stunning pulitzer prize-winning photos: the real stories

Stunning Pulitzer Prize-winning photos:

The real stories

1945: The flag-raising at Iwo Jima – U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. Only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island became the site of one of the bloodiest, most infamous battles of World War II. The photo won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. According to former executive newsphoto editor at The Associated Press Hal Buell, author of "Moments," a book on Pulitzer Prize-winning images, photographer Joe Rosenthal used a 4x5 Speed Graphic camera loaded with an Agfa 4x5 film pack (12 shots in a single holder). The lens was 127mm. He exposed f16 at 1/400th. B/W film. ASA is unknown. He made three frames on top of Suribachi: the flag raising, a "gung ho" picture and a photo of Marines using a cable or rope to fasten the staff against the wind.

The 1945 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Photography, Joe Rosenthal of Associated Press. For his photograph of the Marines planting the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.

1949: Babe Ruth bows out – Photographer Nat Fein was assigned to cover the final appearance of baseball icon Babe Ruth at New York's Yankee Stadium on June 13, 1948. He photographed Ruth from behind to show his number, which would be retired. Fein won the Pulitzer Prize in 1949. He used a 4x5 Speed Graphic with a film holder containing 4x5 cut film. It was a dark overcast day but Fein opted to not use a flash so he could include the stands in the background. He exposed at 1/25th of a second (a very slow shutter speed) at f5.7.

1953: Adlai's shoe – Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson, wearing a right shoe with a hole in its sole, takes notes before a campaign speech in Flint, Michigan, on September 1, 1952. Seeing the hole, Flint Journal photographer Bill Gallagher tried to discreetly photograph the moment and avoid being noticed by his competitors. He casually placed "his camera at arm's length on the floor of the stage, looked the other way, and popped his flash," said Buell. When Gallagher won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953, Stevenson wired the photographer, "Glad to hear you won with a hole in one." Gallagher used a 4x5 Speed Graphic to make this picture. The film holder was loaded with 4x5 Kodak cut film. Lens was 127mm, aperture unknown.

1961: Assassination on stage – Seventeen-year-old Otoya Yamaguchi uses a foot-long sword to fatally stab Japan Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma on a stage in Tokyo on October 12, 1960. Yamaguchi was upset with Asanuma's support of a U.S.-Japan mutual defense treaty. Photographer Yasushi Nagao, was the first non-American photographer to win a Pulitzer Prize, in 1961. Nagao used a 4x5 Speed Graphic loaded with a Kodak film pack and equipped with an electronic flash unit. He had shot 11 of the film pack's frames and was awaiting the conclusion of the political speeches when Yamaguchi stabbed Asanuma, who staggered across the stage before Yamaguchi stabbed him a second time. Nagao focused at 15 feet and made the picture on the final frame of the film pack. It was the last Pulitzer Prize photo made with a 4x5, large format camera. Nagao used a 127mm lens.

1962: Pulitzer Prize Winner in Photography, Paul Vathis of Associated Press, Harrisburg, PA, bureau. President John F. Kennedy and former president Dwight D. Eisenhower are having a wintertime walk at Camp David in winter. Kennedy has just asked Eisenhower what he thinks of the botched Bay of Pigs Invasion. Vathis claims that immediately before the question, both men had been holding their heads high.

1963: Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald – Photographer Robert Jackson was waiting in the basement of the Dallas city jail on November 24, 1963, when Jack Ruby, right foreground, fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald as he was being transferred to the county jail. The photo won the Pulitzer Prize in 1964. Jackson used a Nikon camera with a 35mm lens with Kodak film.

1966: Pulitzer Prize Winner in Photography. Kyoichi Sawada of United Press International, For his combat photography of the war in Vietnam during 1965. American Soldiers Dragging Viet Cong. This picture was taken in South Vietnam in the aftermath of the Battle of Long Tan. The Viet Cong were repelled after launching a night attack on Australian forces, and the Viet Cong soldier in the picture is one of the casualties. This photograph shows the indifference toward brutality that marks many of those who spend too long in a warzone. The publicity of the photo was a significant blow to Western pro-war sentiment and morale.

1967: Pulitzer Prize Winner in Photography. Jack R. Thornell of Associated Press, New Orleans bureau.For his picture of the shooting of James Meredith in Mississippi by a roadside rifleman.James Meredith, a prominent civil rights activist, was leading a march when he was sprayed in his back with birdshot. The shooter was a man called Aubrey Norvell, who had reportedly shouted, “I just want James Meredith!”Miraculously, none of the sixty-three birdshot pellets struck a vital organ or broke Meredith’s spine, even though the pattern wounded him from head to buttocks.In the picture, Meredith is lying on the street in agony. He cried out, “Isn’t anyone going to help me?” No one did, but the photographer Thornell shouted that he should stay calm, and that an ambulance was on its way. Meredith was taken to a hospital where the pellets were extracted, and he healed well enough in two days to finish the march before it reached Jackson. Norvell pled guilty, and spent his time in prison regretting that he had not used buckshot.

1968: Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography. Rocco Morabito of Jacksonville Journal. For his photograph, "The Kiss of Life." This photo shows two power linemen, Randall Champion and J. D. Thompson, at the top of a utility pole. They had been performing routine maintenance when Champion brushed one of the high voltage lines at the very top. These are the lines that can be heard “singing” with electricity. Over 4000 volts entered Champion’s body and instantly stopped his heart (an electric chair uses about 2000 volts).His safety harness prevented a fall, and Thompson, who had been ascending below him, quickly reached him and performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He was unable to perform CPR given the circumstances, but continued breathing into Champion’s lungs until he felt a slight pulse, then unbuckled his harness and descended with him on his shoulder. Thompson and another worker administered CPR on the ground, and Champion was moderately revived by the time paramedics arrived, eventually making a full recovery.

1969: Saigon execution – Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnamese chief of the national police, fires his pistol at the head of suspected Viet Cong official Nguyen Van Lem on a Saigon street early in the Tet Offensive on February 1, 1968. Buell said photographer Eddie Adams reported long after the shooting that Loan approached him and said, "They killed many of my people, and yours, too," then walked away. Adams made this photo with a Nikon rangefinder camera, loaded with Kodak 35mm, Tri-X film, and using a 35mm lens. He exposed at 1/500th of a second at f11. He was 5 feet away from the scene. The phot won the Pulitzer Prize in 1969.

The 1969 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography. Edward T. Adams of Associated Press. For his photograph, "Saigon Execution."

1973: The napalm nirl of Trangbang – Nine-year-old Kim Phuc, center, runs with her brothers and cousins, followed by South Vietnamese forces, down Route 1 near Trang Bang after a South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped flaming napalm on its own troops and civilians on June 8, 1972. The terrified girl had ripped off her burning clothes while fleeing. Associated Press photographer Nick Ut used a Leica with a 35mm lens. The film was Kodak Tri-X. Shutter speed and aperture are unknown. The photo was honored with a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

The 1973 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography. Huynh Cong Ut of Associated Press. For his photograph, "The Terror of War," depicting children in flight from a napalm bombing.

1974: Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography, Anthony K. Roberts. For his picture series, "Fatal Hollywood Drama," in which an alleged kidnapper was killed. Roberts was walking through a Hollywood parking lot in the afternoon when he heard the screams of a woman. He found a man on top of her, attempting to subdue her with punches and slaps. Roberts was unarmed except for his camera, and so he shouted to the man that his picture had just been taken.The man shouted back that he didn’t care—and continued to beat the woman as Roberts watched helplessly. This commotion finally brought a security guard, who told the man to stop—but when he continued wrestling with the woman, who was screaming for her life, the security guard leveled his pistol across the roof of a car and shot the man in the head, killing him. Roberts’ final photograph shows the instant before the guard pulled the trigger.

The 1974 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography. Anthony K. Roberts. For his picture series, "Fatal Hollywood Drama," in which an alleged kidnapper was killed.

1976: The Boston fire balcony collapse – Boston Herald American staff photographer Stanley Forman captured this image of 19-year-old Diana Bryant and her niece falling after a balcony collapsed during a Boston apartment fire on July 22, 1975. Bryant died from the fall and her niece, who landed on her, survived. The photo won the Pulitzer Prize in News in 1976. To capture the image, Forman took a position on the bed of a fire truck and used two Nikons. One was equipped with a 35mm lens. The second included a motor drive and a 135mm lens. He first made a wide angle shot of firefighters trying to rescue Bryant and her niece on the balcony. He then switched to the 135mm anticipating a successful rescue. But the balcony collapsed. Through his Nikon viewfinder and 135mm lens, Forman watched them plunge five stories to the ground as the camera's motor spun. The film was Kodak Tri-X black and white. Exposure is unknown.

The 1976 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Spot News Photography. Stanley Forman of Boston Herald American. For his sequence of photographs of a fire in Boston on July 22, 1975.

1980: A message fom Khomeini – After a brief Iranian show trial, 11 people who were charged as "counterrevolutionary" were executed at Iran's Sanandaj Airport on August 27, 1979. Nine of the 11 men being executed in this image were Kurds. This photo won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980. The recipient was known as "anonymous" until 2006, when Jahangir Razmi told the Wall Street Journal that he had taken the photograph.

1982: Assassination attempt on President Reagan – U.S. President Ronald Reagan winces and raises his left arm after being shot in his upper left side outside the Washington Hilton on March 30, 1981. John Hinckley Jr. shot Reagan after waiting for him to exit the hotel. Typically, an AP photographer accompanies the President when he leaves the White House and it was Ron Edmonds' turn that day to cover Reagan's speech at the hotel. At the time of the shooting, Edmonds stood on the opposite side of the presidential limousine from Reagan. Holding a motorized Nikon with a 35-50mm lens, Edmonds touched the camera's button, sending film spinning through the camera at five frames a second. The frames showed the entire sequence of events. As Reagan and the limo sped off to a hospital, Edmonds switched to a Nikon with an 85mm lens and photographed Hinckley's other victims lying on the sidewalk. The camera used Kodak Tri-x film. Its shutter speed and aperture are unknown. Edmonds' images of the failed assassination won the Pulitzer Prize in 1982.

1991: Fiery death in South Africa – A boy runs past a chilling scene. A youth is clubbing the burning body of a man identified as a Zulu Inkatha supporter. The burning man was set alight by rival supporters of the African National Congress in Soweto, South Africa, on September 15, 1990. Photographer Greg Marinovich was a member of the so-called Bang Bang Club, four white photographers who worked for agencies and newspapers in Johannesburg. Together, they covered the wave of violent political clashes that plagued the nation's black townships at the time. At one of those encounters, Marinovich saw four or five men beating a lone victim with rocks and clubs. One attacker dosed the man with gasoline and Marinovich made the picture. He used a Nikkormat loaded with Fuji color film. One camera was equipped with a 35-70mm zoom lens, the other with a 300mm lens. He made several pictures with each camera but the fiery shot was made with the 300mm. Exposure is unknown.

1994: The vulture and the baby – Kevin Carter, another member of the Bang Bang Club, was a South African photographer who traveled to Sudan to cover the devastating famine there. Outside a feeding station, Carter discovered a starving baby girl and a nearby vulture waiting for her to die. Carter shot the image with a Nikon camera loaded with Fujichrome film and outfitted with a 180mm lens. Exposure is unknown. Carter killed himself in July 1994, a month after he received the Pulitzer for this photograph.

1996: Oklahoma City bomb victim – Oklahoma City firefighter Chris Fields holds Baylee Almon, an infant who was thrown from a day care center inside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building when it was attacked on April 19, 1995. A truck loaded with explosives parked outside the building ignited, killing 168 people, including Baylee. The day before the bombing, she had celebrated her 1st birthday. Charles Porter IV heard the blast from a nearby bank where he worked, rushed to his car and took his Canon camera out of the trunk, said Buell. Porter made the picture just moments later. He shot it with Kodak color negative film. His camera was equipped with a 70mm to 200mm zoom lens. Exposure details are unknown. Porter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996.

1997: The dancing bear – Russian President Boris Yeltsin dances at a rock concert after arriving in Rostov, Russia, a scene unnaturally different after generations of Communist rule. AP photographer Alexander Zemlianichenko covered Yeltsin's election antics as he crossed the country dancing at every campaign gathering possible. This picture was made with a Nikon camera, with a 300mm lens at a nightclub. The film was Fuji color negative. Shutter speed and aperture are unknown. This was the first of two Pulitzer honors for Zemlianchenko, who also won in a team effort in AP's coverage of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992.

2001: The taking of Elian – U.S federal agents burst through the door of a Miami home on April 22, 2000, as they seized a Cuban boy named Elian Gonzalez. Elian was hiding in a closet with Donato Dalrymple, one of two men who had rescued him from a raft off the Florida coast months earlier. Elian's U.S.-based relatives lost a bitter legal battle with U.S. officials to prevent Elian from being returned to his father in Cuba. The Gonzalez family allowed photographer Alan Diaz to wait for the raid with Dalrymple and the boy. Diaz used a Nikon D1 digital camera with electronic flash and a 28-105/2.8 lens. The exposure was 250/5.6 and the lens was at 28mm most of the time.

2002: Terror attack on the World Trade Center – The second of two hijacked airliners -- United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston -- crashes into the south side of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Smoke billows from the North Tower, where American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed about 15 minutes earlier. Both 110-story towers collapsed shortly afterward. Other hijacking crashes that day in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon left a total of 2,977 victims dead. This 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph was taken by Steve Ludlum.

The 2002 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Breaking News Photography. Staff of The New York Times. For its consistently outstanding photographic coverage of the terrorist attack on New York City and its aftermath.

2007: Pulitzer Prize Winner in Breaking News Photography, Oded Balilty of Associated Press. For his powerful photograph of a lone Jewish woman defying Israeli security forces as they remove illegal settlers in the West Bank. A lone Jewish settler challenges Israeli security officers during clashes that erupted as authorities cleared the West Bank settlement of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah. Thousands of troops in riot gear and on horseback clashed with hundreds of stone-throwing Jewish settlers holed up in this illegal West Bank outpost after Israel's Supreme Court cleared the way of demolition of nine homes at the site. (February 1, 2006)

2009: Barack Obama's presidential campaign – Barack Obama campaigns during a rainstorm in Chester, Pennsylvania, in this October 28, 2008, photo. The photo was part of a collection of campaign images that won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. Damon Winter used a Canon 5D camera with various lenses and exposures.

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Feature Photography. Damon Winter of The New York Times. For his memorable array of pictures deftly capturing multiple facets of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

2012: The girl in the green dress – This photo, dated December 6, 2011, shows an Afghan Shia Muslim, 12-year-old Tarana Akbari, crying near victims of an attack on a religious ceremony at the Abul Fazel shrine in Kabul. Massoud Hossaini won Agence France-Presse's first Pulitzer Prize for this picture in 2012 in the breaking news photography category. Hossaini used a Nikon camera with a zoom lens.

2013: Syria's deadly civil war – A woman named Aida cries as she recovers from severe injuries after the Syrian army shelled her house in Idlib, northern Syria, on March 10, 2012. Aida's husband and two children were killed in the attack. This image, taken by Rodrigo Abd, was one in a series of 20 by AP photographers that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography. Abd is one of five AP photographers who made up the team with this winning portfolio; all of them used Canon digital cameras.

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Breaking News Photography. Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Narciso Contreras, Khalil Hamra and Muhammed Muheisen of Associated Press. For their compelling coverage of the civil war in Syria, producing memorable images under extreme hazard.

2014: Terrorists attack Nairobi shopping mall – A soldier walks by a body while searching for gunmen at Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, on September 21, 2013. A group of armed men attacked the upscale shopping center, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 50. Tyler Hicks won the Pulitzer for capturing this image. Hicks used a Canon camera with various lenses and exposures.

The 2014 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Breaking News Photography. Tyler Hicks of The New York Times. For his compelling pictures that showed skill and bravery in documenting the unfolding terrorist attack at Westgate mall in Kenya.

2015: Ebola: A plague's horror – James Dorbor, 8, who doctors feared was infected with Ebola, is carried to a treatment facility in Monrovia, Liberia, on September 5, 2014. Daniel Berehulak was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography on April 20, 2015, for his coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa for The New York Times. Berehulak used a Nikon digital camera with various lenses and exposures.

The 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Feature Photography. Daniel Berehulak of The New York Times. For his gripping, courageous photographs of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

2015: Ferguson: Streets aflame – A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container as police try to break up a group of bystanders in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 13, 2014. The photo was one of a group that won a Pulitzer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Photography Staff. The photographer used a Canon digital camera, with various lenses from 35mm to 55mm.

The 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Breaking News Photography. Photography Staff of St. Louis Post-Dispatch. For powerful images of the despair and anger in Ferguson, MO, stunning photojournalism that served the community while informing the country.

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stunning pulitzer prize-winning photos: the real stories

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