WORLD PRESS PHOTO EXHIBITION
BY A GUEST REVIEWER
WORLD PRESS PHOTO . EXHIBITION
Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre London SE1
Until 26 November 2013
Open daily 10am to 11pm FREE
THE World Press Photo Exhibition has returned to Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall.
World Press Photo is the premier annual international competition in professional press photography, bringing together award-winning photographs from around the world which capture the most powerful. moving and sometimes disturbing images of the year.
This year 103,481 images were submitted to the contest from which more than 350 winning photographs were selected.
Entries were submitted by 5,666 photographers, representing 124 different nationalities.
Exhibited without censorship in 45 countries all over the world, the World Press Photo Exhibition offers an international showcase for all of the competition's prize-winning entries. and is considered by many to set a standard in the field of photojournalism.
The winning photographs depict human suffering, natural disasters, sporting endeavours and the beauty of the natural world.
Subject matters in the news categories cover conflicts in Syria, the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan and Sudan.
The sport category covers the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the category Nature shows the spectacular views of the underwater world.
The exhibition brings together the winning photographs, most of which were taken in 2012.
These are powerful images by skilled photographers.
But overall, the outlook of the bourgeois media tends to be sceptical and pro-imperialist.
However, there are notable exceptions in the images of Palestinians in Gaza.
The winning photograph, World Press Photo of the Year by Paul Hansen of the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, shows a group of men carrying the bodies of two dead children through a street in Gaza City.
They are being taken to a mosque for the burial ceremony while their father's body is carried behind on a stretcher.
Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and his older brother Muhammad were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike.
Their mother was put in intensive care.
But the photograph not only brings out their grief but also the anger and determination of the Palestinian masses in defiance of the violent Zionist occupation and blockade.
Third Prize Spot News Singles by Adel Hana, Palestinian Territories. for AP, shows Palestinians in Gaza City dragging the body of a suspected collaborator on 20 November 2012, during the Israeli Operation Pillar of Defence that killed over 1.000 Palestinians.
First Prize Spot News Stories goes to Bernat Armanque, Spain. AP, for a set of images during the Israeli bombardments - of smoke and destroyed buildings, dead and
wounded children, grieving women and young men.
Ammar Awad. Jordan, Reuters. gets an Honourable Mention General News Singles for his capture of the moment an Israeli border policeman fires pepper spray point-blank into the face of a Palestinian protester, while others pinion his arms. The brutal attack took place during clashes on Land Day outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City.
Most of the images of the imperialist-backed Syrian war favour the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) anti-government terror gangs.
Though one image by Emin Ozman. Turkey, Sabah, which won Second Prize Spot News Stories exposes their terrorist nature.
It shows a man being tortured by two FSA gunmen. He was suspected of giving money to government informants in AIeppo.
Other prize winners include an image of a woman sitting on bags of waste she has salvaged from the Dandora municipal dump outside the Kenyan capital. Nairobi, which is one of the biggest dumpsites in Africa.
There is gang violence in El Salvador, as well as the result of bloody violence in Honduras.
Second Prize General News Stories goes to Paolo Pelligrin, Italy, Magnum Photos Postcards from America/Zelt Magazin.
His is a set of dramatic black and white images of deprived housing conditions and police violence in downtown Rochester, New York State.
On the warmer side. Frederick Buyckx. Belgium, for De Standaard gets an Honourable Mention Daily Life Stories for a set of images of life on favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. that brings out both the tough conditions and determination of youth.
First Prize Sports Action Singles goes to Wang Seng Chen, Malaysia. for his brilliantly dramatic image of the finish of a bull race in Indonesia.
Third Prize Sports Action Series is for Overview 2012 Olympics from Chris McGrath, Australia. Getty Images.
These views looking down of women's handball, badminton, freestyle wrestling, and basketball, delightfully capture movement, colour and pattern.
The Southbank notes that the 2013 contest saw one UK-based photographer winning a prize. Photographer Nadav Kander won first prize in the category Staged Portraits Single.
He won with a portrait of actor, comedian and writer Daniel Kaluuya. best known for his role in the TV drama Skins, and as Special Agent Tucker in the 2011 Rowan Atkinson film Johnny English Reborn.
World Press Photo is an independent. non-profit organisation. Its offices are in Amsterdam, where World Press Photo was founded in 1955.
Its main aim is to support and promote internationally the work of professional press photographers.
Over the years, World Press Photo has evolved into an independent platform for photojournalism and the free exchange of information.
All prize-winning entries are included in the yearbook, World Press Photo 2012, published by Thames & Hudson.
www.wrp.org.uk