28 Jul 2025
#25 Christopher Morris - PHOTO TALK - WTF-STOP PODCAST
Christopher Morris is one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century and one of the most celebrated visual chroniclers of war. Morris re-invented and reimagined what was possible with the language of political photography for a generation of photographers and editors while working for TIME magazine during the George W. Bush Administration in the United States.
His career, however, has defied the narrow confines of conflict and politics. An Italian fashion magazine commissioned him after seeing his photographs of Republicans in America, and that led to further work with celebrities and world leaders eager to receive similar unorthodox photographic treatment.
Selected Biography:
In 1983, during the civil conflict in the Philippines in Manila, Morris started covering world news as documentary conflict photographer for Newsweek.
In 1989 - 1990, he documented the United States invasion of Panama. CBS News and RAI broadcast his short movie. He won one of his first prizes World Press Photo awards for "Casualties of Just Cause, Panama.
On March 4, 1991, near the front of the Persian Gulf War, his photograph of a U.S. Marine holding the American flag above his shoulders made the front cover of Life Magazine.
During nine years, he covered the war in the former Yugoslavia. In Perpignan, his photo essay won the Visa d'Or award. Grazia Neri wrote: "It was in Yugoslavia that the daily exposure to the war on civilians started to weigh heavily on him, on his person, on his soul, and on his photography."
In May 1992, he has been named the recipient of the 1991 Robert Capa Gold Medal for his coverage of "Slaughter in Vukovar".
In 1995, he captured movement in a photograph of a Chechen fighter running outside of the demolished presidential palace during the battle of Grozny of the first Chechen War: "At that moment that's the most dangerous place on earth. I'm not sitting there saying, 'Oh, I'm going to shoot slow shutter speeds and I'm going to zoom it!'" Morris said. "You're just shooting."
In 2000, the second Chechen War was the turning point of his career as a conflict photographer.
"With the vision in my mind of my 2-year-old daughter at home whom I rarely had seen nor even photographed. This was the crystal-clear moment that made me disengage from this type of photography as a profession."
In 2000, in United States, as member of the White House pool, he covered the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama for Time.
In September 2001, Morris was one of seven founding members of VII Photo Agency.
In 2001, he provided coverage of the terrorism in Yemen and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In 2008, his book My America is noticed by the editor in chief of the Italian fashion magazine Amica who hired him for a Ralph Lauren shooting in New York.
In 2011, he documented the Libyan Civil War and, in 2012, the Plan Colombia.
Morris, who was commissioned by Black Star in 1988 to document the Soviet Afghan War, photographed 24 years later for Time/VII the parents of the POW Bowe Bergdahl, captured in 2009 during the War in Afghanistan.[
In 2013, Morris directed, edited and produced the short film Conclave about people waiting, in St. Peter's Square, for the announcement of the new Pope for Time.
In 2013, in France, he documented the presidency of François Hollande for Le Monde. For Elle, he provided coverage of the political campaign race to conquer the Paris city hall for the first time between two women: Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Anne Hidalgo who both campaigned to become Mayor of Paris.
In 2016, he introduced a new way to film the United States presidential candidates’ rallies using a high-speed camera, his short movies being played back in slow-motion.
Exhibitions:
2013 Americans , Le Bal,...
