Each year in the stifling heat of Italy, runners set off from Venice on The Moonlit Marathon, pounding the streets through Jesolo. During the 2012 event, one of the runners suffering exhaustion and possibly dehydration collapsed outside Hotel D’Annunzio. Spectators tried to help the runner by placing his feet on a chair and the hotel owner brought glasses of water, with most of that water being poured over the runner. An ambulance was called and the man was treated on the ground by paramedics before being taken away on a stretcher.
I picked up the Professional Photographer of the Year Award in the news category in 2013 for this picture. It’s still one of my favourites to this day. Although the composition is technically flawed. as the main subject is in the centre of the frame and there is a lot of dead space. at the bottom, I think it adds to the. drama, especially with the extremely crooked verticals. I shot frames before and after this one but everything just came together in this one shot, the water on the ground, the number on his chest blowing down and the man leaning over him with his hands on the runner’s chest. It’s a shot made for black and white.