Etienne said:M_S said:I just looked at the pic. The story told overal, is good, very emotional. That said, I find it quite bad to be honest in quality. Focus is somewhere on the barb wire, all blurred. Grainy as hell. Could have been an iphone shot. And this is the world press photo? In the past I could agree a lot more with that descision...
Seriously? You can't see why this would win? Hint: It's a photojournalism, not a brick-wall-test award. An iPhone would have generated a near-black splotch on a black background.
You're right on both counts. But of course, the second puts paid - at least to some extent - the mantra 'it's the gear you have to hand'. Because obviously, a camera (an iPhone, say, or a much older DSLR) that didn't have ISO 6400 wouldn't have been able to take this shot. So yeah, of course this competition - and really, most photography competitions - hinges on the content and emotion of a shot, but also some shots are only possible with certain gear (wildlife is a case in point, where most winning shots in competitions I follow use fairly high end cameras, lenses, sometimes underwater housing, and often travel to far flung places - they also need knowledge, both photographic technique and fieldcraft, etc). I suspect this shot won because it perfectly captures the human aspect of one of the most important current events in an instantly understandable and relatable way. Technical aspects wouldn't be considered, but they still contributed to the ability of the photographer to take the shot.
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