Emin Özmen was born in Sivas, Turkey. He studied Physics at "19 May?s University " in Samsun, before moving on to photographic studies at the "Marmara University" Fine Arts Faculty in Istanbul. Between 2007 and 2008 with a help from HSBC he published his first photo-book named “Anadolu ?nsan? /Humans Of Anatolia” and “Microcredit Stories in Turkey”, a compilation of stories of women who received microcredit within the scope of a programme in 26 cities in Turkey. in 2008 he started his career in Sabah, Turkish daily newspaper. Meanwhile, he received a degree at media photography and documentary photography in The University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria. His work on the draught in Somalia in 2011 was published by Turkuvaz Books. In the same year he worked on disaster of Tohoku Earthquake and economic protests in Greece. In the following year, Emin’s works depicting the Syrian Civil War was served and distributed to the international media such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, El Pais, BBC through Agence France Press. In 2012, Emin Özmen has been awarded the 2nd prize in the spot news category of World Press Photo and awarded by Turkey Photojournalists Association Special Award. He is the finalist of 2013 Frontline Club Photojournalism awards. In 2014 he has been awarded with the 1st prize of World Press Photo Multimedia contest and Turkey Photojournalists Association Special Award of the Press Photo of the year contest. Emin currently lives in Istanbul, Turkey and continues his work as a photojournalist at Agence Le Journal.
