Mohamed Amin

Mohamed Amin (Source: Wikimedia Commons, taken from http://saharanvibe.blogspot.com/2007/08/through-lense-of-mohammed-amin.html)On 29 August 1943, Kenyan photojournalist Mohamed Amin was born in Eastleigh, Nairobi. Amin's filming of Michael Buerk's report of the 1984 Ethiopian famine brought international attention to the crisis and eventually helped start the charity wave that resulted in Live Aid concerts.

Amin developed an interest in photography at school. He founded the Camerapix company in 1963 in Dar es Salaam and moved the company to Nairobi three years later. During the 1970s, he became one of the most relied-upon African news photographers, reporting on wars and coups all through the continent, and his pictures were often used by Western news media. Amin's most influential moment came when his filming, along with Michael Buerk's reporting of the 1984 Ethiopian famine brought international attention to the crisis and eventually helped start the charity wave that resulted in Live Aid concerts.

Apart from Ethiopian famine, he contributed exclusive photos of the fall of Idi Amin and of Mengistu Haile Mariam, and was author of numerous books, including 'Journey Through Pakistan', 'Pilgrimage to Mecca', and covered various themes like East African Wildlife and the Uganda Railway. Amin also published issues of Selamta, the Ethiopian Airlines in-flight magazine.

Amin died in November 1996 when his flight Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked and crashed into the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Selected publications

Kenya : through my father's eyes / Salim Amin. - Nairobi : Camerapix, [2018]

The Story of Mohamed Amin. -  [Place of publication not identified] : Master Publishing., 2013

African photography 1960 -2010 : a useful dream / Simon Njami, Simon; Mohamed Mo Amin. - Brussels : BOZAR Expo ; Milano : Silvana Editoriale, 2010, Visionary Africa

Tanzania : the story of Julius Nyerere : through the pages of DRUM / Annie Smyth; Adam Seftel; Mohamed Amin. - Kampala : Fountain Publishers ; Dar es Salaam : Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, cop. 1998

Railway across the Equator : the story of the East African Line / Mohamed Amin; Alastair Matheson; Duncan Willetts. - London : Bodley Head, 1986

Cradle of mankind / Mohamed Amin. - Woodstock, NY : Overlook Press, 1983

Oh quagga ! : thoughts on people, pets, loving animals, shooting them, and conservation / Ian Parker; Alan Root; Joan Root; Mohamed Amin. - Nairobi : Ian Parker, cop. 1983

Journey through Pakistan / Mohamed Amin; Duncan Willetts; Graham Hancock. - London [etc.] : Bodley Head ; Nairobi : Camerapix, cop. 1982

Pilgrimage to Mecca / Mohamed Amin. - London : Macdonald and Jane's, 1978

One man, one vote : a photo-record of Kenya's 1974 general elections / Mohamed Amin; Peter Moll. - Nairobi : East African Publishing House, 1975

Mzee : Jomo Kenyatta : a photobiography / Mohamed Amin; Peter Moll. - Nairobi : Trans Africa Publishers, 1973

See also “Filming on the winning side”. Kenya through the lens of Mohamed Amin (1943-1996).

Faces Of Africa - Mohamed Amin: The Man who Moved the World, Part 1 & 2