Bethlehem by Carolyn Cole

Bethlehem

People in the News, first prize stories

6/5/2002

Facing Mecca instead of the altar, Muslim men bow in prayer. Although this was against church rules, the Christian priests gave permission for daily prayers. Israeli military forces occupied the city of Bethlehem on April 2, as part of Operation Defensive Shield. Palestinian militants, civilians and Palestinian police officers, sought refuge in the Church of the Nativity, which is built over the spot revered by Christians as the birthplace of Christ. The militants included men accused by Israel of direct involvement with terrorism, and a stand-off ensued which lasted for 39 days. Israeli snipers shot and killed eight men inside the compound before a settlement was reached in which 13 militants were exiled to Europe and 26 others were sent to the Gaza strip. The remaining people were freed.

Commissioned by: Los Angeles Times

Photo Credit: Carolyn Cole

Carolyn Cole (born April 24, 1961) is a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 2004 for her coverage of the siege of Monrovia in 2003, the capital of Liberia

Cole graduated from The University of Texas in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in photojournalism. She earned her Master of Arts degree from the School of Visual Communication within the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.

She began her career in 1986 as a staff photographer with the El Paso Herald-Post, a position which she occupied until 1988. She then moved to the San Francisco Examiner for two years, before spending another two years as a freelance photographer in Mexico City, working with newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Detroit Free Press, and Business Week. In 1992, Cole returned to being a staff photographer, working for The Sacramento Bee, before moving to the Times in 1994.

The following year, she was recognized again, this time for her work in Russia. In 1997, she gained attention for her photographs of dying bank robber Emil Matasareanu, who had been shot after a nationally televised shootout with police. Her evidence was used in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family. Her pictures also helped the Times win a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the event. Later that year, she was named Journalist of the Year by the Times Mirror Corporation. In 2002, she received the National Press Photographers Association Newspaper Photographer of the Year award for the first time.

In 2004, Cole was named both NPPA Newspaper Photographer of the Year for a second time, for her work in both Liberia and Iraq, and the Pictures of the Year International Newspaper Photographer by the University of Missouri's Missouri School of Journalism. This made her the first person ever to win all three of America's top photojournalism awards in the same year. During the year, she also spent time in Haiti, witnessing the fall of the regime of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Cole has also received the Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club in both 2003 and 2004, and won two World Press Photo awards in 2004.

In 2007, she won the NPPA Newspaper Photographer of the Year.