Interviews

As part of CPN's educational interviews Eugene Richards, the celebrated American photographer and writer, gives a fascinating insight into his famously hard-hitting and compassionate documentary work.

In this exclusive video interview he reveals how he thinks photojournalism has changed in recent years, the ways in which his work has sometimes had unintended consequences, and the challenges photojournalists now face in the ever-changing media landscape.

Richards, who recently gave a moving and highly personal presentation at the World Press Photo Awards Days' Sem Presser lecture, has been tackling issues such as racism, crime, drug use, war and health care since the late Sixties, in America and elsewhere. His work has always been nothing less than thought provoking and often shocking. His intimate and unflinching approach is best experienced in books such as 'Dorchester Days', 'Exploding Into Life', 'The Knife & Gun Club: Scenes From an Emergency Room', 'Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue' and 'War is Personal' (due to be published this year).

His numerous awards include the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Award, three Canon Photo Essayist Awards and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Journalism Award for coverage of the disadvantaged. He was also a member of the selection panel for the 2010 World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass for young photographers. Eugene Richards is represented by Reportage by Getty Images.