james The photo journalist killed by Denmark Siddiqui was among the four respected Indians with prestigious Pulitzer Prize-2022 in the feature photography category, announced on Monday night.
The team from the Reuters News Agency – Adnan Abidi, Amit Dave, Sanna Irshad Mattoo and Siddiqui – won for “Covid victims’ images in India who balance their intimacy and destruction, while offering viewers of high places”, according to the Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize Site “.
Dedicating awards to Siddiqui, Abidi based in Delhi considering how Pandemic is “Dangers of the Unlike” that No People in the World Prepared”. Associated with reuters since 2005, his photographs in the pithelzer package reflected the death and suffering like during the Covid-19-from Family Members Embracing Each other in PPE Suits to Mourn the Death of a Relative in Delhi in April 2021, to a girl pressing The chest of his father who felt difficult to breathe after fainting while receiving oxygen support in Gurudwara in Ghaziabad, rose.
I have discussed a difficult situation, but seeing bad things in your hometown is very different, “said Abidi, 42.” During the second wave in Delhi, I took care of my family, including my father who was sleeping, and worked at the same time . When I go to shoot, I can see people panic – many are desperate for oxygen. It was heartbreaking but I tried to control my emotions because someone panicked tends to make mistakes. “
Sometimes, he said, people say these photos are beautiful. “But I just want to show what happened. This is not about showing how good you are a photographer; What’s important is how well your picture can convey the message that it is not safe out there and people must be more careful. “
Abidi began his career in 1997 as a dark room assistant; This is the third pulitzer. In 2020, he was part of the Reuters team who won in the category of headlines photography for the protest coverage of Hong Kong 2019-20.
Together with Siddiqui, he is also part of the Reuters team who won the 2018 Pulitzer prize for photography features for the Rohingya refugee crisis image.
Siddiqui, 38, who was killed in July 2021 While Covering a Clash between Afghan Security forces and Taliban forces in Spin Boldak District of Kandahar, had caught the world’s attention with his photographs of the Function Pyres Pyres During Mass Covids of Covid-19 Victims in Last year. His father, Mohammad Akhtar Siddiqui, given how Denmark traveled to various cities, including Haridwar and Bhagalpur, when Pandemi raged throughout India.
He did this job in the most difficult situation and entered a far into the ward and approached people suffering from Covid-19,” Akhtar said. “He will share the pain and suffering of people. A job addict, he is very committed professionally. Even though he is not worried for himself, he will take all the precautions to ensure that he should not give any infection to his family.
He always celebrates Eid al -Fitr with family, but that year he did not visit us, because he did not want to take our risk of capturing any virus from him.”
Apart from the photos that became viral, the Pulitzer website featured the Siddiqui image of Naga Sadhu who was wearing a mask before entering the ganga during the traditional Snan shahi in the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar in April last year. In another frame, a son of his mother’s fan with a handkerchief in the back seat of the vehicle, when he received oxygen in the Gurudwara parking lot.
During the peak of Pandemi, when many died alone, Siddiqui also photographed a jar containing ash collected after the final rite of people, waiting for soaking due to national locking, on the crematorium in Delhi in May 2021.
He faces all kinds of pressure from people who do not want reality to be revealed but he is not afraid,” said Mohammad Akhtar.
Photography Magnum Photography and Social Justice 2021, Mattoo, 28, documenting Pandemi in Kashmir. The Pulitzer website has a picture of a shepherd who received a Covishield vaccine in Lidderwat in Anantnag Kashmir District in June 2021.
For Dave, based in Ahmedabad, 53, photography is a desire that he inherited from his father, who also collects cameras. Having previously covered the 2002 Gujarat riots and the destruction caused by the 2004 tsunami in Tamil Nadu for Reuters, in 2021, when the Delta Pandemic wave wave India, Dave photographed in Gujarat. His image on the Pulitzer website has a health care worker who examines the temperature of a woman in her hut during the Coronavirus vaccination trip for workers in a brick kiln in Kavitha Village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in April 2021.
It is an honor to receive the Pulitzer Award … I also hope that in connection with Covid, the worst is now behind us,” Dave said.
