Press Photo of the Year

Shot at Karlsplatz (Stachus), Munich, on July 22, 2016.

On December 6th, 2016, the Bavarian Journalist Union, for the 17th time, awarded the top press photos of the year.  The above photo was selected as the "overall winner" and "Press Photo of the Year". 

The awards are designed to highlight how photography, journalism, and photojournalism, despite worsening conditions, have a crucial place in open, free societies.  The BJV did not position the award winners as competitors, but rather as co-winners and colleagues who excelled in various categories.  The works of my fellow awardees were nothing short of astounding.

The BJV is the Bavarian arm of the German Journalist Union (DJV).  The organization offers mentoring programs and is heavily engaged in improving working conditions for journalists and photojournalists. The award ceremony took place at the Bavarian Parliament, with State-President Barbara Stamm (CSU) and Michael Busch (BJV) as the presentors.

Link to the article via Google Translate (English)

Description:

On this day, a disturbed, 18 year old killer lured youths, many of whom had non-German backgrounds, to near the Olympia Einkauszentrum (Olympia [Park] Shopping Mall).  Using a gun he purchased on the Darkweb, he began firing at people near the OEZ McDonalds, killing nine and injuring at least thirty-six more.  Documentation and testimonies revealed that he was under care for psychological illnesses and was also bullied in school.  The killer also had a deep fascination with mass shootings, as well as far-right ideologies and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

As word of the shooting spread through the city, so did rumors of a terrorist attack and multiple shooters.  Soon after the shooting, police, including counter-terrorism units and helicopters arrived at Karlsplatz.  The combination of their presence with machine guns, lack of proper information, and rumors put people on edge.  After approximately thirty minutes, panic broke out with several thousand people running away from Karlsplatz, abandoning meals, personal belongings, and even strollers.  Numerous people claimed, in tears, that there were gunshots and shooters in the pedestrian area (Fussgaengerzone) between Stachus and Marienplatz.  The police then sealed it as a counter-terrorism deployment area and brought masked commandos in.  At Marienplatz there were three young males that were detained by police.  It appears that they may have been victims of suspicion and paranoia of others, thus the police singling them out and vetting them at the Gloeckenspiel Cafe.  This marked the end of the counter-terrorism deployment in the Fussgaengerzone.  There were no gunshots in this area- only panic and rumors.

The photo displays police looking through Karlstor at the pedestrian zone which, during a normal summer day, would be extremely crowded and full of life.  The eerie calm and emptiness reflects how the entire city of Munich was brought to a standstill on this day- no public transit, roads around the city center paralyzed and blocked, and thousands of people walking away from the city center in all directions to somehow get home.

Ultimately, as police surrounded the killer at the OEZ, it became evident that this was a lone-gunman shooting and NOT a terrorist attack.  The killer then turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger, thus ending the siege.

It was, and continues to be, a difficult return to normalcy in Munich.


Background:

I began photographing some years ago in order to document my overseas travels for friends and family.  Photography not only allowed me to document what I saw, but also what I didn't see.  I became driven by documenting and presenting everything I saw exactly as I saw them.  This meant throwing out the many rules of photography and eschewing technical perfection, smooth textures and tones in order to instill an honesty to the documentation.  Furthermore, this also required dealing with the fact that I wouldn't be documenting the good side of everything, particularly if I wanted my work to benefit society in some way.

In the case of the Munich shooting, while not at the location where the actual shooting took place, I entered the secured counter-terrorism deployment area with the objective to document what I saw exactly as I saw it. This later proved important in reconstruction of the events of that day and to also stem the proliferation of of fake news and conspiracy theories.

References:

http://www.bjv.de/pressefoto

From der Spiegel, with usage of another photo from my series:
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/amoklauf-in-muenchen-rekonstruktion-der-tat-und-die-a-1112713.html

Reconstruction by Sueddeutsche Zeitung, two photos from my series (five photos used in the Oct. 2nd paper special edition):
http://gfx.sueddeutsche.de/apps/57eba578910a46f716ca829d/www/

Frankfurter Rundschau, usage of one photo from my series:
http://www.fr-online.de/leitartikel/verunsicherung-in-deutschland-die-wurzeln-der-angst,29607566,34571046.html


Photos available for licensure from Zuma Press.  Usage with credit, but no license is still unauthorized.   The above photo is available for editorial usage in connection with the award.  Please contact the BJV for terms.

Span

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August 10, 2016, Brooklyn Bridge
After having traversed the 59th Street Bridge, then the George Washington Bridge, I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge as it began to rain heavily on the span.

7th Avenue

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Dreieck

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The Westfield Stores during opening week, at the World Trade Center site.  The original mall was closed since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Urban

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Scene captured during a hot summer day, NYC, 2016

Villa Charlotte Bronte, Bronx, NYC

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The famed Villa Charlotte Bronte, built in the early 1900s on the southern edge of Spuyten Duyvil, the Bronx, overlooking the transition between the Hudson and Harlem rivers.  The Villa continues to be a holdout against urban development, as evidenced by the more citylike apartment buildings to either side of it.

Along the way from the 1-line, one will often see stone homes that hark back to the mostly Dutch origins of the modern era of the region.  The people of the area are extraordinarily friendly and I had several conversations along the way with the friendly, welcoming residents.

More information:

New York Times here
History via Curbed New York here
Lehman Art College here

Munich Shooting Attack

Photos available for licensure from Zuma Press.  Usage with credit, but no license is still unauthorized. 

Edit: further details below, initial text will remain for the integrity of the documentation.

Details are still sparse and many unconfirmed reports. Thus far, after the shooting at the Olympia Einkaufzentrum (Olympia Shopping Center), a massive mobilization of police arrived at Stachus, in the middle of the city, then moving towards Marienplatz.  Three were detained at Marienplatz, but it's unknown if they were the suspects in question.  Numerous buildings were evaculated, numerous people were brought out of stores with their hands up and vetted before being released, and many more were required to stay within the stores behind locked doors until police allowed them to leave.  Restaurants showed signs of being vacated in such a hurry that personal belongings were left behind.

There are numerous reports at this time (7/23, 12:23am) of suspects still at large and other incidents.  At this time, Munich is in a state of emergency and many businesses are closed, mass transit is either completely stopped, or service is limited, and people are encouraged to stay at home and not go out on the roads.  Elite commando units (GSG9) are reported as on the way to Munich.

In the case of this police action, it appears that the police covered Stachus in the event that the suspects arrived there.  As the mobilization increased, so did the tension, which created a panic, where hundreds of people ran in all directions from Karlsplatz (also known as Stachus).  People reported gunshots, but there were none heard by myself, and this was reported to be the case by police- no gunshots.

Update:(2am, Berlin time): it was a lone shooter, a German national, who died at the OEZ (scene 1).  Panic and chaos spread through the city, which is displayed below.

As of 7/26:

It appears the situation at Stachus was created by panic and misinformation (some of it likely intentional and disseminated through social networking and via some from the far-right spectrum) of the events at the OEZ.  One issue was the assumption of multiple shooters.  Witnesses, including some I spoke to directly, said some plain clothes police officers at the OEZ area were completely unmarked (some wore vests, some wore "POLIZEI" bands around their arms) and carrying machine guns.  This fed back to the police, who then assumed there were multiple shooters and some may have taken the subway to Stachus.  Police then arrived at Stachus, relaying no information to the public, helicopters flew overhead, and then internet and voice communications went down.  This noticeably escalated the tension at Stachus.  After approximately 30-45 minutes in this state, people panicked, likely at the sight of police commandos, and thousands then fled from Stachus in a scene reminiscent of the 911 attacks.  However, there were no gunshots, no suspects.

The three detained at Marienplatz were likely detained due to panic, suspicion, and prejudice meeting together and via misinformation.

The misinformation persists in the form of conspiracy theories now and the police and media appear to be doing little to stem it, nor establishing an international arm so that the international media can get first-hand information in English, rather than multi-generational translations that are often wrong, biased, and from extremely questionable sources (including conspiracy and right-radical sites).

Edit 7/29: it has now been confirmed that police at the OEZ shooting site did, in fact, go through the streets with machine guns and rifles, but NO IDENTIFICATION, thus creating panic and the false reports of multiple shooters. This directly caused people to report back to police and over social networking, essentially making the police unknowingly search for themselves.  This also led to the dangerous panic at Stachus, where people likely saw the armed commandos searching for additional suspects that didn't exist and they fled.  Unfortunately, this has led to the conspiracy theories being projected around the world.  A case of bad policework is the simplest (and correct) explanation, but convoluted conspiracies prevail.  Despite the issues with police training under emergencies and poor emergency management, the police are asking for new equipment, despite the fact that they appeared disconcertingly amateurish and uncoordinated, at best.  They need to contact the NYPD for training in this area.

Suspects being led away.  Unconfirmed if they are the ones in question, or were just questioned and released.

Christopher Street Day Parade, Munich, Germany

The annual Christopher Street Day Parade- named after the famous NYC street and put on display in ordinarily very-conservative Munich. An estimated 10,000 participated in this largely family-oriented evented.

On display were numerous mentions of solidarity with the victims of the Orlando shootings.

These photos are available for licensure via Zuma Press.

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Christopher Street Day Parade, 2012, Dresden here