Zésopol C. Caminha was born and raised in Lospalos, Timor-Leste and was an activist for the country’s independence. He studied Business Administration in Jakarta and was first introduced to photography during the resistance movement, when he smuggled a camera into the jail cell of former resistance leader and current Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão. He is a co-founder and former editor-in-chief of TALITAKUM, an investigative magazine published in Indonesia and Timor-Leste from 1998-2005. In 2005 with his fellow Timorese journalists and photographers, he founded and headed the Timor-Leste Photographers’ Association (TiLPA).

Zésopol has a Postgraduate Certificate in Journalism from the University of Queensland and was a Human Rights Advocate with the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University in New York. He has provided journalism and photography training to various groups in Timor-Leste and abroad, including young refugees in Kibondo, Tanzania. Most of his photographs focus on social justice and human rights. He is currently based in New York City.