He became interested in photography during the school years, being a student he started working at Zarya Molodyozhi («Заря молодежи»).

In 1974, Zemlianichenko graduated from the Saratov State Technical University with a degree in engineering.

He has travelled extensively, covering news stories throughout the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, during the First and the Second Chechen War.

[2][3] He was one of five AP photographers who won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for photos of the Soviet coup attempt of 1991.

Zemlianichenko received his second Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for a photo of Russian President Boris Yeltsin dancing at a rock concert.