Personal Best – “The Twice Refugees of Shatila”
Commissioned work for HEKS, a Swiss relief organization
Equipment used:
FUJIFILM X-T2
XF18mmF2 R
XF35mmF2 R WR
XF10-24mmF4 R OIS
XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR
Awards received:
- PA International Photo Awards 2018, 2nd prize, Category Editorial/Political
- PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris 2018 Silver Category Press/Political
- Tokyo Foto Awards Gold 2018 Editorial / Political
TV Spot:
About my Personal Best
In some cases, I get assignments which allow me to combine my experience in photojournalism and advertising. In 2017 I was commissioned by the Swiss NGO HEKS to photograph a photo report and to produce a 40-second TV commercial with the material.
I was sent to Shatila in Lebanon, a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Beirut, which is commemorating its 70th anniversary in 2019 and ranks as one of the oldest refugee camps in the world. The camp was established for a number of about 3’000 people after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War to accommodate the Palestinian refugees. Since the the Syrian civil war started, more than 110,000 Syrian-born Palestinians have fled Syria, becoming so called “twice refugees”. The numbers of refugees in Shatila went up from 10,000 in 2014 to an estimate of 24,000 people, who are now squeezed together on approximately one square kilometer. The camp allegedly has one of the highest urban population densities in the world and it bursts at the seams, a dark, cramped concrete labyrinth with high criminality rates.
This is my favorite commissioned story in my portfolio. It has been awarded at the IPA International Photo Awards in New York and the PX3 Paris Photo Prize in 2018.
In order to produce these pictures, I exclusively used the FUJIFILM X Series cameras and lenses. I rely on FUJIFILM X system whenever I am on professional assignments where I need to carry a lot of equipment, but don’t want to be hindered by a large and heavy photo bag.
Works:
Read more on “Personal Best”
Vol.1- Flemming Bo Jensen
Vol.2- Pieter D’Hoop
Vol.3- Santiago Escobar-Jarmillo
Vol.4- Stefan Finger
Vol.5- Xyza Cruz Bacani
Vol.6- Christian Bobst