On November 21, 1917, an outstanding photographer is born in Amsterdam: Sem (Samuel) Presser. Before turning twenty, he starts his own press photo agency, later earning widespread acclaim for his socially engaged photographs and becoming the Netherlands’ best-known postwar press photographer.
After two years of secondary school and then further general education, he works for a workwear company before becoming a jack-of-all-trades at the Vaz Diaz press photo agency in 1935. It is there that Presser discovers his talent; he works as a freelance photographer and, from 1937, independently under the name Algemeen Nederlands Fotopersbureau.
His breakthrough comes as early as April 1940, when he takes an exclusive photograph of a meeting between Prince Bernhard and Henri Gerard Winkelman, the Dutch commander in chief at the time of the German invasion.
During the occupation, Presser is active in the resistance, work that forces him into hiding in Arnhem in 1942. When the Battle of Arnhem takes place from September 17 to 25, 1944, Presser is there as a courageous photographer and serves as an official war photographer for the Allies. He is present when the Germans sign the surrender at Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen in the presence of Prince Bernhard, and he photographs defeated Germany.
After the war, Presser continues to photograph intensively, producing countless photo essays for Dutch and international media and campaigning for recognition and an improved social position for photographers. He twice serves as chair of the Nederlandse Vereniging van Fotojournalisten (NVF) and is active in several foundations and organizations with a similar mission, including World Press Photo.
Presser receives many photography awards, including the Zilveren Camera and the Gold Medal at the Venice Biennale. On the occasion of his 50th anniversary in 1985, he is honored with the Joop Alblas Prize.
Where Is He Now?
Sem Presser died on October 29, 1986, in Amsterdam, the city of his birth. This unforgettable pioneer of Dutch photography spent just over fifty years in the field, traveled the entire world from pole to pole, and left a collection of more than 300,000 photographs. His 3.65-meter-wide archive is managed by the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam.
