Close Up: Photographer Robert F. Bukaty

Associated Press photographer Robert F. Bukaty was born in Buffalo, N.Y. and studied photographic illustration at Rochester Institute of Technology. He joined the AP in 1993 and is currently a staff photographer based in Portland, Maine. 

A.P. staff photographer Robert F. Bukaty poses while shooting a feature photo at the Royal River in Yarmouth, Maine, Monday, Oct. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Bukaty has a reputation for making compelling images of ordinary every day life and he was part of the AP team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for coverage of the President Clinton impeachment story.

His major assignments include the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City, Hurricane Katrina, the Boston Marathon bombing and several presidential campaigns. In 2008, he had a special six-month assignment in Beijing, culminating with the summer Olympics, one of six Olympic Games that he has covered.

Below is a selection of Associated Press photographer Robert F. Bukaty's photography.

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Russell Norris, 15, of Tylertown, Miss., dives into the chilly Swift River at Coos Canyon in Byron, Maine. The canyon is considered one of the premier swimming holes in the U.S. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this March 16, 2012 photo, a couple plays the slot machines at Hollywood Slots, Friday, in Bangor, Maine. The Legislature is considering bills to expand gambling operations in Maine for the Passamaquoddy tribe, veterans organizations and other groups. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this Nov. 11, 2010 photo, the big dipper shines in the evening sky over a 212-year-old farm house in Brunswick, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this photo made Thursday, March 23, 2012, Bruce Steeves uses a lantern while dip netting fort elvers on a river in southern Maine. Elvers are young, translucent eels that are born in the Sargasso Sea and swim to freshwater lakes and ponds where they grow to adults before returning to the sea. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Arctic sea-smoke rises from Portland Harbor where the Bahama-based oil tanker, the Teesta Spirit, unloads it's fuel, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in South Portland, Maine. A stubborn cold front continues to grip the region. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this photo made Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, Nick Powers, 16, drives a 60,000-pound load of potatoes from a field to a storage facility in Mapleton, Maine. Powers is a junior at Presque Isle High School, one of a half-dozen schools that close for up to three weeks each autumn as kids help to bring in the potato crop. Educators and farmers are clinging to a tradition that give farmers much-needed help and puts money in the pockets of teenagers. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Utility crews prepare to work on power lines at dusk on Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013 in Litchfield, Maine, where many have been without electricity since Monday's ice storm. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this photo made Saturday, May 25, 2013, rain drops splatter a window on the schooner Mary Day during a cruise off the coast near Camden, Maine. Foul weather that started the holiday weekend moved out on Sunday, giving passengers a full taste of what Maine has to offer. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Artists perform during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Friday, Feb. 7, 2014. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Chinese paramilitary police officers take an oath to ensure safety during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in a drill outside the Bird's Nest National Stadium, Wednesday, July 23, 2008, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Erin Leighton sips a coffee while seated next to a frost-covered window at a coffee shop, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Portland, Maine. An arctic cold front with sub-zero temperatures continues to grip the region. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

William Dyer, Jr., of Gortham, Maine stays cool seated on his beach chair waist-deep in Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine, Thursday, July 21, 2011. The heat that has gripped much of the nation arrived in Maine on Friday. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this photo made Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013, lightning strikes north of Macworth Island in Portland, Maine. There were more than 1,000 lightning strikes per hour at the height of the storm, according to the National Weather Service. Trees and power lines were knocked down across the region, and an electric substation was damaged. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A woman digs out her car after it was blocked in by drifting snow during a blizzard, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, in Portland, Maine. The storm dumped more than 30 inches of snow as of Saturday afternoon, breaking the record for the biggest storm on record. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Tom Locklin, of Bethel, Maine, sips a beer as he looks out of his warm ice fishing shack on Christopher Lake where the temperature was 0 degrees at dusk, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, in Bryant Pond, Maine. "This weather ain't bad" said Locklin, "but if the wind was really blowing it would be brutal." (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A woman waves a large red ribbon in a sweeping figure-eights as part of her morning exercise at Ritan Park, Friday, April 4, 2008, In Beijing. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013, file photo, a makeshift memorial with crosses for the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre stands outside a home in Newtown, Conn., the one-year anniversary of the shootings. Connecticut authorities said they planned Friday, Dec. 27, 2013, to release state police documents from the investigation into last year's Newtown school massacre. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

In this photo made Thursday, June 26, 2014, Jen and Philip Mason, along with their sons Skyelar, left, and Trysten, watch the previews at the Saco Drive-In in Saco, Maine. Many in the movie industry feared the need to convert to digital could be the death knell for drive-ins, but drive-in operators are finding creative ways to afford the switch. Drive-in movie theater operators say more than 200 of the remaining 348 drive-ins in the country have made the expensive conversion from film to digital, which typically costs more than $70,000. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

The full moon rises behind Cape Neddick Light, also known as Nubble Light, Feb. 9, 2009, in York, Maine. The February full moon is known as the snow moon. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A pair of hikers brave 17 degree Fahrenheit temperatures at the summit of 6,288-foot Mt. Washington, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in New Hampshire. The duo, medical students at Columbia University, shed their clothes to streak the final 50 yards to the summit. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Kayla Raymond, 11, of Standish, Maine, surfaces through the bubbles after diving into Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine, August 2011. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

Ralph Russell, 76, is reflected in the front window of the post office, Thursday, June 19, 2014, in Port Clyde, Maine, where he has been cutting the lawn for almost 40 years. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A motorcyclist cruises past a maple tree displaying its bright fall foliage, Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, in Freeport, Maine. Southern Maine should reach its peak autumn colors in the upcoming days, according to the state's fall foliage report. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

An Atlantic puffin appears to imitate a decoy by standing on one leg, Monday July 9, 2007, on Eastern Egg Rock, Maine. Decoys were used to lure the gregarious birds ashore after they were re-introduced to the island following a 100-year absence. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

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