The French American photographer, known for his documentation of the human condition for the past 40 years, shares his experience alongside Ukrainian refugees, from the day he left his home in Paris, and returned.
via Blind Magazine: https://www.blind-magazine.com/en/stories/the-exodus-from-ukraine-a-visual-diary-by-peter-turnley/Since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, the Franco-American documentary photographer Peter Turnley has been in New York. His photographs show the deeply human face and soul of this moment. Although he has covered most of the world’s conflicts over the past four decades, it is the first time he has found himself in the midst of a war, “at home”, with no visible enemy.
Previously, we talked to Turnley about his book “French Kiss-A Love Letter to Paris” in October 2013 and featured a complementary video on his work that’s viewable here. As Valentine’s Day approaches along with the Leica Fotopark Valentine’s Day Challenge, we sat back down with Peter to hear more about his time photographing Paris and the love he has witnessed and experienced there.
Tiananmen Square Still Haunts Photographer Brothers After 25 Years
David Turnley was in Paris when he got the call. His brother Peter was in Beijing to cover the visit of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to China but was on the line with different, more exciting news. A small group of students had taken to the streets in protest in Tiananmen Square—and their numbers were swelling.
So with his newest book coming out, French Kiss – A Love Letter to Paris, I thought this would be a perfect time to get an inside look at this soft spoken but hard driving — American in Paris.
Purchase link: http://www.peterturnley.com/frenchkiss/In his new book “French Kiss – A Love Letter to Paris,” he reveals moments of poetry and beauty he witnessed as a street photographer during the past 40 years of documenting the city of love, which is his adopted home.
Peter Turnley covered the first Gulf War in 1991, and was present from the first day of this latest war in Iraq which started yesterday March 19, 2003. I worked as an unembedded photojournalist in Iraq for the first five weeks of the war and spent much time in southern Iraq, near Basra, arriving in Baghdad, the same day US forces entered the City in April of 2003. It is important that a photographic record serve as a constant opportunity to assess the past, and think about the future. Somethings should never be forgotten. In this spirit, here a portfolio of 20 photographs
As important as these images are to him, Mr. Turnley said, so too are the photographs he has taken of the more mundane moments in people’s daily lives. A great admirer of photographers like Robert Capa and Edward Boubat, Mr. Turley said he considered himself neither a war correspondent, like the former, nor a “peace correspondent,” as the latter was called. “One might say I am a correspondent of life,” Mr. Turnley said.
This week, TOP is pleased to be able to offer, once again, a selection of fine prints of our friend Peter Turnley’s pictures of Paris.
“I have embraced photojournalism as a means to communicate, provoke, and inspire, as well as to document history. I have employed the camera as a voice, to shout out about injustice while affirming what is beautiful and good.”
Link: The Online Photographer: Dispatches from Egypt: Peter Turnley in CairoI’ve witnessed and photographed many of the most important moments of geopolitical change of the past thirty years: the fall of Berlin Wall, the Velvet Revolution in Prague, the overthrow of Ceausescu in Romania, the end of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the Tiananmen Square uprising and military crackdown in China to name the most important ones. After following daily from afar the uprising in Egypt, and being inspired by the wonderful and courageous photographs made by many of my colleagues who were already there, I decided last Wednesday to board a plane for Cairo. I was well aware of the potential dangers for journalists covering this story.
Link: Video – Breaking News Videos from CNN.comNewsweek photographer Peter Turnley recounts time with Mubarak and other leaders, many of whom died in uprisings.
Link: welcome to peterturnley.com“Photographers love life, light, and joy, and all that touches the senses! Maybe nowhere else in the world can this be found more than in Rio-and particularly at carnival time. The Rio workshop will be much more than simply an experience in photography – it will offer the students an exposure to a way of living full of energy, sensuality, outdoor activity, and humanity in one of the world’s most beautiful and exciting cities during the amazing time of the Rio Carnival…”
Link: The Image Maker – Ralph Lauren MagazineJust carrying a Leica around with you can be a fashion statement. Former Newsweek photographer Peter Turnley has used a Leica for more than thirty years, especially for shooting Paris street photography. “They are elegant, discreet, and high-performing cameras, and they can accompany me like a friend through daily life,” says Turnley, who currently teaches photography workshops around the world. “A Leica M camera is also a bit like a piece of jewelry, like a special watch, that not only tells good time but also makes you feel good about yourself when you wear it.”
Link: Peter Turnley’s Collector’s PrintsSPECIAL HOLIDAY OFFER All black and white photographs are signed by the photographer and printed by a world renowned master printer who has been a longtime printer for Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, Rene Burri, Peter Turnley, and many others.
Photos and text by Peter TurnleyLink: The Online Photographer: CalcuttaThe first foreign trip I ever made as a traveling photojournalist was to India to cover the funeral of Indira Gandhi and the sectarian violence that followed her assassination by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984. I had moved to Paris in 1978 and this first assignment in India would mark the beginning of a new way of life for me, one of almost constant travel to more than 90 countries these past 26 years.
Link: The Online Photographer: Fall Print Offer: Peter Turnley’s ParisMore people visit Paris each year than any other city in the world. It has long been celebrated for its beauty, culture, history and romance—and it has long been an inspiration to photographers. For our Fall Print Offer, our last one before Christmas, we’re pleased and proud to offer for sale three original signed prints of the most famous and popular pictures of Paris by Peter Turnley, who has made Paris his subject as much as any photographer of his generation.
