Brent Stirton

Brent Stirton is a Senior Photographer for Getty Images, based in New York. His award-winning work has been widely recognized for its powerful depiction of issues related to conflict, health and environmental issues. Stirton specializes in documentary work and is known for his alternative approaches to photojournalism, including lighting portraiture in the field, and his prolific work rate. He travels an average of 9 months of the year, working exclusively on commissioned assignment.

Stirton’s work has appeared in Newsweek, National Geographic, CNN traveler/ CNN.com, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, The Sunday Times magazine, Le Monde 2, GQ, Geo and many other respected international titles. He also writes a blog for the Discovery Channel.

In working to visually interpret a story, Stirton often works in tandem with journalists from the world’s leading publications. In the last 2 years he has worked regularly with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and Anderson Cooper on topics such as the Tsunami disaster or religious fundamentalism, compiling stills documentaries on topical news events which are then voiced over and aired.

He works extensively on humanitarian issues including HIV/AIDS, environment, poverty, conflict and post-conflict recovery, and women’s empowerment issues. He works on a regular basis for the Global Business Coalition against Aids and The Global Fund against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He also works in the field for sustainability for WWF (the World Wide Fund for Nature), shooting global campaigns on the relationship between people and their environments. He also has worked for the Ford Foundation and the Clinton Foundation.

Stirton has won numerous awards and recognitions for his work, including five awards from the World Press Photo Foundation; in 2007 he was cited as a “Hero of Photography” in PopPhoto Magazine. Stirton holds a degree in Journalism from his native South Africa, where he began his career photographing apartheid issues.

Awards

* World Press Photo Foundation: 5 awards (most recently in 2008, First Prize for Contemporary Issues Singles)
* United Nations: 3 awards (including from the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria);
* UNICEF/GEO photographer of the year contest: runner-up;
* UNEP International Environmental Photographer of the year, Second Place, 2005;
* Society of American Publication Designers Pictures of the Year contest: 2 awards;
* Journal of American Photography;
* Graphis;
* The London Photographic Awards.

External links

Brent Stirton website:
* http://www.brentstirton.com/

2008 World Press Photo Award:
* http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=1131&type=byname&Itemid=188&bandwidth=high

2007 National Geographic Video:
* http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-12/gorilla-massacre/gorilla-massacre-video.html?fs=www.nationalgeographic.com

2007 “Heroes of Photography” article:
* http://www.popphoto.com/americanphotofeatures/4049/brent-stirton.html

NPR Interview :: June 24, 2008
* http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91835032

AOL “Behind the Lens” Photography Exhibition: http://memberpictures.aol.com/aolvisions/btl/bstirton

CasaSugar Photographer to Watch: Brent Stirton: http://casasugar.com/1981937