Philippe Lopez’s best photograph: a procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines | Art and design | The GuardianPhilippe Lopez’s best photograph: a procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines | Art and design | The Guardian










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Photography


My best shot



Philippe Lopez’s best photograph: a procession after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines









‘I never spoke to any of them – I didn’t want to interrupt. They were thanking God no one in their village had died’














Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan take part in a religious procession in Tolosa, on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte, 18 November 2013. Click here to see the full image. Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP









Interview by 
Sian Cain






@siancain





Thursday 4 December 2014 02.59 EST







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I arrived in the Philippines 72 hours after Typhoon Haiyan ripped through it, on one of the first commercial flights to Tacloban City. Landing at a destroyed airport was an unforgettable experience: we watched as the cabin doors opened to chaos. There were only a few of us coming in and we could see crowds of people lined up waiting to leave. The passengers on my flight who were from the Philippines had tears in their eyes.
I had covered natural disasters before: the 2011 tsunami in Japan, the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. But I did not cover these in the same way as Typhoon Haiyan. It was November 2013 and I had grown and matured in a lot of ways, not just in photography. But the pattern is essentially the same: show both the victims and the scale of disaster. It was early days and, editorially speaking, we had no instructions from AFP other than to show what we were seeing and living through. I remember the bodies: the rescue operation was slow and, in some places, there were just piles and piles of them. They were being handled by volunteers, just regular people, which was startling to see.
After about 10 days, we started to plan stories more. We were just driving back to Tacloban, having wrapped up a piece about fishing villages, when we saw about 12 women and children walking in a procession. It was the middle of nowhere, so we stopped the car and I jumped out. I never spoke to any of them, though – I didn’t want to interrupt. A few months later, our team in Manila tracked the woman down and found out what the procession meant: they were thanking God no one in their village had died.
I took a few pictures with the light behind me that were strong, but when I moved to take this shot, against the sun, everything just came together: sky, people, earth, with all the destruction in the background looking like it is melting. I knew the shot was great, something that takes you into a moment, even as I was taking it. That light didn’t last long: one minute later, the clouds had moved and it was a completely different picture. I took 15 shots and feel lucky to have captured this one.
It quickly became the iconic image of the disaster. I won the World Press Photo award for it. Getting a shot like that isn’t just about the photographer, though. So much depends on being in the right place at the right time. Still, it’s a shot that does push me to do more.
CV
Born: Toulouse, France, 1974.
Studied: Self-taught.
Influences: Raymond Depardon.
High point: “This picture. An unreal moment.”
Low point: “I am always trying not to take easy pictures. Doing everything you can, even on the smallest story, is very hard.”
Tip: “Things are moving so fast for photojournalism with social media that I find it difficult to give advice! Many photos that succeed these days are not always great, technically speaking, so don’t let inexperience hold you back.”



Topics



Photography




Typhoon Haiyan




Philippines




Natural disasters and extreme weather








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