Photography: Photographic Essay Winner

Kate Geraghty, The Sydney Morning Herald, “Lebanon”

Kate Geraghty started her photographic career at The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga. After freelancing in Cambodia and Australia, she joined The Sydney Morning Herald in 2001. Since then, she has covered the 2002 Bali bombings and the arrests of Amrozi and Samudra; the Iraq war during the first two months of the 2003 invasion and again in 2004; the Australian Intervention Forces’ arrival in the Solomon Islands; the aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh; Van Tuong Nguyen’s execution in Singapore and, most recently, the war in Lebanon.

In July 2006, on day five of the Hezbollah-Israel war, Geraghty drove into Lebanon under Israeli airstrikes. For the following 25 days, she photographed the emotional and physical impact of war on the fleeing victims, the internally displaced, the dead and the wounded, and the effects of the continuous bombardments on homes and infrastructure.

Geraghty’s work in 2006 was also recognised with a nomination for her news photograph of tiny East Timorese baby Maria Soares about to undergo life-saving heart surgery. She was commended for her image of Australian drug trafficker Van Tuong Nguyen shortly after his execution at Changi Prison in Singapore in December 2005.

Judges’ comments
Under the harshest of circumstances, Geraghty managed to tell an important story about those trapped in Lebanon during the Israeli conflict. Despite incredibly hazardous shooting conditions, she maintained a dignity with her subjects but still involved the world in their struggle. Her body of work throughout the year demonstrated her diversity and skill on some of the biggest news stories of 2006.