2013 WORLD PRESS PHOTO 5,666 PHOTOGRAPHERS 124 NATIONALITIES 103,481 PICTURES
SERGEI ILNITSKY 03 August 2012 London, UK
THE GOLDEN TOUCH Nicolas Limbach of Germany (left) in action against Jingzhi Wang of China during their Men’s Sabre Team Placement 5-6 match.
THE GOLDEN TOUCH Gold medal winner Jiyeon Kim of South Korea kisses her medal during the award ceremony of the Women’s Sabre Individual Fencing.
SERGEI ILNITSKY 03 August 2012 London, UK
I JUST WANT TO DUNK The team has few weights in their locker room.
JAN GRARUP 07 August 2012 Mogadishu, Somalia
RODRIGO ABD 10 March 2012 Idib, Syria
AIDA Aida cries while recovering from severe injuries she received when her house was shelled by the Syrian Army. Her husband and two children were fatally wounded during the shelling.
DENIS ROUVRE 22 FEBRUARY 2012 TOKYO, JAPAN
SUMO WRESTLERS The life-long discipline, harsh physical training, and preparation for the fight can explain the half-god status of Sumo in Japan today. Part of a team, the wrestlers are required to follow a strongly codified community life; the youngest execute tasks for the community and even serve the oldest.
PEOPLE OF MERCY Fofana Mamadou, 52, neurofibromatosis on his body. “It doesn’t hurt. But it is of course not a beautiful sight. It started with a small blob on my back when I was ten. But it started to get worse. Also on my arms, legs and, most terrible, on my face these blobs started growing. My body I could cover, but covering my face is not possible. I was ashamed of myself. People were laughing at me. My wife left me because she could not live with a man like me.”
STEPHAN VANFLETEREN 10 OCTOBER 2012 CONAKRY, GUINEA
MICAH ALBERT 03 APRIL 2012 NAIROBI, KENYA
AT THE DANDORA DUMP Pausing in the rain, a woman working as a trash picker at the 30-acre dump, which literally spills into households of one million people living in nearby slums, wishes she had more time to look at the books she comes across. She even likes the industrial parts catalogs. “It gives me something else to do in the day besides picking [trash],� she said.
BYALESSIO ROMENZI 25 SEPTEMBER 2012 ALEPPO, SYRIA
SYRIA UNDER SIEGE An alleged member of the shabiha (government militia) is displayed by rebel forces after he was captured.
JOY AT THE END OF THE RACE A jockey, his feet stepped into a harness strapped to the bulls and clutching their tails, shows relief and joy at the end of a dangerous run across rice fields. The Pacu Jawi (bull race) is a popular competition at the end of harvest season keenly contested between villages.
WEI SENG CHEN 12 February 2012 Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra, Indonesia
PAOLO PELLEGRIN 20 APRIL 2012 ROCHESTER, NY, USA
THE CRESCENT A man is arrested by police after assaulting his father with a samurai sword.
DANIEL RODRIGUES 03 MARCH 2012 DULOMBI, GUINEA BISSAU
FOOTBALL IN GUINEA-BISSAU Many young football players around the world touch their first ball on a field of bare dirt. Here a youth group plays on a ‘football field’ that was the site of military barracks and fields of the former Portuguese colonies in the country.
JAPAN AFTER THE WAVE Hikari Oyama, 8, plays with bubbles following a memorial service she and her grandmother attended for victims at the Okawa Elementary School. “I thought bubbles suit children better than incense sticks,” said the girl’s grandmother. “It always makes people laugh and relax.”
DANIEL BEREHULAK 11 MARCH 2012 ISHINOMAKI, JAPAN
LONE CHAW LETHWEI GYM Lethwei is an unarmed Burmese martial art similar to styles of Indochinese kickboxing. Lone Chaw, 31, a three-time Myanmar National Champion and the sport’s real legend, opened a gym where he is now seeking to pass on his skills to the younger generation.
VITTORE BUZZI 06 November 2012 Yangon, Myanmar
SCHOOL FOR LESS FORTUNATE Every morning, children from nearby slum arrive in small groups, barefoot and carrying mats and brooms and start cleaning a portion of a land under a metro rail bridge, which will be their school for the rest of the morning.
ALTAF QADRI 06 NOVEMBER 2012 NEW DELHI, INDIA
WARM UP Young male gymnasts stretch their legs as a female gymnast jumps onstage during a warmup at a youth sports school in Zhejiang Province.
YONGZHI CHU 10 July 2012 Jiaxing, China
MIRELLA Mirella, 71, spent 43 years of her life with the only person she loved, with all of life’s difficulties, laughter, and beautiful moments. But over the last six years things changed: Mirella lived with her husband Luigi’s illness, Alzheimer’s, and devoted her life to him as his caregiver.
FAUSTO PODAVINI 08 JANUARY 2012 ROME, ITALY
Max Hartung of Germany leaves the fighting position after his victory over Luigi Tarantino of Italy during their Men’s Sabre Individual competition.
ON THE COVER:
THE GOLDEN TOUCH Yuki Ota of Japan (center) and his teammates celebrate their team victory over Germany during their Men’s Foil Team Semi final match.
SERGEI ILNITSKY’ 05 AUGUST 2012 LONDON, UK