World Press Photo 2010 exhibition opens in Moscow

The World Press Photo exhibition opened on June 11 in Moscow, inside the former Krasny Oktyabr confectionery factory. The show features about 200 winning pictures submitted to the World Press Photo competition this past February.

Italian photographer Pietro Masturzo won the top prize. His picture of a woman shouting protest chants from a rooftop in Teheran was named Press Photo of the Year 2010.

This year’s winners include world famous photographers Peter Bialobrzeski, Simon Roberts, and Eugene Richards, as well as the French photographer who works under the pseudonym JR.

All are expected to give lectures during the opening of the exhibition in Moscow.

This year’s winners do not include any Russian photojournalists. Third prize in the competition was initially awarded to the Ukrainian Stepan Rudyk, a regular contributor to the RIA Novosti news agency. But Rudyk was later disqualified when it was discovered that he had violated the competition’s rules. Photo: Tommaso Ausili’s photo at a slaughterhouse won third place in the Contemporary Issues category.

The photos often deal with conflict and suffering in global hot spots. But some photos depict everyday life, like French photographer Joan Bardeletti’s picture that won second prize in the Daily Life category.

Francesco Giusti’s photo report about the Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes (the Society of Funlovers and Elegant People) in the Democratic Republic of Congo won a special mention from the jury.

This is the fourth time Moscow has hosted the World Press Photo exhibition. The Objective Reality foundation, which supports photographers, is sponsoring the exhibition, which will run through July 11.