Honorable Mention TIFA 2023 People / Portrait

The Way Back

  • Photographer
    John T. Pedersen
  • Agency / Studio
    Freelancer
  • Technical Info
    Leica Q2 Summilux 1.7 Asph
  • Photo Date
    26.01.23

Trond Petter Dahl (42) takes his first three valium at age 19 year old. After nine overdoses,1,400 days in prison and 1,300 days in drug treatment, he has lost count. Trond doesn't want it that way, but it's so hard to do anything about it when all the energy goes into survival. Trond thinks about his daughter. That he will survive. He actually wants to live. One day in March he decides: He will never give up. It's now or never. It has almost been two years since the promise Trond made to himself, since he admitted himself to detoxification and began his fight for a drug-free life.

John T. Pedersen (1966) is an independent photojournalist based in Norway, with a particular focus on humanitarian issues. I have worked for a number of newspapers, trade press, magazines and agencies. Affiliated with the national newspaper Dagbladet in Oslo. https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2019/37713/1/John-T-Pedersen