E27. Israeli Master Photojournalist Ziv Koren: Behind the scenes and Back Stories with Prime Ministers, Terror Attacks, World Events and Life

Ziv Koren Is a peerless photojournalist in Israel and a global brand and name. Over the past 30-plus years he has cultivated unparalleled access into the private lives of prime ministers and been allowed to photograph some of Israel’s most highly trained and secretive counter-terrorism units in training. He covers global events – most recently the early Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians in that brutal and ongoing war. Koren has a brilliant eye as well as a detective’s instinct – sensing where that special angle may be – metaphorically and literally. In this episode we discuss some of his more memorable photos and moments in the field: with Bibi and Benzion Netanyahu at home playing chess, at an art gallery with Ariel Sharon, and an early and particularly brutal suicide bombing of a civilian bus in 1994 in central Tel Aviv, which shook him to his core and still does today. His photos from the scene also catapulted him from a talented young photojournalist to a global star, overnight. Koren is a master storyteller in words and images and we are fortunate to have a two-part podcast series exploring his oeuvre and the thoughts and stories behind the work. Each podcast will be followed by a photo essay of the images discussed in the episode. In Part I we focus on how he fell into his career by chance, covering terrorism, the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli leaders – up close and personal – and key world events. And then there are just the beautiful snaps. Cuz. Enjoy the audio and visual…..coming soon.

Ziv Koren has been a professional photojournalist for over 30 years.

His photojournalism and documentary projects focus mainly on humanitarian issues in Israel and around the world. Koren has covered some of the most dramatic events in the world and is considered to be one of the leading documentary photographers in our time. 

His award-winning photographs have been included in many solo and group exhibitions worldwide and have been featured in Time Magazine, Newsweek, the New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Stern, Der Spiegel, Paris Match, Le Figaro, Corriere Della Sera Magazine and others. 

In 1995, Koren’s 1994 photograph of an exploded Israeli bus was selected as one of 200 most important images in the last 45 years by World Press Photo. He is also the frequent recipient of prestigious prizes such as the "Photo District News Award" (4 times), "Yann Geffroy Award", "International Colour Award" (twice) and "Picture of the Year" – POYi (twice). 

Koren was the subject of the documentary film "More Than 1000 Words" which was widely screened at film festivals around the world, garnering a dozen awards. He regularly lectures at workshops and universi- ties worldwide. He has published 22 photography books to date.

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