Muhammed Ali with fist, Chicago

Thomas Hoepker

Photographer and documentary filmmaker Thomas Hoepker helped define photojournalism in the 20th century. He was Magnum Photos’s first German member, eventually serving as the organization’s president from 2003-2006. Starting in 1959, Hoepker earned recognition as a photo reporter for German magazines, when he became a full-time reporter for Stern in 1964 and, later, the magazine’s art director. Hoepker frequently traveled on assignment to the United States, where he produced the photo series “Champ” —featuring legendary boxer Muhammad Ali —for Kristall magazine in 1966. His photographs of the September 11th attacks in New York have been seen around the world, and have sparked controversy. He is the recipient of the prestigious Kulturpreis of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie and a prize from the German Ministry of Foreign Aid for Death in a Cornfield (1988), his televised film about Guatemala.