Tor Eigeland

In late 1967, photographer Tor Eigoland traveled for more than: a month, mostly by canoe, among the countless villages of southern Iraq's vast marshes. Now, 45 years later, writer Anthony Sattin calls his photographs a "rare and ethnographic record of a lost world. They bring us back to a time and place where people lived in harmony with their environment and respected the balance the natural world needs to thrive.'

In 1966, a Norwegian-born, Mexico-educated, Beirut-resident photographer and journalist named
Tor Eigeland took his first assignment for this magazine. Since then, his byline has appeared more
than 50 times on some of our most popular stories from around the globe. This is his story of one of his earliest assignments in the Middle East.

In 1966, a Norwegian-born, Mexico-educated, Beirut-resident photographer and journalist named Tor Eigeland took his first assignment for this magazine. Since then, his byline has appeared more than 50 times on some of our most popular stories from around the globe. Now living in England, he reflects on a few of his—and the editors’—favorite images.  

Strategic and even glamorous at times over 196 years, the American Legation in Tangier, Morocco, is today a neighborhood cultural center where young and old improve reading and writing and learn new skills.