Peter Menzel

Photojournalist Peter Menzel began his five-decade career shooting freelance assignments internationally, with a focus on scientific and technological subjects, from lightnng to landmines.  His work has been published in magazines and publications worldwide, including The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Life, Smithsonian, Wired, Time, Stern, and GEO. His photographs have won several awards from World Press Photo and Picture of the Year.

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In the early 1990s, after 20 years of assignments, Menzel wanted to develop larger, more thematic documentary projects, with a lasting footprint. He created what would become the book Material World: A Global Family Portrait, a work of comparison and contrast to show what 30 statistically average families in 30 countries owned and valued. He and 15 other accomplished photographers made portraits of each family with all of their possessions outside of their home. He then mortgaged his house for the first of many times to fund the project and found a publisher. The book is still in print.

He has co-authored five other award-winning books since then with his writing partner and wife, Faith D’Aluisio. Their exhibitions, from the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo to the United Nations in NYC, span the globe. To date, they’ve worked in over 100 countries and are writing their seventh book—about death rituals and remembrance around the world. 

Books
Material World: A Global Family Portrait
Women in the Material World
Man Eating Bugs: The Art & Science of Eating Insects
Robo Sapiens: Evolution of a New Species
Hungry Planet: What the World Eats
What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets