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Press
Releases
04/05/2005
The Story
Behind the Photo
By Santiago Lyon
Director of Photography
The Associated Press
The first thing The Associated Press photographer saw on Haifa
Street -- the main street in Baghdad and the scene of many
demonstrations and attacks -- was a group of gunmen in the
road. What he saw next was far more dramatic, and the basis
of a worldwide photo exclusive: the gunmen executing Iraqi
election workers in the midst of morning traffic
The images spoke volumes about
the situation in Iraq just six weeks before the 2005 national
elections -- the murder of people key to the election process,
on a main street in Baghdad, with the gunmen not even bothering
to conceal their identity with masks.
The photo sequence from Sunday,
Dec. 19, 2004 included images of one of the victims lying
on his side on the pavement, while a second is on his knees
nearby in the street. The gunmen casually display their handguns
as they shoot their two victims. The final photo of the sequence
shows a man standing near one of the bodies waving for help
as a U.S. Apache helicopter appears above the crime scene
after the gunmen apparently slipped away into the crowd.
Here's how the caption read for
the final photo of the sequence:
A man, center, lying down, is
punched before being killed, while another man walks to execute
a second man, seen on his knees on the right, on Baghdad's
Haifa Street, Sunday Dec. 19 2004. About 30 gunmen ambushed
a car Sunday in central Baghdad carrying employees of the
Iraqi organization running next month's elections, killing
three of the workers while two escaped unhurt, an official
from the election body said. Adel al-Lami, a member of the
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said the early morning
attack took place in downtown Haifa Street, a thoroughfare
running through central Baghdad and the scene of repeated
clashes between security forces and insurgents. (AP Photo
/ Str)
The photos made front pages around
the world and one of them was part of the package of AP's
coverage of Iraq that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for breaking
news photography.
How did the photographer come to be in one of the most dangerous
parts of one of the most dangerous streets in Baghdad at this
particular time? He had been tipped by another journalist
that "something happened on Haifa Street." Immediately
he headed out the door for a car trip to Haifa Street. He
found a burning car and photographed it about 300 meters from
what would later turn out to be the execution scene.
The photographer then walked
toward the intersection where the executions would later take
place to photograph the wreck of another recently burned car
that he spotted nearby. Soon, he noticed about 20 people arriving
and directing traffic away from the intersection, looking
unofficial and "very unusual." Anticipating a problem,
the car that had brought him there was put near a bridge for
a quick getaway, if necessary. He left his photo equipment
in the car and walked up to one of the people directing traffic
to inquire about what they were doing. He was told "none
of your business." He walked back to the car. That's
when he heard an explosion. The concussion was powerful enough
to break glass in the car.
The photographer turned and saw
the group holding two people at gunpoint on the street. One
of the attackers was armed with an AK-47 rifle and another
with a handgun. The photographer grabbed a camera with a 100-400mm
telephoto lens set at 100mm and photographed the next events
from beside the car. The gunmen shot two men in succession.
The second shooting was obscured by passing traffic, with
many passing cars now fleeing the area. The photographer got
back in the car, which inadvertently went down a circular
street that just went under the foot of the bridge and returned
to the same intersection. He took the occasion to shoot several
more photos from the car. Then he left the scene for good.
Because of the still-tense situation
in Baghdad and concerns over the safety of the photographer,
the AP has not identified the photographer, an AP photo stringer.
Those security concerns were explained to the Pulitzer jurors
in submitting the 20-photo entry.
AP photographers in Iraq and
other hostile environments around the world go to great lengths
every day to get all sides of the story, and at enormous personal
risk. They try to balance safety concerns with getting access.
No matter where they are, the goal is always to tell the story
accurately.
On the Net:
The Associated Press Managing Editors did a survey of readers
about the execution photo and other controversial images.
The Poynter Insitute reported on that survey at
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=77273&sid=29
PRESS RELEASE: AP
Wins Pulitzer for Breaking News Photography
AP STORY: Photo
team in Iraq celebrates AP's 48th Pulitzer
PHOTO GALLERY:
Breaking News Photography
AP PULITZER HISTORY: http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pulitzer/list.html
PULITZER PRIZE WEB SITE: http://www.pulitzer.org
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