James Nachtwey is an American photojournalist and war photographer.

He grew up in Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 and graduated from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, where he studied Art History

Art history

Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...

 and Political Science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 (1966-70).

He has been awarded the Overseas Press Club

Overseas Press Club

The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member...

's Robert Capa Gold Medal

Robert Capa Gold Medal

The Robert Capa Gold Medal is an award for "best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise". It is awarded annually by the Overseas Press Club of America . It was created in honor of the war photographer Robert Capa...

 five times. In 2003, he was injured by a grenade in an attack on his convoy while serving as a Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

contributing correspondent in Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

, from which he has made a full recovery.
Nachtwey started working as a newspaper photographer in 1976 at the Albuquerque Journal

Albuquerque Journal

-History:Its earliest predecessor, the Albuquerque Daily Journal, was first published on October 14, 1880. The newspaper is owned by the Journal Publishing Company, a family-owned business headed by president/publisher T.H. Lang; it is operated by the Albuquerque Publishing Company...

.