi KKK?

[Alberta's Child]

I think the father in that picture is just envious of his kid -- because the father is wearing a pair of "Air Apostle" sandals and the kid is wearing a pair of "Air Jordan" sneakers.

[Dead Dog]

"Murderer with bag on head" isn't very important either.

[usurper]

Darn, I knew we were fighting insurgents. This is the first documented evidence that some are from Ramulack.

[Diddle E. Squat]

[Mr.Atos]

How many butchered here, never got to hold their children again because of the actions of this animal and his friends... and his son... with the defense and support of Leftists like, Mr. Bouju.

Atos

[BossLady]

I completely agree with your assessment! My main problem with the photo is the fuzzy barbed wire going through the middle of the picture. I would have gotten an 'F' in photojournalism class if I would have brought this to my professor......

[Iscool]

That is a sad picture. I feel sorry for that boy, and for the man, as a father. However, I dont know what he is being held for, so I dont neccessarily feel sorry for the guy in general.

Unlikely he's being held for anything since I doubt his son we be arrested also...Probably on the ouside looking in at some of his terrorist relatives...

[plastic_positive]

well, I happen to think it is. It shows several key things.

1: the horror of war, dividing families and such.
2: the compassion of the US, allowing this man to care for his child, despite his POW status.

The velvet glove of the US military, seems to be a pretty darn good story for 2003, don't you think?

[dougherty]

Actually, what's amazing about it is that it is a strikingly bad photo.

Ditto.

[CougarGA7]

I thought the guy in the picture was familar and then I realized....it's MEGALON! Here he is meeting with a delegate from Japan several years ago.

[Yardstick]

The men have to have their heads covered when there are photographers there according to the Geneva Convention.

My guess is that the photographer and the selection committee would prefer that the viewers of the photo be ignorant of this little fact.

[Mr. Bird]

It's not a great picture. It's an interesting picture, most certainly. If the date is 3/31/03, that means we were still right in the middle of a march to Baghdad (about a week and half along in the war). It would be the height of dishonesty to say the picture evokes images of American brutality; it clearly demonstrates the opposite. In the middle of a shooting war in which our enemies could blend with our allies, we still allowed detainees the dignity of remaining with their families.

[Hildy]

Why not the picture of the Palestinian child with a bomb around his waist...why not that one?

[dead]

The photo is touching because the knight appears to have grown all his limbs back.