Gerd Ludwig
Gerd Ludwig co-founded VISUM, Germany’s first photographer-owned photo agency, and has photographed for many international publications including Geo, Stern, Spiegel, Zeit-Magazin, Time, and Life, as well as photographing advertising campaigns. In the early 1990s, he signed on as a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine, focusing on environmental issues, and the social changes in Germany and Eastern Europe. This work resulted in the publication of his book, Broken Empire: After the Fall of the USSR, a 10-year retrospective published by National Geographic in 2001. Ludwig is perhaps most well known for his long-term coverage of the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Published by Edition Lammerhuber in May 2014, The Long Shadow of Chernobyl is a 252-page large format photo book, combining images from his 20-year-long coverage of the aftermath of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. Photo by Anthony Friedkin.
