Kuni Takahashi was born in Sendai, Japan. He studied photojournalism at the Maine Photo Workshops, the New England School of Photography in Boston and the Eddie Adams Workshop in New York. He joined the Chicago Tribune as a staff photographer in 2004 after spending eight years as a staff photographer at the Boston Herald. He relocated to Mumbai, India in 2009.

Takahashi has covered major domestic and international events and won many photography awards, including in competitions by World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International (POYi), National Press Photographers Association. He was also named as Boston Press Photographers Association’s Photographer of the Year in 1996 and 2003.