video library. c-span, washington your way. a public service created by america's cable companies. >> later tonight on q&a, the photographer for "the washington post" on her latest photo projects. and later, prime minister's questions with british prime minister david cameron. >> this week, carol guzy, four- time pulitzer prize-winning photographer for "the washington post." >> carol guzy, can you remember the first time you thought about being a photographer? >> it is like it was yesterday. i had gone to nursing school in my home town in pennsylvania.

nursing did not feel quite right and i had a carry just to play with. i took good dart -- i took a dark room class and it was a magical experience. it was clearly a defining moment. i decided i would take the risk and try to go and study photography. >> you have won four pulitzer prizes. how did that happen -- how often has that happened in the history of journalism? >> never, as far as i have heard. this is the first. >> what is it like winning, and how important is it for someone in your position? >> it is a prestigious honor, but it is always bittersweet, because it gives for stories like that the haitian earthquake. it is such a horrible disaster that your work is being honored for, so it is kind of a catch-22 situation. >> let's look to the video of you getting the award.

>> so the washington post wins a pulitzer prize for breaking news photography. carol guzy, nikki kahn, and ricky carioti. [applause] many of you remember this scene on the news last year on january 12. we received word of a massive earthquake in haiti. we only had the sketchiest information that we had the understanding that any time track -- tragedy strikes in the u.s., the newspaper gets involved. >> there is a haitian proverb take to my refrigerator that says when you visit haiti, it will break your heart, and when

you leave, he won't take back all the pieces. i have a web for haiti a thousand times since my first trip. nothing compared to the profound sorrow the haitians heart has to endure every day, and especially during this latest devastating tragedy. >> i don't have prepared speech, but i would like to thank everyone in this newsroom and the editors that worked with me on this. >> this is pretty amazing. two hours of sleep was a lot, because carol was always out there working and you felt guilty for sleeping. we just kept plugging away under incredible circumstances. it is a privilege to share this with carol and ricky. thank you. >> have you worked together when you are on a scene like haiti with the three of you? >> we will later to follow the

aftermath of the story, and niki and i were down there together. there were no communications, basically. i cellphone did not even work there. we would cross paths occasionally at the hotel. it was so chaotic, we were pretty much off in our own direction a lot of the time, trying to just collaborate with the reporters and get the pictures fast. >> tammy times have you been to haiti? >> i cannot even count how many. i started when i worked at the miami herald. i covered the little haiti neighborhood in miami and became very interested in the story of haiti. i started going when baby doc was in power. over a decade by relentlessly covered haiti. >> 1980-1988 miami herald and now the washington post. let's look at the photographs.

these are the photographs that won this year's pulitzer for photography. if you can remember, tell us who took what picture. >> this was nicky's picture, actually. a little back story on niki, my boss is an amazing person who manages with a great deal of dignity and hard and humanity. we started together at the miami herald as baby photographers, and we shared our first pulitzer for the mudslide and now i am sharing this pulitzer with niki. it is quite amazing. >> who took this next picture? >> it is hard to even look at that now. that was the more. it was a sea of bodies. it is just kind of indescribable. i shot a few frames and then i moved on because i thought it

would be unpublishable. it was very telling because of the numbers. this is needies picture as well, a portrait from one of the old folks homes down there. the children and the elderly tend to suffer in any disaster or complex situation the most. this picture breaks my heart probably more than any in the whole package. >> behalf to ask them to take their picture? -- do you have to ask them to take their picture? >> in haiti, people are so open to photographs and journalism. there doesn't seem to be any sort of restrictions about the press. in a situation like this, i think residents are really concerned about getting the word out. the need is so great that i think they realize that we had a role that was really important

to their welfare. >> the picture of the feet, this woman dead. >> yes, i cannot look to these pictures without crying, actually. that is my picture. it just kind of speaks to the moment times stop for everyone. people were going about their daily lives in their pretty little high heels, maybe she was carrying her child, and the earth trembled. this is the first day we were there, the school collapsed, and there were school children still in their uniforms, crushed at their desk. this lady came and started weeping. the translator said she was saying these are my brother

speak and i cannot pull him out. for the folks left behind, the loss was so tremendous, it is unimaginable. this was a few weeks afterwards. rescue groups and international aid groups for coming in trying to help the sick and hungry and injured. >> this is 2008? >> this was 2010, last year. this is nikki's picture, another wrenching picture. the innocence of that little child, bruised and battered. i don't know that anyone could not look at that and -- could look at that and not be moved by it. >> what do you do with your mind when you are taking these pictures? >> for meat, and every photographer is different, i

think the camera is a shield many times. anyone who has to confront these situations regularly, you have to do your job. i think that shield helps during the time. there is a delayed reaction afterwards. i kind of hide behind the camera. this picture was taken weeks after when they were still pulling bodies out of the rubble. the bodies were already decomposing, and life had to move on, but you were still smelling the stench of death everywhere. bodies lining the streets. >> one thing we who have looked at it from afar, you just mentioned the smell. is that something you never

forget? >> it gets in your nostrils and it never goes away. it is part of a whole, tremendous experience, that ash in the air and the smell of bodies. >> have all of these pictures been published? >> yes. >> but you take how many pictures to get to one that is published? >> michael's says i should movies. everybody hates to edit my film. i issued an awful lot of pictures. i don't want to hesitate because i believe the moment is everything in a picture. >> what about this moment? >> that ran on the front page of the post. that is the same school with a little girl crushed at her desk that i was talking about before. these were haitian survivors that were going in and trying to reach a teacher who was trapped in the rubble alive. our driver gave him the the jack

to the car and that is how they were able to save the teacher later in the day. that is the heartbreaking picture that generated a lot of response from readers. some felt it was too harsh, perhaps. i am not sure the words that were used. i think there is a danger in censoring reality sometimes, especially when a tragedy is so devastating like this earthquake was. 300,000 people died. this is pretty representative of the disaster. >> and someone goes into a country like this, where do you stay, and how you get food when the people there cannot get it? >> i have been to haiti so many times, we knew where to head. we went to the dominican republic and drove overland to port-au-prince and were not sure it was still standing.

we had heard from a haitian photographer who lived there who said -- the hotel was still standing. they provided food for the journalist. >> how prepared are you with transmission gear to get stuff back? >> it was technical haiell, on top of just bearing witness to this tragedy and the physically demanding work. all my equipment craft. the cell phones, the blackberry, nothing worked for me. i had a colleague and we traveled around together, and without him, there would not have been one picture in the

paper. it was pretty amazing that nothing worked. he really saved me in that way. >> it seems like that would be a tense moment of a colleague would not give up one of the cameras. >> my cameras work. that was the only thing that work, but he held retransmit and get the pictures back to the paper. that was the most important thing. >> have you ever been in a situation where nothing worked at all and you could not get a picture out? >> i have had cameras crash. we are so dependent on technical pieces of equipment. >> moving beyond haiti to some of your other photographs, we have some video here, shots of the berlin wall in czechoslovakia's in 1989. you put the music on this? >> yes, it is just music in my collection.

i used to do presentations to photo students, and i think it adds another dimension and makes it more powerful when you watch pictures with music or audio. >> let's watch. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> what were the circumstances that had you there at that time? >> before the wall fell, i had been there -- our instincts were that something was happening. i had been covering the story for a little while unfortunately came back at a bad time. >> where had you been? >> in germany. i came back to d.c., and then we immediately went right back as soon as we could get their for this monumentally historic event. it was one of those times when you put the camera down and you realize for a second that you are witnessing such amazing history.

>> there is a photo of you right here on the screen. was it taken by rich alinsky? >> yes. the first chunk of the wall was being taken out that day. i was trying to take pictures. i think they found me to be a little humorous. before or after that, i had been in this amazingly crushing crowd of everyone trying to see the wall, the first piece of the wall officially being lifted up. i am pretty short, and everyone was taller. i looked around and so are really tall man with a sturdy tripod with a kind face looking at me. i tapped him on the shoulder and asked if he would put me on his shoulder so i could take pictures. i have no idea what his name was, but he was a very kind fellow. >> here are farmers from cosimo

and albania in 1999. -- photos from coast of low and albania in 1999. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> do people notice you taking pictures of them in those moments? >> it depends on the story. kosovo, when it is such a dramatic and tense situation we are going through, i think they don't know issue as much.

again, this situation, there were people actually babying us to document and record it because the ethnic cleansing, one of those situations that you wish never again was reality. they really wanted it documented. >> what were the circumstances that took you to that area of the world in 1999? >> the post sent us to cover it. i was in the albania where the refugees were coming across the border to the camps. one of the pictures of the little baby going through the barbed wire generated more reaction from readers than just about any picture i have taken. >> why that picture? >> for some reason it resonates with people, maybe it is war and innocence in the same picture,

the juxtaposition. it affects people on an emotional level. >> what did you think when you took the picture? >> it was a positive thing. the family had just come through the border. for some reason we have to follow are in stinks', and i had a gut instinct. my friend and i were to standing, waiting. this family was standing there looking for the rest of their family members. when they came, it was a scene of joy. it was just a tier 4, wonderful reunion amidst all this. >> were was it? >> it was then and albania and they had camps set up right there. >> what is the country on the other side of that? >> kosovo.

>> have you ever had a situation where someone has seen you take their picture and they come up and say they do not want that? >> all the time. we respect people's wishes. they have the right not to be photographed. we try to be sensitive. it depends on what the situation is, but we try to be sensitive and get names if it can. if someone does not want their pictures used, we don't use it. what kind of bothers me sometimes are people that come up who have nothing to do with the story and you already have the trust of your subject, and they want to be photographed, and someone else decide she should not be taking their picture. it is their right to be photographed, so it should be their decision.

>> 1986 was your first pulitzer at the miami herald for the mudslide in colombia. 1995, the washington post, u.s. intervention in haiti. 2000, the washington post, photographs of kosovo refugees, and 2011, photography in haiti. here are some photos about katrina and animals. explain this. >> i was sent to cover the hurricane initially, and a few weeks after the fact a started a story on the animals. in miami, during hurricane andrew, i had done a story about shelters who would not allow people to bring their pets. it was basically losing a child

for people who love their animals so much. the same thing happen in katrina, only on a much grander scale. we did a small story in the post and i took a leave of absence to do a larger project on this issue. i was hoping to do a book, although that did not come about. it was about six months were people from all over the country donated their time to try to come down and find people's pets. it was quite emotional, like most of our stories. if i show slide show to photographers, this is the one they cry about, inevitably, always. i guess because they are so innocent and so lost. >> how many pets do you have? >> i have three dogs, cats, and a cockatoo. >> what is that picture? >> those or paw prints left in the month after the hurricane. >> a lot of your shots are from

above, looking down on things. >> we try to look for different angles, and a matter what it is. we provide visual variety in a package. the animals, it was not a story just on the animals. a lot of these people have lost not only their homes and loved ones in their community and their jobs, the last thing i had left to hold onto was their pet. it was really important for the residence to be reunited with their animals. >> how often do these folks come to you and want a copy? >> a lot of times. these pictures i took on my own, but mostly i work for the post, and they have copyright, so they have to go through the washington post to get the pictures. >> did you have a favorite among all of these? >> it is hard to say what a favorite picture is, because you are so close to the images. i have memories of taking all

these. this is picture that generated a lot of feedback from people that seem so touched by this dog who is sitting there with so much dignity, stop, just waiting for someone to come and save him. i went back afterwards, trying to find out if someone did eventually get this dog, because there were rescue people, and all around where we were in the boat. i had to continue on with the group of was with, but they had radioed for someone to come get him, so i hope he was rescued. it is hard to look at something in photographic and leave and not be able to jump in the water and just be able to grab them. >> how much training did you get? >> i went to the art institute of fort lauderdale. it was a two-year photography

program, not photojournalism. i did an internship with the miami herald, and that is how i got the job. >> when did you give up the idea of being a nurse? >> as soon as i entered nursing school, it was almost too hands- on for me. i was afraid i would make mistakes and hurt someone. i just did not feel it was the right niche. i think nursing school teaches you a certain level of compassion that carries over into this kind of work. >> when i went for your photographs before top, i noticed in one copy somewhere, you said you had a meltdown in 2002. is that something you can tell us more about? does it have something to do with seeing all this tragedy? >> absolutely. it was triggered by bad romantic

break up. that was probably the catalyst, and i had just been covering kosovo at the same time, but once the floodgates open, it was posttraumatic stress, no question. a lot of the wailing women and dead children, it is like everything came back to me so vividly. i think it is because i was so frenetically going from one story to another and working, working, working for so many years, just bouncing to all these hot spots, that i never processed the emotional toll. i am pretty sensitive in general, but like i said, the camera can be a shield and it can hold back your emotions for a while. but you cannot see all these horrible things without feeling it on some level. i had a pretty good meltdown.

>> so what do you do now, if you are going from story to story, you know that you are sensitive, do you build in any down time or some way to be away from it? >> i am trying. i learned a little more about coping mechanisms and did some therapy, and i don't cover the same stories that i used to. there are a lot of international disasters and conflicts situations and i have not covered that much except haiti recently. there are conflicts at home that can be emotional, too. i am obviously coping better than i was at that moment and time years ago. i've learned i have to deal with that at the moment and not let it build up. >> your editor comes to you and says i want to go to the 1996 democratic convention, or i want

you to go down to haiti and to the aftermath of the earthquake. what happens to you when you hear either one of those? >> the great thing about being a journalist is the variety that we get to experience, so many different parts of the human condition on so many different levels. haiti had been part of my heart for so long. i have not been traveling for a long time because my mother has alzheimer's. >> here is the 1996 shoot at the democratic convention. ♪

♪ [playing "macarena"] >> black and white? >> we were probably the last to take up color. like and what was what i shot for most of my career. >> what would you rather shoot? >> probably black and white. now i am so used to doing digital and color, that is just how we do it. when you convert the picture, i think it has a different kind of power. i think it affects people on a

more visceral level when there is no distraction from the harmony of the story in the photo. >> when do you look at a fatah and say that is just what i wanted? >> probably never. -- when do you look at a photo and say that is just what i wanted? >> probably never. i miss more than they get -- more than i get. i feel like it is such a responsibility to tell the story that i take it pretty hard missing it. once in a while there are wow moments. >> when you look at a photograph, the composition includes what? >> the artistic expression of photography almost become second nature when you are working this long as a journalist.

what i do is try to tell stories with visuals instead of words. i am basically writing paragraphs with images. it is hard to get it in one photograph. i try to get a lot of different pieces, whether it is little details, whatever the emotion is. i try to do complete package almost with everything. >> before we look at the sierra leone photos, set it up. what year was this? >> i am so bad with years. it was right after katrina. 2006, it must have been. i had just been to sierra leone and done a story on war amputees who came to d.c. for prosthetic limbs. i had followed this group of mostly children.

i had been there on a personal trips with one girl. mortality is important issue that is under reported. in sierra leone, one in eight women died in childbirth for avoidable reasons. >> word is that? -- what is that? >> she arrived in a taxi at the hospital, a maternity hospital in freetown. i think that was her aunt who brought her in, and she was just screaming in pain. she eventually died following an emergency see section at the hospital.

she bled to death right in front of me. >> this photo? >> again, is the same hospital. we spent some time in their rural hospitals. we decided it was better to go to the hospitals where the women were coming in seeking help. that was her first and final look at her baby that was born before she died. >> why did they let you in the room? >> we had talked to the director of the hospital in a new route going to do the story, and they definitely wanted attention to be brought on this issue that is kind of hidden in the shadows of other global health issues. >> what is the contraption? >> that had nothing. in order to elevate the bed

because she was hemorrhaging, that could not just do it like we would and crank it up. they had to pileup cheers and schools and whatever they could find to elevate it. >> and this is one of the best hospitals in sierra leone? >> absolutely. is the maternity hospital. >> what about conditions of cleanliness and all that? >> it was horrible. this lady also died. i am still in contact with her family, actually. the nurses were so grateful for the mosquito spray i bought. even the nurses had to sleep under tents because the miskitos were so bad. the toilets did not flush and there were bodies and babies that had died piled up right next to the women who were screaming in labor.

>> those are dead babies. >> the childhood mortality there is just horrendous. >> all this was published? the vultures up top? you see that right away? >> no. >> how often does the audience that sees your work get the subtleties that you have on some of the photographs? >> i get a lot of readers, especially now that email is so easy. people used to take time to write letters to us about pictures that affected them. i get messages from readers saying up how touched and who they were or so affected by an image. >> we have video of more victims in sierra leone. explain what we are going to see.

>> this is probably what i was talking about with the group that came for prosthetics. they were supposed to just come when the war was raging in sierra leone. one of the forms of intimidation that the rebels used was education. one girl was four. it ended up that her grandmother was carrying her and they shot through her. it was a horrific war. they were going to bring them here, the new york dr. was going to donate the limbs. they realized they could not send them back because they had been given so much media attention, for one thing. they had these brand new limbs that would bring attention to them in the camps. they became almost an extended

family that lived in s.i. for years. inthe war was over what' sierra leone? >> diamonds, basically. there is a lot of control of the diamond mines, and the rebels were seeking to gain power. >> what was the point of cutting off limbs of little kids? >> as far as i can tell, it just to intimidate the civilian population. i think people go crazy in more situations sometimes begin in war situations sometimes. they would use drugs to take kids and indoctrinate them to become child soldiers and to fight for the calls. they would tell them to go ask the president to get them new arms.

>> let's watch. ♪ ♪ somewhere over the rainbow ♪ there is a land that i heard lullabyin ally ba

somewhere over the rainbow the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true >> what happens to these young kids and they come to the united states and are adopted? how do they get along in our society? >> they obviously have to assimilate. they are so grateful.

they lived in refugee camps in sierra leone, so they were thrilled just to be able to eat. they would eat really fast because they could not believe that would have this whole meal to themselves. a lot of them did not speak english when they first came. they could not remember my name so they called me an african name. i try to keep in touch with some. one girl is now beautiful dancer. she lived in michigan with her mother. ultimately, their lives became much better. they are live americans now.

-- little americans now. >> a high school in washington has had a rough history. you did a feature on the young man named john thomas. who was he in where is he? >> he was a student there who was trying to better himself. his friend had been shot at the school and it was a big news story. it happened just after we had started following john because he was trying to pull himself up out of the situation that a lot of his friends had found themselves in, drugs and the st. issues, violence. i had just gotten an e-mail a couple of weeks ago from one of his mentor saying how wonderful he is doing and he is trying to give back to the kids and teach him that there are different avenues to take. >> where is he now?

>> i cannot remember which school he ended up going to. he was the first in his family to go to college. he was a great basketball player. i think we do not do enough follow-up stories. we present a lot of issues that people get to know someone and then whenever follow-up and say what happened to them. >> what year did you do this? >> there you go with the years again. [laughter] i can hardly remember what your i was born. >> let's watch the video where john thomas. >> my name is john thomas. i grew up in southeast washington. i was like a burden to society. i saw a lot of my friends get

killed and a lot of them are locked up. i felt like i did not have any choice. i stole cars. i went to jail twice. i was not focused on going to school every day. i saw a lot of friends dropping out and not graduating, and i was walking the same road they were walking when i was young. i started playing basketball every day and it became part of life. every day at woke up, i wanted to play. i did not want to get killed out on the streets. i knew i had to work hard to get what i wanted. i wanted to start my own business when i got out of college. i did extra work to get the grades to play basketball because i wanted to play ball.

when i got on the team, i was still messing up, making bad decisions. the coach stay on my back, making me go to study hall and making sure i did my homework. he said the only way to make my dreams was to finish high school and go on with my education. >> how did you find john thomas? >> a reporter actually did. i was not supposed to be as involved as i became, but i would literally go to school every day and he amazingly accepted me into his life and allow me to document it. they had just had a shooting at the school, and a lot of issues going on, so i think he recognized what an important message this story would tell. he thought it would offer some hope and inspiration to the other kids who were on the edge.

>> have ever tried to adopt any of these kids? >> i kind of have an extended family in haiti, it is they used to hang out with us all the time. haiti was so heartbreaking because the need was so great. it got to a point where i thought i could take as many pictures as i possibly can, but is it really going to change anything? i still believe you can make a difference with photos, but the only way i could stay sane was to pick one family. i cannot make up difference to the whole country, but i can make a difference to one family. there are a couple of kids who are now grown that i have helped through their whole lives. at one point i thought about adopting them, but i was single and running all over the place. they have a grandmother who is shockingly still alive. people do not live to be old in

haiti often, but she has taken great care of them. >> you are married for 10 years. did you have children? >> seven years, never had kids, except for the furry ones. >> what impact did your father dying at a young age, and what age were you, did it have on you? >> tremendous impact. i think it colored my whole world. i was 6 when he died. the only thing i remember is my mom telling me he was gone. i just kind of shut down after that. for years and years i would not even talk about him. i first visited his grave when i was in my 20s. just being of fragile, vulnerable young child to have that kind of intense loss, it just ripped my heart out. i would probably be a different

person, whether better or worse, if he had lived. he worked in the textile factory. he died at young age, i think he was 51. >> brothers and sisters? >> i have a half-sister. she was 14 years older than me and had a different father. she was kind of grown and out of the house by the time i was able to remember. we got closer as i got older and stop traveling a little bit. my mom got sick with alzheimer's and i spent a lot more time with them and we are much closer now. >> your mom did what in her life? >> she worked in a sewing machine factory. she had a really hard life. my dad died, and she did not remarry until i was 18. all that time she was pretty

much my mother and father. she used to of trudge up the hill with all her groceries and she did the best she could. >> what year did she get alzheimer's? >> it has been 10 years. it is a horrible, cruel disease. she is 94. i went in the bathroom and call the nursing home and ask if they could do is yell in her ear. i wanted them to tell her i won a pulitzer today, because she would have been proud. >> the four pulitzer's you one,

and did they all have the same impact on you? >> i cannot deal with loss now, either. the pulitzers are amazing because it is such an honor to be recognized by your peers. even more importantly, it shines a light on the stories. after the headlines are gone, the world move somewhere else, and these people were living that reality after the headlines are over. this award happens, and people say haiti, there is still great need there. there is still suffering there. >> in 1986, the mudslide in colombia. can you give us the background on that? >> that is when i was very young, working at the miami herald, just pouring out.

they wanted a second photographer because it was such a massive, tragic event. that had asked a different photographer but it was hunting season so he turned it down, and they asked me to go. i was surprised that even ask me, but michael and i flew down on a learjet because we did not know how we were going to get in, who would go in over land and who would take the plane. that was the days where you had to actually build a dark room. it was a hard story emotionally and physically to cover. >> this is columbia, 1986. ♪

♪ >> how many people died? >> 25,000.

i said i would allow myself one moment of joy because life and changed so fast and be forever altered. out of nowhere, your life is over, your loved ones or lost. as hard as it is to look at those, i think it makes us all realize how fleeting in these moments are. where were you on 9/11? >> i was at my home in arlington. my friend is a photographer as well. she called me and said turn on the television. i saw what happened in new york and about a minute afterwards, the post call me and said pack, we are sending multiple photographers. we all knew the magnitude of it immediately, but as i was packing i heard the plane hit the pentagon.

i call the nasa they wanted me to go to the pentagon instead -- i called and asked them if they wanted me to go to the pentagon in stead and they still send me to new york. ♪ ♪

♪

>> i can just hear some of our viewers saying all right, why did you do that to me? all of this in one hour. what do you say to yourself, why do you do this? there is not much joy in the last hour. >> but i think we all have to remember that there are other people suffering and there are those in need that we cannot forget. images and stories put an exclamation point on their existence and the reality. some of us are much more fortunate than others and we cannot possibly forget that because a social conscience is imperative. not only our society but our

world community needs to remember that we are all interconnected, and what affects one affects us all. >> in the last 30 years of your professional career, what has happened to the photographer? are there more or less of them? what kind of resources are being put into photography? >> the postal has resources -- opposed still has resources, but it has been a hard time for journalism in general. there are a lot of images being thrown at people but that are not vetted. one way it is good, because there are more eyes out there viewing what is taking place in the world, but it is a great loss, to, to have professional photojournalist losing their jobs to tell the stories in a different way, perhaps from a

different perspective. >> winner of the most recent photography pulitzer, and we have to get your two colleagues in this again. >> it is nikki kahn and ricky carioti. i wish they were here, because this is a team effort. not only them, but the editors and everyone who works at the organization pulls together to create this work. >> but somehow, someway, you won four of those pulitzers over the last so many years. what is the name guzy? >> it has probably been shortened from some long russian name way back when. >> carol guzy, thank you for being here. >> thank you. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪