Legend Of The Balkans: The Work Of Serbian Photographer Srdjan Suki
- By RFE/RL
Photojournalist Srdjan Suki, considered one of the "founding fathers" of the European Pressphoto Agency, died on September 24 at the age of 52 from "a serious illness." Here are some of the most powerful images from his years covering conflicts, sport, and the joys of everyday life.
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Serbians peer at a solar eclipse from the window of their home in Belgrade in 1999.
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Men carrying Serbian flags and wearing traditional caps walk through the rubble left after NATO jets bombed a Yugoslav Army base in Kragujevac in 1999.
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These are the photographs of Srdjan Suki (pictured) who began his career covering the conflicts of the former Yugoslavia, and joined the European Pressphoto Agency (epa) in 1993. His death on September 24 sparked an outpouring of tributes to a man dubbed a “legend” by fellow photographers. In a statement to RFE/RL about Suki’s death, epa described him as "a larger than life character that lit up any room he entered. He was a well-known name on the photography circuit and was passionate about life and photojournalism, having covered everything from the Balkan conflicts, the war in Iraq, the World Cup and many other sporting events around the world… The tributes have been pouring in from around the world from colleagues who have been inspired by him and it's a testament to the impact he had on everyone he worked with."
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Climbers cut off the communist star from the tower of Belgrade's town hall in 1997 after months of street protests in the Serbian capital.
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Street cleaners watch the headquarters of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party burn after an early morning NATO air attack on Belgrade in 1999.
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Tracer bullets from Yugoslav Army antiaircraft guns streak into the sky above Belgrade as NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia were launched in 1999.
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A Serbian policeman clashes with an ethnic Albanian demonstrator in Pristina, Kosovo, in 1998. The protests erupted after a weekend of violence that saw 20 people killed in clashes between Serb police and members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.
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The crew of a British "Challenger" tank keeps a watchful eye on Yugoslav Army tanks on a bridge as they leave Pristina in June 1999.
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A Serbian protestor demonstrates against President Slobodan Milosevic in front of the parliament building in Belgrade in 1996.
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A building in central Baghdad burns as Iraqis pass by apparently unconcerned in May 2003, two months after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
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Statues and busts of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in a factory that produced the likenesses in April 2003.
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In recent years, Suki’s work focused largely on sports and everyday life. In this photo, two finalists tumble spectacularly in the men's 66-kilogram judo contest at the Baku 2015 European Games in Azerbaijan.
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A park in central Belgrade is covered with snow at Christmas in 2018.
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British Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton squeaks around a tight corner during the 2018 Grand Prix in Baku. For the past decade, Suki traveled the world covering the Formula One Grand Prix circuit. A fellow Formula One photographer wrote on Suki's Facebook page: "We lost a legend today. Some of the best photos that have been in Formula One have come from Srdjan Suki Sulejmanovic. I look at him as a mentor and coach, someone we all loved when he was in the paddock telling jokes."
