Swedish photographer Paul Hansen wins 56th World Press Photo
World Press Photo of the Year 2012's winning image by Paul Hansen, Sweden, Dagens Nyheter. Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her big brother Muhammad, who soon was to be four years old, were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike on Monday evening. Their father, Fouad, was also killed. Their mother is in intensive care at Al-Shifa Hospital. In accordance with their religion, the dead are buried quickly. The badly mangled body of Fouad is put on a stretcher and his brothers carry his dead children to the mosque for the burial ceremony. When darkness fell over Gaza on this day, at least 26 new victims were to be buried. That makes the total more than 140 dead so far since the beginning of the bombardment. Approximately half of the dead are women and children. The picture was taken on 20 November 2012 in Gaza City, Palestinian Territories.
Photographer Paul Hansen, of the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, has won the 56th World Press Photo for a picture of a group of men carrying the bodies of two dead children through a street in Gaza City
Author: Olivier Laurent
15 Feb 2013 Tags: World press photoPhotojournalism
"The strength of the pictures lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children. It's a picture I will not forget," says Mayu Mohanna, a jury member at this year's World Press Photo photojournalism contest. In the image, two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her three-year-old brother Muhammad are being taken to a mosque for the burial ceremony, after they were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. "Their father's body is carried behind on a stretcher [and] their mother was put in intensive care," says the Amsterdam-based organisation. "The picture was made on 20 November 2012 in Gaza City, Palestinian Territories."
The winning image was selected from 103,481 images submitted by 5,666 photographers from 124 countries. Hansen recently won First Place in the Pictures of the Year International competition in the Photographer of the Year – Newspaper category.
"I've always said that a picture should engage with the head, the heart and the stomach," says Santiago Lyon, vice president and director of photography at The Associated Press and chair of this year's jury. "Some pictures engage on all three levels. This picture for us on the jury reached us on these three levels. It just leapt off the screen for us, repeatably."
Speaking with Hansen in a phone interview this morning, he told BJP how he felt upon winning World Press Photo. "I had very mixed emotions actually. I was very happy on one level, of course, and very surprised, and very honoured because I know the incredible quality of the work. And I was also very sad. It's a very sad situation."
"It was of course a very emotional and charged happening," Hansen adds. "The event started the day before; we were sitting in a hotel near Gaza City and it's very close to a hospital where a Norwegian doctor was working during this crisis. He was telling this horrible story about a family whose house was hit by a rocket. They had the mother of the family unconscious in their ward and they were very emotionally stress because they knew they would have to wake her up and tell her that her husband and two children were dead. The next day we went to one of the funerals outside Gaza City and it turned out to be this family."
Hansen doesn't yet know what winning the World Press Photo will mean for his career, but he hopes it will create an environment where he can work on more personal projects. "I think it will give me more opportunities to do the type of stories that I like." But he has in the past, he adds, received a lot of support from his newspaper. "They support my strange ideas of stories."
Also, he believes that winning this prize will give "this picture, and this family, and all the other families who die in this cycle of violence another platform. It gives us the ability to communicate this story again, which I'm really grateful for. It think it's very important in today's media climate."
When asked whether this win will help strenghten photographers' positions on the staff of daily newspapers, Hansen says he hopes so. "I have the luxury sometimes to work in close connection with a reporter and we try to stay with the issue. We don't go to one funeral and another, and another. For example, in 2010, I went to Haiti to cover the earthquake. Now in December, I've just came back from my sixth trip to Haiti, just to follow up on the story we did the first time. I think that type of way of working will be strengthened, thanks to this award."
More soon...
Comments
Misery always trumps happiness
It always wins, this is how our brains work I think. We need others people misery as a reference point. The only explanation I can see for popularity of bad news. We like to hear good news from our friends and family and bad news from strangers. Very primitive and primal but bonding... We still are cave people...
www.piotrekziolkowski.com
We earn money over misery. Its à game! THE best Photo. Great contrast! Paul ask Yourself , world you be als Proud of this was Your own child! and cash 80.000 us dollars. Great picture.
Does anyone else see a discrepancy on the lighting on the faces and the size of the heads and their angles (as in the angle the shot was taken from)? Especially the front two guys on the left.I keep thinking this was photoshopped. The way the shadows of the balconies come down makes it seem strange that the guy in the middle right near the wall has so much light on him and yet others near him have half light on their face indicating a different light source. Since I am not an expert on photography can someone please let me know what I might be missing that explains the discrepancies.
@ KAT, this could be a simple case of the flash being bounced off of a highly reflective wall, or light coming through a hole in the wall, or just a plain old sun reflecting and then a simple case of tidying up in photoshop to even it out, dont forget this pic was no doubt taken in an instinctive moment and paul may or may not have been on the ready, so a little polishing in photoshop would be more than acceptable. to boot also the type of camera he must have been using, Nikons active D-lighting looks likely.. also judges at such a prestigous awards events would have scrutinised the winning image for any type of unacceptable visual chicanery. i think the image works, i have seen better out there but paul and the judges just keep the current affairs current and thats how the pic should be viewed, as current!
those people were very sad
I think any prize well not finish their sadness
may be judging the killers will change the feeling
thank you for the photo , it shows people agonies
those people were very sad
I think any prize well not finish their sadness
may be judging the killers will change the feeling
thank you for the photo , it shows people agonies
The photo itself was obviously manipulated: look at the studio quality lighting...and this soft lighting in a purported grab shot in the bright sun of the Middle East.
But the captioning itself is very dishonest. It does not put into perspective that any Israeli strikes are an attempt to stop the incessant rocket terrorism, some 12,000 rockets and mortars on the small Israeli town of Sderot alone. In addition, any purported civilian casualties are likely due to the terrorists routinely using civilians as shields, firing rockets from behind and among civilians and civilian buildings. The propaganda-serving caption also omits the fact that many civilian casualties are due directly to terrorist rockets and mortars themselves. An estimated 10-15% of terrorist rockets do not reach Israel, but rather explode near launch or fall back and land in Gaza.
Superficially, the photo, with retouching, fulfills the cynical media maxim, "If it bleeds, it leads." But looked at closely, the choice here carries a more cynical anti-Israel, anti-Semitic message, both with its likely falsity in the captioning, and with the important context that the captioning omits.
Related Articles
BJP Daily
Most Popular Articles
Japanese photography legend Shomei Tomatsu dies
12 photographers selected for 2013 World Press Photo's Joop Swart Masterclass
Don McCullin to headline Visa pour l'Image's 25th edition
EyeEm photo-sharing app aims to enable photographers to sell their images
Photography contest invites submissions for fine art award
VII Photo's CEO Stephen Mayes resigns
Updating your subscription status 
About us
British Journal of Photography is the world’s longest running photography magazine, established in 1854, and online since 1997. A high-quality monthly printed edition is available as a subscription or from selected newsagents in the UK and around the world.
Jobs
Key Account Manager
We have a vacancy for a Key Account Manager working on The British Journal of Photography
Head of Photography
Magnet Harlequin, one of the UK's leading Creative Production Agencies is seeking a new Head of Photography.
Photographic technical support officers
We have opportunities for two experienced photographic, audio or video technicians.
Popular Topics
