21/01/06: Tomas Munita
"Kabul - Leaving the Shadows"
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2006.
Chilean photographer Tomas Munita has won the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2006 with his photo report ‘Kabul - Leaving the Shadows'.
The photographs of the reporter, who was born in Santiago de Chile in 1975, show peaceful and joyful moments of a gradually emerging normality rather than the violence and poverty one might expect.
In comparison, the ruins, war damage or remains of ammunition in some of the pictures seem to be of minor importance, although they form a strong contrast that is not only visual.
In failing daylight or the semi-darkness of the interiors, light and shade fight for predominance and give the colors in the photos a special intensity. Both contrasts of the interplay of light and shade - metaphorical and actual - make the photos a particularly accurate description of the relationship of man and his environment, which is the subject of the competition held by the Leica Camera Group as part of its culture program.
The report is a result of Munita's long-term work as a press photographer for The Associated Press news agency in Afghanistan.
The title ‘Leaving the Shadows‘ is fitting for two reasons: it alludes to both the form - the concentration on twilight moods and the content - a description of the living situation of the Afghan population.
Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2006.
Chilean photographer Tomas Munita has won the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2006 with his photo report ‘Kabul - Leaving the Shadows'.
The photographs of the reporter, who was born in Santiago de Chile in 1975, show peaceful and joyful moments of a gradually emerging normality rather than the violence and poverty one might expect.
In comparison, the ruins, war damage or remains of ammunition in some of the pictures seem to be of minor importance, although they form a strong contrast that is not only visual.
In failing daylight or the semi-darkness of the interiors, light and shade fight for predominance and give the colors in the photos a special intensity. Both contrasts of the interplay of light and shade - metaphorical and actual - make the photos a particularly accurate description of the relationship of man and his environment, which is the subject of the competition held by the Leica Camera Group as part of its culture program.
The report is a result of Munita's long-term work as a press photographer for The Associated Press news agency in Afghanistan.
The title ‘Leaving the Shadows‘ is fitting for two reasons: it alludes to both the form - the concentration on twilight moods and the content - a description of the living situation of the Afghan population.
