ITAR-TASS
01 January, 1989
Anatoly Golimbievsky, a heavily decorated veteran who lost both legs in the Second World War, acknowledges the salute of four young sailors. Ivan Kurtov told Russ Press Photo in 2011 that the winning photo was part of a photo story about Golimbievsky. Kurtov had met the veteran on Victory Day, 9 May 1989, when his press agency ITAR-TASS had sent him to a veterans meeting in Leningrad. Kurtov had staged the winning picture in honor of Golimbievsky: "I called the Nakhimov school for naval cadets and asked them to send over some sailors for a shoot. Well, they did not send me 30 men as I requested, but only three and one officer. I was planning to shoot against the cruiser 'The Aurora,' which was docked opposite the Nakhimov school. But the big ship was too much of a distraction, and I took their photo with the city in the background." Although ITAR-TASS approved of the image, very few newspapers ran it as their editors did not want to publish 'pathology' as they put it. Russian newspapers only started to print the picture when Kurtov won a 1st prize at World Press Photo.
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