Pictures of the Year: A picture and its story
A ballerina watches the broadcast of the World Cup quarter-final match between Russia and Croatia at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, July 7, 2018. Reuters photographer Anton Vaganov: "It was a truly international summer in St Petersburg - the city was buzzing and thousands of soccer fans were milling around Nevsky Prospect singing and celebrating. I had been covering the fans in the city and was always looking for new ways to document the World Cup tournament. On the eve of the quarter-final between Russia and Croatia, the Russia Chief Photographer asked me to look for artists watching the match in the theatre. Ballet is closely identified with St Petersburg, so it makes a great combination. The theatre was located just next to the fan zone and the queue was huge - people were even jumping into the river to try and get into the fan zone to watch the match. Inside the theatre the performers were also fans and everyone was watching the match during their breaks. The performers were changing their outfits when they returned to their dressing rooms and so I got images of performers in dressing gowns reacting outside the dressing rooms. This wasn't really what I was looking for, however, so I started waiting by the TVs located closer to the stage, hoping a ballerina would pause to take a look at them as they walked past. Soon, one ballerina did just that. The corridor was narrow so I had to use a wide-angle lens, and while I was lucky enough to catch the moment, the photo was very wide and I did not like it very much. I filed the picture to my editor anyway and after the match was over I checked which of my images had been published. My editor had made a tight crop on the image and transformed it into this excellent picture. Photographers might work alone in the field, but we have a great team of colleagues who help make a great image possible." REUTERS/Anton Vaganov SEARCH "POY STORY" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "REUTERS POY" FOR ALL BEST OF 2018 PACKA
