John Kaplan is one of America’s most accomplished narrative photographers, having been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, POY National Newspaper Photographer of the Year, the Overseas Press Club Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Outstanding Coverage of the Disadvantaged, and the Nikon Documentary Sabbatical Grant.

In 2019, he was asked to join the distinguished Nobel Laureates Forum Lectureship series held in China, the first non-Nobel Prize winner invited. Kaplan’s project on survivors of torture in West Africa was awarded the Overseas Press Club Award for Feature Photography and the Harry Chapin Media Award. The United Nations used Kaplan’s work to help facilitate contact with the victims.

His work is exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide including solo exhibitions in the United States, Peru, Bolivia and Korea as well as shows in China, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Korea, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

He has been featured on the PBS program, Now, on NPR’s All Things Considered, and on CNN’s Showbiz Tonight. His autobiographical film, Not As I Pictured, has aired nationwide on PBS stations in the U.S. and Canada.

Kaplan directed and produced his first feature length film, the autobiographical, Not As I Pictured: A Pulitzer Prize-winning Photographer’s Journey Through Lymphoma. He also directed the related short film, Pulitzer Pride: A Story of Redemption, Rock ‘N’ Roll, and the Pulitzer Prize. The films have won more than 20 awards and nominations including two prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Awards, and several Best Documentary honors.

Kaplan is a Fulbright Scholar and emeritus UF Research Foundation Professor where he has been named International Educator of the Year, and Teacher of the Year and Scholar of the Year by the UF College of Journalism and Communications.

Kaplan has twice been selected as a Pulitzer Prizes juror and has served as a judge for Pictured of the Year International (POYi). He has taught and lectured at many of the world’s leading workshops including the Maine Media Workshops, the Palm Beach Photographic Workshops, Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan, France, and the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China. He is the author of two books, Photo Portfolio Success and Mom and Me.