The Most Important Rule of Photography
As many others, I am devastated by the events in Misrata yesterday and the deaths of two great photographers in Chris Hondros, and Tim Hetherington.
They were dedicated and extremely talented men, courageous and compassionate.
My condolences go out to their families and close friends.
A few weeks ago on Facebook, I had an animated conversation with Teru Kuwayama, in which Teru talked about his own experiences in Pakistan, of hurtling down a mountain road with no seat belts, with the tragic death of his driver, and the unwillingness of news organizations to compensate the man’s family. Safety, said Teru, was the last thought in their minds.
Are photographers taking too many chances?
Looking at the last images of Chris Hondros , in which he accompanied Libyan fighters entering an isolated, burned out building to search room to room for loyalists, its hard understand why anyone would face those dangers of this sort. No shithole on earth is worth getting killed for, much less the burned out hulk of a building that Chris went into in Misrata. Knowing as many war photographers as I do, and something about the business, I am aware of all the conflicting emotions and thoughts that go into work with this level of danger. One of my first memories about photography was hearing about the death of family friend Paul Shutzer in a half-track in the Sinai Desert in 1967.
Competition in real, and either friendly, or not. Ego is real too. Wanting to do the right thing, and to be contributing to some betterment of the world, exposing injustice, all of these ideas are swirling about. And so is fun…..because as Eros Hoagland has told us, the reality is that despite everything, war can be fun. Even funny. There is no one motivation, or reality. Yet, facing down death is so much at the heart of the craft–its at the heart of the great war image. You photograph the man dying, or die yourself…….or both, as did Capa, and sadly, Eros own father, John.
Are photographers taking too many chances?
Its up the individual how far to go. I recall a story that James Nachtwey told me about a patrol that he was offered a ride-along in Sri Lanka, and how his instinct told him not to go. The patrol never returned. I have to ask whether it would be harder to make that decision of there were ten photographers there, and many were willing to take the chance, or didn’t share the same instinct. Yes, the benefits of working in a group are easy to understand, but there is a downside as well. And if safety is not a consideration, as my friend Teru Kuwayama has told me, then what is? Is war photography so much thrill seeking, with a moralistic rationale?
Then is financial need, photography is a business….some of the photographers in the Misrata group were working solo, with no assignment, or minimal backing as freelancers. My fear is that photographers will continue to push the envelope, feeding what I can only call the voyeuristic appetite of the public. I am willing to bet that there are images made of the deaths of Hondros and Hetherington. And what of that? If these pictures exist, to what standard are they held. Is it only the anonymous images of the dead that we had been so accustomed to seeing from Libya, like those taken by Michael Christopher Brown with his iphone, that are to be published? Or is there a bit of a double standard, or perhaps its the parallel worlds that Tim Hetherington depicts in his personal videos, that the battlefield has one set or rules, and that our lives in Brooklyn have another? What does this say about us?
The most important rule of war photography, or any photography is to come back alive……and the second is to be respectful of those that we photograph. Certainly Hondros and Hetherington were all of that. What they didn’t do is come back alive and that idea can not be lost on others who follow in their path.
Andy Levin
Best wishes to the families of these photographers.
Bill Rikard — April 21, 2011
[...] The Most Important Rule of Photography [...]
Remembrances, memorials, and thoughts on the deaths of Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros | dvafoto — April 22, 2011
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termpaperstar.com — March 20, 2012