Biography

András D. Hajdú was born in Budapest in 1981, he now lives with his wife and two daughters in a village close to Budapest. He obtained a degree in English literature and wrote his thesis on American war photography. He works as a freelance photographer at present, he is an external lecturer in the photo reporting department of Budapest Metropolitan University, and Nikon’s ambassador to Hungary.

He has won twenty three awards with his work so far in the Hungarian Press Photo Competition, of which three were grand prizes. In 2015 he won the first prize in the prestigious Pictures of the Year International “feature picture story”. He has been awarded the Pécsi József Grant on three occasions, the Robert Bosch Foundation grant in 2012, as well as the Hégető Honorka multimedia grand prix twice. In 2013 he was the first to win the Hemző Károly prize. In 2018 he was presented the For Quality Journalism prize for a complex series of multimedia articles.

He has worked in many parts of the world over the last 15 years, from the Beijing Olympics via New York jazz clubs to the rainforests of the Congo. Besides the domestic press, he has also photographed for clients such as National Geographic, The Telegraph, Politico, Forbes, Bloomberg, the UN and Tages Anzeiger.

“I am chiefly interested in documentary photography, primarily in perpetuating Hungarian and Eastern European reality. My series focus on fragile life situations. In my work, I strive to develop as close and intimate a relationship as possible with my subjects, in order to produce profound and anthropocentric series. I frequently use multimedia tools in order to have a more complex, more intelligible approach. Many of my series span several years, which gives an opportunity for individual processes and tendencies to unfold more vividly for observers.”

SELECTED AWARDS AND GRANTS:

2018 Quality Journalism prize for a complex series of multimedia articles.

2017 Ezüstgerely Award, for feature sports photography

2015 – POYi (Pictures of the Year international) 1st prize winner (reportage division, feature photo story)

2004 – 2017 23 times winner of the Hungarian Press Photo Contest, including Photographer of the Year, André Kertész Grand Prize ( 2 times), Marton Munkacsi Prize for the best collection ( 2 times )

2013 Robert Bosch Stiftung

2009, 2010, 2013 József Pécsi Scholarship for Art Photography

2014 Károly Hemző Award

2013 and 2014 Honorka Hégető Grand prize – multimedia project, highlighting the problems of marginalised groups