Lucian Perkins
Lucian Perkins, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in biology, later studying photography with Garry Winogrand and working on the student newspaper. In 1979 he received an internship at The Washington Post, where he worked as a staff photographer for 27 years. He received the “Newspaper Photographer of the Year” by the National Press Photographers Association in 1994 for a portfolio that included projects in Russia and a behind-the-scenes look at the New York fashion shows.
In 1995 with Post reporter, Leon Dash, he won a Pulitzer Prize for their four-year study on the effects of poverty on three generations of a Washington, DC family through the eyes of the family’s matriarch, Rosa Lee Cunningham. In 1996 he was awarded the World Press Photo of the Year for his photograph of a young boy in war-torn Chechnya. In 2000 Perkins won another Pulitzer Prize along with two colleagues at the Post for their coverage of the Kosovo conflict.
While at the Post, Perkins covered major international events, including Russia since 1988, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Currently, Perkins is an independent photographer and videographer concentrating on multimedia projects and video documentaries while still pursuing his love for the still image. Over the years, Perkins has developed a preference for human interest stories, and is known for an approach that counterpoints a deep sympathy for his subjects with an ability to expose their hopes and foibles, and a style that combines formal clarity with an off-beat humor.
