Kevin Carter & The Pulitzer Prize

Posted by Paulyn on Monday , February 4 , 2008 at 3:07 pm

If you think life is your life is tough, think again….

This was the controversial photo that won South African photojournalist Kevin Carter a Pulitzer Prize in 1994. Taken on March 11, 1993, the photo depicts an emaciated Sudanese child crawling towards a United Nations Food camp located a kilometer away, while a vulture sits behind, seemingly waiting for the child to die so he could finally devour her remains. Whatever happened to the child, her ultimate fate remains unknown.

This photograph was published first on March 26, 1993 in The New York Times and The Mail & Guardian, a Johannesburg weekly. The reaction to the picture was so strong that The New York Times published an unusual editor’s note on the fate of the girl. Mr. Carter said she resumed her trek to the feeding centre. He chased away the vulture. However, Mr. Carter came under heavy criticism for just photographing — and not helping — the little girl:

"The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene." Thisisyesterday.com

hbo.com

Kevin Carter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography on May 23, 1994. Two months later, he committed suicide by taping one end of a hose to his pickup truck’s exhaust pipe and running the other end to the passenger-side window. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning on July 27, 1994, at the age of 33.

When I think about the life of the child, and the life of this photographer, I always find myself being content and simply grateful for what I have and everything that is bestowed upon me in my day-to-day life. We are truly blessed and we should be thankful for all the graces that we continuously receive every single day of our lives!

"In the midst of hopes and cares, of apprehensions and of disquietude, regard every day that dawns upon you as if it was to be your last; then super-added hours, to the enjoyment of which you had not looked forward, will prove an acceptable boon." -Horace.

…just another moment for gratitude…