World Press Photo 2007

Амстердам, 27 января, 78,083 снимка, 4,460 фотографа из 124 стран, 12 дней судейства...

World Press Photo of the Year 2006
Spencer Platt, USA, Getty Images.



Young Lebanese drive down a street in Haret Hreik, a bombed neighborhood in southern Beirut, Lebanon, on August 15. For nearly five weeks Israel had been targeting that part of the city and towns across southern Lebanon in a campaign against Hezbollah militants. As a ceasefire gradually came into force from August 14, thousands of Lebanese began to return to their homes. According to the Lebanese government, 15,000 homes and 900 commercial concerns were damaged.

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прошлый год выдался довольно мрачным, и это очень заметно по работам номинантов - всё шокирующее и грустнее (в сравнении с прошлым годом)... я выбрал наиболее запомнившиеся мне кадры. я не стал переводить комментарии к фотографиям, ибо на это ушло бы много времени. надеюсь, вы дружите с английским языком, иначе впечатление от работ останется неполным.



Spot News: 1st prize singles
Akintunde Akinleye, Nigeria, Reuters.



A man rinses soot from his face at the scene of a petrol pipeline explosion in Lagos, Nigeria, on December 26. At least 260 people were killed after a punctured pipeline caught fire. Thieves had tapped it to fill tankers with petrol for resale, and hundreds of people had gone to the scene to scoop up leaking fuel in plastic containers. Pipeline vandalism and fuel theft are common in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest exporter of oil, where most people live in poverty.

Spot News: 3rd prize singles
Mohammed Ballas, Palestinian Territories, The Associated Press.



Palestinian gunmen, who identified themselves as members of the militant Islamist group Islamic Jihad, shoot a man in front of hundreds of people in a public square in the West Bank town of Jenin. The man was identified as Bassem Malah (22), who worked in the Israeli Arab town of Umm al Fahm. He was accused of collaborating with Israeli authorities, imparting information that had led to the death of two militants in a targeted attack the week before.

Spot News: Honorable Mention
Jeroen Oerlemans, The Netherlands, Panos Pictures.



Paramedics hold up the dead body of a child before members of the press in the village of Qana, southern Lebanon on July 29. The boy's body had been recovered from the rubble of an apartment building, after an Israeli air attack. Both sides in the conflict in Lebanon were accused of manipulating the media to their own ends. Allegations were made - largely by bloggers over the Internet - that situations had been staged for the press for propaganda purposes.

General News: 3rd prize singles
Daniel Aguilar, Mexico, Reuters.



A man stands tied to a lamppost after being caught by anti-government activists and accused of burglary, in Oaxaca City, Mexico, in October. The sign reads "Because I am a rat" (slang for burglar). A teachers' strike in June had grown into a wider stand-off with authorities, and calls for the resignation of the state governor. Activists gained control of the city center for some months. At the time this man was caught only one public prosecutor's office was functioning.

People in the News: 1st prize singles
Oded Balilty, Israel, The Associated Press.



A Jewish settler resists Israeli riot police enforcing a Supreme Court order to demolish nine homes in an outpost of the Amona settlement, West Bank, on February 1. Residents joined by thousands of other protesters raised barbed wire barriers to protect the houses and clashed violently with police. Over 200 people were injured, including 80 policemen. Following hours of confrontation, the settlers were dragged away and bulldozers moved in to begin the demolition.

Contemporary Issues: 3rd prize singles
Per-Anders Pettersson, Sweden, Getty Images for Stern.



Esther Yandakwa, 9, smokes a cigarette while her friends help her with her hair, in central Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Esther is homeless and a sex worker, charging her clients as little as US$1. Conflict, internal displacement and HIV/Aids have long disrupted life in the DRC. Tens of thousands of child refugees, war orphans, and children abandoned by their families, live on the streets in Kinshasa and other urban areas around the country.


Contemporary Issues: 1st prize stories
José Cendón, Spain.



In the conflict-torn Great Lakes region of Africa, where health care as a whole faces severe challenges, psychiatric resources are especially thin on the ground. People suffering post-war trauma live alongside those with a range of other mental disabilities in a handful of psychiatric hospitals. The Kamenge psychiatric center in Bujumbura, Burundi, the only one in the country that treats people with war trauma, is financed by the church, though patients contribute money for medicines and food. The Soins de Santé Mentale is the only such facility in the Sud-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area covering 69,000 km2 with a population of three million. Family members are expected to help staff with patient care.
























Daily Life: 3rd prize singles
Steven Achiam, Denmark, Dagbladet Børsen.



Hamal Munaf from Bangladesh works in temperatures of about 45° Celsius as sales person in an open-container kiosk in Kuwait. He is one of about 170,000 expatriate Bangladeshis working in Kuwait. Most workers arrive in the country legally on contracts to do cleaning and other menial tasks in a booming economy, but many claim that they end up receiving salaries drastically lower than those they were promised.

Portraits: 1st prize singles
Nina Berman, USA, Redux Pictures for People.



US Marine Ty Ziegel poses with Renee Kline before their wedding in Washington, Illinois, in July. Ziegel was severely wounded in a suicide bomb attack during his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was blinded in one eye, had a shattered skull, and most of his skin was burned off. The couple were engaged following Ziegel's first deployment in Iraq. After Ziegel was injured, Kline lived with him for over a year while he recovered at a hospital in Texas.


Arts and Entertainment: 3rd prize singles
Paul Zhang, People’s Republic of China, The Beijing News.



A blind woman touches her dancing partner's legs in order to learn the correct steps, at an activity center for people with disabilities in Beijing. Around 50 people with severe sight difficulties gather for weekly Latin dance sessions at the center. Each of the pupils begins to pick up moves with the sighted teacher, and is then paired off with an experienced partner. They learn everything from rumba to tango by listening to verbal descriptions, and by touch.

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