David Burnett

Like much of the world, David Burnett spent the tumultuous days after this year’s disputed Iranian elections mesmerized by the images of enormous crowds protesting in the streets despite violent repression. Defying the authorities, ordinary citizens made and distributed photographs and videos that revealed a regime that was brutally striking out at its people.The images that shocked others seemed eerily familiar to Mr. Burnett. He had witnessed and documented similar scenes in 1979 during the Iranian revolution.“When you look at my photographs, and some of the cellphone pictures this summer, it’s almost spooky because you see the same kinds of moments, except with different cars and different clothes,” Mr. Burnett said in a telephone interview. “The irony is that the people in my pictures became the new regime that is now trying to quell the street demonstrations 30 years later.” – James Estrin, The New York Times, September 29, 2009

David Burnett has been photographing the world for more than 35 years. He graduated from Colorado College and began working as a free lancer for Time, then Life Magazine, at first in Washington DC and Miami, and later in South Viet Nam. After two years in Vietnam, and the demise of Life weekly, he joined the French photo agency Gamma, traveling the world for their news department for two years. In 1976 he co-founded Contact Press Images, in New York, and for the the last three decades, he has traveled extensively, working for most of the major photographic and general interest magazines in the U.S. and Europe. His work encompasses news, feature, and people pictures, as well as landscapes and scenics. Burnettʼs awards include Magazine Photographer of the Year from the Pictures of the Year Competition, the World Press Photo of the Year, and the Robert Capa Award from the Overseas Press Club. Burnett continues working around the world, having traveled to more than 75 countries, producing photographic essays for Time, Fortune, ESPN Magazine, and many others as well as working on major Advertising campaigns, including Union Bank of Switzerland, Kodak, Rolex, Merck, and the U.S. Army.