No sign of JOE’s drunken bathroom selfie anywhere…
John Stanmeyer, a fantastic American photojournalist, has won the World Press Photo of the Year 2013 competition with a brilliant photo of African migrants on the shore of Djibouti city at night. The incredible image, which is simply entitled ‘Signal’, captures a number of migrants raising their phones in an attempt to take advantage of an inexpensive signal from neighbouring Somalia.
The Irish equivalent would essentially be like all of those times you’ve driven up the M1 directly behind a Matthews Coach in order to try and steal their free Wi-Fi. We’ve all done it…
According to Jillian Edelstein, one of the judges, “it’s a photo that is connected to so many other stories—it opens up discussions about technology, globalization, migration, poverty, desperation, alienation, humanity. It’s a very sophisticated, powerfully nuanced image. It is so subtly done, so poetic, yet instilled with meaning, conveying issues of great gravity and concern in the world today.”
Yeah, what she said.
David Guttenfelder, a fellow jury member, went on to say “the photo is like a message in a bottle, it is one that will last for all of us. People will bring their own life experiences to it as they stand in front of it.”
You can check out a collection of all of the winning photos on the official World Press Photo site by clicking here. We’re off to have another look for that selfie we mentioned though. We really worked on our duckface so it’s got to be in there somewhere.
Image: John Stanmeyer – VII Photo Agency
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