The National Press Photographer Association (NPPA) has posted the 2006 Best of Photojournalism Winners. As with most news related image exhibitions, there are some very graphic images that are not appropriate for younger viewers. The very first image in the first category (PhotoJournalist of the Year) is an amazing shot of a helicopter crashing in Afghanistan.
Todd Heisler of the Rocky Mountain Times has a heartfelt look at the return of a Marine from Iraq, and of the dozen featured images, one image in particular made me go, “Wow”. Interestingly, that same photo I later saw in a different category, as the first place winner in the General News category.
Give yourself time to view all the categories. There are excellent images in all of them. I’ve added a link to the winners page on my Photography page.
Great photo of the airplane gawkers. At first I thought it was two separate images or a print ad until I read the whole thing. I don’t get the whole africa starving people and bleed for freedom type photography though, i got burned out on looking at those articles in the L.A. Times a long time ago. I guess news really means “when the world goes to hell”. I’d rather read something about 95 year old great grandmother’s who still plant 1,000 tulips in their garden every year.
I recently saw a documentary on James Nachtwey called “War Photographer” and it was very disturbing. The most disturbing was his persona. It’s almost as if all that violence stripped him of all his emotions. The guy sounded like a robot when he spoke. I was in awe of his accomplishments but at the same time coudnl’t relate to the subject matter either. Maybe I’ll try to photograph some paintball games with no gear on to get myself into his mind-set.
I’m glad there are other photographers out there willing to put themselves in harms way, either physically or emotionally, to document the human condition. I love it when I get a good photojournalistic image, but I could never do what they do for a living.