Robert Karp Photojournalist
Rio de Janeiro
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The Miles Behind Me-My 50 Favorite Images
“I’m not interested in shooting new things, I’m interested to see things new.”
— Ernst Haas
August 19 marks World Photography Day, commemorating the 1839 announcement of the daguerreotype, one of the first practical photographic processes. Nearly two centuries later, it remains a day to celebrate the photographs and the photographers who document the world, preserve its stories, and capture moments that might otherwise be lost.
So, as I approach my 50th year in this beloved medium, I find myself looking back with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Photography has given me a life I could never have imagined, a front-row seat to history, a passport to places I might never otherwise have seen, and the privilege of meeting and photographing people whose stories deserved to be remembered. I chose this day to share 50+ of the photographs that mean the most to me from a lifetime behind the camera. I’m humbled to have had the opportunity to witness and photograph so many moments, and even more humbled that these images have become part of my life’s story.
The miles behind me begins in my hometown of Albany, New York, with a young Syracuse art graduate trying to prove that delivering pizzas for Domino’s was only a brief detour, not my destiny. My first real newsroom was the Albany Bureau of UPI, where I learned quickly that photojournalism wasn’t about pretty pictures (Thank you to my mentor Hai Do) it was about being there. Being early. Staying late. And pressing the shutter when the moment revealed itself.
From there I followed the road through the Auburn Citizen, the Herald-News in Passaic, the Newark Bureau of the Associated Press and eventually to the Daily Record in Morristown, where I would spend nearly 30 years as a staff photographer, photo editor and multimedia producer. Those decades weren’t a straight line, they were a long run through courtrooms, sidelines, back roads, parades, tragedies, championship nights and quiet human moments that never made the front page but never left me either.
Along the way, I photographed eight U.S. Presidents, covered the 1999 earthquake in Colombia’s coffee-growing region, and stood in Panama before the 2000 transfer of the Canal. I traveled across more than twenty-five countries and across countless New Jersey and North Carolina towns that shaped me just as much as any foreign assignment. But the truth is, the miles were never just geographic.
In 2019, I took a buyout and made this website with the help of my friend Tyson, thinking all my best work was behind me and I really wanted to remember those years. After following my wife south to North Carolina for an “Early retirement,” I could still hear my mother’s voice, practical, insistent, reminding me, “Robert, you have to keep reinventing yourself if you want to stay relevant.” She had been right every time before, and she was right again. Reinvention led me back to the field, back to curiosity and eventually to my second retirement in Brazil, a new country, a new rhythm, another chapter still unfolding with some of my best work seemed to still be ahead of me.
These fifty images aren’t necessarily the “best” I’ve ever made. They are the ones that stayed with me. The assignments that changed me, they are the miles behind me and the proof that the road though sometimes bumpy was worth every step.
A long way around to say how blessed I’ve been to bear witness. My deepest thanks go to the editors, writers, and fellow photojournalists I’ve shared the road with and to the many others who make a newspaper possible, the copy editors, designers, printers, and backshop crews who worked long hours behind the scenes. Looking back over my journey, I realize that while the photographs may have carried my name beneath them, none of them were made alone.
I thank the readers of the papers and publications that carried my work, those who were moved, inspired, or sometimes even angered by the images that came to define my career.
And most of all, I’m grateful to the countless people who allowed me the profound honor of making their photograph, often on the best or worst days of their lives. I’ve always tried to approach them with respect and humility, knowing their story mattered far more than the picture itself.
This September I’ll begin my final reinvention and my third retirement, traveling the world and sharing stories I’ve never told before. If you haven’t already, please follow me on Instagram @Photopup. I’d be honored to have some company along the way.
December 1977 —Jericho, West Bank—Do you remember the first image you made that made you fall in love with photography? Over a 40+ year career, I’ve been lucky to witness and photograph some incredible moments but my most memorable image came much earlier in an Israeli-occupied territory captured from Jordan in 1967, populated primarily by Palestinians when I was 17 years old on a Hebrew school trip with my new Canon TX.
That afternoon I came upon an elderly Palestinian man resting outside the Omiah Restaurant. The sign above him was written in Arabic, Hebrew, and English, reflecting the complicated reality of a region shaped by occupation and uneasy coexistence. He wore a traditional keffiyeh and leaned on a cane, while a bright 7-Up logo hovered behind him an odd juxtaposition of tradition and modern commerce.
I knelt down in front of him and made only a frame or two. Film was expensive then, especially for a teenage student.
When I returned to the United States, the photograph meant very little to me literally a small 3½ × 5 color print from Photomat, hardly worth a second glance. But the following year in college, I printed it as an 11 × 14 in the darkroom. That’s when it stopped me. I remember thinking at that one moment, this is what I want to do with my life.
In all the years since, I don’t think I’ve ever made a better single frame. That photograph still inspires me, every day, to keep working, and it quietly dares me to try to make something better. Every image that follows in this gallery and in my career, is, in some way, a testament to this 1/500 of a second.
August 1, 2025—Arpoador, Brazil—When I was a child visiting family in Syracuse, certain images from my Uncle Arthur’s LIFE magazines stayed with me. One in particular, a photograph by George Silk of Nick Beck of Honolulu catching a wave on his light board, planted a seed. Maybe one day I could do that for a living.
Nearly 50 years later, that image pushed me to try to make one of my own.
That morning at Arpoador, the iconic surf break between Ipanema and Copacabana, I watched as pro surfers ignored the usual left-hand break and began chasing barrels to the right toward the rocks. I repositioned, climbing the boardwalk and scooting down the rocks until I was parallel with where the barrels were forming. I leaned back against the stone and waited.
Gabriel Palmeira of Rio was the first. He eyed the wave, made the turn, and dropped into the barrel. I held the shutter and prayed for focus.
The result: a frame that, to me, feels like magic. A split second of mastery and motion frozen at 1/8000 of a second.
After a career photographing nearly every sport on the planet except surfing, and just a year after bringing a camera to the beach, I found my holy grail.
December 12, 2024—Arpoador, RJ Brazil—I’ve been fascinated by surfing dogs ever since a 2015 Instagram post about Bono the Surfing Dog, the chocolate Labrador from Leblon and a world surfing champion with more than 300,000 followers.
Nearly ten years later, I found myself in “retirement” on the beaches of Ipanema. One day I met a coconut-carrying, six-month-old Jack Russell Terrier who, in an unforgettable twist of fate, led me to his dad, Muay Thai fighter and surfer Bernardo Braga.
Three months later I sent Bernardo a WhatsApp: “If you and Benji ever surf again, let me know.” He’d been busy with students and other ventures but said he would. The very next morning a message popped up. They might surf in an hour if I was around.
I watched as Bernardo asked Benji in Portuguese if he wanted to surf. Benji bounced up and down, clearly saying yes. At the water’s edge Bernardo tipped the board and Benji climbed aboard. They pushed off and this time I was right behind them.
When a wave came, Benji rode it effortlessly, like a pro. Focused on my camera settings, I barely processed what I was seeing. I even resisted checking the back of the camera on the walk home, afraid the moment I’d imagined for nearly a decade might not be there.
July 21, 1985—Albany, NY—Taking a day off to suntan at SUNY Albany, I made one of my all-time favorite images at my first job as a 24-year-old photojournalist for @UPI. A University at Albany student “podiating” in the campus fountains with his best friend, “Captain Lou.” I watched as a friend handed him something that he placed on his lap—it turned out to be a tiny kitten, who immediately protested by running down his dad’s leg. Another great reminder to always carry your camera.
March 16, 2025—In 2025, Brazil’s most famous beach became a political stage, as the sands of Copacabana provided a recurring backdrop for Jair Bolsonaro’s fight to preserve his political movement and legacy. Three times that year, the former president brought thousands of supporters to the beach, demonstrating the enduring strength of a movement that refused to fade even as Brazil’s Supreme Court closed in on him.
The year began with Bolsonaro under mounting legal pressure. In February, federal prosecutors charged him with allegedly masterminding a plot to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election. In March, the Supreme Court accepted the charges, sending the case toward a historic trial that would test Brazil’s democratic institutions.
Six months later, in September, the Supreme Court convicted Bolsonaro of crimes including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic order, sentencing him to 27 years and three months in prison.
Now, the political torch has passed to his son. In July 2026, Flávio Bolsonaro was officially nominated by the Liberal Party (PL) as its candidate for president, positioning himself as the political heir to his father’s movement. His campaign has chosen Copacabana as the site of its first major official rally—a powerful return to the beach that became one of the defining stages of Bolsonarismo.
What began as a series of rallies on the sands of Copacabana has become part of a larger political legacy—one now being carried forward by the next generation of the Bolsonaro family.
March 24, 1989— Paramus, NJ—I had waited most of the morning with a reporter in a cold New Jersey spring rain when a car finally pulled up. Journalists rushed toward it. The passenger window rolled down, revealing the future Football Hall of Famer, who politely answered general questions for the TV cameras before turning his attention to me—the only still photographer—and saying firmly, “Don’t take my fucking picture!”
I stepped into the service station office and called my desk. “He seems pretty firm about not wanting his picture taken. What do you think?” By then we already knew LT was legally below the limit and was likely suffering from food poisoning when he was found unconscious and sprawled across the front seat of his truck on the Garden State Parkway.
My boss didn’t hesitate. “There’s already a national advisory saying there will be a picture. Go get the picture.”
So I headed back to the car. A couple of New York TV reporters were still talking with LT. As they finished and stepped away, LT and I locked eyes again.
“DON’T TAKE MY FUCKING PICTURE!” he barked, even more emphatically.
This was literally do or die. I raised my camera and—BOOM—the strobe fired, making the surreal moment even stranger as I captured the 6'3", 240-pound outside linebacker staring incredulously at the 5'8", 170-pound photojournalist who, against anyone’s better judgment, had just pushed the shutter on his Canon F-1.
I got exactly one frame before Taylor—displaying his 4.6-second 40-yard-dash form—was suddenly right in my face.
I explained it was a national news story and if he had a problem he could take it up with my editors. After calling me an “A-hole,” calmer heads mostly prevailed. Taylor climbed back into the car while his driver and two passengers hurled a few more obscenities in my direction.
I approached once more, hoping to explain my side and maybe find some understanding. Instead he reached down, grabbed a fast-food wrapper, and tossed it at me along with another curse. Instinctively I raised my hand; the wrapper deflected back into the car and landed on his lap.
I left with mixed emotions about making that image. I had a job. This was the story. Sometimes photojournalists don’t get to choose the pictures they’re asked to make.
About six weeks later, LT had his day in court and was acquitted of DWI. The real villain, it turned out, was acute food poisoning from some bad fettuccine with cream sauce he’d eaten on a flight.
“I feel happy. The justice system works,” a beaming Taylor said after his acquittal in a Saddle Brook Municipal Court trial that lasted less than four hours.
I considered introducing myself and pleading my case one more time—but decided it was best to let him enjoy the victory without reopening old wounds.
May 17, 2018—Mt Olive, NJ—A school bus taking children on a field trip to a historic site in New Jersey collided with a dump truck Thursday, ripping the bus apart and killing a teacher and a student. It was an extremely difficult scene to cover, both because of the content and the efforts by State Police, who did everything in their power to keep me from shooting the scene. I was one of the first photographers on the scene and immediately began taking photos, knowing the pushback we would receive from law enforcement.
Jul 4, 2000—New York City—In the year 2000, several cities welcomed the new millennium with Operation Sail, or “OpSail.” New York City joined the celebration on the Fourth of July, which unfurled as a tremendous celebration that was perhaps the greatest nautical spectacle to date. OpSail 2000, described as the greatest maritime event in history, drew well over 120 tall ships, more than 40 warships from the United States and 25 other nations, and tens of thousands of small pleasure craft. Crowds gathered to watch the antique vessels travel up the Hudson River, with thousands of spectators packed onto Intrepid. The event concluded with a massive fireworks display by Macy’s.
The day after the September 11 terrorist attacks, I went to the National Flag & Display Co. in Dover, New Jersey, where employees were working at a furious pace to produce and stack American flags for sale. The company understood that in the aftermath of the attacks, demand for the flag would surge across the country as Americans sought to display symbols of patriotism, unity and solidarity.
Inside the factory, the sudden demand was already visible in the enormous number of flags being produced and prepared for shipment, a remarkable glimpse of how quickly the national mood following 9/11 translated into an unprecedented demand for the American flag.
March 28, 2018—Madison, NJ—Joe Biden, speaking at Drew University, described a breakdown in the American political system that has given rise to what he described as “naked nationalism” and “senseless populism.”
January 1, 2024—A young man raises his fist holding a set of rosary beads as over 2 million revelers in Rio de Janeiro ring in the New Year with a massive fireworks show along Copacabana Beach.
April 20, 1985—Five thousand State University of New York at Albany students planned to rewrite the record books by participating in the world’s largest game of musical chairs.The purpose of the Guiness book of records day is to reinforce the Universitys unity and spirit. Students also attempted to break the world hot dog eating, shrimp eating and egg throwing records throughout the day•
March 4, 2014—High school student 18-year-old Rachel Canning, l, take the oath in Morris County N.J. Superior Court in Morristown, N.J. as her parents, Elizabeth and Sean look on. Canning is suing her parents for financial support and college tuition after she claims they threw her out of the home. Her father, Sean, says Rachel left on her own.
East Rutherforrd, NJ—On August 10, 2010, I photographed Brazil vs USA at MetLife Stadium. I captured a moment of an 18-year-old player named Neymar after scoring his first goal during his first cap as a member of the Brazilian National Team. I was so blown away by his performance that night, I Tweeted, paraphrasing music critic Jon Landau posting, “I have seen the future of Brazil soccer and it’s name is Neymar.”
March 7, 2028—Residents on Mills Street in. Morristown, NJ dig out their car after a nor'easter dumped over 30 inches of snow around the area.
July 25, 2018. East Rutherford, NJ—Mohamed Salah of Liverpool F.C. celebrates his goal vs. Manchester City as part of the International Champions Cup at MetLife Stadium.
February 9, 1992—Syracuse freshman Glenn Sekunda I was at my alma mater (Go Orange!!) Syracuse, NY for the weekend with reporter Chris Shaw to cover Sekunda, a Parsippany Hills graduate, all-time leading scorer in Morris County basketball history, recognized as the 1991 USA Today New Jersey Player of the Year. and of course home town hero. I was blessed enough to witness Sekunda, guarded by Seton Hall’s formidable 7 foot 2 in, 290 lb center Luther Wright, hitting the winning 15 foot shot in front of 30,000 at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome.
Sept 16, 2001---Just one moment in the week I spent in and around Ground Zero after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Cebter in New York City
March 11, 2012—Felix, an 11-week-old critically endangered Coquerel’s sifaka Felix is just one of 3,000+ infants born at the Duke Lemur Center since their founding in 1966!
April 23, 2023—A dog named SEVEN shakes off water from his fur after diving as Carolina DockDogs held their first members practice of the season at Indian Creek K9 Aquatics in Goldston, NC. Carolina DockDogs is a sanctioned affiliate club of DockDogs World Wide. Dock jumping, also known as dock diving is a sport in which dogs compete in jumping for distance or height from a dock into a body of water with competitions that include Big Air, Speed Retrieve, Extreme Vertical & Iron Dog.
May 14, 2016—Drew University's keynote speaker Kareem Abdul Jabbar is applauded after speaking during the 148th annual commencement ceremonies. Madison, NJ
May 17, 2018—A school bus taking children on a field trip to a New Jersey historic site collided with a dump truck Thursday, ripping the bus apart and killing a teacher and student, officials said.
The crash left the bus lying on its side on the guardrail of Interstate 80 in Mount Olive, its undercarriage and front end sheared off and its steering wheel exposed. Some of the victims crawled out of the emergency exit in the back of the bus and an escape hatch on the roof. More than 40 people were taken to area hospitals.
January 8, 2003—Firefighter rescues angel fish—Morristown, NJ
February 2, 2024—Practitioners of the Afro-Brazilian Umbanda faith make offerings during the annual February 2 celebration of Sea Goddess Iemanja
February 156, 2026—Imperatriz Leopoldinense parades on Carnaval presenting the theme “Camaleonico,” (Chameleonic) a tribute to singer and performer Ney Matogrosso, one of Brazil’s most influential and boundary-breaking artists. Drawing on his chameleonic career, the theme celebrates artistic freedom, transformation, and cultural expression through elaborate allegories and striking costumes. Founded in 1959 and based in the Ramos neighborhood, the nine-time Grupo Especial champion brings its trademark technical precision and narrative depth to the Sambadrome.
Bruce Springsteen performs on opening night of an unprecedented 11-show stand at the Brendan Byrne Arena as he launches his 1992–93 World Tour in support of his albums Human Touch and Lucky Town. The concerts marked a dramatic new chapter for Springsteen: following the breakup of the E Street Band, he was performing with a newly assembled group of musicians, including guitarist Shane Fontayne, bassist Tommy Sims, keyboardist Roy Bittan and drummer Zack Alford.
March 14, 2017—A Nor'easter blasts N.J. and the Northeast with heavy snow dropping nearly three feet on Morris County. Morristown, NJ
May 20, 2023—Captain Samuel "RaZZ" Larson showcases the unmatched maneuverability of the Air Force's 5th generation air dominance F-22 stealth fighter at Wings Over Wayne airshow at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base
September 8, 2021—Richmond, VA—At 8.55 a.m., the statue of Robert E. Lee was lifted from the pedestal from which he loomed as a symbol of white supremacy for 131 years on Monument Avenue in Richmond, VA. The Confederate statue, installed in 1890, was the largest remaining in the US. The 40-foot granite pedestal the Lee statue sits on will remain in place during a community-driven effort to ‘reimagine’ Monument Avenue.
Devon Henry, owner of the construction company that took down the massive statue of Robert E. Lee raised his fist as the statue was lifted from the pedestal from which he loomed as a symbol of white supremacy for 131 years on Monument Avenue, Henry faced death threats after his company’s role in removing Richmond’s other Confederate statues was made public the previous year.
July 9, 2022—Durham Bulls outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni gets a kiss for good luck from 11-week-old bat dog in training, Rivers at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
July 20, 2018—Taylor Swift performs during her Reputation Stadium Tour at MetLife Stadium on Friday in East Rutherford, NJ. July 20, 2018. East Rutherford, NJ.
July 25, 2018—Mohamed Salah of Liverpool F.C. celebrates his goal vs. Manchester City as part of the International Champions Cup. East Rutherford, NJ
August 6, 2022—13-year-old dock dog named Hazin wags her tail after grabbing a retrieving toy as Carolina DockDogs showcased talented canines during a competition at the NC Pet Expo in Raleigh, N.C.
August 17, 2011—Morris County, NJ, sheriff’s officers bag a stroller for evidence at the scene in Boonton where a mother walking with her husband and 3-year-old child late Tuesday night was shot and killed. The woman was fatally shot, and her husband was wounded as they walked with their child.
August 28, 2011—Jackie O'Connor, l, helps guide roommate Jennifer Schweizer down Hewetson Road in Denville, NJ. The two went to inspect their apartment to see if it had been flooded out as Hurricane Irene pounded Morris County with heavy wind and rain Sunday.
September 11, 2017—Paul McCartney plays the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ
Morristown, NJ—October 10, 2017--Resident Florence Konwickie lost everything as firefighters battled an early-morning three-alarm fire on Speedwell Avenue in Morristown, leaving her devastated as she watched the scene unfold.
October 19, 2019—Gun carrying Confederate supporter and anti-racist clash during rally in Pittsboro, NC
March 16, 2025—One of my favorite moments as a photojournalist. While photographing the VIP area at a rally, I heard a commotion and turned to capture Bolsonaro supporters using a Brazilian flagpole to attack a Lula supporter after the two sides taunted each other.
The image immediately reminded me of one of the images that inspired me to be a photojournalist, Stanley Forman’s iconic The Soiling of Old Glory, taken in Boston in 1976 during protests over court-ordered school desegregation. Forman captured a white teenager attacking Black lawyer and civil rights activist Ted Landsmark with an American flag. The photograph became one of the defining images of racial tension in America and won Forman the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography.
1999—Montenegro, Colombia— A man walks through the ruins of a house where he rescued seven children following a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that devastated the region. The earthquake, Colombia’s strongest in 16 years, killed approximately 1,900 people.
October 25, 2022-Dave Matthews sings during a ‘Get Out the Vote acoustic event’ at The Ritz in Raleigh, NC
October 28, 2014—Princeton, NJ—His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama bows to an attendee after his public talk, Develop the Heart at the Jadwin Gymnasium on his visit to Princeton University.
November 11, 2025—A juvenile Yellow-headed Caracara perches on the back of a resting capybara along the mangroves at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
November 19, 2024—French President EMMANUEL MACRON took a morning jog along the iconic Ipanema boardwalk, accompanied by his security detail, ahead of the second day of the 2024 G20 Summit. Macron is in Rio de Janeiro for the summit, where world leaders will gather on November 18-19 to address pressing global issues.
November 24, 2024—Tens of thousands gathered for the 29th Rio LGBTQIA+ Pride Parade on Copacabana Beach, highlighting citizenship, diversity and the fight for LGBT rights.
December 12, 2024—BENJI, a 4-year-old Jack Russell Terrier hangs ten at Arpoador. The surf pup started riding waves a year ago with his dad.
December 31, 2012—Jet Star, the most iconic symbol of Superstorm Sandy's devastation at the Jersey shore. Seaside Heights, NJ
September 11, 2011—9/11 Tribute In Light. New York City
1987—East Rutherford, NJ—Chicago Bulls legend, Michael Jordan dunks vs the New Jersey Nets. East Rutherford, NJ
July 4, 2001—National Movement leader Richard Barrett, tackles a protester who kicked over Barrett's sound equipment after passed himself off as a supporter early in the "Profiling Saves Lives" rally on the steps of the Morris County Courthouse. Barrett later wrote me complimenting me on the moment and saying I should win the ‘Nobel Prize’ for capturing him tackling a Fascist.
Pato, a striker for Brazil celebrates his first ever goal for the Brazilian National team at New Meadowlands Stadium vs the United States National Team.
2021—Washington, DC—Ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021, the U.S. Capitol was transformed into an armed fortress surrounded by seven-foot-tall non-scalable fences, razor wire, and 25,000 National Guard troops, following the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Houseless man Jimmy Simms stands outside the Salvation Army in Dover, New Jersey, beside a clothes bin he has turned into a makeshift home.
December 1, 1990—What been known as 'The greatest high school game ever played' Holder Eric Schaeb, l, and Mike Groh celebrate as Groh's 37 yrd FG with 0:01 seconds left in the game clears the uprights at Woodman Field in Montclair. Randolph beat heavily favored Montclair 22-21 to capture the 1990 Group 4 Sec 2 State Championship.
2000-New Jersey Devils Scott Stevens holds up the Stanley Cup for fans at a championship rally at the Continental Arena
1990—Stanhope, NJ—One of my favorite portraits came (again) out of just dumb luck, both of timing and the way the light happened to fall on the subject. I was scheduled to cover a boxing program during the Summer of 1990 at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ. We had heard that former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson might make an appearance. The timing wasn’t the best, Tyson had just lost the title (and his first fight ever) to Buster Douglas about 6 months before.
As I wandered around the restored 19th Century canal town in between fights, I saw a slight commotion in the distance. Following a faint light, I saw seated in a folding metal chair Mike Tyson, a larger than life character, looking very reserved and humble. As people shouted to get his attention, Tyson just sat quietly, not rude, just seeming to be lost in thought.
It was extremely dark with only a couple tungsten lights shining on him for the interview he was about to give. I pushed my T-Max to about 6400 asa and held my breath as I dropped to one knee shooting about three frames at around 1/30 sec. After the interview began, I left thinking I didn’t get anything worth keeping. Arriving back to the darkroom I push processed my film to the limit still, the negatives were very thin.
Making a couple prints I was shocked that I had indeed captured a moment. Something I hadn’t even realized while pushing the shutter. This is what Ive always loved about photography. From viewfinder to negative (or digital card) to darkroom or computer, sometimes you’re able to pull out something from nothing. And on this night twenty years ago in Stanhope, I was lucky enough to captured a sensitive, introspective portrait of the “baddest man on the planet.”