Unforgotten: Ancient Cities from a Distant Past

• Prize
  Gold in Book/Fine Art
• Photographer
  William Frej
• Agency / Studio
  William Frej Photography
• Technical Info
  Images Created With Nikon F, F3 (film) D800, D850 And Leica Q2 Monochrom (digital)
• Photo Date
  1972-2024

Imagine walking among and learning about 130 ancient cities in 25 countries across the world: from the Mediterranean to the Middle East, from Asia to the Americas. Some are world heritage sites, accessible to tens of thousands of visitors each year, and some are remote and seldom seen. But each ancient city from the distant past conveys a special place in the history of human civilization, and each presents its own story and sense of place. My 200 duotone photographs portray the soul of ancient cities, capturing their allure, history and abandonment, evoking a palette of lessons learned.

I have been photographing indigenous peoples' culture for over forty years, living in Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and Afghanistan. My work is represented in numerous public and private collections, and academic institutions throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, including the Asia Pacific Museum in Warsaw, San Francisco Arts Commission, Dumbarton Oaks, Spanish Colonial Museum in Santa Fe and special collections at Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Duke, Notre Dame and the University of New Mexico. My 4 award-winning photo books were published in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.