Behind the scenes of acclaimed Photographs

A Photograph speaks louder than words. The intensity in the eyes of the Afghan girl featured in the National Geographic magazine cover exposed the world to the refugee hardships. The picture of the waving flag in Moon , the doubts of how can a flag blow on moon crippled Americas claims of setting foot on the moon then. The shocking images of  Bhopal gas tragedy and Trade center attacks portrayed the graveness of the incidents.

Lets see some of the photographs that shook the world and went on to win the prestigious Pulitzer prize. Dedicated to all those photographers and photojournalists out there who captured the feelings and immortalized them.

KOSOVO'S SORROW : REUNION

Photo by : Carol Guzy / Washington Post, May 3, 1996

The picture of tears and joy when Agim Shala the two year old Kosovar refugee kid reunited with his grandparents in UAE Kuks, Albania camp.

Kosovar war (Serbian province) happened in 1998-99 when the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo faced pressure from Serbs fighting for control of the region. Around 1.5 million people were evacuated, massacred and looted from their own homes.

THE VULTURE AND THE LITTLE GIRL

Photo by Kevin Carter / New York Times 26 March 1993

The photograph of a  malnourished toddler who collapsed from hunger on her way to a feeding center in famine-struck Sudan while a vulture ominously loomed in the background.

The photographer Kevin Carter was so depressed after the photograph was taken. Although he drove away the Vulture many criticized him to be the actual vulture for not taking the girl to a shelter. He was a troubled soul, the guilt of the Sudan experience, relationship troubles adding to other reasons he ended his life later in 1994. The Sudan memoirs from his diary had this entry - “Dear God, I promise I will never waste my food again”.

The photograph helped draw enormous attention to the humanitarian crisis and raise funds for Sudan, however it did also cost the photographers his life.

A MOTHER'S JOURNEY 

Photos by : Renée C. Byer/ Sacremento Bee : April 17, 2007

The pictured featured last one year of dying 11-year-old Derek Madsen, who was battling a rare form of cancer, and the anguish and courage of his single mother, Cyndie French.

At times we forget the fact that we are so lucky to be even alive and only in desperate times we acknowledge the people who were there for us all along including our family. After all we are mere tenants on Earth.So let's live everyday like its our last day without worrying too much about anything.

KASHMIR : LIVING A FOND LESS WAR

Photos by Channi Anand and Dar Yasin / API : March 4,2019

The picture series featured the atmosphere in Jammu & Kashmir, India when the state went under unprecedented lock-down and curfew following revoke of state's special provisions.

There was an internet and telephone ban in the state and no foreign press were given permission to cover the news. Associate press photographers Channi Anand and colleagues sneaked around roadblocks and military curfew, hid cameras in their grocery bags and managed to capture these risky shots exposing the tension in the state.

See more of the Pulitzer awards winning photographs for Feature photography here.