Bill Foley is a US photojournalist whose work has been recognized by several national and international awards. He is an alumnus of Indiana University

Indiana University

Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...

 and has worked on assignment in 47 countries, with a particular focus on the Middle East.

In 1978, Foley left Indiana University and took a $99 one-way flight to Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, where he began to tour Europe. In London, he met the famous photo editor Horst Faas

Horst Faas

Horst Faas is a photo-journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is best-known for his images of the Vietnam War.-Life:...

, then the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 photo chief for the Middle East and Europe. Faas sent Foley on assignment to Egypt, where he worked for the next several years, primarily covering the presidency of Anwar Sadat

Anwar Sadat

Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...

. Foley was present at the 6 October 1981 military parade in which Sadat was assassinated

Assassination of Anwar Sadat

The Assassination of Anwar El Sadat occurred on 6 October 1981. Anwar El Sadat, the President of Egypt, was assassinated during the annual victory parade held in Cairo to celebrate Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal. A fatwā approving the assassination had been obtained from Omar Abdel-Rahman, a...

, and photographed him only moments before his death. Foley titled the photograph "The Last Smile".

Working for Associated Press in 1983, Foley won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography

Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography

The Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography was awarded from 1968 – 1999, thereafter being renamed as the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography.-List of winners:...

 for the photographs he took following the massacre

Sabra and Shatila massacre

The Sabra and Shatila massacre took place in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon between September 16 and September 18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the camp...

 at Sabra refugee camp in Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

. He later described the scene he found upon entering the camp after the departure of the Christian militiamen who had been guarding its gates:

Nothing was moving. In a place where I had made many friends, and hundreds of photographs, it was many things, but never silent. Usually, kids were yelling and playing, women were talking, dogs were barking, cars horns were honking ... but, on this morning, all was quiet. I was surrounded by piles of what, at first glance, looked like garbage, but as my brain started to work, I realized it was piles of corpses. The smell of decay was everywhere, as many of those killed had been dead for over 24 hours, in the September heat.

From 1984 to 1990, he worked as a contract photographer for TIME

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

, covering stories including the Palestinian intifada

Palestinian Intifada

The Palestinian Intifada may refer to:*The First Intifada began in 1987. Violence declined in 1991 and came to an end with the signing of the Oslo accords and the creation of the Palestinian National Authority...

, Operation Desert Shield, the Iran-Iraq War

Iran-Iraq War

The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...

, and Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

's first visit to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. He has also done photographic project for the New York-based Children's Aid Society

Children's Aid Society

__notoc__The Children’s Aid Society is a private charitable organization based in New York City. It serves 150,000 children per year, providing foster care, medical and mental health services, and a wide range of educational, recreational and advocacy services through dozens of community centers,...

 and the UK-based Save the Children

Save the Children

Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...

.

For his efforts to free Hezbollah hostage and Beirut AP colleague Terry A. Anderson, Foley received one of the first International Press Freedom Awards

CPJ International Press Freedom Awards

The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honour journalists around the world who show courage in defending press freedom in the face of attacks, threats or imprisonment. Created in 1991, the awards are administered by the Committee to Protect Journalists....

 from the Committee to Protect Journalists

Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...

 in 1991, along with his wife Cary Vaughan

Cary Vaughan

Cary Vaughan is an American English language instructor and journalist best known for her role in the Terry A. Anderson hostage crisis in Lebanon. An instructor at the American University of Beirut and a part-time worker at Associated Press bureau there, Vaughan and her husband Bill Foley, an AP...

.

He currently works as an Assistant Professor of Photography at Marian University in Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

. He also taught for five years as an adjunct professor at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

’s Tisch School of the Arts

Tisch School of the Arts

Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....

.