About the Author

An icon of world photo journalism, Russell McPhedran’s portfolio contains some of the most important news photographs of the 20th century. His big break was capturing the Buckingham's fire picture in Sydney 1968, which put my name on the map worldwide. He worked in Hong Kong, London and Sydney, often on overseas assignments. He photographed the good, the great and infamous, including the Beatles, the Royal Family and even Ronald Biggs in Brazil. In 1972 during a rest day for competition at the Munich Olympics, McPhedran captured one of the most dramatic images of the century, of a hooded Palestinian terrorist on a balcony at the athlete’s village. This image came to represent the age of terrorism. During a long an extinguished career McPhedran mentored scores of young photographers who are today some the industry’s leading figures. He set a standard of professionalism and self-starting, a way of working that has been the key to success of so many of the people he trained.