Plain Dealer photographer Gus Chan didn’t strike gold and take top honors in the World Press photo competition, but he didn’t strike out either. Though the facts are he swung first.
Friday’s headlines drew attention once again to Cleveland’s foreclosure crisis when Anthony Suau won the World Press Photo of the Year for his image of Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Cole clearing a foreclosed home in Cleveland for a Time magazine story.
Suau’s photo is of the very same detective captured in a similar circumstance months before by Plain Dealer photographer Gus Chan. Chan’s story was shot in 2007 and published in January of 2008. The image was part of a story that placed first in General News in the 2007 ONPA annual picture contest. (Slideshow link)
A link to The Plain Dealer’s original story by Phillip Morris about detective Robert Cole with an audio slideshow by Chan.
There’s no sour grapes coming from The Plain Dealer. Director of photography Bill Gugliotta tells Photo District News that the staff sends congratulations to Suau and thanks him for shedding more light on the crisis in Cleveland.