In each issue of Enter, we put a set of near-identical questions to people who have taken part in a World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass.
These five-day events, introduced in 1994 to encourage and train young photographers, are normally held every November so that a dozen young practitioners from all over the world can meet and learn from some of the world's top professionals and each other.
The subject for edition eight is Paolo Pellegrin, a full member of Magnum Photos
since 2005 and a Newsweek contract photographer since 2000. In 1995,
he won first prize in the World Press Photo Contest Daily Life category for
his reportage on Aids in Uganda and has since won seven further World Press
Photo Awards and, in 2003, served on the contest jury.
They are just a few of the many international prizes 43-year-old Paolo has collected, ranging from the Kodak Young Photographer Award through to the Robert Capa Gold Medal.
Paolo - how did you get started in photography and what was your biggest break?
I started around 1990 after studying architecture for a few years. In 1995, I won a World Press Photo Award for a project I had done on HIV/Aids in Uganda and I guess that was a break.
What qualities does a top photojournalist need?
Humanity.
Which assignment has been most memorable?
There have been several assignments - or better projects, which have been
important for me: Kosovo, Cambodia, Palestine, Lebanon. What makes one more
memorable than another I don't know. For me, they are all important and have
had meaning when they were done. If I have to chose one, in an arbitrary way,
then it could be the coverage of the war between Israel and Lebanon last year.
Are you – or will you ever be – fully digital?
I’ve been completely digital for the last year now though I do believe I will shoot film again regularly at some point.
What essential equipment do you travel with?
I try to travel as lightly as I can. The most essential piece of equipment for many years was a Leica M with a 35 mm. Now I’m looking for another like it.
What is your favorite camera and how do you use it most – do you prefer natural light, for instance, or artificial/mix.
The Leica M system with a 35mm lens is my favorite film camera. I have not
yet found an equivalent favorite digtal. But I keep looking for it. Any available
light is fine but if I have to chose then it would be low disappearing light,
just at the end of the day …… when the day becomes night.
How, when under pressure do you try and make sure the image is as good as possible?
Taking pictures is a complex act: in an instant you give voice to your entire self, thoughts, opinions and sentiments. To be able to do so successfully under intense pressure is something one acquires with experience I think.
If there is one piece of advice you would give to a photojournalist starting out on a career, what would it be?
I believe that improving oneself as an individual will translate into the pictures one takes. My only advice is to work to become a better person and you will become a better photographer.
Which of the pictures you selected is your personal favorite and why?
This picture was taken moments after an Israeli bombing in Dahia, the southern suburbs of Beirut. The man with his raised arm is about to extract the body of his daughter from the rubble. I think this picture acts well as a testimony of the tragedy of war, especially when directed at civilians.
Next to whom would you like to sit in an airplane going where?
Many people …. and going to many destinations. This week I’d like to sit next to Bergman and Antonioni: secret destination.
What ambitions do you have left?
To improve. And that what I do has a significance for others as well as myself.
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