Nick Oza Wiki – Nick Oza Biography
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Nick Oza, famous for his stark images of endurance in the face of natural and man-made adversity, died Monday, September 27. He was 57 years old. He was a photojournalist on the staff of the Arizona Republic.
Oza, who joined The Arizona Republic’s photography team in 2006, was known for an immersive style of photography, working as a documentary filmmaker and following people through life-changing events. Distinctive images of him captured emotion, often expressed through a subject’s eyes or hands.
Although he was often with people who suffered through difficult times, cleaning a hurricane-ravaged home, anxious about a looming deportation, Oza had a captivating personality that reassured subjects. Although he spoke limited Spanish, Oza became well known in the Latino immigrant community in Phoenix.
He often documented protest actions. And he was often linked to covering longer-term projects on immigrant and personal issues. Many of those projects come from Oza himself, whose drive to find engaging images naturally spilled over into the discovery of great stories.
On an assignment for La República, Oza traveled to Central America and Mexico to capture the journey of migrants taking trains to head north. Oza used to go to the Arizona border with Mexico to tell stories. His work was included in The Republic’s 2017 project called “The Wall” that examined the planned border wall envisioned by President Donald Trump. The project team won the Pulitzer Prize for their explanatory reports that year.
In an image taken for that project, Oza focused on a spot on the existing border fence that ended when the terrain turned mountainous. In the foreground was an empty water bottle, like the ones used by migrants crossing the desert. In an April 2021 image, Oza photographed a border spot along the San Pedro River that had an open door. Through the door, a group of poplars was illuminated by the sun.
In August, Oza was in the Mexican state of Sonora, which borders Arizona, to document Central American families who had been in limbo awaiting changes in US government policies on asylum applications. In one image, for a story yet to be published, Oza captured a young girl’s blank stare, her face filtered through the mesh lining of a crib in a dark rental apartment.
Oza’s photos were also part of the Biloxi Sun Herald’s Pulitzer-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina that ripped through Biloxi, Mississippi. At the time, Oza was working for sister newspaper The Telegraph of Macon, Georgia.
A photo from that time: a mother with a small child on the beach. All around her is destruction. A dirty mattress, piles of rubble, wooden logs. She is stroking the boy, pursing her lips for a kiss. Oza often focuses her camera on unexpected places, capturing the emotion of an event in a small detail that caught her eye.
Amid a busy protest against police violence in 2020, Oza focused on a woman holding a cardboard sign filled with scribbled names of people killed by officers’ actions. The arm gripping the sign had several tattoos of blooming flowers. The woman was not posing for Oza’s camera, but she saw a stunning image and took it.
Oza could capture emotion even when circumstances required that he could not show a subject’s face: the tiny hands of a child were clinging to the bars of a police car where he was being held for safekeeping after his mother threatened to commit suicide. . A boy at a behavioral health center presses a red ball to his chest with his forearm during recess.
Oza’s images built a reputation that extended far beyond local journalism, and the photographers who encountered him in the field quickly became as close as colleagues. Joshua Lott moved to Phoenix in 2008, working as a freelance photographer for The New York Times and other outlets. He said that he found a quick friend in Oza.
“His was knee deep trying to tell stories,” Lott said. “He wanted to make sure he got that message across to the readers and the people of Arizona.” Lott said he never saw Oza without his camera. “He lived and breathed photojournalism,” he said. “That’s Nick.”
Nick Oza Age
Nick Oza was 57 years old.
Nick Oza Cause of Death
Oza died early Monday. He had been hospitalized since Sept. 3, when a single-vehicle car accident in Phoenix left him seriously injured. Our hearts go out to Nick’s wife Jacquelyn, daughter Shanti and the Oza family, ”said Greg Burton, executive editor of The Republic.
Burton said Oza “changed the way we see ourselves and, true to his calling, the way we see ourselves in the struggles of others.”
Nick Oza had been hospitalized since Sept. 3, after a single-vehicle car accident in Phoenix left him seriously injured. “Our hearts go out to Nick’s wife Jacquelyn, daughter Shanti and the Oza family,” said Greg Burton, executive editor of The Republic. He further said that Oza “changed the way we see ourselves and, true to his calling, the way we see ourselves in the struggles of others.” We have reported the disappearance of much great literature in recent months. Janet Malcolm, Dick Stolley, Chi Modu are to name a few.
People remembered the iconic photographer and paid tribute to him on social media. One person tweeted: “He was a storyteller, an artist of light and voice to enlighten others. “We will miss you so much, Nick.” Another user said: “If you’ve ever been around Nick, you will immediately see his passion, his sense of humor, his kindness.
He cared deeply about his work and the people around him. A tragic loss to the community. “Another tweet read:” Nick Oza, Republic of Arizona photographer and Pulitzer Prize winner, dies. “(Nick) changed the way we see ourselves and, true to his calling, the way we see ourselves in the struggles of others.” One tweet read: “Nick was an amazing journalist and an even better human.
“His deep love of him for people and all his joys and anguish made him an easy friend to find in good times and bad … he Not only did he experience them with you, he also felt them” . “One person said:” RIP Nick … I first met him during the coverage of the migrant caravan in Mexico in 2018 and the presidential inauguration last January. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met … ”
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