Jim Watson

Jim Watson lives in Centreville, MD, and is currently a photojournalist for the international wire service Agence France-Presse (AFP) based in Washington, DC. He joined AFP in November of 2001 after serving 8 years as a photographers mate in the U.S. Navy, ending his tour of service at All Hands Magazine. Upon being hired at AFP in 2001, Jim quickly used his past military experience to move himself into position to cover the Iraq War. He was embedded with the 101st Airborne on their journey to Baghdad and upon his return to Washington, was transferred to London where he covered politics, entertainment and sports on a daily basis for two years. After traveling throughout Europe to cover assignments, Jim transferred back to Washington, DC, and has covered a variety of events around the world, both as AFP’s photographer assigned to the White House Press Corps, and on general assignment for breaking news stories. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s New House School of Public Communication with a Bachelor’s of Science in photojournalism and holds a Master’s of Arts in New media Journalism with an emphasis on multimedia from Full Sail University. His pictures have been seen in countless articles, magazines and periodicals as well as Internet news sites globally and was won numerous awards during his 19-years in the industry. Always eager to give back to those he learned from, Watson has taught military photojournalism workshops and has judged the annual Military Photographer of the Year competition.