VOX POPULI: Quest for the 'perfect shot' lays reality bare

A photograph taken a year ago in Tehran shows women in black headscarves shouting on a rooftop. Iran's hard-line conservative president had just been re-elected. Outraged dissidents protested the election outcome, and their shouts of "death to the dictator" filled the streets of the capital by day and rang out from rooftops and windows by night.

The "World Press Photo 2010" exhibition opened June 12 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. The above-mentioned photo, chosen for the World Press Photo of the Year 2009 from among 100,000 entries, was taken by Pietro Masturzo, an Italian lensman.

Masturzo was on his third day in Iran when he was detained by Iranian authorities and had all the pictures he had taken destroyed. After his release, he managed to sneak some shots of dissidents screaming their protests at night. He used a hypersensitive film.

Because this photo lacked "movement," it reportedly received conflicting evaluations from the contest judges. Hideko Kataoka, director of photography at Newsweek Japan, voted in its favor. She noted, "The picture describes the lives these women are forced to live. It is a compelling picture that makes you want to know more about them. This sets it apart from most pictures today, which are for mass consumption on the Internet and quickly forgotten."

The true worth of a news photo lies in its ability to tell an unfolding story to a broad audience and be remembered for a long time. The image can be quite graphic, as was the case with an award-winning picture of a Palestinian girl who had been killed in an air raid. In contrast, Masturzo's work draws attention precisely because it is hard at first to tell what it is about.

But one thing that is common to all the exhibits is that each depicts a scene that would go unnoticed by the rest of the world if nobody captured it on a camera.

Photographers from around the world are now competing for the "perfect shot" at the World Cup in South Africa. The competition is definitely more than just entertainment, and the fact that this quadrennial sporting extravaganza is taking place on the African continent for the first time provides a huge, not-to-be-missed opportunity for photographers.

The first goal of the World Cup was scored by the South African team. The sight of black people and white people rejoicing together showed the power of festivals like this to bring people together.

Our world does not allow everyone to sit in front of their TV sets and enjoy the World Cup, but I look forward to seeing superb works of photography taken by the talented professionals in South Africa.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.