Random Excellence: Emilio Morenatti's Blog

Emilio Morenatti, Afghan Niurkhan, 11, stands next to his tent in Afshar refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan. Niurkhan who lost his parents two months ago during fighting between coalition forces and Taliban militants fled his village in Helmand province to seek shelter in the refugee camp in southern Kabul. (AP Photo)

Emilio Morenatti is based in Pakistan and covers Central Asia for the AP. You can see a blog of his recent work at the Denver Post. Emilio was named 2008 Newspaper Photographer of the Year by PoYI.

Notice how effectively he removes himself from his pictures.

Mike
(Thanks to Jim Hart)

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Comments

[Paul Manson]

Those are some of the most striking images I have seen in a long time. I try (normally in vain!) to get as textured, graphic images with my own photos.
Thankyou for posting this, they were really inspiring.

[charlie d]

Good lord.

I am not even playing the same game.

[Tom]

Wow. Thank you for posting this. The web supplies so many competent images, but this is a reminder of real excellence.

[Timo]

An incredible set, and quite overwhelming to aspire to.

[Mike]

Hope they got that abusive "husband" who burned his sleeping wife. Makes those of us who need sleep very wary. Tho some say there's always two sides to every story — what would he say in his defense?

[Jeff Hartge]

I second the comments made by "charlie d". Morenatti got carried away with "mastery" and must have gone way beyond his "10 thousand hours".

[Rod S]

Mike, Thank you for posting this link to Morenatti's photographs. This collection is far more striking and shows the plight of Pakistanis far more intimately than the various news reports I've seen these last few months. Several years ago I spent a week alone moving around Peshawar and Karachi, so appreciate how adaptable one needs to be to operate in these regions, where one can feel really cut off from everything familiar. Morenatti's photographs amazed and moved me.

Remember the discussions last year about what sets photogrpahy apart from other forms of art, and those arguments that it was just like any other art form? I might suggest that these photographs are compelling evidence for photography's unique place and intrinsic link to realism. Hence there is a need to preserve the trust given to it by distinguishing the many acts of "digital illustration". Widespread loss of trust in photography would render photographs such as Morenatti's less powerful. Regards, Rod.

[Robin Dreyer]

Mike,

I'm in awe of this man's photographs.

[Alexander S. Kunz]

You're telling your readers about photographers banned from a jury because of excessive photoshopping; you're writing good articles about NOT overcooking images, and now THESE photos (referring to the Denverpost link), where almost EVERY image has a very pronounced vignetting effect applied makes it into your "random excellence" category? That makes no sense. On the other hand, the comments speak a very clear language what the public really wants.