Internationally recognized as one of the leading photographers of his generation, Tomas van Houtryve documents critical contemporary issues around the world.

Initially a student in philosophy, Tomas discovered his interest for photography while enrolled in an overseas program in Nepal. Upon graduation in 1999 he was hired by the Associated Press and posted to Latin America. He was the first AP photographer to cover the military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and in 2002 he travelled to Kandahar to photograph families of the Guantánamo inmates.

Tomas left AP in 2003 to concentrate on large-scale projects, starting with the Maoist rebellion in Nepal. The resulting photos of the rebels' rise to power earned wide international recognition including the Visa pour l'Image-Perpignan Young Photographer Award and the Bayeux Prize for War Corespondents.

In 2006 Tomas was named one of PDN's 30 Emerging Photographers.

Over the following two years, he managed to slip into North Korea twice, posing as an investor looking to open a chocolate factory. The bold tactics gave him access to factories, hospitals and government offices, some of which had never before been seen by a Western photographer.

Tomas was awarded an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 2008 to continue documenting the world's remaining communist states. In 2010 was named the POYi Photographer of the Year.

Solo exhibitions of his work have been shown in Paris, New York City, Spain and Italy. His pictures and writing appear regularly in publications worldwide, including TIME, The New York Times, Newsweek, Le Figaro Magazine, Le Monde, The Independent Magazine, GEO, Stern, Smithsonian, Foreign Policy and National Geographic.

Tomas joined the VII Network in 2010. He is based in Paris.