2013 World Press Photo Contest

For the past three weeks, my life has been all about visual journalism: photography, multimedia productions, and producing content around the judging of the two World Press Photo contests. This was the fourth contest I experienced, and it was the last I will see up close as the move to Portland and the time to say goodbye to an amazing organization draws near.

After working intensely with an amazing team to create the context around the images and judging, the winners were announced yesterday morning. Paul Hansen, a photojournalist from Sweden, was awarded the main prize. In all, the jury awarded 367 images from 54 photographers of 32 nationalities. Some of the single images that most impressed me were from Micah Albert (USA), Wei Seng Cheng (Malaysia), Yongzhi Chu (China), Daniel Rodrigues (Portugal), and Nemanja Pancic (Serbia).

And below, some of the photo stories:

Mournful by Ebrahim Noroozi (Iran)

The Cage by Xiaoqun Zheng (China)

Japan After the Wave by Daniel Berehulak (Australia)

Mirella by Fausto Podavini (Italy)

The Pink Choice from Maika Elan (Vietnam)

Emperor Penguins by Paul Nicklen (Canada)

All winners can be seen in the 2013 Photo Contest gallery.

2012 World Press Photo Contest

This morning, I headed to the Amsterdam City Hall for the announcement of the winners of the annual World Press Photo contest. The past two weeks have been a blur of interviews, website preparations, and, of course, looking at tens of thousands of photographs. Tonight I will celebrate, not think about photography, and get some much needed sleep.

Now it is time for everyone else to enjoy this fantastic collections of images. The jury awarded 350 images by 57 photographers. Some of the singles that impressed me include the photos by Samuel Aranda, Damir Sagolj, Denis Rouvre, Vincent Boisot, and Jenny E. Ross. And for the photo stories:

Never Let You Go by Alejandro Kirchuk

Interrogation Room by Donald Weber

Rhino Wars by Brent Stirton

Pastoral by Alexander Gronsky

Child Brides by Stephanie Sinclair

launching the new World Press Photo website

On Monday, we launched the new World Press Photo website. An intense and amazing project that I have been working on for the past year with fantastic colleagues and coworkers. From design and content strategy to IA and development, I walked through it all and am very proud of the result. A showcase for photojournalism in context. Below is a photo gallery overview page.

One of my favorite features is our collection of lectures, interviews, multimedia, and other productions, which share the insights of photojournalists and the work of our organization.

There is also a dedicated gallery for young, emerging photographers who have participated in the annual masterclass.

A website rich in content, with much more to come in the next months. See more at www.worldpressphoto.org

out of sight

The last month has found me in the midst of a major content production period at work and the heat is on until the moment I board a plane to Seattle tomorrow.

For those who don't know, my job involves creating and publishing online content related to photojournalism. The last weeks have been filled with interviews, editorial work, website updates, multimedia productions, and an abundance of photography and photographers. It's an exciting time, but has required all my focus - the reason why things have been a bit quiet around small sight.

So, it's time for an update. On Saturday, we launched an iPad app. A colleague and I have spent a few months together working on the photo app with a team of developers and I was thrilled when it went out into the world. Last weekend marked the annual Awards Days where photographers from around the world gather in Amsterdam. This year there was a lot of talk around our new multimedia contest and the announcement of winners. In between moments of watching photographers present their work and screening multimedia productions, I was heading up the production team that interviewed 20 photographers about their work. In between all that, I sat down with Nancy Donaldson, a multimedia producer at The New York Times, to talk about multimedia. Interview coming soon.

The real work has centered around the new website that we hoped would go online about now. A number of development delays have come up, but it does deserve a post of its own. For now, I am off across the ocean in the morning, but I will leave you with a recommendation to enjoy the stories of the photographers and view these impressive multimedia productions.

(photo via).

Weekend Links #17

Weekend Links is a collection of the interesting bits and pieces that I’ve come across on the streets and online. The weekly post is my chance to share with you a few things from the week, in a list compiled during the weekend. I hope you enjoy them as well.

A few things I enjoyed this week: 1. Seeing the winners of the annual World Press Photo contest http://bit.ly/gYoXnh 2. Listening to an NPR interview with Over the Rhine (pictured above), a band whose music brings back memories of a Boston winter and a corner room 3. Tasting Afghan food for the first time at Mantoe 4. Watching the Chinese New Year celebrations in this short video (via wearethedigitalkids) 5. Browsing the collection at La Rosa Curiosa, a little vintage clothing store that is quickly becoming a favorite in Amsterdam (pictured below, image via bheart) 6. Watching this video of the celebrations in Egypt

The Backstory

Several productions give a closer glimpse of the photographers who won World Press Photo awards this year and the stories behind their photos. Pietro Masturzo discusses his career in 'Talking about Photography' and video interviews present a firsthand account from the photographers. Highlights include Charles Ommanney, Eugene Richards, Kent Klich, Gareth Copley, Olivier Laban-Mattei and Malick Sibidé.

Photo by Pietro Masturzo