Photographs capture mere fractions of seconds, but a series of them taken by an Egyptian journalist has cost him more than three years of his life.

Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, has been in Tora Prison in Cairo for more than 1,100 days. He has been detained without trial since he was arrested while photographing the deadly antigovernment protests that roiled Egypt in the summer of 2013.

“My passion is photography, but I am paying the price for my passion with my life. Without it, a part of me is missing,” Mr. Abou Zeid wrote in a letter published by the Committee to Protect Journalists in March 2015 to mark his 600th day in detention. “Tora prison is like a cemetery. It is a place where dreams come to die.”

Image Mahmoud Abou Zeid at a recent court appearance in Cairo. Credit... Lobna Tarek

On Tuesday, the committee honored Mr. Abou Zeid with an International Press Freedom Award, presented in New York — in absentia. The group started a social-media campaign, asking supporters who attended its annual gala to photograph themselves holding a placard saying #FreeShawkan and post it to Twitter.