Star Students: Young Photographers Win 2006 POYi
By Jessica Gordon
The 2006 Pictures of the Year International Competition awarded two student
photographers prestigious honors usually reserved for seasoned professionals.
Eighteen-year-old Kitra Cahana, a philosophy major at McGill University in
Montreal, was awarded third place in POYi’s Magazine Division/News Picture
Story for her photo essay “Disengaging from Gaza”— a rare
honor for a young photographer on her first major assignment.
Cahana was visiting family in Israel when the Israeli military announced its
historic pullout from Gaza in the summer of 2005. Then 17, she planned to spend
one night in the hot zone, but stayed two months. “Once I was there, I
realized how significant the pullout would be for Israel and for the peace process,”
she says.
Cahana was soon hired as a stringer for the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA).
Her photos of the struggle were published internationally, most notably on the
front page of The New York Times. “Being in the presence of some of the
world’s most acclaimed photographers raised my expectation of the potential
of my own photography,” she says.
Ramsay de Give, a 21-year-old Brooks Photography Institute student, was also
awarded third place in the General Division/Natural Disaster category for his
shot, “Inferno.” “For people who were in Ventura, it was an
intense day that won’t be forgotten,” he says. “Hopefully,
this image will convey that feeling to people who weren’t there.”
Top photo © Kitra Cahana. Bottom photo © Ramsay de Give.
All rights reserved.
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