15min news website (Lithuania).
Vidmantas Balkūnas is a Lithuanian press photographer and investigative journalist specializing in social issues, military conflicts, and disaster areas. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from Vilnius University and has been active in the media since 1997. Currently, he works as an investigative and features journalist at 15min. His articles, photographs, and photo essays have been featured in prominent publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. His footage has also been utilized by international agencies such as AFP and AP.
Balkūnas has reported from various conflict zones, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as covering the 2015 Maidan Revolution in Kiev. He has ventured beyond the Arctic Circle, working with cave explorers and mountaineers while documenting their adventures. In 2015, he reported on the migrant crisis by following asylum seekers from the Syrian border to Germany, and in 2016, he covered the situation at the Greek-Macedonian border. His photography includes sites of the terrorist attacks in Brussels and migrant camps in Sicily. In 2020, he documented the efforts of medical professionals in the red zones during the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted exclusive investigations into criminal gangs involved in illegal waste disposal, human trafficking, and financial market manipulation.