Grim realities predominate in pick of world press photos
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.