#277 ENGLISH - Carol Guzy: How self-funded journalism won World Press Photo of the Year

Carol Guzy is one the most decorated photojournalist in the world. She has won four Pulitzer Prizes, nine World Press Photo awards, and was named World Press Photo of the Year 2025 for a single image made in a courthouse hallway in New York. A picture of two girls holding onto their father's shirt as ICE agents took him away.This conversation took place in Amsterdam, the morning before the award ceremony. Carol had barely slept. She was still thinking about the families she couldn't reach.In this episode, we talk about what it actually takes to do this kind of work: going to the same courthouse every day for six months, couch surfing through the boroughs of New York, funding the whole thing out of your own savings, and staying emotionally present with people whose lives are falling apart in front of your lens.What you'll take away from this episodeHow Carol spent six months at a New York courthouse without a single assignment, documenting ICE detentions on her own time and moneyWhy she sees empathy as both the foundation of her work and the heaviest thing she carriesHow she thinks about physical and emotional distance in the field, and why those are two very different questionsWhat she does to stay mentally healthy while covering stories that would break most peopleWhy she calls this a mission rather than a career, and what that means for every practical decision she makesAbout Carol GuzyCarol Guzy is a freelance photojournalist based in Washington D.C. She started her career with an internship at The Miami Herald after training as a nurse, then made the leap to photography after a single darkroom class changed the direction of her life. She spent many years as a staff photographer at The Washington Post before going freelance. She has won four Pulitzer Prizes, has been named Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association three times and by the White House News Photographers Association nine times, and is the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year winner for her ongoing documentation of ICE detentions in New York.Links and resourcesCarol Guzy's work World Press Photo 2025From De Donkere KamerEvery month, I bring an internationally respected photographer into a live online masterclass. We go deep on their work, their process, their choices, and what you can actually learn from the way they see and work. Previous guests have included photographers like Hélène Binet, and in July, Bastiaan Woudt joins to talk about what an exhibition and a photo book can do what instagram can not. Masterclasses are available individually at €25, you can register here. And if you haven't watched the free webinar yet on the five things photographers who keep growing all do consistently, you can join here. It's free, and it's worth your time.