Pulitzer Winning Photography

I decided to write about David Carson’s 2015 winning work in Breaking News Photography. Carson, who works for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, won for his photos of the Ferguson uprising, after the death of Michael Brown. In August 2014, a white police officer shot and killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Protests, some turning violent, lasted for months after the shooting, especially after the officer, Darren Wilson, wasn’t indicted. Ferguson was a hotbed of anguish for months, with the lack of an indictment leading to a feeling of a deeper mistrust between the community and the police.

The photos by Carson display this feeling of anguish over those long months in 2014. The first photo I wanted to share shows a group of protestors with their hands up, facing a group of police officers who are not in the photo. There are a lot of elements that we’ve discussed over the weeks in this one photo, including line, shape, and color. Nearly every protester's hands are stretched upward, creating parallel lines with their hands. A symbol of Brown's rumored last words, “hands up don’t shoot,” their outstretched hands suggest movement. There are also implied lines with the direction everyone is looking. Most are looking at the police squad ahead, which is powerful to me because we as the audience can’t see what the officers are doing ahead of them. The implied lines, the parallel lines, and the lines in their exasperated faces, suggest that something bad is happening ahead.

Everyone in the photo is washed in purple light. I’m assuming this is coming from the red and blue lights of police cars. I think it’s very interesting that this is the color that’s shown most in the photograph. Purple is a cool toned color, one that represents things like peace or nobility. However, it’s clear to see that these protestors are feeling anything but peace at that moment. It’s almost ironic, especially because the colors that make purple are red and blue. Red as a color represents anger and danger, which I feel is more in line with what the group is feeling. Red famously also represents blood, like the blood of Michael Brown, spilled at the hands of this officer. Blue as a color can also represent peace, but I think it’s more often associated with sadness. I think the connotation of this color also more accurately fits the emotions of the protestors. It’s very interesting that purple is the color that is most prominent in the photograph.

David Carson works for the St. Louis Dispatch as a visual journalist, and has worked there since 2000. Before that, he worked at the Naples Daily News in Florida and the Providence Journal Bulletin in Rhode Island. He was a photojournalism major at the University of Rochester. Before winning the 2015 Pulitzer, he was a finalist alongside his team for the 2009 photojournalism Pulitzer, in which he covered the Kirkwood City Hall shooting.