Photographer wins Pulitzer

By Frederick Cusick
Inquirer Staff Writer

Jim MacMillan, a longtime Philadelphia Daily News photographer who took a year off from the paper to work as a combat photographer for the Associated Press in Iraq, won a Pulitzer Prize yesterday.

MacMillan, 44, was among 11 AP photographers who won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for their coverage of the war in Iraq. The AP group won for a submission of 20 photos taken in 2004 that showed the carnage, the bravery, and the costs of the conflict. The photos varied from pictures of an Iraqi child in his coffin to an Iraqi insurgent executing an Iraqi election worker to a burning U.S. humvee.

MacMillan took three of the 20 photos; all three featured U.S. soldiers involved in combat. MacMillan, who has worked for the Daily News since 1991, said in a phone interview from Iraq that the photographers risked their lives daily. "I'm extremely proud of the staff I've worked with here," he said, calling them "brave and driven."

"It's been a grueling year," he said.

MacMillan said he looked forward to coming back when his tour ends in 16 days. Because of the danger to Western journalists operating alone in Iraq, he has been able to take photos only when embedded with troops.

"I can't take pictures on the street [here]," MacMillan said. "I'm a street photographer."