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The Famous Photographer Who Took His Own Life After Taking One Photo
The rise and fall of Kevin Carter
The picture above of a vulture and a starving child is a famous photograph by Kevin Carter. The photograph became known as “The Struggling Girl” and depicted the Sudan famine in 1993.
In this photograph, the child (believed to be a girl) was attempting to reach a United Nations feeding center about a half-mile away in Ayod, Sudan (now South Sudan). But it was later announced that the child was a boy and the vulture nearby was waiting eagerly for carrion. In March 1994, the photo won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. Two months after receiving the prize Carter took his own life.
Born on the 13th of September 1960, Kevin was a South African photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph depicting the 1993 famine in Sudan. Sadly, due to the stress from reporting violence and death, and also struggling with his personal demons, Carter fell into a life of disorder and heavy drug use. This ended up with Carter taking his own life at the age of thirty-three.
