Taken between 1994 and 2002, Bruce Haley's photographs reflect the complexity of land and life in the former Soviet Bloc. Decaying industrial sites and toxic landscapes, rich farmland and traditional villages: his images capture the joys and challenges facing these newly independent nations, as they struggle to leave behind the legacy of Communism for an unknown future.
Bruce Haley is the recipient of the Robert Capa Gold Medal, one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world. Haley received this honor for his coverage of Burma's bloody ethnic civil war.
This self-taught photographer with a military and police background began his career in 1988, covering Afghanistan's mujahideen resistance to Soviet occupation; shortly thereafter the legendary Howard Chapnick accepted Haley into Black Star, one of the industry's premiere photo agencies. With a primary focus upon war and its aftermath, Haley photographed areas of conflict in Asia, Africa, Europe and the former Soviet Union. His images (from Burma) of a grisly execution by stabbing shocked the world and engendered much controversy and discussion. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by the Baltimore Sun in 1992, for helping to break the story of the famine in Somalia. Over the course of 20+ years in the field, Haley has expanded his subject matter well beyond the battlefield; working across multiple camera formats, he has explored topics as diverse as the Bolivian altiplano, Eastern Europe's persecuted Roma (Gypsies), the decaying infrastructure of Soviet-era industry, and the timber and extractive industries in the American West.
Haley's photographs have appeared in books, magazines and newspapers worldwide, as well as in corporate publications and on CD, video and DVD covers; his clients include Time, Life, U.S. News and World Report, The London Sunday Times Magazine, Stern, Paris Match, GEO, Aperture, Esquire, Georgia-Pacific and the Chevron Corporation. Numerous magazines and newspapers have profiled Haley and his work, among them American PHOTO, (French) PHOTO, B&W, and UTNE Reader. His limited-edition portfolio, entitled 13 Million Tons of Pig Iron, was #1 on the Photo-Eye Bestseller List. In addition to publications, Haley's exhibition prints have been shown in museums and galleries all over the world.
