The Great Ganesha

The 2007 World Press Photo Awards were announced today [via the BBC]. There are some absolutely brilliant shots in there, including one taken for Reuters by Akintunde Akinleye of Nigeria [link] showing a man rinsing his face after a gas pipeline explosion. Despite it’s depressing precedent, the photograph is? visually stunning in its color and texture. There’s another shot by American Spenser Platt of Getty Images [link] showing a bunch of teenagers driving a red convertible through a devastated Beirut neighborhood, which really highlights – to me, at least – one of the so-called downsides of capitalism: the growing gap between the rich and the poor. This may also be the reason that Platt’s photo won the top award. With so many countries adopting capitalism, it is a good reality check to focus on some of the negative externalities of increasing country wealth.

I’d show some of the photos here, but they are all copyright-protected and cannot be reproduced under any circumstances. My suggestion is go there and take a look. You’ll be amazed at what some journalists have shot.

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