Born in 1948 in Massachusetts, James Nachtwey began working as a news photographer in 1976. His picture story about North Ireland in 1981 about IRA sympathizers on a hunger strike was his first international story. He first worked for the Black Star agency, then for Magnum, before becoming one of the founding members of Seven.
He has covered most recent conflicts, from Somalia, to Rwanda, to the fall of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. On March 20, 2008, in an interview with Jean-Pierre Perrin for the French daily Libération, James Nachtwey described himself as follows “As a photographer, the worst thing is to feel like you are benefiting from the suffering of others. It is a feeling that haunts me. I know that if I let my compassion be overcome by my personal ambition, I will have sold my soul.”
http://jamesnachtwey.com/
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