Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer

Dickinson College

Dickinson College

College Photographer

College Photographer at Dickinson since 2021.

Associated Press

AP

Associated Press AP

9/11 Aftermath

On September 11, 2001, I was working as a staff photographer in the Philadelphia bureau of the Associated Press. Early that morning, reports came in that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At first, no one understood exactly what was happening, let alone the magnitude of the unfolding events. We didn’t even know for certain whether it was a tragic accident or the beginning of a terrorist attack.

I was sent to the area to help cover the developing story. At sunrise, I made my way to the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City and Bayonne, New Jersey. Looking across the river toward New York City, I saw a skyline marked by wreckage, drifting debris, and thick smoke. Yet amid the chaos, one image stood out: the Statue of Liberty rising in the harbor, her torch held high.

White House Intern

I was part of the Associated Press photo team covering President Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The story evolved rapidly and captured the nation’s attention, creating an intense demand for photographs of all the key figures involved.

Over the course of that year, images of Monica were often taken from several blocks away as she entered a federal courthouse, through the window of a speeding limousine, or amid chaotic media scrums. Access was a constant challenge. Lewinsky and her team of attorneys were highly elusive, making it difficult for the press to obtain clear photographs. When a usable image of her was made, it usually meant that a photographer had spent hours—sometimes days—waiting for the opportunity. This was long before cell phone cameras, when every shot required planning, patience, and a bit of luck.

On April 6, 1998, Monica appeared in Philadelphia at the Wanamaker Building with her attorney, William Ginsburg. As she suddenly emerged from the building’s front entrance and dashed toward a waiting car, I had a split-second opportunity to capture her on film—an unguarded moment, photographed from just a few feet away.

  • "Capture the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs"

  • "Moments: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs"

  • Pulitzer Prize Photo Exhibit, Newseum, Washington, D.C.

About

Dan Loh

About Dan Loh

Dan Loh is a Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer and former staff photographer for the Associated Press. He received the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for coverage that included a widely published image of Monica Lewinsky with her attorney William Ginsberg during the political scandal involving Bill Clinton.

His Pulitzer-winning photograph appears in books such as Moments: The Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographs and Capture the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs, and it was later featured in The Clinton Affair on Amazon Prime Video.

In 2001, while working with the Associated Press, Loh contributed to photographic coverage of the September 11 attacks. One of his images—a smoldering skyline of Lower Manhattan after the destruction of the World Trade Center—was later included in the Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror on Netflix.

After leaving the Associated Press, Loh spent roughly two decades working as a freelance photographer in New York City, while also teaching college photography. Since 2021, he has served as the College Photographer at Dickinson College.

Education:

His career spans news photojournalism, documentary work, teaching, and institutional photography, with major contributions to historic news coverage and visual storytelling.