Christopher Morris (born 1958) is an American photojournalist best known for his documentary conflict photographs, being a White House photographer, a fashion photographer, and a film director.
On March 4, 1991, near the front of the Persian Gulf War, his photograph of a U.S. Marine holding the American flag above his shoulders made the front cover of Life.[10]
During nine years, he covered the war in the former Yugoslavia.[6] In Perpignan, his photo essay won the Visa d'Or award.[11] However Grazia Neri wrote: "It was in Yugoslavia that the daily exposure to the war on civilians started to weigh heavily on him, on his person, on his soul, and on his photography."[6]
"To me, that shot[3] symbolizes the whole Yugoslav conflict of how emotional and how ridiculous the war was. You can really feel the boy's pain and the family's pain that's holding him."
About the famine in Mogadishu during the war in Somalia, he said that he did not wish to live again such an experience.[8]
In 1995, he captured movement in a photograph of a Chechen fighter running outside of the demolished presidential palace during the battle of Grozny of the first Chechen War: "At that moment that's the most dangerous place on earth. I'm not sitting there saying, 'Oh, I'm going to shoot slow shutter speeds and I'm going to zoom it!'" Morris said. "You're just shooting."[14]
In 2000, the second Chechen War was the turning point of his career of "war shooter":[8]
"With the vision in my mind of my 2 year old daughter at home whom I rarely had seen nor even photographed. This was the crystal clear moment that made me disengage from this type of photography as a profession."
On February 29, 2016, Morris was involved in an altercation with a United States Secret Service agent while photographing a Black Lives Matter protest at a campaign rally at Radford University in Virginia.[23] Morris cursed at the Secret Service agent moments prior to the physical confrontation. The agent grabbing the photographer's neck with both hands and threw him into a table and onto the ground.[24] While lying on the ground, Morris kicked at the agent.[24] Morris grabbed at the agent's neck which Morris stated was to demonstrate the choke hold he had just experienced. The Secret Service launched an investigation into the incident, a spokesman said, and would "provide further details as warranted once additional facts surrounding the situation are known."[25]
Books
In 2006, Morris published his photographic monograph, My America, a personal journey through portraits and landscapes into a Republican America. This book of photographies was produced while on assignment for Time covering U.S. president George W. Bush and those close to him.[n 2][27]
In 2012, Morris continued his series about the American society with his second book Americans.[26][28]
For Time LightBox, in 2013, Morris directed, edited and produced the short film Conclave about people waiting, in St. Peter's Square, for the announcement of the new Pope.[31]
In 2016, he introduced a new way to film the United States presidential candidates’ rallies using a high-speed camera, his short movies being played back in slow-motion.[32]
Fashion photographer
In 2008, his book My America is noticed by the editor in chief of the Italian fashion magazine Amica who hired him for a Ralph Lauren shooting in New York.[8][26]
"Fashion for me is about beauty and fantasy, all the complete opposites of my career, which dealt with the ugliness of war and the blind nationalism of politics. The real difficulty in Fashion is that it’s the complete opposite of journalistic work, which is based on interpretation of reality, with fashion it becomes an interpretation of fantasy."
At the Tampa Bay Times Forum, he attended the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa for a shooting featuring Heidi Harrington Johnson in the editorial Beyond the conventions ("Au-delà des conventions") of the French magazine L'Officiel Paris, issue #970, published in November.[34]
In 2013, Dior-clad Marta Dyks was his model during the Haute Couture shows in Paris for L'Officiel, issue #973 of March.[33]
In 2011, Monastery Girl featuring Ilaria Pozzi in Italy was a personal project.[8]
In 2015, Laetitia Casta opened her doors for him in Lumio about the Paris Match editorial The independent ("L'indépendante").[36] This French language weekly news magazine quoted the name of the photographer directly in the title of an associated article, attracting the attention of readers who wished to know more about him.[37]
Still photographer
In August 2015, on the shooting of the movie En Moi, Morris photographed the instant where the Dutch model Lara Stone is become actress for her first leading role of the woman. He captured on film the moment where the French actress Laetitia Casta is become film director for the first time.[38] He was the witness of the metamorphosis of the Japanese actor Akaji Maro in his role of the man of service into the butoh-dancer in the Palais Garnier where the French Danseur ÉtoileJérémie Bélingard interpreted the lover of the woman in front of the camera of the French film cinematographer Benoît Delhomme.[39]
Street photographer
In his early career, Morris often photographed candidly in urban settings, particularly in New York City. In 2014, his 1981 series from the New York Subway was published for the first time in Time. Over a six-month period that year, Morris had embedded himself in the subway system, often riding the trains alone, but other times riding with the Guardian Angels volunteer anti-crime group.[40]
"The images are from the time period 2003 to 2006, when the country was really heavy into blind nationalism. In this period I felt that much of the country had wrapped its eyes so tightly with red, white and blue that it went blind."
^ abMorris, Christopher (April 2001). "Battlefields". The Digital Journalist. Retrieved June 12, 2016. The image above is almost a self portrait...A portrait of a whole nation weeping.
^Kirkpatrick, David D.; photographer Morris, Christopher (October 28, 2007). "The Evangelical Crackup". The New York Times. VII. Retrieved June 9, 2016. That story was the centerpiece of the liberal writer Thomas Frank's 2004 book, "What's the Matter With Kansas?" He might have called it "What's the Matter With Wichita?"
^Morris, Christopher (October 26, 2007). "The Gentle Shepherd". The New York Times (video). Retrieved June 9, 2016.
^Morris, Christopher (August 23, 2015). "Laetita Casta "En Moi" avec Lara Stone" [Laetitia Casta "In Me" with Lara Stone]. ChristopherMorrisPhotography.com. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
