Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos is a photographic cooperative founded in 1947, notably in New York and Paris, with the aim of giving photographers the freedom to record what they judged important without submitting to the editorial agendas of magazines and newspapers. Its founders included Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David "Chim" Seymour and George Rodger, legends of photojournalism who wanted to retain copyright and control over their own images. The cooperative, owned by the photographers themselves, established high standards for independent documentary photography and photojournalism, combining testimony about world events with a distinctive personal vision. Cartier-Bresson articulated the influential idea of the "decisive moment", the instant when form and event coincide in a perfect composition. Over the decades Magnum recorded wars, revolutions, everyday life and culture across all continents, including events in Ukraine. The agency remains a model of ethical, authorial photography and one of the most prestigious institutions in the world of the documentary image.