Samuel Presser

Famous photographer. Has a website at http://www.sempresser.nl or http://www.sempresser.nl/sem_portal.html

On November 21, 1917 Sem (Samuel) Presser was born in Commelinstraat in Amsterdam. He was the son of Solomon Alexander Presser, a Jewish diamond cutter and member of the General Dutch Diamond Workers Association. After primary school, Sem spent two years at high school then a further three years of training at ULO Israel Joseph School in Manege Street. In 1931 he joined the (AJC) Youth Workers Central where he was very active.

In 1935, when Sem was only seventeen years old, he worked at the photo agency of Sieg Vaz Diaz. Here he discovered he had a talent for photography and from 1937 worked as a freelance photographer before setting up his own picture agency. During the war, he photographed mobilisatons and gets exclusive shots of Winkelman General, the commander of the Dutch land and naval forces, in a meeting with Prince Bernhard in the military headquarters in The Hague. These are published in Life magazine on April 13 1940.

During 1942, both he and his wife went into hiding in Arnhem, working undercover using the pseudonym William Jan Knol. He forged identity cards, illustrated two children's books (Ankie Ankie's birthday and has a busy day) and writes a summary of the war. Sem was arrested three times during this period.

After the liberation of Arnhem in April 1945, he moved with filmmaker John Fernhout to Brussels. There he is met by the Military Authorities and classified as a war photographer on the staff of the General Dutch Photo Agency (Anefo). In May 1945 he photographed the arrival of the Allies in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam. In June 1945 he made a photo report at the former concentration camp at Vught and in summer - commissioned by the Military Authorities - a photo series of political offenders imprisoned in the former concentration camp Amersfoort.

In early September he finished his engagement at Anefo and returns to freelance photography, moving back to Holland and living at Kerkstraat 195, Amsterdam. He enjoyed a distinguished career with many high profile assignments such as photographing Dutch immigrants in Australia at the request of the government, writing a weekly column in De Telegraaf and was awarded Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Dutch version of the British OBE). He was twice president of the Dutch Association of Photojournalists and received numerous photo awards including the Silver Camera. He died on October 29, 1986.

Translated from: http://www.kb.nl/galerie/kalender/jaar_2010/november/pagina/21.xml and the biography on his own website

Book online here: http://issuu.com/bintphotobooks/docs/sempresser and http://www.sempresser.nl/archief/boeken/halve_eeuw.swf

There is a Sem Presser Foundation Archive, set up to financially support projects and activities in the field of photography in the Netherlands (Dutch or relating to photography). Awards of up to €15,000 are available. It has supported endless projects that can be viewed here: http://www.sempresser.nl/stichting/projecten.html

Translated from Dutch Wikipedia entry http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sem_Presser :

Presser is one of the most prolific and famous Dutch post-war press photographers. Over a period of fifty years he took more than 300,000 photos. His work is characterized by social involvement and capturing ordinary people in their daily lives. But he captured celebrities like Pablo Picasso , Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren and other big names in the film world.

From 1948 to 1951 and from 1968 to 1981, Presser was chairman of NVF (Dutch Association of Photojournalists). He was also a jury member of the Silver Camera and was an active board member of the Foundation Burafo, the Federation of Photographers, World Press Photo, the Author Europhot Council and he was part of the Amsterdam art board.His archive is managed by the Maria Austria Institute / MAI in Amsterdam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Orange-Nassau

http://bintphotobooks.blogspot.com/2011/03/sem-presser-berlin-germa...

Every year World Press Photo invites a prominent speaker to give the Sem Presser Lecture on a subject of crucial relevance to the field. About the 2005 Sem Presser lecture: http://www.david-campbell.org/2010/11/04/sem-presser-lecture-2005/

Has a street named after him in Holland, presumably in Amsterdam.

Bruidegom
Samuel Presser
Beroep
fotograaf
Geboorteplaats
Amsterdam
Leeftijd
24
Bruid
Ruth Paula Schachno
Beroep
modiste
Geboorteplaats
Berlin-Schöneberg (Duitsland)
Leeftijd
21
Vader van de bruidegom
Salomon Alexander Presser
Beroep
hoedenmaker
Moeder van de bruidegom
Heintje Peper
Vader van de bruid
Robert Schachno
Beroep
Koopman
Moeder van de bruid
Luise Ziegel
Gebeurtenis
Huwelijk
Datum
25-03-1942
Gebeurtenisplaats
Nieuwer-Amstel
Echtscheiding 23-07-1951.