ROMA - The photo of the year 2009, the most important photojournalism prize in the world goes to Pietro Masturzo. The 30 year old men from Sorrento (Naples), a daring photographer who chose not to work for big companies.

Pietro received the phone call from Amsterdam last Friday, while he was in Rome attending the celebration for the 31st anniversary of the fall of the Shah, organized by the Iranian community. At first all he understood was that somebody from the Word Press Photo was calling him. It was only one hour later , when they called him again, that he realized that he had won the World Press Photo 2010.

The photo captures some women on a rooftop crying out in desperation and anger against Ahmadineiad. The lights of the building were on creating a theatre-like scene.

The chair of the jury, Ayperi Karabuda Ecer, wrote: “"The photo shows the beginning of something, the beginning of a huge story. It adds perspectives to news. It touches you both visually and emotionally, and my heart went out to it immediately." By awarding the picture of Pierto Masturo, the jury has given a new meaning to the world of reportage, a new way of observing, more evocative and more focused on beauty. The image has to be artistic but at the same time it has to awaken our conscience.

What is the inspiration of your work “On the rooftops of Teheran “ ?
I wanted to communicate to other people the emotions of Iranians as well as my own. I don’t think that a photographer should remove himself from the reality he is representing. For this reason the reportage I shot was a combination of art and journalism.

You went to Iran at the critical time of the presidential election. How did you shoot this reportage?
I went there with my fellow photoreporter, Carlo Maddalena and we were fully aware of the risks we were taking. We were discreet enough, neither of us brought the traditional photographer’s bag. But we were arrested at night, while we were working on our reportage, we were questioned by the police and we did not have time to call the Italian Embassy in Teheran. We said we were tourists, they saw some of our pictures and fortunately they let us go. After one month I could bring home only 60 photos.

This Prize is also a big responsibility for you
Yes, I feel I have a big responsability and I am afraid. Now I have to show the world that this picture was not taken by chance but it is the result of hard work. For a moment I thought that it would have been better to win second prize. After all I’m a freelance and I do not work for any agency. This is a double victory for me, I received a lot of messages from other freelancers and I was moved. They thanked me because through my work I demonstrated that there is hope even if you do not follow the conventions.

What are the difficulties for someone like you who comes from a province of Naples, a city so “hard” to live in?
I had a lot of problems, I did not have any security. For example, in Italy nobody wanted to buy my reportage. I had many appraisals but I could not sell it. This prize gives me a big satisfaction because in Italy photography is considered a minor art, like something to enrich the articles, but no importance is given to the image.

In your picture there are some Iranian women shouting from a rooftop. The desperation of those women reached every corner of the world. Women seem to be the protagonist of many changes in the history.
They are the ones who suffer the consequences of oppression. They are screaming their desire for change. In Iran they have a double life, they cannot smoke or express their opinion in public, but in private they are different people. On the street Iranian women are like walking mannequins, in private they are women of culture who take care of themselves.
After this prestigious award, how do you think your life will change, what are your plans?
Soon I will hold my first exhibitions in Paris, Geneva and Rome. Then I want to continue to work for “Kairos Factory” and not for big agencies. We are five photoreporters and together we founded this studio. Our aim is to work with multimedia tools. Moreover, I want to keep my feet on the ground and enjoy this wonderful prize.