ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Combat operations in the Chechen Republic and North Caucasus border areas.

AUTHOR
Vladimir Vyatkin, born into a family of a disabled WWII veteran and a medical nurse. Studied music, painting and geography, and did sports in his free time.

After graduating from a boarding school in 1968, he found a job at the Novosti Press Agency or APN (now Russia Today/Sputnik).

He served in the army from 1971 to 1973, after which he took night classes in newspaper journalism at Moscow State University (1975-1981). Upon graduation, he continued working at APN as an assistant to an artist and later to a photojournalist.

In 1976 he became a photojournalist at APN, specializing in photo series, photo stories and photo investigation.

His work as a photojournalist was greatly influenced by his knowledge of music, painting, history and literature.
Vyatkin spent much time studying the unity of form and substance and the relation between artistic and documentary elements in photography. He believes that the ultimate level of photo mastery is the use of many stylistic elements to clearly express the stated theme of a photograph.

He made many trips to war and conflict zones, took socially significant photographs involving public life and the environment and worked in the upper echelons of power, including in the Kremlin, the Government and the Parliament.

In 1987-1990, he prepared a photo album about the Soviet Arctic regions for a National Geographic project.

He has been teaching photojournalism at Moscow State University and a design academy since 1981.

He was awarded the title of International Master of Photojournalism by the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ) in 1985.

Vyatkin became full member of the International Guild of Mass Media Photographers in 2004 and has participated in all World Press Photo contests since 1974. In 1987, 1988 and 1991, he sat on the World Press Photо jury.

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