Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka was born the year 1938 in Boskovice, Czechoslovakia. He began taking photographs of his family and the surroudings of his hometown with a 6 x 6 Bakelite camera. At the age of 23, he earned a degree at the Technical University in Prague and soon started working as an aeronautical engineer. In the meanwhile, Koudelka began photographing theatre productions on an old Rolleiflex camera in his free time.

In 1968, when the Soviet armies invaded the city of Prague, Koudelka was there to witness the event, and the pictures he took helped him to win the Robert Capa Gold Medal. Koudelka soon found himself at the peek of his career as a photographer, and after flying to Czechoslovakia in 1970, he managed to win asylum in England, were he spent the next 10 years of his life.

Throughout the next decades, Koudelka continued his work travelling all around Europe and won numerous grants and awards, such as the Prix Nadar in 1978 or the Grand Prix National de la Photographie in the year 1989.

Josef Koudelka became a French citizen in 1987, and he currently resides in France and is nowadays continuing his work documenting the vast diversity of the European landscape.

Wrist Watch (1968)
Photograph taken in Prague (Czechoslovakia) during the Soviet invasion.



Russian Tank in Prague (1968)
Photograph taken during the Soviet invasion in Prague.



Soviet Tank (1968)
Photograph taken in Prague during the Soviet invasion.

James Nachtwey

James Nachtwhey was born in Syracuse, New York. He was raised in Massachusetts, went to Leomenster high school and from 1966 to 1970 he attended to Dartmouth College. There, he studied political science and art history. He was mainly influenced by the American Civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. However, in the photography area, he was self-taught. After graduating from college, in 1976, he started working as a photographer in a newspaper company in Mexico. After moving to New York in 1980, he became a freelance photographer. From then on, he has been working as a photographer for TIME since 1984. He also worked for Black Star from 1980 to 1985. After that, he became a member of Magnum Photos from 1986 to 2001. He also worked with Thomas E. Franklin in the World Trade Center where he made the famous photograph called “Rising the Flag at Ground Zero.” From then on, he concentrated working with the subject of the 911 attack and also the Sudan Conflict on civilians. Nachtwhey uses Canon lenses and a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II as his camera.

Sebastiao Salgado

Sabastiao Salgado was born in Brazil in 1971. He took his first serious pictures while on holiday with his wife and was later asked to work with Magnum Photographers. Magnum photographers is a company of documentary photgraphers; they are not allowed to edit a picture in any way once it is taken. He always spent at least a year living with his subjects. He traveled mostly in South America and also in Africa. All of his Photographs are portrait- type with a story behind each one. He was interested in Photo Essays and capturing the lives of obscure people. He is also very interested in religion and many of his pictures feature religious symbols or painting, often comparing normal people to angels or Jesus by using photographs that mirror images described in the bible. He Has now started his own company similar to Magnum and works diligintly to educate people about world suffering and has set up many charities to help the people he has photographed. He has won many awards for all of his work both in charity and photography. His most recent project has been working with Unicef, WHO (World Health Organization), and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to help find a cure for polio in developing countries, especially among children. For more in formation on Salgado's work, life and photography go to http://www.unicef.org/salgado/

Indian Miners (1989)
Proud miners in India working for $1.30 a day--Salgado spent a year in India with workers and with gypsies.


Fleeing Refugee (1985)
Mother and child flee to Sudan, on the lookout for Ethiopian planes. - Salgado Spent about two years traveling with Ethiopian refugees as they fled to Sudan.

Hiding Refugees (1985)
A large group of refugees fleeing to Sudan hide from Ethiopian planes in the early morning.



"I shoot globally and I want to show globally...”
—Sebastião Salgado