Get To Know: David Gilkey

Scott Simon’s January 23, 2021 Weekend Edition Saturday program on NPR featured an interview with Alyda Gilkey on the work of her son, David. It’s a five-minute listen or a short read.

In short, David was an NPR staff photographer, so it was ‘way too easy to tease him about “putting photographs on the radio.” He considered his feet “the greatest zoom lens ever invented.” His deep need to “go out into the world and find out what’s happening” took him to war zones and other serious conflict situations. This resulted in his death in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan in 2016.

To see a compilation of his work, check out Pictures On The Radio, powerHouse Books, ISBN 9781576879511.

Lance Cpl. Anthony Espinoza, Bravo Co. (detail) by David Gilkey/NPR from Reading The Pictures website.