From 1978 to 1980, he photographed the revolution in Iran, and then returned in 1997 after a 17-year voluntary exile. The result of his journey was Iran Diary 1971– 2002, photographed and presented as a personal account. From 1983 to 1986, he travelled in Mexico, photographing the country in a way that came to define his style. This, too, led to the publication of a book, Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask.

From 1987 to 1994, from Xinjiang to Morocco, he photographed the resurgence of Islam, exposing the internal tensions within Muslim societies, torn between a mythical past and a desire for modernisation and democracy. At the turn of the century, Christianity became his focus as a political, ritual and spiritual phenomenon. From 2000 to 2002 he explored animism, but abandoned this project on the first anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York.

Abbas, a member of Magnum Photos since 1981, is currently working on the clash of religions, which he defines as culture rather than faith, and how it is replacing political ideologies in the strategic struggles of the day.

About his photography he writes, ‘My photography is a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity — the suspended moment — intervenes during action, in the viewfinder. A reflection on the subject precedes it. A meditation on finality follows it, and it is here, during this exalting and fragile moment, that the real photographic writing develops, sequencing the images. For this reason a writer’s spirit is necessary to this enterprise. Isn’t photography “writing with light”? But with the difference that while the writer possesses his word, the photographer is himself, possessed by his photo, by the limit of the real which he must transcend so as not to become its prisoner.’

Secharunputong has been on various committees and juries in Thailand and the region, such as the Bangkok Art Directors Awards (Bangkok, Thailand), Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (Pattaya, Thailand) and Citra Pariwara 2006 (Jakarta, Indonesia), and is an honorary consultant to the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand under the patronage of H.M. the King. In 2005, he was voted by Archive magazine as one of the world’s best photographers and his achievements have also been recognised in the book 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide (2004, 2006).

His greatest honour came in 2006, however, when he was named as a special photographer assigned to cover the 60th anniversary celebrations of H. M. the King of Thailand’s accession to the throne.

As a professional photographer, Simmons concentrates on photo-essay features and photography books. His book Tokyo Desire is a personal collection of colour images taken over more than 10 years. Simmons’s photos appear worldwide in leading newspapers and magazines such as Le Monde, GEO, Stern, Figaro, TIME, Vogue and Vanity Fair. He is a long-time photo-correspondent representing SIPA Press, an international agency headquartered in Paris.

Bohnchang Koo
In 1985, South Korean Bohnchang Koo left the secure comforts of employment in a German conglomerate to begin a career in photography. He made his way to Germany and enrolled in the Fach Hoch Shule in Hamburg, where he studied photography, and later, upon returning home, became a lecturer and professor of the subject. He has held positions at Kaywon College of Art and Design in Seoul, Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London and Pentiment (International Summer Academy for Art and Design) in Hamburg.

Koo has held over 20 solo exhibitions worldwide, from Korean to Japan, Germany, France, Denmark and the US. He has also participated in multi-photographer projects such as A Day in the Life of Japan and Toshodaiji 2010 Project, and published his own books, Revealed Personas, Portraits of Time and Koo Bohnchang.

In the 1960s, he was commissioned by Editions Rencontre in Lausanne to document European and African countries and was also a regular contributor to Vogue. In 1964, Barbey joined Magnum Photos, becoming an associate member in 1966 and a full member in 1968.

Barbey is a prolific author, often choosing to express himself in book form. He is known for his free use of colour, as shown in his books on the country of his childhood, Morocco — Fés, My Morocco and Essaouira. In fact, in 1999, the Petit Palais (Musée des Beaux Arts) of the city of Paris produced a large exhibition of his photographs taken in Morocco over 30 years.

Barbey is the recipient of many awards, including the French National Order of Merit, the Overseas Press Club Award and the University of Missouri Photojournalism Award.