Jose R. Lopez, a former staff photographer and picture editor for The New York Times, member of the photo team that won both Pulitzer Prizes in 2001 for the coverage of the 9-11 attacks, has covered assignments around the world. He spent 8.5 years based in Washington, DC covering the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and William J. Clinton. His assignments have ranged from Super Bowls, World Series, Summer and Winter Olympic Games to the end of the Bosnian War. Originally from Santa Fe, NM, Lopez graduated with a B.A. degree in journalism with a special emphasis in photojournalism. He worked for the Associated Press during his 4.5 years in college covering regional assignments, building a portfolio that helped him get hired upon graduation. He worked for The Albuquerque-Journal, the Albuquerque-Tribune, the San Angelo Standard-Times, the Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado) before coming to The New York Times in 1984. A member of the National Press Photographers Association and the White House News Photographers Association, his images have been added to the Library of Congress photographic collection.
Lopez was co-chairman of The New York Times Diversity council leading a group of NYT journalists and colleagues from the business side in exploring ways to enhance Diversity at The New York Times. Many of the best practices that they proposed to the Publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and the Executive leadership, were taken into consideration and implemented. He retired from The New York Times in 2015, and started his freelance career as a photo editor; his clients have included ABCNews.com, the NYT and the United States Golf Association (USGA) where he works in the photo archive of the USGA Museum, editing, researching, scanning, and helping to build their digital archive which is the largest photo archive of golf imagery. He has coached many photographers and young photo editors. In 2019, he was the first photographer ever to be granted permission to document and photograph the process of judging the Pulitzer Prizes competition, held at the Columbia School of Journalism in New York City; images were used on the website, www.pulitzer.org. Lopez lives in Tarrytown, N.Y. and is married to the author/journalist Caitlin Kelly.
Lopez is represented by Carolyn Forde.