David Burnett ( b 1946 )

David Burnett’s work is legendary in international photojournalism circles. He globe- trots from his base in the Washington D.C. area and lives for the challenge to report with his camera. Burnett’s photojournalism career spans more than four decades covering news, sporting events, politics, and human conflicts of the day. He is the last photojournalist to cover the American war in Vietnam for LIFE Magazine. American Photo magazine named Burnett as one of the “100 Most Important People in Photography.” His other awards include Photographer of the Year, 1980, Magazine Photographer of the Year, Pictures of the Year competition, World Press Photo of the Year, and the Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club. A veteran journalist of the political scene in Washington, he has photographed every American president from John. F. Kennedy to George W. Bush (1963–2008). He has covered every summer Olympic Games from 1984 to 2008 and is the author of E-Motion: The Spirit of Sport. In 2006, he produced a twenty-six-page essay on the traces of Hurricane Katrina for the National Geographic magazine. Burnett is co-founder of Contact Press Images, the New York-based photojournalism agency, a thirty-nine-year legacy.

An American soldier contemplates a letter from home while taking a break from repairing a tank thread, Lang Vei, Republic of Vietnam. In the soldier’s unforgettable face, Burnett tells the story of an aspect of the military experience that transcends all ears and locations — the loneliness of being away from home.

Photographer: David Burnett, Contact Press March 1971