bio

In the decade plus that he has been covering international news events and winning a series of prestigious photo awards, 35-year-old Ron Haviv has ignored every mothers maxim: whatever you do, stay out of harms way. In recording some of the most brutal events of the end of the 20th century, he has been put on a Serbian death list, captured by Iraqi soldiers and Serb militiamen , charged with being a spy, interrogated, imprisoned, beaten. It is not that he courts danger, but as a photojournalist covering the best and more often worst of times, he is thrust into life-threatening situations. Photography was merely a hobby during Havivs undergraduate years at NYU where he majored in journalism. But the hobby grew into a passion so much of a passion that after earning his B.A., he took on unpaid photo assignments at the New York City Tribune and the Agence France-Presse, a wire service where his talents were put to dubious use as a paparazzi in pursuit of Madonna and other international celebs. During those lean years he doubled as a bicycle messenger and a Good Humor man, but he quit his days jobs when he was offered a ticket to Panama in 1989 to cover Noriegas bid for reelection. His photograph of the Panamanian Vice President being knifed and beaten made the covers of Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report.

Since that fortuitous moment, he has become one of the most sought-after photojournalists around. He has covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, cocaine wars in Columbia, the Gulf War, the fight of the Kurds from Iraq, conflict in Russia, refugees in Rwanda and political upheaval in Haiti. He was one of the first photojournalists to cover the civil war in Yugoslavia and his book, Blood and Honey, is a haunting record of that genocidal madness and its desolate aftermath.

Today, as a founding member of the VII agency and a contract photographer for Newsweek, Haviv continues to travel to the worlds hotspots, risking his life for the opportunity to document the raging issues of the day. The book Afghanistan:The Road to Kabul follows the United States and its allies as they focused their attention and military efforts on the Taliban regime and the Al-Qaeda network that ruled it.

For his superb work he has received several World Press awards and Picture of the Year awards, Overseas Press Club awards and the Leica Medal of Excellence. His work has been exhibited around the country and in Europe and he has lectured regularly at universities and at seminars.

Ilana Ozernoy is a freelance writer who contributed to U.S. News and World Report, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Boston Globe. She traveled the long road to Kabul with the Northern Alliance to write the essays for this book.

Alison Morley is the Chairperson of the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program at the International Center of Photography. She is the former photo editor of Esquire, Elle and the L.A. Times magazines. Today she is the photography editor of the New York Times Sophisticated Traveler magazine.