C'est grâce à cette image illustrant le milieu de la mode dakaroise, au Sénégal, que l'ambassadeur Canon Finbarr O'Reilly a remporté le premier prix dans la catégorie Portraits du concours World Press Photo pour l'année 2019. Photo prise avec un Canon EOS 5D Mark III (remplacé par le modèle Canon EOS 5D Mark IV) équipé d'un objectif Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM à 24 mm, 1/320 s, f/4 et ISO250. © Finbarr O'Reilly
Canon Ambassador Finbarr O'Reilly began his career in journalism as a writer, but later discovered he could communicate the stories he was covering more effectively with photography. "It really struck me that telling stories through images has this very immediate and emotional impact," he says.
"Often my written reports were condensed into briefs or overshadowed by news from the Middle East. But then, when I started taking photos to accompany my stories, my pictures were suddenly on the front pages of international newspapers and across double-page spreads in major European magazines. It's important to drive people to find out more about a situation by reading the accompanying text, but images can capture people's attention much more quickly than a bank of words."