ABOUT
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 piano 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 escorted 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 in now meshed with a loving embrace of digital technologies and keeps me thrilled to be still shooting.
PUBLICATIONS + AWARDS
American Photography 2006, 2009, 2020
B+W Spider Awards 2011, 2015, 2016
Communication Arts Photography Annual 2002, 2013, 2020
Creativity 23, 36, 42
Eyemazing—"One Shot" 2006
Graphis Photography Annual 2015
One Eyeland— Best of the Best 2016
PDN Photo Annual 2002, 2004
Photo District News—"How I Got That Shot" 2012
Photo Lucida—Finalist 2019
PX3—Prix de la Photographie 2011, 2014
BOOKS
Sweet Noise: Love in Wartime
COLLECTIONS
Kreeger Museum of Art
National Portrait Gallery
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
All work © Max Hirshfeld 2020
All rights reserved