In February, seconds after the results of 2013 World Press Photo contest were announced, one photo and the name underneath echoed like thousands of drums through grey Belgrade winter morning. This was the moment of immense pride for our little collective!
It is difficult to rate a photograph, to glorify it and dogmatically compare it to other work of the sme kind. Yet, the photo of Nemanja Pancic was declared as the best in the world of photojournalism, in Observed Portraits category. Nemanja’s compassionate portrait of little Milan Ponjiger, who continued his life after a family tragedy, has caught the eyes and hearts of the jury. Starting from today, this photo will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. If there is the way to share the pain and somehow make it diminish, we hope that every single one of many pairs of eyes which will see this photo, will tear off – piece by piece, all the sorrow from Milan’s eyes.
Nemanja was speaking about this photo today, during the World Press Photo Awards Days, in front of some of the most influential people from the photojournalism industry. He is in Amsterdam now, together with Nemanja Jovanovic, where they represent themselves, our collective, and Serbian photography. Thank you guys for making us all proud!