World Press Photo of the Year winner struggles to find work


2008 Anthony Suau for TIME / Via World Press Photo.

The World Press Photo organization has announced its
international photo competition winner for the best photos of 2008.

The top award, World Press Photo of the Year, went to
Anthony Suau, an American, working on assignment for Time magazine documenting
the economic crisis in the USA.
His winning photo is of a sheriff doing home evictions at gun point in Ohio.

Suau is a veteran of international magazine photojournalism
with major bodies of work from around the world including a ten year project in
Eastern Europe called Beyond The Fall, The Former Soviet Bloc in Transition
1989-1999, which has been touring the world for the past 7 years.

The sad irony is that Suau’s documenting of the economic crisis
in the USA
may be his last assignment, leading to his own economic crisis, as reported in
Photo District News recently. Unfortunately, for him and us, he may be the
last of the breed of “high end” globe-trotting photojournalists whose work populated the top magazines in the world.

Publications have been cutting back on budgets for original
photography for years and the current economic crisis and slew of failing publications
mean there are fewer traditional print media outlets for great
photojournalism.

Indeed, Suau had to plead with Time to publish this work in
their print edition as it originally was only presented on their website. Time eventually did print some of the photos, but the award winning shot only
appeared online. Many European magazines picked up second publication rights.

Suau has been a contract photographer for Time for 20 years. If you would like to see more of his work you can find him on
PhotoShelter.

A gallery of the entire World Press Photo winners can be
found on its website.

World Press Photo was established to encourage high
professional standards in photojournalism and to promote a free and
unrestricted exchange of information. It aims to support professional press
photography on a wide international scale. Promotional activities include an
annual contest, exhibitions, the stimulation of photojournalism through
educational programs and creating greater visibility for press photography
through a variety of publications.