Pictures that made news

While we are approaching the last half of the year, the World Press Photo Foundation takes us back to the previous year to witness what happened all over the world.

ZEN Department Store's eighth floor is host to the works of professional photojournalists participating in "Press Photo in Focus".

Combining two press-photography exhibitions, "World Press Photo" and "Thai Press Photo", the show reflects the world's joys and sorrows through the award-winning press photographs.

The exhibition attempts to present the freedom of expression in a democratic society. Since it was set up in 1955, "World Press Photo" has evolved into an independent platform for photojournalism and free exchange of information.

"The organisation was set up with a strong belief in the power of the image and free flow of information," contest organiser Micha Bruinvels says.

There were more than 50,000 entries, out of which 400 award-winning shots were selected. And out of these, 165 prizewinning press photos, from 59 winners, are on display. The exhibition is travelling to more than 50 countries.

The winning images were selected by an independent jury, based on creative and effective journalism.

"It was up to the jury to decide which images would be awarded. They made a deliberate decision to prioritise what was the best photography of an issue, rather than the issue itself. The judgement was not to decide whether disease was a more important issue than migration, poverty or war," Bruinvels says.

The contest is divided into 10 categories, featuring Art and Entertainment, Nature, Daily Life, Portraits, People in the News, Sports, News Stories, Spot News, General News and Contemporary Issues.

"All photos need to have been taken in 2007," Bruinvels says, "excluding for Contemporary Issues, which is a personal project of the photographer. This category is not restricted to the one-year period."

From the minute they enter, visitors will find stunning images, with the first-prize entry of Contemporary Issues at the opening section of the exhibition. The picture shows the conservation rangers of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo evacuating the bodies of mountain gorillas found shot in the forest.  

Environment abuse at human hands are reported through many shocking shots, the beheaded narwhal whale - which won the second prize in the Nature category - the melting ice, corps of polar bears and their threatened habitat.

In the Nature category, the first prize went to a black-and-white photograph portraying the leaf of a rare variety of nanmu tree, which is one of the plants endangered by the rising waters of the Three Gorges Dam project in China.

On the side, the touching black-and-white photo of Russian choreographer Igor Moiseyev won the first prize in the Portrait category that also has a picture of Vladimir Putin. The portrait of the Russian president was made the cover of Time magazine last year.

Last year's major subject, Bruinvels says, was the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Tracking the election rally of the late prime minister, photographer John Moore captured the incident chronologically till the moment of the explosion.

The risk-laden task deserves to be acknowledged. He won two prizes - the first prize for Spot News stories and first prize for Spot News singles.

The exhibition is as much about journalism as about photography in that it stimulates viewers' curiosity.

"The first prize for People in the News shows no one in the picture. It shows a girl's dress on a barbed-wire fence she has crossed, which is the Israeli-Egyptian border. It makes you feel and think about what was happening."

The last part of the exhibition is about violence and war. And the World Press of the Year 2007 lies in this section. It shows an American soldier in the deadliest combat in Afghanistan. "The picture portrays the soldier in fatigues. The jury used it as a metaphor for the United States in fatigue. The US is in a war in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are waiting to see the new policy of the new US president," Bruinvels says.

The photos are like a visualised essay. They have a story to tell. Some images burn into your memory and keep you thinking.

"The exhibition displays the view of the photographers. Visitors have their own perspective to interpret it with. It's subjective," Bruinvels says.

'Press Photo in Focus 2008' is on until July 6 at ZEN's eighth floor. Thai award-winning press photographs are also on display.