Chris Boot

Chris Boot (born 27 May 1960) is a British photography curator, book publisher, and has worked in a variety of other roles related to photography.

He was director of London’s Photo Co-op, director of the London and New York offices of Magnum Photos, editorial director at Phaidon Press, founder of Chris Boot Ltd. a photography book publisher, and is now executive director of Aperture Foundation.

In these roles he has commissioned, edited or published a number of noteworthy photography books.

Boot was born on 27 May 1960 in Kynnersley, Shropshire, England.

He has a BA in photography from the Polytechnic of Central London, and a BA in English literature from the Royal Holloway College, University of London.

Between 1984 and 1990 Boot was director of London’s Photo Co-op (since renamed Photofusion), an independent photography resource center and gallery.

• Bodies of Experience – Stories about Living with HIV & AIDS (Camera Work, 1989).

In 1990 he moved to Magnum Photos where he became director of its London and then, in 1995, of its New York office, until 1998.

• Humanity and Inhumanity by George Rodger (Phaidon, 1994).

• Living Apart by Ian Berry (Phaidon, 1996).

He was editorial director at Phaidon Press from 1998 to 2000.

• Israel, 50 Years As Seen by Magnum Photographers (Aperture, 1998).

• Boring Postcards (Phaidon, 1999).

• South Southeast by Steve McCurry (Phaidon, 2000).

While at Phaidon, he wrote and edited Magnum Stories; edited Robert Capa, the Definitive Collection by Richard Whelan and the Phaidon 55 series of books from 2001 onwards, which included volumes on Nan Goldin, Mary Ellen Mark, Shomei Tomatsu, Dorothea Lange and W. Eugene Smith and Walker Evans; and commissioned The Photobook: A History by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, Boring Postcards from the collection of Martin Parr, Outland by Roger Ballen, Snaps by Elliott Erwitt, and Heaven and Earth by David Malin and Katherine Roucoux.

In 2001 he founded Chris Boot Ltd. in London, producing and publishing some forty photography books independently until 2011.

• Phaidon 55 series (Phaidon, 2001 onwards).

• A Broken Landscape – HIV and AIDS in Africa by Gideon Mendel (Network/Action Aid, 2001).

His company Chris Boot Ltd., a London-based photographic publishing house and exhibition producer, launched in 2001 and operated until 2011.

• Heaven and Earth by David Malin and Katherine Roucoux (Phaidon, 2002).

• History by Luc Delahaye (2003).

• Our True Intent Is All for Your Delight (2003).

• The Photobook: A History Vol. 1 by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger (Phaidon, 2004).

• The Fat Baby by Eugene Richards (Phaidon, 2004).

• Magnum Stories written and edited by Boot.

(Phaidon, 2004).

It published Lodz Ghetto Album by Henryk Ross (2004) and Things as They Are: Photojournalism in Context Since 1955 by Mary Panzer and fr:Christian Caujolle (2005), both of which won the ICP Infinity Award.

• Lodz Ghetto Album by Henryk Ross (2004).

• Meetings by Paul Shambroom (2004).

• No Man's Land by Larry Towell (2004).

• Objects of Beauty by Joy Gregory (2004).

• Postcards Home by Ingrid Pollard (2004).

• Saddam Hussein Watches from the collection of Martin Parr (2004).

• James and Other Apes.

Mini Version by James Mollison (2004, 2006).

• Field Studies by Stephen Gill (2004).

• Tony Ray-Jones.

From January 2011 until May 2021, Boot was executive director of Aperture Foundation in New York.

When Boot left in 2011 his assistant Maxwell Anderson took over management and no new projects were initiated.

Chris Boot Ltd. published the following books of photography: