ABOUT

THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Before he was a photographer, Co Rentmeester was an athlete, competing as an oarsman for the Netherlands in the 1960 Olympic Games. He then moved to the United States, where he was a staff photographer for LIFE magazine from 1966 to 1972, and thereafter worked as a freelance photojournalist and commercial photographer. Rentmeester created some of the most memorable images of the twentieth century, including twenty-one covers for LIFE. While Rentmeester was covering the Vietnam War (where he was wounded by a sniper’s shot to his hand), his 1967 image of an American tank gunner became the first color photograph to win the World Press Photo of the Year award, photojournalism’s highest honor. In 2018, Rentmeester received the Lucie Foundation Award for outstanding achievement in sports photography. His books include Three Faces of Indonesia, Holland on Ice, and a monograph of his work, FootPrints. He resides in Westhampton Beach, NY.