Monday 21 November 2011

Vulture Stalking a Child


Author: Kevin Carter
Picture date: March 1993
Picture published: March 26, 1993 in New York Times


Mr. Carter took a trip to Southern Sudan in March 1993, where he took this photo. He was preparing to take a photo of a child trying to reach to feeding centre when the vulture landed. He waited for 20 minutes for the vulture to spread wings and took off, but it did not happen. So, he took the photo and chased the vulture away.

The photo was bought by New York Times and published on March 26, 2003 and gained a constant notice of hundreds of people calling to the newspaper and asking if the girl was saved. The newspaper made even a special editor's note that child had enough strength to walk away from the vulture, but her fate was unknown. Mr. Carter received much criticism for not helping the girl, even if journalists were told not to touch victims of famine. The St. Petersburg Times in Florida said about him: 

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.

The photo won Pulitzer Prize for the photo, a very precious award for a journalist. Even after then, Mr. Carter could not enjoy the prize and confined to a friend he is really sorry for not picking the girl up. He was consumed by the violence he witnessed and haunted by the girl's fate as he did not help her, he committed suicide three months later.

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