World Press Photo 2007

[maciekda]

the winned were announced yesterday, check them out: WPP winners gallery.
some really good stuff there, like crazy "dancers in Paris". and one guy did the earthquake aftermath in Kashmir, rather better than me ;)

[don_narayan]

yeah, some good stuff... Francis would like David Guttenfelder's "The Lonely Man" story from Tokyo... looks like images that are right up his alley.

[sohrab]

gets worse each successive year...

[Luko]

Agree with Sohrab : it tends to fall in political correctness and hype sociological causes, the latest trend being a complex over contemporary museum photograhy. Even UW photography tries to look arty fartsy, rather than documentary... roflol.

I simply laugh at the parisian dancers serie : what has it got to do there? what is there behind a proof that 1/1000th second can freeze motion blur? Where's the photography inside...
Next overrated serie is another topic about the homeless tents, again in Paris.. the guy tries to make plastician photography shots about homeless tents and gets an award because it's a trendy topic.
otherwise lots of already seen subjects, already taken photos.

In the meantime ther are two or three great photos : my personal favorite is awarded 2nd prize on spot news. The african guys in the shadow, that is a f*****g great photo.
Perhaps on a more ironic side, I find the "clueless/valleygirl" characters driving in a colorful american car through devastated Lebanon an incredible photo too. It summarizes the gap between daily life inside Lebanon and lebanese people from the outside.

[don_narayan]

The tents "story" was particularly bad... also the Zidane headbutting series... how this can win a anything is beyond me... just give the prize to the canon motor drive.

2nd place "sports feature story" was really good... it was, clearly, beyond sport. The images were strong as well... better than some of the news winners, there was some actual thought given to composition.

[Darren]

I had a look at most of the winners; it took a while. I half agree with Sohrab and Luko in that there were some series that were not good at all. I only half agree for a few reasons. First of all, it is really hard to judge impact on web size images. I will go to the exhibition, and I am certain that there will be some shots that amaze me when I see them at 24"X36" that did nothing for me at all on the web.

The series that I thought sucked have already been pointed out. The Zidane series is overexposed, in that I have seen those photos on dozens of occassions already; I would have been quite happy never to see them again. Actually, I remember seeing those shots the first few days after the game and thinking "With all the photographers at that game, I am sure better shots of the event will come to the surface". I guess none have, and it is a shame.

The tents for the homeless series really lacked any soul at all too. It could have just as easily been a set up created by North Face to promote their tents as a way of life for the unfortunates for whom those represent homes. I mean, how can an entire series be about the homeless, without a single homeless person being included in a frame? I think it would have dirtied the shots and lessened the commecial appeal in what still feels to me to be a promotion for an outdoor gear company. Also, of the 12-16 shots, many were almost identical to others in the group. This one was bad IMO, and I doubt it will be better viewed large. Who knows though?

The dance series was another soulless thing. Luko nailed it that because of the fast shutters, all the life was gone from the images. For me, the images looked more like mimes holding a pose than they did of dancers in motion. Flat, boring lighting throughout that series too.

I did like and think the series on Leopard Seals was excellent. I remember thinking that there was some killer nature photography when I bought the Nat Geo a few months ago. I am looking forward to seeing some big prints from that.

Much of the b&w from the site looked unimpressive, but I wouldn't be surprised that the larger prints will really look great and hit hard.

All in all, I don't think it is a banner year. However, I will still most certainly be taking in the exhibit when it arrives in Taipei.

[Homerhomer]

The dance series was another soulless thing. Luko nailed it that because of the fast shutters, all the life was gone from the images. For me, the images looked more like mimes holding a pose than they did of dancers in motion. Flat, boring lighting throughout that series too.
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this was done with "Matrix" fans in mind;-)

I agree that alot of stuff was boring, subject overdone, yet I will be going to the exhibit when it comes to Toronto, found some photography to be very interesting, with series tourist helping migrants on the beach, disabled playing football, penguins (especially loosing the egg I found especially touching), and many individual photographs.

I will agree also that it's getting worse and worse, wouldn't mind seeing a bit of a turn around.
Peter

[Darren]

Actually, I wonder if it really is getting worse and worse, or just that we are getting more and more critical. No doubt in my mind that the latter is at least part of the equation.

Things used to be better in my day.....God! I am old.

Somehow I missed the series on tourist helping migrants on the beach. I saw one photo, but must have clicked on thinking it was a single and not a series.

The series of headshots of soccer/football players was a waste of bandwidth too IMO.

The amputee football series was great, and the shot Luko mentioned of the Palestinian valley girls is an outstanding photo, just as he said.

I wasn't as taken with the penguin series, probably because I thought the leopard seal series was so strong. Not that it was bad though.

I didn't get Matrix reference; not my kind of movie ;)

[Luko]

I liked the 3rd prize on "sport action stories" (australian guy, if i remember well) not really a "story" per se, but rather a set of very well lit sport images. (and the last one is hilarious)

[adam_k]

From historical point of view it's a good piece of stuff... yet to be appreciated in 50 years from now ;)

Of course the stress is put on dark side of life... but this is how mass/media work so - unfortunatelly - nothing strange here