Winner?

The awarding of the World Press Photo Grand Prix, capturing the killer of the Russian ambassador to Turkey, shared the photo community. Some consider the decision fair, others fear that this image will become an icon of terrorism. The five -time winner of the World Press Photo Stanley Green, at the request of such cases, commented on the choice of the jury

The first place in the Spot News category among photo stories, photos of the year. December 19, 2016. Mevlut Mert Altyntash screams after a shot in Andrei Karlov, a Russian ambassador to Turkey, in an art gallery in Ankar photo: Burhan Ozbilici, The Associated Press

It is clear that this is a photograph from the Spot News category, and it was supposed to win only in this category. Her recognition by a photograph of the year is a dangerous signal. We can recall the murder of President Abraham Lincoln, committed in the Ford Theater by the actor-loser John Wilks Butu. There are no photographs of the murder itself, there are only sketches: John Wils Bouut jumps from the balcony to the stage, waving a pistol. And he was captured as if he had committed a noble deed, but in fact everything was completely wrong. The murder of the Russian ambassador is not the same as a noble act.

It was a terrorist act in John Bout's days, this is terrorism, which in no case should be praised and praised. And this murder, which also under no circumstances can be praised and praised. The person who was present at the opening of the photo exhibition was losing his life for bringing the suffering of another country, but this is the Syrian government and their allies killed people in Aleppo. It is wrong to condemn one person for the crimes of others, and this is an act of terrorism. Mevlut Mert Altyntash made a verdict and became a judge, a jury and executioner Andrei Karlov, who, perhaps, was a bad person, or was a good person, was a family man, was loved by someone ... But we know that this Syrian regime is guilty of killing his people.

There are many images as strong as the frame shot by Burkhan Ozbiliji.

There is a photograph of the moment when Jack Ruby shoots at Lee Harvey Oswald, and she went around the whole world, but in those days no one condemned this. Everyone just agreed that Oswald got what he deserved. No court, no judge, no jury. Only Jack Ruby, who acted as an executioner. The picture that captured Oswald curved with pain after a shot is still in our memory.

Murder Harvey Oswald Jack Ruby Photo: Globe Photos, Inc/Globe Photos/Zumapress.com/Alamy/TASS

The question that torments me today is how our community has passed from drawings from the scene of the murder to the newspaper pictures of the scenes of the murder, then to those images that mirror the fictional plots of television series, such as 24 or Homeland, and, finally, to the photograph of the killer in a costume. Previously, it was inherent only to television. But all this happened in real time. It is even surprising that other people did not take off this murder on their iPhones. How stolen we are if the murder has become an event for us. We must move away from the edge of the abyss, into which we are about to fall. I repeat: this picture was supposed to win only in the Spot News category.

When I think about the murder of the Russian ambassador, the whole story seems absolutely surrealistic, more like a art-password in a school of art. The fact that the photograph was taken in the photo gallery further enhances the resemblance to the living theater.

We perceive conflicts and violence as something granted and document them accordingly

If the community asks people, then perhaps they will choose a picture of a dead child on the beach. This photograph is also famous for the whole world and did not leave indifferent anyone who saw it. She became cult. But still when you look at her, she shocks you. It would be a very powerful message addressed to the Universe, which would have laid the beginning of a discussion of the problems that the world is faced in our time.

Graffiti based on a well-known photo of a deceased refugee boy on a wall in the Frankfurt area photo: Imago/EPD/TASS

Every year, the bets are becoming higher, the bar rises higher, and the main topics of the winning photos are increasingly becoming those that are related to the so-called pressing problems of the modern world. We perceive conflicts and violence as something granted and document them accordingly. Increasingly, crimes committed by the police, wars, death, and poverty are included in the lenses of cameras. And the number of photos on these difficult topics selected to the winners of certain competitions is growing from year to year. This is another reality in which we, as a photographic community, are immersed.

Stanley Green Photo: Kristel Herdekens

I agree with the Russian photographer Vladimir Vyatkin, who accuses photographers of the absence of humanism and conscience. In my opinion, we lose our souls, we are more and more advanced at the news and become a kind of drug addicts in need of action. “The more blood, the better the news”. The dispute about when to take on the camera, and when this is not worth doing, very old. But I am an old school representative. If a situation arises in which you can help, you should help, especially if there is no one nearby who could help. But as soon as you removed the event, you must, you simply must put the camera aside and remember that a person is in front of you, and there is no point in continuing shooting.

Let's turn to the story again and recall the picture in which the ray of light falls on Robert Kennedy's face after they shot him. This is an incredibly powerful picture, the photographer did not need thousands of personnel to show how a sad moment it was, and how great the loss. One frame said all this. There was no need to continue photography.

President Candidate Robert Kennedy lies on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel seconds after a shot to the head of the photo: Boris Yaro // Los Angeles Times/Polaris/East News

If this year I was part of the jury of World Press Photo, I would not choose a picture of Burkhan Ozbilidzhi as a better photo of the year. But the first place in the Spot News category would give, because this is his strength. This is the moment frozen in time. And all the photos that we shoot today ultimately freeze in time, documenting the history of mankind.