Portrait Photography by Oliver Morris

“Conflict is a word that the American photographer Oliver Morris knows well. Has was photo editing the Vietnam War for the AP (Associated Press) and religious conflicts in Ireland, more precisely in Belfast shooting for Time Magazine. But it was his portraits of famous people which have always portrayed the look of the conflict (if escaping the camera’s viewfinder, either staring) that gave the photographer notoriety. Portraits of the famous have became commonplace today, but look at the portraits of Oliver Morris, they can be very inspiring.” Brazilian magazine.


Oliver began editing and researching photographs - many from Vietnam - at the Associated Press in New York in the library of photography. After working briefly for two newspapers, he left for Belfast, Northern Ireland to cover the conflict for the Associated Press and TIME Magazine. Oliver photographed for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, SIPA Press of Paris, Fortune Magazine, Business Week, Pfizer, Atlantic Richfield, Lincoln Center, NASDAQ, Billy Joel, Foreigner…. In Washington, D.C. (1979-1982), he photographed at the White House, State Department and on Capitol Hill for TIME Magazine and the The Los Angeles Times. Oliver was a member of the WHNPA (White House News Photographers Association). Following Washington, he covered the cultural world in New York, exclusively, for the Los Angeles Times (1982-1985). Oliver later became a staff photographer at New York Newsday in New York City, the Features Photography Editor at Newsday, the Editor for National and International News & Features at Gamma Liaison (now Getty Images), a daily “Arts” Photography Editor at the New York Times, Editorial Director of Magnum Photos in New York and Director of Photography at the Washingtonian Magazine in Washington, D.C. Oliver has photographed in Europe and in East Africa - where he lived in Nairobi, Kenya - and West Africa. Oliver edited an historical 4 million African picture archive over a period of three years. Oliver was named “One of the 100 Most Important People in Photography” along with Annie Leibovitz, Richard Avedon; Irving Penn; Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue; Tina Brown, former editor of The New Yorker; Bill Gates of Microsoft; Maria Hambourg, curator, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art; Nan Goldin, artist; David Ross, director of the Whitney Museum, N.Y.