A Trip to World Press Photo
Have you ever heard the saying: “A picture worth is worth 1000 words”? A singular photograph can be interpreted from so many perspectives, from so many angles, and can depict a story of great complexity.
World Press Photo is an international photography competition that allows photojournalists to display their work, and tell a story through the images they have taken. There is a total of eight categories in the competition, and within each category there is a winning individual photo, and a winning story (series) of photos.
The Photo of The Year was taken by Burhan Ozbilici, and it depicts an off duty Turkish police officer shouting after assassinating the Russian Ambassador of Turkey, and was part of a story of photos covering the event.
Montreal held its 12th annual World Press Photo exhibition from August 30th to October 1st, at the Bonsecours Market in the old-port. It was an amazing experience to go there and see all that the exhibition had to offer.
My classmates and I went to the exhibition for our Visual Literacy class, with the goal of picking one stand-out photo to write about and analyze. Every photo displayed elicited a different emotion; some provoked anger, others sadness, and some, even optimism toward our future. Despite the variety of subjects depicted within the images, all of the photos were shocking and stunning for their own reasons.
There is so much respect deserved by the photographers for taking these photos. They have to live far from home and their families for long periods of time, and often have to put themselves into very dangerous situations to capture what is happening.
Visiting World Press Photo was a great experience because through the photographs showcased, the viewer learns a lot about contemporary issues around the world, and this competition definitely raises awareness to the general public of these important issues.
If you have the chance to visit a World Press Photo exhibition, it is an eye-opening and inspiring experience that you would not want to miss.
Written By: India Upshaw-Ruffner
