Renowned war photojournalist Paul Lowe dies in tragic attack on a California trail

Paul Lowe, a celebrated photojournalist best known for his powerful images documenting the Siege of Sarajevo, has died at the age of 60 following a fatal stabbing on a California hiking trail over the weekend, according to reports from the Associated Press.

Local authorities reported that a white male was seen leaving the scene and was later involved in a single-vehicle collision nearby. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has now charged Lowe’s son, Emir Lowe, with murder.

Paul Lowe earned global recognition for his documentary photography work covering the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s, a period marked by the brutal siege of Bosnia’s capital by Bosnian Serb forces following Bosnia and Herzegovina’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1992.

His photos captured the resilience of Sarajevo’s citizens, who faced near-impossible odds with limited resources. One of his most poignant images shows a young girl playing with a ball beside defense structures, an emblem of innocence and everyday life persisting amid conflict.

“I just happened upon the scene, capturing the ball being thrown up in the air as if this was any street in the world,” Lowe told The Guardian in 2022. “It’s such an ordinary thing for a kid to do, but it’s happening against the backdrop of the tank trap, a hint of the ever-present danger.”

Following the end of the siege in 1996, Lowe maintained a lasting connection with Sarajevo, splitting his time between Bosnia and the United Kingdom.

He had worked for the highly-regarded Panos Pictures photo agency for over 20 years, and was Course Director for the Masters in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication.

In addition to his groundbreaking photography, Lowe authored several works on photojournalism, including the influential Understanding Photojournalism, co-written with Jennifer Good, and Photography Rules.