Bhutto's Death
While getting ready for work Thursday morning, listening to Morning Edition on WYPR, a report of Benazir Bhutto's assassination interrupted the normal programing. Later that day, having returned to the office, I checked the coverage within the system and learned Getty Images photographer John Moore was on the scene. Moore has been covering Bhutto's return to Pakistan since October.
The veteran conflict photographer made some truly stunning pictures of the explosion, carnage and ruin on this sad day for Pakistan. Later in the day he did a phone interview with CNN telling the story of his harrowing experience. There is also a slide show presentation.
"You're there and you react, try to do the best that you can in a very, very grim environment," he said.
Comments
Powerful and inspiring. Great work.
Speaking of inspiring, just got my NPPA Best of 2007 mag. Congrats to your colleague, Algerina Perna, on the 3rd Place, Humor award.
Posted by: Patrick Smith | December 28, 2007 4:18 PM
Was Moore's last photo in the CNN slideshow manipulated? It looks like he applied a radial blur in Photoshop, I doubt that he would have "raked" the lens under those conditions. If he manipulate the image, how do you as a journalist feel about that?
Thanks,
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin | January 2, 2008 4:04 PM
By looking at the whole take on the Getty site, it is very evident the scene was very dark and he was using slow shutter speeds. The first pictures of Bhutto's vehicle moving, before the explosion, has camera shake and motion blur.
This is also seen in the explosion photos that have excessive amounts of motion blur. In the chaos, he was probably more focused on the events than holding the camera steady. To me the photo looks like a pan and changing the focus at the same time.
One last note, Moore is very respected for being a shower of truth with a very honest eye.
Yes, Algerina does deserve congratulations for her Best of Photojournalism award from last year. The News Photographer with all the winners was just published in Dec,
Posted by: Christopher Assaf | January 4, 2008 9:13 PM