Ground Troops

Spot News, second prize stories

7/4/2003

On March 17 the British ambassador to the United Nations announced that the diplomatic process regarding the situation in Iraq had ended, and US President George W. Bush gave Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave the country or face war. On March 20 the first American missiles hit Baghdad, and a few days later US and British ground troops advanced into Iraq from bases in Kuwait. By early April, the Americans had reached central Baghdad.

Commissioned by: The Dallas Morning News

Location: Iraq

Photo Credit: David Leeson

David Leeson is a Dallas-based photojournalist and visual artist, freelancing in still and video photography. David worked as a newspaper photographer from 1977 to 2008.

He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize three times prior to winning the award in 2004 for photographs made for The Dallas Morning News during the war in Iraq. He has also won two Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards and numerous regional, state and national honors. During his years as a newspaper photographer, he specialized in war and social unrest, covering numerous global conflicts.

In 2000, he began shooting video for The Dallas Morning News, completing numerous documentaries. His videos won a National Headliners Award, a national Edward R. Murrow Award, and two regional Emmy Awards. He was also a finalist for Best Short Film at the USA Film Festival.

In 2006, David was named Innovator of the Year in Photojournalism by American Photo magazine for his work in obtaining high quality still images from high-definition video.

Aside from his journalistic endeavors, David began working in art photography, with a focus on self-portraiture, in 1982. His work has been shown in galleries, and he was recognized as one of 32 emerging photographic artists worldwide for the 2007 "Festival of the Photograph."