Max Hirshfeld

ABOUT NEWS ILLUMINARIES ONE SHOT iPHONE HAITI DEEP IN THE SHED TRAVELS PORTRAITS NIGER OVERVIEW LOOKING AT LOOKING WORKING LIFE/STYLE

I grew up in a house full of books and music to parents who survived Auschwitz and settled in small town Alabama. My father, a child prodigy who played with The Warsaw Philharmonic at the age of nine, pushed me to explore the arts with a curiosity born from generations of intellectual and artistic pursuits. After five years as a staff photographer with The Smithsonian and a career-altering week at The University of Missouri photojournalism workshop in 1978, I opened a studio in Washington shooting for advertising, design and editorial clients.

In 1993, I accompanied my mother on her first return to Poland in forty-six years and photographed her attempt at closure. This rare gift gave me a fresh appreciation for the power of photography and added a new dimension to my work: respect for the great traditions of documentary photography wedded to a love of humanity. Years of practice in the analog world is now meshed with a loving embrace of digital technologies and keeps me thrilled to be still shooting.