Twelve Though-Provoking
Photographs
And the Stories Behind Them
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Photo 1
1988 Scott Shaw Odessa (TX) American won
the Pulitzer for his photograph of the child
Jessica McClure being rescued from the well
into which she had fallen.
Following her rescue on October 16, 1987, surgeons had to
amputate part of McClure's right foot due to loss of circulation
while in the well. She has had 15 surgeries over the years and
has no first-hand memory of being trapped in the well. McClure
graduated from Greenwood High School, in May 2004.
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Photo 2
Kevin Bryan settles down for the night on the sofa
in his living room, looking into the kitchen
where his father's addict friends sleep on the floor; the
refrigerator and stove have been sold for drug money.
“Orphans of Addiction” Series - 1998
• 1998: Clarence Williams, Los Angeles Times
This series of Pulitzer Prize winning
photographs depicts the plight of young
children with parents addicted to alcohol and
drugs.
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Kent State Massacre, 1970
Photo 3
The Pulitzer Prize winning photo of Mary
Ann Vecchio crying over the body of
Jeffrey Miller, one of the victims of the
Kent State shootings.
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Photo 3
Photographs of the dead and wounded at Kent State
amplified sentiment against the United States' invasion
of Cambodia and the Vietnam War in general.
In particular, the camera of this Kent State
photojournalism student captured a fourteen-year-old
runaway, Mary Ann Vecchio, screaming over the
body of the dead student, Jeffrey Miller, who had been
shot in the mouth. The photograph, which won a
Pulitzer Prize, became the most enduring image
of the events, and one of the most enduring images of
the anti-Vietnam War movement.
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Photo 4
“Oklahoma City Bombing” - 1995
A haunting photograph, taken after the
Oklahoma City bombing shows a one-year-old
victim handed to and then cradled by a local
fireman.
The image of firefighter Chris Fields holding the
dying infant Baylee Almon won the Pulitzer Prize.
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Photo 5
2006: Todd Heisler, Rocky Mountain News
for haunting, behind-the-scenes look at
funerals for Colorado Marines who return
from Iraq in caskets.
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During the arrival of a Marine's casket at Denver
International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the
scene as one of the most powerful in the process.
Passengers in one plane can see Marines removing the
casket from another. "See the people in the windows?
They sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines.
You gotta wonder what's going through their minds,
knowing that they're on the plane that brought him
home," he said. "They're going to remember being on
that plane for the rest of their lives. And they should.“
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Photo 6
John F. Kennedy, Jr. (often referred to as “John-John”)
was killed in a fatal plane crash in 1999.
• President John F. Kennedy’s family attends his
funeral in Washington, D.C., November 25,
1963.
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Photo 7
2010 Pulitzer Winner
The dramatic photo of a construction worker
rescuing a woman from the Des Moines River.
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Photo 7
Mrs. Neely and her husband, Alan Neely, had fallen
into the water after their disabled boat went over a
dam in downtown Des Moines June 30. Alan Neely
drowned, and rescue workers were unable to reach his wife
in the swirling current under the dam. The rolling water
repeatedly sucked Neely under, then pushed her
back to the surface.
Oglesbee, who’d been working on a pedestrian bridge over
the dam, chained himself to the end of a crane. The crane
Operator lowered him to the water, where he managed
to pluck Ralph-Neely from the water. Chind, standing on
the opposite riverbank, captured the scene.
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Photo 8
2000 Photo Staff of Rocky Mountain News,
Denver, CO for its powerful collection of
emotional images taken after the student
shootings at Columbine High School.
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Photo 9
1986 Tom Gralish The Philadelphia Inquirer
For his series of photographs of Philadelphia's
homeless.
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Photo 10
1968 Pulitzer Prize Winning Photograph
Rocco Morabito won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Spot
Photography for this photograph – “The Kiss of Life.”
Apprentice lineman J.D. Thompson is breathing life into
the mouth of another apprentice lineman, Randall G.
Champion, who hangs unconscious after receiving a jolt
of high voltage.
Morabito was driving on West 26th Street in July 1967
on another assignment when he saw Champion dangling
from the pole. He called an ambulance and grabbed his
camera. Champion recovered.
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Babe Ruth Retires, No. 3
by Nathaniel Fein
Photo 11
One of the poignant moments featured in the Pulitzer exhibition is
that of Babe Ruth’s final appearance at Yankee Stadium on June 13,
1948. The legendary ball player had been diagnosed with cancer in
1946. Two years later he walked slowly onto the field after an
exhibition game, weakened by illness and using his bat as a cane.
His old teammates stood at attention. The crowd in the packed
stands went crazy.
Nat Fein of the New York Herald Tribune took several photos,
but wasn’t satisfied. He walked around to the other side.
“I saw Ruth standing there with his uniform, #3, the number
that would be retired, and knew that was the shot.” This
Pulitzer Prize photograph caught the bittersweet finale of that
remarkable career.
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Hindenburg, 1937
Photo 12
The airship Hindenburg explodes as
it comes in for a landing in Lakehurst,
New Jersey, May 6, 1937.
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Hindenburg Historical Footage
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Special_Release_Zeppelin_Explod
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