| Olivier Laban-Mattei |
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| France |
Olivier Laban-Mattei was born in 1977 and grew up in Paris, where he studied geography and sociology. He became a self-taught photographer after being influenced by the photos of the Vietnam war. His professional life began in 1999 in his mother's birthplace, Corsica, as a press photographer with a local press agency. In 2000, he started work for AFP, first as a stringer in Corsica then returning to Paris in 2005 to become a staff photographer.
In 2006, Laban-Mattei was awarded the prize for the best report of the year by Paris-Match, and in 2007 he received Georges Bendrihem prize for the best photo of a European political figure. He now spends his time for AFP between Paris and countries hit by the war or by natural disasters, such as Iraq, the Gaza Strip, Georgia and Burma.
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