Turkish Photographer Wins Two Top Awards at World Press Photo
Turkish Photographer Wins Two Top Awards at World Press Photo
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A young girl is pictured after she was wounded during clashes between riot-police and protesters in Istanbul on March 12, 2014.Bulent Kilic—AFP/Getty Images
Last year was a great one for Agence France-Presse photographer Bulent Kilic. For this work in 2014, he was named Wire Photographer of the Year by TIME and by The Guardian, he won First Place in the Pictures of the Year International competition, and has now bagged the first and third prizes in the Spot News Singles category at World Press Photo, the most prestigious photojournalism contest.
Kilic’s winning image was the moody and powerful portrait of a girl wounded during clashes between riot police and protestors in Istanbul in March 2014. Just days before he shot that image, Kilic had come back from two months of reporting in Ukraine. He had planned to take a few days off to rest. That’s when a 15-year-old Turkish boy, Berkin Elvan, who had been in a coma after being hit by a gas canister during street protests in June of 2013, died. “I felt that I needed to shoot this situation,” Kilic told TIME. “It was my responsibility, and I didn’t ask for any time off and just went to photograph the boy’s funeral.”
Those photos helped defined the 35-year-old photographer as one of the best wire photographers of 2014 – a distinction only made stronger in October when he captured, in a series of four photos, an airstrike on Islamic State militants on the Tilsehir hill in Syria near the Turkish border. One of these frames won Kilic Third Prize in the Spot News Singles category at this year’s World Press Photo.
“A lot of people ask me if it was easy to see these people killed in front of me. They ask me if I felt something,” Kilic told TIME. “It wasn’t easy. But this is war, and these people are also killing other people. Sometimes, you can’t really feel anything. Sometimes, you don’t want to talk about it.”
A militant of the Islamic State (IS) is seen just after an air strike on the Tilsehir hill near the Turkish border on Oct. 23, 2014, at Yumurtalik village, in Sanliurfa province, Turkey.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA man kisses his rescued son on May 13, 2014 after an explosion in a coal mine in Manisa, TurkeyBulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters burn as they stand behind barricades during clashes with police on Feb. 20, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesThis photo taken on July 26, 2014 shows flowers left by parents of an Australian victim of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash, laid on a piece of the plane, near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA protester waves a black flag during clashes with riot police in Kadikoy, on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, on March 11, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesSyrian Kurds carry their belongings as they cross the border between Syria and Turkey in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on Sept. 23, 2014..Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesSyrian Kurds wait near the southeastern town of Suruc in the Sanliurfa province after crossing the border between Syria and Turkey on Oct. 2, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesSyrian Kurds cross the border between Syria and Turkey in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on Sept. 23, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA Kurdish woman runs away from a water cannon near the Syrian border after Turkish authorities temporarily closed the border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, on Sept. 22, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesSyrian Kurds go back to Syria at the Mursitpinar crossing gate in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, on Sept. 24, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesMembers of the Syrian Kurdish Altay family try to spot their relative, Zamani Suruc, who is fighting Islamic State (IS) jihadists in the Syrian border town of Kobani on Oct. 20, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA Syrian Kurdish woman wipes her eyes during a dust storm on a hill where she and others stand watching clashes between jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish fighters, at Swedi village in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, on Sept. 24, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesSyrian Kurds sit in a truck after crossing the Syrian-Turkish border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on Sept. 23, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesKurdish people mourn in a cemetery during the funeral of three Kurdish fighters Xahim Daban, Idris Ahmet and Mehmet Mustafa who died in clashes with the Islamic State (IS) in Suruc in the province of Sanliurfa on Oct. 21, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesMen carry a coffin at a cemetery in Suruc, in the province of Sanliurfa, on Oct. 23, 2014, during the funeral of three Kurdish fighters who died in clashes with the Islamic State (IS) in neighbouring Syria.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesAn injured miner comes out, carried by rescuers after an explosion in Manisa, Turkey, on May 13, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesAn injured miner comes out, carried by rescuers after an explosion in Manisa, Turkey, on May 13, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesBoots of miners are pictured in an outside building at a mine in Manisa on May 14, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesPeople mourn in a cemetery during the funeral ceremony of miners who died in an explosion on May 15, 2014, in the western town of Soma in the Manisa province, Turkey.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesDuygu Colak, reacts as she sits in front of her husband Ugur's grave during a funeral ceremony in the western town of Soma in the Manisa province on May 15, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesSyrian refugee boys swim in the Bosphorus on Aug. 8, 2014 at Kabatas in Istanbul, Turkey.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesSupporters of Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan hold a giant Turkish flag during an election rally in Istanbul March 23, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA young girl is pictured after she was wounded during clashes between riot-police and prostestors after the funeral of Berkin Elvan, the 15-year-old boy who died from injuries suffered during last year's anti-government protests, in Istanbul on March 12, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesThe coffin of Berkin Elvan is carried on March 11, 2014, in Istanbul, Turkey. Berkin Elvan, who had been in a coma since June 2013 after being struck in the head by a gas canister during a police crackdown on protesters, died on March 11.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesKurdish boys play in a field on Oct. 25, 2014, near the Syria border in the southeastern village of Yumurtalik, Sanliurfa province, Turkey.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA scarecrow like mock anti-government protestor is pictured on a barricade between protestors and government forces on Feb. 21, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters build a barricade early in the morning on Feb. 21, 2014 at the Independent square in Kiev, Ukraine.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA protester holds an Ukranian national flag from a burned building during a face-off against police on Feb. 20, 2014 in Kiev, Ukraine.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesAn alleged sniper (C) and member of the pro-government forces is beaten by anti-government protestors in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 22, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesPeople carry a coffin of a man who was killed during clashes, as they gather on Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 22, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesAn anti-government protestor waits at the entrance of Independence square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 23, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesPeople hold a large crucifix during a procession on Independence square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesCrosses and flowers left by people near a makeshift memorial in homage to anti-government protesters killed in the clashes with riot police on Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 24, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesWomen hold pictures of protesters who were killed in clashes with police during demonstrations in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 26, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesWomen walk in front of the Dinamo Kiev's stadium on Feb. 25, 2014, in Kiev.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesAn Ukrainian girl cries as she stands on the road with her luggage after she left her home near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), around 80km east of Donetsk, Ukraine, on Aug. 2, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesBodies of crew members lie next to a destroyed Ukrainian tank in the northern outskirts of the city of Donetsk, Ukraine, on July 22, 2014. Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesUkrainian children take cover under trees as a jet fighter flies over in the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), around 80km east of Donetsk, Ukraine, on Aug. 2, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesMilitants of Islamic State (IS) are seen during an air strike on a hill near the Turkish border on Oct. 23, 2014.Bulent Kilic – AFP/Getty ImagesA Turkish couple shares a romantic sunset on a ferry on the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 17, 2014.Bulent Kilic—AFP/Getty Images
