Starving Child and Vulture

The basic details of the photograph are simple. While on the way to a United Nations feeding center, a young girl had stopped to rest, exhausted by starvation. As her parents had likely gone ahead to grab food, the emaciated child lay there, vulnerable, attracting the attention of a vulture.

Initially, Carter claimed to have come upon the scene, snapped a few photos, and then chased the bird away. However, this was not the whole truth – or even the partial truth.