Grim realities predominate in pick of world press photos

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the public visiting the annual World Press Photo exhibition here are frequently left uneasy at the content of the works.

An often-heard complaint is that the images only serve to exploit grim realities -- war, gore, accidents, starving and forlorn people, dreadful diseases, the physically disabled participating in sports competitions and the rubble of destroyed cities.

And, they might add, with the exception of the science and technology category, most photographs focus on pitiful citizens in developing countries.

In other words, is the Netherlands-based World Press Photo Foundation guilty of playing up the darker side of poorer members of the world community?

Photojournalists and keen hobbyists would probably answer in the negative, arguing the opinion was formed from an unprofessional and untrained eye.

These are, after all, the cream of all the eye-catching photographs taken by professional press photographers from all over the world.

Differences notwithstanding, the exhibition -- on display at Erasmus Huis here until Sunday -- goes a long way to meeting its organizer's aim "to increase public interest in press photography and to promote the free flow of information worldwide".

Another conclusion which could also do much to bridge the differences is that qualified juries selected the works of skilled photographers, some of whom were lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

As in previous years, war scenes and human misery predominate among the choices in the 40th World Press Photo exhibition.

Most of the 59 winners in the 1997 competition -- drawn from nine categories of spot news, people, portraits, sports, daily life, nature and environment, the arts, general news, and science and technology -- are on display at the Dutch cultural center.

Each category has a separate sections for picture stories.

Among the topics are the disastrous hurricane in Puerto Rico, the outbreak of mad cow disease in Britain, AIDS in Kenya, young land mine victims in Angola, Taliban fighters in Kabul and refugees in Zaire.

Probably the most gruesome works are the series of photos about street killings during unrest in the Liberian capital of Monrovia, captured by Corrine Dufka of Reuters.

Two show a naked Krahn rebel hunted down and brutally executed with bullets from an automatic rifle in his face.

A helpless suspected NPFL member is chased, caught and stabbed to death by young Krahn rebels in another set.

The photos on display also attest to the latest technology on how to shoot notoriously difficult objects, such as embryos of animals like chimpanzees, donkeys and pigs.

Organizers said 3,663 photographers from 119 countries submitted 35,650 works.

In last year's competition, 3,068 photographers submitted their works.

Most of the photographers in 1997 were from Vietnam, Brazil, China, France, Russia, the United States and Britain.

The number of Vietnamese participants was almost double that of Indonesia's 60. The U.S., with 600 photographers, had the most entrants, followed by Britain with 240.

Unsurprisingly, most of the winners were by those, like Dufka, working for noted agencies or publications, including National Geographic, Time Magazine, Reuters, the Associated Press, Magnum Photos and Gamma.

None of the winning pictures are about ASEAN countries.