BIO | ABOUT

Portrait of Israeli photographer Ziv Koren

Ziv Koren has been a professional photojournalist for over 30 years. Today, Koren works for the daily "Yedioth Ahronoth", represents "Polaris Images" photo agency in Israel, serves as an ambassador for "Canson" fine art paper, for "Think-Tank Photo", as an advisor for "Canon Israel" and is working on personal projects worldwide.

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 photographer 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 a book of 304 pages, contributing to the Israeli public diplomacy.

His 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.

Koren has worked for commercial clients such as HP, Phillip Morris, AUDI, Canon, Volvo, Viber, Bombardier, L'Oreal and Red Bull. He was sponsored by Kodak for many years, had done a world-wide campaign for SanDisk and served as a Canon Ambassador - EMEA for 10 years.

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. He is also a frequent recipient of prestigious prizes such as the "World Press Photo Award", "Picture of the Year" – POYi (twice), Unicef POY, "Photo District News Award" (4 times), "Yann Geffroy Award" and "International Color Award" (twice) among others.

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.

During the last few years Koren is leading in association with Travelog Company the project "Around the World with Ziv Koren" – professional workshops for photographers around the globe focusing on the human condition aspect of the world we live in today.