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.

a week of multimedia

Over the past week, I had the opportunity to watch some amazing examples of visual storytelling today and listen to conversations from its leading practitioners, thanks to the World Press Photo multimedia judging. Now in its third year, I have seen the contest grow from the inaugural year to a refined look at what's going on in the world of multimedia. In the last days, I watched about 50 of the 287 submitted productions, observing the process as the jury narrowed it down to the final selection and interviewing judges about the winners.

Here is the list of the winners, with two of my favorites embedded below. I can also highly recommend 'Dreams on Freewheels' coming out of China. And all the interactive productions are worth the time to explore.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyaBky73b18&w=560&h=315]

Online Shorts 1st Into the Shadows 2nd Living with a Secret 3rd Aleppo Battleground

Online Features 1st Too Young to Wed 2nd Dying for Relief: Bitter Pills 3rd Dreams on Freewheels

Interactive Documentary 1st Alma: A Tale of Violence 2nd Bear 71 3rd Lost and Found Honorable Mention UnknownSpring

[vimeo vimeo.com/50982590 w=500&h=400]

And below, interviewing Samuel Bollendorff with my favorite cameraman.

the people of Afghanistan

My thoughts again returned to the people of (and in) Afghanistan with this beautiful video by Lukas and Salome Augustin, looking beyond the images of conflict and occupation to the people and their lives (via).

Some of the footage makes an appearance in the recently-published MediaStorm production A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan by photographer Seamus Murphy.

All images are stills from the video.

Weekend Links #24

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 last week: 1. Seeing this photo, a prelude to a perfect weekend (image by frl. zucker) 2. Listening to a wonderful Fresh Air interview with Dan Savage and Terry Miller on NPR 3. Reading an article about Photojournalism in the Age of New Media in The Atlantic 4. Discovering the Drawing Nature Journal by Jill Bliss 5. Interview with The New York Times multimedia producer Zach Wise on photojournalism 6. Reading Austin Kleon advice on How to Steal Like an Artist (pictured below, via the post family)