This image of the Dakar fashion scene in Senegal won Canon Ambassador Finbarr O'Reilly first prize in the Portraits, Singles category in the 2019 World Press Photo contest. Taken on a Canon EOS 5D Mark III (now succeeded by the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV) with a Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens at 24mm, 1/320 sec, f/4 and ISO250. © Finbarr O'Reilly
"Often my written reports were condensed into briefs or overshadowed by news from the Middle East. But then, when I started taking photos to accompany my stories, my pictures were suddenly on the front pages of international newspapers and across double-page spreads in major European magazines. It's important to drive people to find out more about a situation by reading the accompanying text, but images can capture people's attention much more quickly than a bank of words."