World Press Photo 2007

I've been collecting the World Press Photo annuals for several years, now, initially purely for the love of photography and photojournalism, but these days I appreciate the tomes just as much for their snapshot of the world as was. This year's annual is pretty grim reading (they almost always are), and there is a certain tension that arises in the reader when studying photography as art taken under such horrific circumstances. This year, the winning photograph rather underwhelms me - like many of the entries, its subject matter is the Lebanese/Israeli conflict, and whilst I can understand what the judges were going for, in terms of the juxtaposition of the flash Mini convertible against the ruined city behind, I thought the second placed image (a Nigerian wiping soot from their face after the pipeline explosion that left 260 people dead) was more powerful. ( )