It hadn't occurred to me until I read this article by Jerry Saltz, but those photos taken by Burhan Ozbilici of the assassination of Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov in the Ankara art gallery are indeed rather remarkable:
[Photos: Burhan Ozbilici/AP]
They're beautifully framed, and they tell the story. First the somewhat smug features of the wretched ambassador, unaware that he was about to enter history, with his assassin out-of-focus, lurking behind. Then the really great shot: the killer triumphant, shouting his message over the body of his victim. Then, he finishes the job. If it had been staged as a photo-op or some kind of publicity stunt the gunman couldn't have asked for better. Indeed so perfect are the images that many have taken them as proof that the whole thing was a hoax [can't be bothered to link, but they're out there if you look].
The photographer seems completely unconcerned about his own safety. He will have assumed, no doubt, that the assassin would have no interest in shooting him – on the contrary, he would have wanted to have his audacity, and his message, captured on film. Still, how many of us would have risked that sort of sudden calculation, when faced with a madman with a gun which he'd just used? – and continued to use.
Others weren't so brave:
[Photo: Burhan Ozbilici/AP]
You can almost sense Ozbilici's disdain for these cowering observers as he leaned over them and clicked. Though I do rather like the man on the right, who has the look of someone who's seen it all before, and is wondering why he keeps bothering to come to these official affairs. Hasn't he learnt by now? – they always end badly.
How do galleries compete with this kind of live action? It does rather puts the Turner Prize to shame.
Mick Hartley 
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