World Press Photo Research Articles

Diversidad y otredad como construcciones político-visuales. Lecturas de vidas desplazadas desde el World Press Photo

This study explores the concept of refuge within the Mediterranean in Southern Europe. The theoretical framework addresses the securitization of borders amidst the neoliberal crisis and reflects upon the meaning of displaced life, with a particular emphasis on the precarity and vulnerability of individuals in transit between the global North and South. A mixed methodology is employed, incorporating elements of philosophy, art, and anthropology, aiming to highlight the political construction of otherness and diversity. The material used consist of artistic representations from the World Press Photo award (2015-2020) which reveal multiculturalism as a disguised and paternalistic form of racism. The study proposes ethical-political contributions that position aesthetics as a Eurocentric construction surrounding the current theme of refuge.

Journalistic Quality Criteria under the Magnifying Glass: A Content Analysis of the Winning Stories of World Press Photo Foundation’s Digital Storytelling Contest

This study explores aspects of journalistic quality in complex digital stories. Based on a tailored overview of the potentials of online journalism and digital long form stories for journalistic quality, all available award-winning stories of the subcategory Interactive of the World Press Photo’s Digital Storytelling Contest from 2011 to 2021 (n = 31) are examined according to their structure and journalistic quality criteria using Grounded Theory. The findings add to the long and ongoing research history in journalism and communication studies on the question of what journalistic quality entails and can be used as a basis for further analyses focusing on the technological and structural nature of digital stories and high-quality journalism. The analysis revealed a differentiation between linear stories and chapter stories with linear elements. While a multimedia nature, continuous text and video content prevailed in both forms, they differed in terms of their complexity as well as certain expressions of quality criteria. Gamification and immersion emerged as new yet debatable aspects of journalistic quality in digital stories.

What to do with 2.000.000 Historical Press Photos? The Challenges and Opportunities of Applying a Scene Detection Algorithm to a Digitised Press Photo Collection

In 1962, Dutch celebrity Ria Kuyken was attacked by a circus bear. Cees de Boer captured this moment, for which he was awarded both a World Press Photo and the Silver Camera (Zilveren Camera). Though this photo popularised Fotopersbureau De Boer, which Cees had founded in 1945, the importance of the collection lies in its scale. Approximately 2,000,000 photos taken of about 250,000 events in sixty years, accompanied by extensive metadata. Not only major nationwide events are represented, but also subjects of small scale, human interest, such as the shopkeeper around the corner. Our aim is not only the digitisation and publication of all 2,000,000 photo negatives of Fotopersbureau De Boer but also to explore how artificial intelligence can enrich this collection, benefiting both users of the archive and cultural historians studying historical photographs. One of our efforts focuses on scene detection, a method to detect the ‘scene’ represented in an image (Zhou et al, 2018). We will rely on transfer learning to adapt existing computer vision models to our collection and the needs of our users. Existing models can generate labels with high accuracy, however, these labels are ahistorical and more often than not irrelevant to our collection. We will label subsets of the images via crowdsourcing to train and improve existing models. As such, we can add labels relevant to our collection to the model, which are absent in existing models. In this paper, we will highlight the opportunities and challenges of applying artificial intelligence to a collection of historical photographs.

Contributors

Contributors

«Я ніколи ще не бачив такої сили в людях»: інтерв’ю з фотографом Жеромом Сессіні

Jérôme Sessini is a French photographer, and member of Magnum Photos, in his works covers some of the most significant historical events of the last 30 years. The interview was recorded in January 2023 by Valeriia Shulha, a student of the Art History Department of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In the first part of the interview, Jérôme talks about the beginning of his career as an amateur photographer and American documentary photographers as his big inspiration. He started photography at the age of 23 and now he’s a leading photojournalist, having joined Magnum in 2012 and becoming a full member in 2016. Jérôme's lens covers political upheaval, social uprisings, and human struggle. He’d started working as a photojournalist in 1998 when he covered the conflict in Kosovo on behalf of the Gamma photo agency. Since then, he has been immersed in some of the most important events of recent years, including the war in Iraq (from 2003 to 2008), Aristide’s fall in Haiti (2004), the conquest of Mogadishu by the Islamic militias, and the war in Lebanon (2006). His works have one common feature - avoiding dry documentation, they’re picturing stories of ordinary people, to show the world’s social tragedies on a micro-scale. In the second part of interview the photographer explains why Ukraine is the most important project for him and shares his experience of documenting the events of modern Ukrainian history. In 2014, Sessini began covering events in Ukraine since the Revolution of Dignity. After the Maidan’s events, the photographer traveled throughout Ukraine for several years and gathered in his book "Inner Disorder" all the stories of Ukrainian’s lives ruined by the war. The photo book was published in 2021. Jérôme's work Final Fight for Maidan won the World Press Photo Awards in 2015. Sessini shares the story behind the creation of this image. A few days after the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sessini arrived in Ukraine, working on a series of photos for magazines such as "The New Yorker". Jérôme Sessini explains that the main aim for him is to create a coherent narrative in his works. The photographer always has been trying to communicate with the people he photographs. According to Jérôme, the only way to convey something to his audience is to feel and experience what you’re photographing.

Whose Pictures, Whose Reality? Lines of Tradition in the Development of Topics, Negativity, and Power in the Photojournalistic Competition World Press Photo

Initially founded in 1955 as a platform for Dutch photojournalists to increase international exposure, the World Press Photo competition has grown into the most prestigious contest of photojournalism worldwide, making it an important arena for journalism research. Using qualitative and quantitative content analyses, this study examines all photos shown in the competitions from 1960 to 2020 (N = 11,789) considering the origin of jury members (N = 686), participants (N = 132,800), placements (N = 2347) and the Human Development Index (HDI) of the countries. The topics displayed on the photos, their degree of negativity, and potential power structures in the photos are analysed over time both in terms of continental and HDI-related differences. Significant results show that Africa, Asia, and South America are more frequently depicted by the topic conflict and characterised by negative images than continents with industrialised nations (Australia/Oceania, Europe, North America). Participating European countries have a significantly higher average number of jury members, participants, and placements than participating countries from Africa, Asia, and South America, which seems to account for a dominant Eurocentric view. Implications and critical discussions are summarized in three interim conclusions at the end of this extended paper.

Multiplatform storytelling: Are photojournalists taking advantage?

With the expansion of connected devices (tablets, smartphones, etc.), a leap in multiplatform technologies is occurring, bringing about changes in many areas of the communications professions. In this context, values based on flexible, multiplatform, cooperative work that takes the audience into consideration are increasingly important. Professional photography coexists with — and is even rivaled by — images taken by citizens, which are often used by the mass media. For that reason the need is greater than ever for photographers and graphic professionals who, in one way or another, adapt to the new media Using a multiple case study method, this article examines the digital resources used by photographers who have won a World Press Photo Award. It studies the ways in which they exploit the medium, extending the photographic narrative beyond the website, to promote themselves and their personal brand. The results show photographers’ preference for unidirectional communication models and superimposed strategies that have limited engagement and viralisation. The acquisition of digital expertise by photojournalists is at an intermediary stage, since the cases analyzed reveal that these professionals’ web 2.0 activity is limited or underexploited.

Iconographies of the present. Political populism, economic instability and migratory crisis in «Years and Years» (BBC and HBO, 2019)

In its six episodes, the British series Years and Years (2019) calls on images that resonate in the collective imagination of the contemporary media, although some of them have their roots in visual motifs with a strong tradition in Western visual culture. In this article, we attempt to identify these images, representing the political conflicts, social tensions, ecological disasters, and economic uncertainties of the end of the 2010s and beginning of the 2020s, and analyse their transfer from the media to television fiction. Among the references and other motifs analysed are images from the realm of contemporary photography appearing in the press and, for example, at the prestigious World Press Photo event. But an earlier pictorial and cinematographic tradition shows the survival of these visual motifs in the images from Years and Years, interweaving the public sphere with television fiction. Methodologically, we draw on contemporary image theory, including the legacy of Aby Warburg and Walter Benjamin, and textual analysis rooted in semiotics. The visual motifs analysed crystallise around the social unease and humanitarian disasters unleashed by economic and migratory crises, the banalisation of politics in the media, the threat of authoritarian populism and the stylisation of images of war. They include the allegory of freedom and representations of popular revolt and hard times.

Talking about the World Press Photo 20 Exhibition at the WestLicht: Analysing Communication Frames on Social Media

Developments in the digital field have introduced new opportunities not only for museums to engage with their visitors, but also for researchers to learn about visitors’ experiences through their online behaviour. This article discusses how the mediation and perception of exhibited photographs in museums can be researched through an analysis of Instagram posts, using text-mining methods. A case study examining the World Press Photo 20 exhibition at the WestLicht museum in Vienna was used to explore three different framings of the World Press photos: first, how the photographs were initially used within newspaper articles as a news source; second, how the museum communicated the exhibited photos on social media; and third, how visitors reflected on the exhibition and the museum visit on Instagram.

Crying girl on the border: gender coloniality on the border of images

The discussions undertaken by decolonial thought have led researchers to a critical review of media practices in the scope of image production and circulation. The different ways to represent subjects without considering the markers of gender, race, class, ethnicity, in intersectionality, are questioned as visual syntheses that reduces complex processes engendered by the underlying forms of capitalism. In this text, we propose a critical reflection on the ways in which journalistic image circumscribes a specific role for vulnerable people, taking as an exemplary base the photograph that won the World Press Photo international award in 2019.

SAVAŞ VE GÖRSELLEŞEN SAVAŞ ARASINDAKİ İKİLEM: WPP’NİN ÖDÜLLENDİRDİĞİ SAVAŞ FOTOĞRAFLARI ÜZERİNE BİR ANALİZ

Wars, having negative effects on local, national and global scales, violate the fundamental rights of living beings and, in general, cause irreversible casualties. War is a phenomenon that affects life itself and the entire social structure and institutions. Although death, physical injury, or psychological consequences are well known to war, their macro-level damage to the social structure is often overlooked. The mass media also tend to focus on the obvious consequences of the war while ignoring its structural impact on society. This research applies content analysis to the images of the war theme awarded in various categories by the World Press Photo Organization, towards inquiring to what extent possible impacts and consequences of wars are represented via such images. The study concludes that usually Western photojournalists create war narrative while the geography of conflict depicted is mostly non-Western. It also concluded that the war was visualized by themes such as death, injury and disability, displacement, hunger, and deprivation, that the moments of war are highlighted while its long-term implications are ignored; that war is portrayed without subjects by symbolic images, often indirect; and that war is viewed as a hierarchical field in terms of the perpetrator and the victim.

Monk on fire: The meditative mind of a burning monk

Thich Quang Duc was a Buddhist monk protesting in South Vietnam, when his image captivated the world. Malcolm Browne won the World Press Photo of the Year in 1963 photographing Duc committing an act of self-immolation, burning to death. Current research into mindfulness and meditation gives neuroscientists, scientists, and clinicians a glimpse into the physiology, structure and function of the brain of expert meditators such as Duc. A growing body of literature indicates that basic breathing techniques and meditation can alter cortical structures with very little training. Structural and functional MRI has revealed the anterior cingulate and insular cortex are altered in functioning due to meditation and mindfulness practice. Continued research into mindfulness and expert meditators should help us gain a greater understanding into how a monk like Duc was able to commit such a powerful behavioral act, becoming the monk on fire.

Closing the Gap Between Photojournalist Research and Photojournalism Practice: Exploring the Motivations of the Subjects of Sensitive Photo Essays

ABSTRACTThis study is the first to inquire about the factors that influence people’s willingness to allow professional photojournalists to tell their stories through the medium of the photo essay. Guided by Self-Disclosure Theory, in-depth interviews were conducted with the subjects of 15 peer-judged award-winning photo essays. These were drawn from the multiple picture categories of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Monthly Clip Contest, the annual NPPA Best of Photojournalism Contest, and the annual World Press Photo Contest between 2013 and 2017. The topics of the photo essays were sensitive in nature. Analysis reveals support and appreciation amongst photo-essay subjects for the profession of photojournalism. Motivations derived from the sensitivity and professionalism with which each interviewee was initially approached, a need to tell a different side of the story, a desire to inspire others or invoke change, and the memory-keeping and permanence afforded through published professional photojournalism.

The Gender Crisis in Professional Photojournalism

To date, there have been very little research or data available concerning the work patterns and challenges facing women photojournalists. As the digital era places professional photojournalists as a whole under more pressure than ever, this study seeks to unravel the particular challenges facing women photographers. Using data from 545 women photojournalists from 71 countries collected between 2015 and 2016, this article finds that women photojournalists face even more demanding circumstances than their male counterparts, in spite of the fact that they are more likely to have higher education and have more often received a higher level of training in photography. The data, collected in partnership with the World Press Photo Foundation, suggest the historical underrepresentation of women in photography is ongoing. We argue this pattern of underrepresentation will likely continue in the future meaning an even smaller proportion of women photographers presenting visual stories on the world's most pressing issues and the further decline of the female gaze. The focus of this study is to identify trends in the employment of women in the photojournalism industry and to link new and substantial data to theorising around the consequences of this distortion.

Children in the visual coverage of the European refugee crisis: A case study of the World Press Photo 2016

Abstract Shifts in the visual coverage of refugees arriving in Europe and prominent compassion fatigue emphasize the need to examine visual strategies utilized to report on the crisis. This study focuses on representations of refugee children using a case of the World Press Photo (WPP) 2016. The material was interpreted with a model for visual rhetorical interpretation of journalistic photographs. Findings indicate the main visual elements involved in representing refugee children: visual trope of the migrant father, relation between children and barriers, visual oxymoron (juxtaposition of contradictory elements) and atmosphere in photographs. Findings suggest that photographs address polemics specific to the European refugee crisis. Specifically, we found that showing children in photographs can elicit compassion for children as well as accompanying (male) adults, legitimize the act of crossing borders, and define the ‘crisis’ as the situation and not as the refugees themselves.

Trascender el Impacto del Dolor Ajeno: Más Allá del World Press Photo

The World Press Photo exhibition brings together, every year during the last eleven, the more representative set of photojournalism of the previous year. The collection of the winners in each edition represents, if one so wishes, an opportunity to reflect on the impact of the images in the public observer, beyond the aesthetic judgment in a particular time and space. This article aims to leave an open window to reflection. An approach on how snapshots shown are supported by three points: the photographer, the spectator and the surrounding social context. A triangle that inevitably possesses a constant ethical conflict: the duty between informing or helping, being anesthetized through the “compassion fatigue” or go beyond the initial discomfort when observing the pain of others and react against it. Human frailty observed as a driver or a deterrent of a broader social action; beyond the photographer, beyond the visit to an exhibition.ext of the abstract.

The Bigger Picture

Employing a multiple method triangulation strategy and adapting Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model as a theoretical framework, this study used the World Press Photo Awards (WPPA) as a sample to empirically assess the extent to which gender influences the production, representation and reception of conflict images. The study examined whether women photojournalists are gaining increasing recognition, and gauged whether there are discernible gendered differences in the semiotics of conflict photographs. The image sample was then presented to focus groups in three countries to evaluate gendered decoding practices, followed by interviews with seven women WPPA winners to examine gender in relation to encoding practices, and their gendered experiences when photographing subjects in conflict zones. Findings suggest that the gradual increase in the numbers of women photographers may account for the shift toward “aftermath” imagery, but that a complex assimilatory process has wrought an intersection between traditionally “feminine” and “masculine” tropes. Women are still under-represented in photojournalism, and, while not wishing to be defined by gender, they have a sense of “doing things differently”; in gaining access unique to the world of women, women photographers have intimate access to subjects which would otherwise remain under-represented.

Fotografía de Walter Astrada

El caminoViajar con lo mínimo para descubrir lo máximo “En los últimos 19 años he vivido y trabajado en muchos países. Como fotógrafo de agencia, he cubierto numerosos conflictos y creado proyectos documentales de largo plazo sobre asuntos sociales. Ahora, decidí continuar viendo el mundo, en un sentido literal. Decidí cargar una motocicleta Royal Enfield con lo mínimo necesario, con la idea de recorrer el mundo. La posibilidad de detenerme o continuar, guiado por mi curiosidad, sin horarios ni plazos, ya que el viaje es el objetivo. Más que cualquier destino, me da tiempo para comprender lo que observo” (http://www.wastradathejourney.com/the-journey).Walter Astrada nació en 1974 en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Comenzó su carrera como fotógrafo en el periódico local La Nación. Luego de un viaje formativo por Sudamérica, se unió a Associated Press en Bolivia, y luego en Argentina, Paraguay y República Dominicana. En marzo de 2006 semudó a España, desde donde trabaja hasta ahora como fotógrafo independiente. Es jurado de World Press Photo, organización que le otorgó tres premios de fotografía, y actualmente integra su grupo de instructores.

The State Of Sport Photojournalism

Based on a global survey of photojournalism and case studies of recent transformations in the use of photography in sport, this paper critically analyses current professional practices of sport photojournalists focusing on the contemporary challenges faced by this industry. Rhetoric proclaiming the death of the photographer in the age of video technology and self-mass communication of digital photographs has presented a major challenge to the survival of photographers and photography as a professional practice in news media. In the specific field of sport photojournalism, photographers have faced added challenges of accreditation to sport with the selective access to sporting venues or events through commercial licensing of “preferred media partners” and increasing management of “image rights” and anti-piracy measures. This has occurred at a time when sport images and the digital distribution of sporting images are greater than ever. The data for this article are taken from a World Press Photo Foundation–University of Stirling longitudinal project on photojournalism and represents the views and experiences of over 700 photographers who are engaged in sports photojournalism.

Refugees, education and Christianity in Europa

The newspaper on 19 February 2016 featured the World Press Photo of the Year contest winners for 2015. In the top prize-winning image, a man is handing a baby under the barbed wire fence at the border between Serbia and Hungary. The photo expresses not only fear but also hope for the end of suffering behind this fence. That mix of emotions moves the thousands of Syrians and North Africans desiring safety. Europe, at the same time, is possessed by another mix of sentiments: sympathy, awe, and uncertainty about the impact of refugees on society. This was reflected in several other news items: Austria initiates a quota for the access of immigrants, in Clausnitz (Saxony) buses with refugees are received with protests, and in front of a Dutch center for asylum seekers people have dropped dead pigs, to name a few actions. News like this is what students in European schools hear around them. This is the news they share at the dinner table, chat about in the playground and ask questions about in school. The influx of refugees also raises new questions for their teachers. Some are very practical: do we have enough chairs and tables for the new children? How can we teach young children who do not understand our language? How do we find resources? Newspapers report that half of all Dutch schools pay everything for the intake of refugee children from their own budget. Schools seem to be hospitable but struggle with the questions of parents who are scared of the influence of Muslim ideas in their schools. Refugees also challenge the relationship between the school and the state. Can the state force schools to take in refugee children? Has a government the right to dictate how children are taught about matters such as tolerance? From the school side, in what respect should a school nourish debate about issues in society? How neutral can a school be towards public opinion? Governments seem to understand the importance of education for the future of a peaceful society. This becomes all the more clear when we look at concerns that are raised with regard to the threat of radicalization among young Muslims. The Dutch Minister of Education recently