World Press Photo 2011: The Shadow of the Human Collective

"It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to cause others to care for them by revealing the core of their humanness."
Paul Strand (American photographer 1890-1976)

The World Press Photo exhibition made for hard, thought provoking, gratitude enhancing viewing. As I walked between the photographs I became aware of the parallel exhibition - that of the reactions displayed in the faces and bodies of my fellow spectators. Between us there was a silent encounter in which so much was communicated non verbally. The security of knowing that we had our homes and families awaiting our return, and that we could, at any moment, close our eyes, and be removed from the challenging reality the images presented us with.

"Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man." Edward Steichen (American photographer 1879-1973)

The photographs we were confronted by represent the winning contributions and were selected from over 108,000 entries submitted by 5,500 press photographers from all over the world. The stories they told were the news items that grabbed our attention as they were broadcast around the globe, until such time as it felt acceptable for us to move on, and return to the insulation of our lives, and occupations, until the next natural disaster, be it earthquake, flood, volcanic eruption or crude oil. The images evoked more than an intellectual reponse and this was what was clear to behold amongst their witnesses: body, and spirit were directly accessed and in some cases held hostage for a period of time that endured beyond our departure from the venue.

www.worldpressphoto.org

"The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected; the eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition." W. H. Auden

Comments

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