Greg Marinovich

Greg Marinovich (born Gregory Sebastian Marinovich, 8 December 1962) is a South African photojournalist, filmmaker, photo editor, and member of the Bang-Bang Club.

Marinovich was born on 8 December 1962, in Springs, Gauteng, South Africa.

He is the son of an immigrant from Korčula, Croatia.

In 1985 Marinovich took pictures of Archbishop Desmond Tutu at a church service in Johannesburg.

It was his first news event.

To avoid military service he left the country shortly thereafter.

He moved to Botswana.

At the northern border he met members of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO).

There started his interest to explore more the living conditions of people at times of political extremis.

Back in South Africa he worked for a hiking and safari company.

At this job, he learned as an autodidact how to write articles and how to become a photojournalist.

He also succeeded in finding jobs with Johannesburg-based newspapers as a photographer and sub-editing freelancer.

On 17 August 1990, Marinovich, who was 27 at the time, went to Soweto to cover the fighting in the Hostel War.

He sold the photos of the killings he witnessed to the Associated Press (AP) Johannesburg office.

From that day on, he regularly worked in Soweto, often working for the AP.

On 15 September 1990 Marinovich travelled again to the townships with an AP reporter from the United States.

The most notorious from this period was the photos of the murder of Lindsaye Tshabalala, a Zulu Inkatha supporter and burning of his body.

Very soon, he left Johannesburg for London where he received his first international assignment for Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in November 1990, and then for Budapest, Hungary.

He then flew back to South Africa and reported again about the Hostel War.

Marinovich has been shot and wounded four times while covering conflicts in South Africa and Afghanistan.

His main engagements as a journalist include:

In addition, he has been engaged for international assignment in various conflict zones including Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chechnya, Croatia, India, Mozambique, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia and Zaire.

The photos received the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 1991.

After the photos were published, the South African police tried to locate him as a witness to the killing, but failed as the photos credited Sebastian Balic.

Marinovich was not interested in being a witness, because of the risk associated, and outing by informants.

For the nature of his work as a non-black journalist in South Africa, and the process of resistance photography and censorship and challenges facing resistance photographers, he says race was a major factor, especially in the pursuit of journalists by the South African police and their arrest.

In his joint book with João Silva, he writes about his work:

Black photographers had the language and cultural skills and contacts in black communities that allowed them greater insight and access, unlike the whites, who hardly ever understood even one of the nine major black languages.

But black photojournalists were much more prone to harassment by the police - no white photographer was ever detained for 18 months in solitary as Magubane had been.

He co-authored the book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War (2000), which details South Africa's transition to democracy.

Marinovich was editor-in-chief of "Twenty Ten Project – Road to 2010".

It was an initiative of World Press Photo, Free Voice, Africa Media Online and Lokaal Mondiaal dedicated to reporting on African football, related issues and the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa from an African perspective.

Marinovich teaches at the Harvard Extension School.

He also teaches photojournalism and film at Boston University.