Luc Delahaye

Delahaye, Luc (b. 1962), French photojournalist, who began in 1984, joining the Sipa agency in Paris. From the start he documented wars and conflicts. Within ten years he joined Magnum as a nominee, becoming a full member in 1998. In 1994, he signed to the US magazine Newsweek.

Delahaye has won numerous awards and also attracted attention in other ways. In 1999, with the philosopher Jean Baudrillard, he published L'Autre, a book of black-and-white headshots Delahaye says he ‘stole between '95 and '97 in the Paris Metro’; it resembles a blow-up of the little flicker books whose power resides in following an unexpected narrative invented by the viewer. Delahaye described the process as ‘all a sham, a necessary lie lasting long enough to take a picture’. Two years later he photographed a dead Afghan fighter, calling the picture simply Taliban, 2001. Its expensive acquisition by two American museums raised some eyebrows: ‘would they pay $15, 000 for the image of a dead American soldier?’ wondered New York Times photographer Chester Higgens Jr.

— Amanda Hopkinson