Thursday, December 27, 2007

Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

A warning: this blog post is not for the faint of heart.
 
What follows is a description from Getty Images about what their photographer, John Moore, saw and photographed during the rally in which Benazir Bhutto, an opposition leader to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, was assassinated earlier today. It contains graphic images from the scene, so please understand that before scrolling down further.
 
John had been covering the rally all day that Bhutto had appeared at; she had been speaking on stage in a park in Rawalpindi.

Benazir Bhutto at the rally in Rawalpindi, Dec. 27.

A number of people had mentioned to John that although the were thousands of supporters in the park, it was far from full and there was a feeling that people may have been staying away because of the events earlier in the year in Karachi. A previous attempt on Bhutto's life had been made there when she first returned from exile to her home country in October. On the day she returned, she narrowly escaped an attack when her homecoming parade in Karachi was targeted in a suicide bombing that killed more than 140 people.

The description from Getty Images of what photographer John Moore saw continues:

Today, when Bhutto finished speaking she came off the podium, got into her car, and her convoy appeared to be preparing to leave with her inside. John figured that events were over for the day and that no one would be seeing her again; he was preparing to leave himself. When he turned round he was shocked to see her standing out of the sunroof, waving to supporters as the car pushed its way slowly through the mass of people.

He ran back to grab a few frames and waited as the car came towards him, and he was pushed back in the crowd as the car came past. As this happened, he was aware of Bhutto ducking back into the car and of at least two gunshots; he picked up his camera unaware of exactly what was happening, and as he did so the bomb was detonated next to the car some 30 feet from where he was in the crowd. He kept the motor drive of his camera running as he was pushed back in the crowd, getting pictures of the blast as it went off and crowd members reeling from it.

As the crowds dispersed, he was able to shoot aftermath pictures, but was not able to get close to her car as he was kept back by the volume of people around it. The following are the sequence of photos John shot as the bomb detonated, followed by a photo of the aftermath of the explosion:



John, as might be expected, was shaken up by the bombing and the events afterwards, as the dead, injured and dying lay near the point of the blast -- shaken up, but uninjured.

For more photos and the latest on the story, please go to: Pakistan's Bhutto Assassinated at Rally.

Friday, December 21, 2007

2007 Pictures of the Year



It's that time ...


This week, I am publishing the Pictures of the Year 2007: People's Choice photo gallery in place of our regular Pictures of the Week gallery. The images that appear in this gallery were the most popular month by month, based on the poll results, as voted on by you, our weekly "Pictures of the Week" photo lover.
 
In reviewing this year's worth of Pictures of the Week poll results, certain trends become obvious. Based on the top vote getters, it appears that our audience is made up of animal loving, military families with an interest in astronomy -- since the most popular images are consistently related to animals and nature, our military, and space. Or maybe it's just people who recognize great photography -- photos that capture a defining moment or convey emotion or a sense of awe.
 
Please take a look at the final 12 images of the year in our Pictures of the Year 2007: People's Choice gallery, but don't overlook the other pictures of the year selections that we've put together. We also have a Pictures of the Year 2007: Editors' Choice, a sports entry, Sports Pictures of the Year 2007: Did You See That, as well as a wonderful selection of nature photography in our Nature's Best 2007 Award Winners photo gallery. Lots of links and lots of photos to check out. I hope you enjoy the galleries we've put together. Which is your favorite photo gallery? Which are your favorite images? Let us know. And don't forget to join me again in January 2008 when Pictures of the Week returns.

- Lee Van Grack

Friday, December 14, 2007

Pictures of the Week: Dec. 8-14



You can see the fear in this little girls eyes, and that look of uncertainty as she experiences something unlike anything she's ever experienced in her life. War caught up to her in her young life. Yet I think her face conveys a certain sense of bravery as she is treated by medics at Patrol Base Murray, near Baghdad, following a mortar attack in the town of Arab Jabour.  What I find interesting about this photo is that I have no sense that the photographer's presence was felt by anyone in the room when she took this shot.


Please take a look at all of this week's compelling images in our Pictures of the Week gallery.
 
-Lee Van Grack

Friday, December 7, 2007

Tiger Woods' Wife Wins Lawsuit Over Photos

Today, Elin Nordegren Woods, wife of world number one golfer Tiger Woods, won $183,250 and an apology from an Irish magazine that published an abusive article and a faked nude photo of her.

According to a story by the Associated Press, Trevor White, publisher of The Dubliner, conceded that the article -- published in September 2006 when Ireland was hosting the Ryder Cup -- "was cheap, tasteless, and deliberately offensive. It was also completely untrue." 

The magazine printed bogus nude pictures of Woods' wife just days before Ireland hosted the Ryder Cup, the biggest team event in professional golf.


Not a fake photo of Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin.

How the idea to do this ever got into print much less OK' d by people who apparently thought it was a good idea is beyond me. It still amazes me that in the publishing industry people still think that it's OK to fabricate a story and a photo to support the story and publish it.

For more details, go to: Woods' Wife Wins Lawsuit, Gets Apology

- Gary

Pictures of the Week: Dec. 1-7

In assembling this week's Pictures of the Week gallery, I was originally planning to comment on the photograph of the children playing in the mustard field in India.



I was struck by many elements that it contained. I liked the way that the image was composed, and I enjoyed the way that you can actually see the path that this young group of playmates takes across the field. I like the contrast of the orange fabric against the yellow flowers, but mostly, I like the innocence that this image captures, the way this image conveys the universality of childhood. It reminds me that the pursuits of children are very similar the world over.
 
However, late in the afternoon, a very different kind of image moved across the wires. It's an image taken from a video surveillance camera inside the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb., that shows the gunman with his rifle raised inside the Von Maur department store.



It is a chilling image that is heightened by the poor quality inherent in grabs from video surveillance cameras. The image is shocking and sad. A teenage gunman, not too far removed from childhood, whose actions are so very far from the innocence of a child.
 
Please take a look at all of this week's compelling images in our Pictures of the Week gallery.
 
-Lee Van Grack

New Music Photo Hub

You've gotta check out the latest Music photo experience just launched in AOL: http://music.aol.com/pictures/most-viewed. It houses thousands of pictures and allows you to manage those photos in a number of ways, including sorting the images by most viewed. Right now Britney Spears is leading the list for most-viewed photo. Surprised?


The top vote-getting photo ...

New features in this release include:
  • The ability to rate, tag, share and comment on photos
  • The ability to browse photos by artist name and genre
  • Enlarge button to zoom in on your favorite artists
  • The ability to sort photos by views, ratings, and most recent image
  • Top galleries module on photo asset pages to dynamically feature popular photo collections  
  • Ability to search photos by artist name and caption
What do you think? Comments, suggestions, bugs? Let us know.