MD

About your local photographer

I was born in Milan in 1970 and have lived in Rome since 2000. I took my first photograph at the age of 14, during a vacation in Egypt. My mother taught me how to use the Olympus OM10 and frame my first landscapes. The attraction I feel for beauty as the truest expression of every form of life (and its reason for being) leads me to dream of a future as an art critic and to study Italian literature and art history at the State University of Milan and to the United States, where I enroll in a course in journalism at Boston University in Massachusetts. In 1995, I return to Italy and obtain a diploma in photography from the European Institute of Design in Milan. My decision to be on the scene at the most explosive armed conflicts of the 21st century is arrived at gradually. Between 1990 and 1994, I preferred using my Nikon to document the social issue of abused and abandoned children in India or the poverty of the inhabitants of Peru’s Andes mountains. At the same time covering fashion shows in Milan and Paris as assistant photographer and working as a photo assistant-editor at Magnum photos in Paris. In July of 1998, I pay my own way to the Kosovo, where I am one of the few photo-reporters on hand when the ethnic cleansing begins, just months after my arrival. My pictures from the front, selected every day from among thousands and printed every evening in a makeshift darkroom, meet with the approval of the Associated Press (AP). After the Kosovo, I become a member of the AP staff and cover the 2000 Jubilee of the Catholic Church from Rome. I moved to the city, serving as photo editor for the Rome office. In July of 2001, I covered the G8 summit in Genoa, and in October of the same year, two weeks after the attack on Manhattan’s Twin Towers, I decided to leave on my own for Afghanistan, entering the country on foot from the north, over mountains that reach five thousand meters in altitude. For the second time in three years, I find myself in the right place at the right time: I am one of the first Westerners able to cover the fall of Kabul from the inside, under the fire of the troops of the Northern Alliance, who take over the city on 13 November 2001. On that same day, a Taliban guerrilla fighter shoots at me from behind during an ambush. In September of 2002, I begin working under an exclusive contract for Getty Images News Service, covering the Middle Eastern conflict in the Gaza Strip and then I spend almost all of 2003 and 2004 in Iraq, documenting the American invasion and the drama of the Iraqi people. In all the stories I photograph, whether large or small, in Italy, Peru, India, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Gaza, Egypt, Kenya, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Uganda, Chad, Sudan, Jordan, Bosnia, Spain and West Bank, I always attempt to capture the sacred side of life and its deeper meaning. Along with my wartime coverage, I am on hand for more traditional, though no less hard-fought, clashes, such as the Palio of Siena horserace and the battle of the oranges that breaks out every year in the city of Ivrea in Italy at Carnival time. I also cover religious events, such as the Easter processions in Sicily, the procession of the snake-handlers in the Town of Cocullo and the Easter Processions in Seville or the religious life in Italy and the Vatican City. In 2007 I moved from Getty Images News Service to Getty Images Reportage for which I have been doing magazine assignment ever since.
And In October 2016 I joined Verbatim Photo Agency, the new subsidiary and venture dedicated to commercial assignment launched by Getty Images.

Awards, Publications, Exhibitions etc

Awards Received:
February 2002 - World Press Photo Award, Portrait Category: 2nd Prize Single with a picture of a street child in Kabul. October 2004 - Antonio Russo Award For War Reportage for his coverage of the war in Iraq. October 2005 - Editor & Publisher Photo of the Year Award with a picture depicting two Palestinian children looking at fellow Palestinians destroying a synagogue after the pull out of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip. November 2005 - Gran Premio Nazionale di Fotografia, Benevento in Italy. February 2007 - DAYS JAPAN International Photojournalism Award, Special Prize by jury with “The War in Lebanon” March 2007 - PDN's (Photo District News) Photography Annual Photo Journalism category Award with “War In Lebanon” April 2007 – The China International Press Photo Contest, Picture of the Year Award with “War in Lebanon” April 2007 - The China International Press Photo Contest, Gold Medal Award in the category of War & Disaster News Stories with “War in Lebanon” April 2007 - The China International Press Photo Contest, Honorable Mention in the category of War & Disaster News Stories with “Chad Refugees” April 2007 - Communication Arts Award of Excellence with “ Chad refugees” August 2007 - IPA, International Photography Award,1st place Editorial/Feature story with “Chad Refugees” August 2007 - IPA, International Photography Award, Honorable Mention, Editorial/Feature story with “War in Lebanon” February 2008 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 3rd place in the Human Condition Award with “Chad Refugees” May 2008 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, Honorable Mention in the photojournalism/Feature Story category with “Kosovo Divided Soul” May 2008 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, Honorable Mention in the Photojournalism/General News category with “British Troops in Afghanistan” May 2008 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, Honorable Mention in the Photojournalism/Feature story category with “Chad Refugees” May 2008 - The First International Biennial of Photography in The Islamic World in Tehran “Collection Photo, Superior Photographers" Award with” The consequences of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon” August 2008 - IPA, International Photography Award, Honorable Mention, Editorial/Feature story with “Casualties of the Nameless” August 2008 - IPA, International Photography Award, Honorable Mention, Deeper Prospective with “Casualties of the Nameless” August 2008 - IPA, International Photography Award,2nd place Editorial/War conflict with “Casualties of the Nameless” August 2008 - IPA, International Photography Award,3rd place Editorial/War conflict with “British Troops in Afghanistan” March 2009 - PDN's (Photo District News) Photography Annual Photo Journalism category Award with “British Troops in Afghanistan” April 2009 - American Photography 25 Anniversary Annual with “British Troops in Afghanistan” May 2009 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 3rd Prize in the photojournalism/People/Personality category with “Angelina Jolie in Afghanistan” August 2009 - FIOF Professional Photography Awards Orvieto 2009, Bronze Award, reportage category with “Casualties of the Nameless” August 2009 - FIOF Professional Photography Awards Orvieto 2009, Bronze Award, portrait category with “The Good Will Ambassador Angelina Jolie” March 2010 - PDN's (Photo District News) Photography Annual Photo Journalism category Award with “MERT in Afghanistan” April 2010 - American Photography 25 Anniversary Annual with “MERT in Afghanistan” May 2010 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2nd Prize in the Photojournalism/General News category with “Korengal Valley” August 2008 - IPA, International Photography Award, Editorial/2nd Place with “MERT” in Afghanistan. February 2011 - World Press Photo Award, Contemporary Issues: 1st Prize singles with a picture of “Niger Food Crisis” March 2011 - PDN's (Photo District News) Photography Annual web site category Award with his web site HYPERLINK "http://www.marcodilauro.com/"www.marcodilauro.com
April 2011 - Communication Arts Award of Excellence with “ Niger Food Crisis” June 2011 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 1st Prize in the Press/Feature Story category with “Niger Food Crisis” June 2011 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2nd Prize in the Press/General News category with “Haiti earthquake” June 2011 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, Honorable Mention in the Press/Feature Story category with “Kenya, Pumwani Maternity Ward” November 2011- 5th Annual Photography Masters Cup, 2nd Place - Merit of Excellence in Photojournalism with "Mert" November 2011 - International Loupe Awards, Bronze Award in the Photojournalism Category with "Niger Food Crisis" November 2011 - Exhibit A Photography Award 2010-2011, Emerging Photographer of the Year and 1st Place Winner of the Photojournalism Category with "Niger Food Crisis"
April 2012 - Communication Arts Award of Excellence with “Afghanistan for Der Spiegel”
April 2012 - Communication Arts Award of Excellence with “Yemen, Sand Storm for Outside Magazine”
April 2012 - American Photography 28 Anniversary Annual with “Yemen, Sand Storm for Outside Magazine”
June 2012 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 3rd Prize
in the Press/Travel and Tourism category with “Yemen, Sand Storm for Outside Magazine”
November 2012 -International Loupe Awards, Bronze Award in the Photojournalism Category with a picture of relatives assisting a young patient suffering of malaria from the story “AMREF operating in Southern Sudan” October 2013 – 6th Annual Photography Master Cup, nominees photojournalism category with “The lost Battalion”
April 2013 - American Photography 29 Anniversary Annual with “A wild country grows in South Sudan”
August 2013 - IPA, International Photography Award, Honorable Mention, Photo Essay and Feature Story
with “Club Atletico Boca Juniors”
August 2013- IPA, International Photography Award, Honorable Mention, Photo Essay and Feature Story
with “Arianespace Guiana Space Center”
June 2014- PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 3rd Prize in the Press/Feature Story category
with “Liberia a World Away”
August 2014- IPA, International Photography Award, Honorable Mention, Photo Essay and Feature Story
with “Liberia a World Away”
October 2014 - 7th Annual Photography Master Cup, 1st place Outstanding Achievement
with “A wild country grows in South Sudan”
April 2015 - American Photography 31 Anniversary Annual with “ Iraq, Legacy of War”
June 2015 - PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2nd Prize in the Press/Feature Story category with “Iraq, Legacy of War”
August 2015 - IPA, International Photography Award, Honorable Mention, Photo Essay and Feature Story with “Iraq, Legacy of War”
October 2015 - 8th Annual Photography Master Cup, nominees photojournalism category with “Liberia, A World Away”
June 2021 – Nominee for the Pulitzer in the category feature photography for his work about Covid in Bergamo, Italy with the Getty Images team whom covered the pandemic in the world.
Group Exhibitions: 2001 – Italy, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni “Afghanistan Fermo Immagine” 2002 – United States, New York, George Eastman House “Afghanistan” 2003 – United Kingdom, London, Proud Gallery, “Iraq” 2007 – United States, San Francisco, Academy of Art University “Only Human, a photographic narrative of the shared human experience” 2007- Switzerland, Zurich, Kunsthaus Glarus "Photographers in Conflict” 2008- Iran, Tehran, The First International Biennial of Photography in The Islamic World - "The consequences of the wars in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan from 2001 to 2006". 2011 – Italy, Venice, Collective Exhibition of the finalist of the 5th Iternational Award “Premio Arte Laguna” 2011 – France, Arle