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US photographer David Zimmerman, most famous for his images of southwest American deserts, has won this year's Sony World Photography Awards. He was awarded $25,000 at an official ceremony in Cannes last week.
'I am thrilled beyond belief, and I want to thank you for this award. There was some wonderful work from some wonderful photographers,' Zimmerman said upon receiving his award. Zimmerman's winning landscape series Desert depicts the American Southwest as a fragile ecosystem. 'My documentation of these remarkable deserts throughout Arizona, New Mexico, California and Nevada continues in an effort to influence preservation through public awareness, opinion and action,' said Zimmerman.
Vincent Foong of Singapore won the Amateur Photographer of the Year title, while French photographer Marc Riboud received a lifetime achievement award.
Kent Police has apologised for its excessive use of stop-and-search powers against a press card-carrying photographer at last year's Climate Camp.
Jess Hurd, a freelance press photographer, was stopped four times while covering the event in 2008. Earlier this month, she received an official apology from Allyn Thomas, assistant chief constable at Kent Police.
'It is clear that officers on the ground did not understand the accreditation arrangements for journalists and indeed did not generally recognise the press card that you (and others) presented,' Allyn wrote. 'The failing appears to lie with the planning and management of the operation. This is my responsibility for which I am sorry. This issue of more effective liaison with journalists has been clearly identified through the de-briefing process as an area for development.'
The officer has promised that lessons would be learned from the incident, which was brought to light when the NUJ and Bindmans solicitors filed a complaint with the police department.
Hurd was searched once on 05 August 2008 and three times on 08 August. 'On one occasion she had to queue for an hour to be searched,' says the NUJ.
'After that Jess was one of six journalists filmed as they filed their work by a police surveillance team looking through the window of a McDonalds restaurant several miles from the climate camp,' the NUJ statement reads.
Speaking to BJP, Hurd welcomed the apology but asked 'why press photographers continue to be filmed and searched like potential criminals? The issues that arose at the Climate Camp last summer don't seem to have been looked at since'.
Hurd added: 'Surely, this level of journalist surveillance is unnecessary. They already had our press card details and we were not on or near the camp. Coupled with the long delay being searched, I felt obstructed from doing my work.'
Jeremy Dear, general secretary for the NUJ also welcomed the apology. 'Professional journalists carrying the press card should be free to work without harassment and intimidation. The police and the home office have made repeated promises that officers will be properly trained to deal with photographers at demonstrations but the problems keep on happening. Let's hope this welcome apology marks the start of more equitable treatment of journalists by police at protests and demonstrations.'
However, rank-and-file officers continue to clampdown on photographers as the Metropolitan Police was accused last week of deleting a tourist's images to 'prevent terrorism'.
An Austrian tourist, Klaus Matzka and his teenage son were stopped by police officers in central Walthamstow in north-east London after the pair had been photographing train and bus stations in the capital.
The officers forced the two tourists to delete all transport-related photographs from their cameras on grounds of terrorism prevention, according to Matzka. The officers explained that photographing anything to do with transport was 'strictly forbidden'. They also recorded the tourists' details, including passport numbers.
The Metropolitan Police is investigating the allegations. 'It is not the police's intention to prevent tourists from taking photographs and we are looking at the allegations made,' said a police spokeswoman.
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