It seems, according to NYT Lens blog, the quickest way to earn your photojournalism stripes
Written by duckrabbitis to get blown up.
I didn’t want to stick my neck out and write this but I’m worried. I’m worried that the romantic myth of the war photographer has not been diminished through the recent loss of life, but strengthened.
‘Guy Martin was propelled from his cohort of Promising Young Photojournalists into the honorable — if unsought — company of those who have been injured or killed in the line of duty.’
I’m not sure the word ‘honourable’ helps. It feels romantic, but maybe LENS (of whom I am a devoted fan) should also embed the video doing the rounds on youtube of Guy Martin being cut open by Libyan surgeons. It’s a reminder of the terrible risks some photographers feel compelled to make.
It’s clear the Libyan rebels are grateful to brave men and women like Guy who put themselves at risk to bring their stories to the world (braver then I’ll ever be). It’s important work but not more important than life itself.
Please no more pedestals. Otherwise more freelance photographers will die and be injured and potentially put the lives of others at risk taking photos that in the current climate may never be published (unless they themselves become the news story).
God speed Guy on his way home to the friends and family for whom this must have been a nightmare. The world needs his talent.
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (5 Comments)
I am deeply saddened and troubled by the loss of life in such a horrific situation as is now taking place in Libya. Earlier this week (I’m not ashamed to say) I was in tears reading about the civilian deaths in Misrata, about the surgeon who could not save his 5 year old niece’s life, about the 10 year old boy shot right through the head. I was shocked and devastated to hear the news of Tim and Chris’s deaths, neither of whom I knew personally but I am close to people who knew them and these two men are part of my immediate community, the community of photographers I am part of. It cut’s deep. Guy & Michael are also both part of that community and known to us, Nicole Tung, who is quoted in the lens blog is known to me personally and I worry about her safety often, so when friends and friends of friends get injured and killed it brings the war off the pages of the newspaper and into our lives, the lives of me and my friends.
Too many photographer’s think that to go to war is the way to earn their stripes, to get recognition. As if it’s the only story that matters. I used to think along the same lines. That war is an extreme human experience, the closest we can get to living on pure instinct, to living just to survive. It’s probably a good job I never acted on those thoughts. That would have got me killed for sure.
Though I have been caught up in violence, riots and civil unrest, I have never been in a war, and I doubt I ever will, unless it comes to me. I promised my wife I would never go and I don’t want some idiot with a rifle to take my kid’s father away from them, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t fascinated by it, by the things that drive people to fight and I take nothing away from those who put themselves in danger for the right reasons. People who take up arms because they feel they have no other option. People who will fight to the death to defend their family from harm.
Journalists don’t always have these motivations, but they too deserve our respect and support, if they are there to do do their job, to tell the story, to learn about and report on what is happening. To move us, sitting far from the battlefield to do what we can to bring the conflict to an end swiftly.
Tragically, many get wounded and some get killed doing this job.
I once heard someone say that it’s not how you die that’s important, it’s how you live.
For me, that is what we should remember this week, and that is what we should be celebrating.
Thanks for your honesty Tom.
Duckrabbit
I’m glad that you have flagged this up… I was really worried by this “honorable” statues of those injured…
I had a a short time doing a bit of conflict and people shooting at each other in the 80/90’s … I saw many young photographers (me being one) trying to make a name for themselves. Some did some didn’t some died some turned to drink and drugs and near bankruptcy.
Part of going to these places is that they can be rewarding and feel very real in a way that One cant experience in every day life… It is an adventure. But i had to ask myself what is it that I was doing there. What is it that I’m bringing to this situation. Does it have a utility beyond my own career. I come to the conclusion in 1999 that I wasn’t adding to the worlds understanding… And i was just too scared to go back and try… Some like Tim H who I knew from our days around Network Photographers… did have something to say and did extend my understanding of the world… This wasn’t just because he worked around conflict. It is because he was a great story teller…
I wish Guy and Michael all gods speed in recovering from this… I hope that this “honorable” club closes it doors to new members for a long time to come…
best jl