Pulitzer-winning photographer Yannis Behrakis dies at age 58
His poignant photos of war, humanitarian crises and civil unrest made him one of the best photojournalists of his generation. Here are some of the images that made Greek photographer Yannis Behrakis legendary.
Capturing a moment
Greek photojournalist Yannis Behrakis often worked on the front lines of catastrophes. He captured scenes of war and political crises as well as touching scenes in humanitarian catastrophes. In this picture taken in 2015, he photographed Syrian refugees stranded in the Aegean Sea off the island of Lesbos. The father, pictured here, desperately fought for the lives of his children.
A fight for survival
A fight over a loaf of bread quickly becomes a struggle for survival between Kurdish refugees in need of food. Here, the photographer shows us a typical scene in a refugee camp on the Turkish-Iraqi border. The picture shows how the camp was completely overcrowded in April 1991 at a time where there was hardly any food or water.
A keen eye
The lives of people in war zones was a frequent theme in Behrakis' work. The photojournalist traveled through many countries to document the everyday lives of those who were uprooted. This Albanian man, photographed by Behrakis in Lapusnik near Pristina in 1998, watches the street through shattered glass. Behrakis' eye for narrative imagery earned him many awards.
Civil protest
On the sidelines of his wartime reporting, for which he was sent to countries and crisis areas around the world, Behrakis repeatedly captured moments of civil protest. Here, after the victory of the opposition over the Taliban regime in 2001, a young Afghan woman appears in public for the first time without a burka.
Life during war
Image composition and strong contrasts are hallmarks of Yannis Behrakis' photos. Here, in 2001, he documented the everyday presence of the military troops in Afghanistan, of which this veiled woman takes little notice. In 2016, he and a team from Reuters received the Pulitzer Prize.
Celebrating the end
Young men and residents of the Afghan capital of Kabul welcome anti-Taliban alliance troops who reached city limits on November 13, 2001. The civilian population was on the streets of Kabul to celebrate the change from the Taliban regime. Yannis Behrakis caught the scenes with his camera.
War and peace
To capture life beyond the context of conflict, Behrakis often took extra time on his travels and photographed peaceful scenes. Here, a survivor of the severe 2006 earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan arranges the property she has salvaged.
Protest movements
As a frontline reporter, Behrakis captured the protests in Taksim Square in Istanbul. In June 2013, young people protested against dictatorial repression by the Turkish government and Behrakis was among the photojournalists who told their story.
Faces of war
At first glance, this photo looks like a scene from the epicenter of a battlefield. But it is "only" the beginning of violent protests in the Greek capital of Athens. Behrakis, who captured the explosiveness of such perilous moments in his photographs, thought of them as a means of political protest.
A celebrated photographer
Yannis Behrakis died in Athens on March 2 at the age of 58, after a long battle with cancer. For more than 30 years, the dedicated war reporter worked for news agency Reuters. "He was one of the best photographers of his generation," said Istanbul-based photographer Lefteris Pitarakis. "He influenced a generation of photographers," added another one of his colleagues.