BIO | ABOUT

Portrait of Israeli photographer Ziv Koren

Ziv Koren has been a professional photojournalist for over 30 years. Today, Koren represents Polaris Images photo agency worldwide and works for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. He serves as director of education at Travelog photography school, an ambassador for Canson fine art paper, for Think-Tank Photo brand, and as an advisor for Canon Israel.

Koren's photojournalism and documentary projects focus mainly on humanitarian issues in Israel and around the world, such as natural disasters, conflicts, wars and pandemics. In the last three decades Koren covered some of the most dramatic events in the world and is considered to be one of the leading documentary photographers in our time. In addition, he has documented the Israeli Defence Forces and Elite Counter-Terror units.

On October 7, 2023, Koren was one of the first photographers to set out to the south of Israel to document the brutal attack of Hamas, the daily horrors and the war that followed. This documentary work has exhibited in dozens of cities worldwide and was edited into an encompassing book, contributing to the Israeli advocacy.

Koren's award-winning photographs have contributed to 160 solo and group exhibitions worldwide; at the Metropolitan Museum of Tokyo, at the Memorial Museum in Spain, at MAXXI - The National Museum of Art in Rome, at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, at Cui Zhenkuan - Art Museum in Xi'an, China, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and at The War Museum in Croatia, alongside leading Israeli Museums and among dozens of galleries around the world.

Koren's photographs are widely published in the international media including Time Magazine, Newsweek, the New York Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, Paris Match, Le Figaro, Stern, Der Spiegel, Corriere Della Sera Magazine and others.

In 2025 Koren won the prestigious ICP Infinity Award for his documentation of the October 7 attack on Israel and its aftermath. Throughout his career he has won over 50 awards, among them are the World Press Photo Award, Picture of the Year – POYi (twice), Unicef POY, Siena International Photo Award, Photo District News Award (4 times), Yann Geffroy Award and International Color Award (twice).

In 2000, Koren’s 1995 photograph of an exploded Israeli bus was selected as one of 200 most important images in the last 45 years by World Press Photo Organization.

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 universities worldwide. Koren has published 22 photography books thus far.