How much has life changed in 44 years? For the type of men depicted in a photograph that graced the April 16th 1965 cover of Life Magazine probably not much. Apart from advanced weaponry, new medical technology and evacuation techniques, a warrior is still a warrior. Although a draft existed in America and today's troops are "all volunteers", they were all sent by the US government to far away places to "defend" the American way of life. In addition, despite the current state of affairs in the US, that way of life is rather good.
What about the people producing the photography? Has life changed for them? Well I suppose you would have to ask one who captured imagery in Vietnam and still covers conflicts today. There aren't' too many of them left to offer us a comparative analysis.
During the war in Indochina, photographers came from all stripes. Some men were already renowned such as Robert Capa who lost his life after stepping on a landmine in Vietnam in 1954, and others never had even one shot published. One, Sean Flynn who disappeared in Cambodia, even had a famous father who knew a bit about film himself.
What Can We Compare?
Photography gear heads will be able to address the technical aspects of digital vs. film etc., but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about what today's conflict photojournalists can get access to these days. If photojournalism is "about the work", does the work look different to you? To me the imagery from the war in Iraq seems different from the imagery captured in Vietnam, but I'm not sure we get to see it all.
My fellow MONDO Library contributor, Zoriah Miller, was asked to leave Iraq by military commanders after posting photos on his Warshooters blog last year. He was told that the Marine Corps would not allow even the pants or shoes of an injured or killed Marine to be depicted in images.
According to a report filed from Baghdad by Michael Kamber, himself a photojournalist for the New York Times,
"On the morning of June 26, Mr. Miller, 32, was embedded with Company E of the Second Battalion, Third Marine Regiment in Garma, in Anbar Province. The photographer declined a Marine request to attend a city council meeting, and instead accompanied a unit on foot patrol nearby.
When a suicide bomber detonated his vest inside the council meeting, killing 20 people, including 3 marines, Mr. Miller was one of the first to arrive.
His photos show a scene of horror, with body parts littering the ground and heaps of eviscerated corpses. Mr. Miller was able to photograph for less than 10 minutes, he said, before being escorted from the scene.
Mr. Miller said he spent three days on a remote Marine base editing his photos, which he then showed to the Company E marines.
When they said they could not identify the dead marines, he believed he was within embed rules, which forbid showing identifiable soldiers killed in action before their families have been notified. According to records Mr. Miller provided, he posted his photos on his Web site the night of June 30, three days after the families had been notified."
Mr. Miller offered a statement:
Please know that my intent is to show the true nature of the horrors of war in hopes that this will deter others from committing or accepting senseless acts of violence.
So what is going on here? Did Larry Burrows have such concerns when he took the Life Magazine photo (above) depicting a wounded US soldier and a mate with a jammed M-60 when he was flying in that helicopter? Are today's photojournalists allowed to "tell it like it is" or does censorship exist on many levels.
When the New York Times showed four American contractors hanging on a bridge in Falluja 5 years ago on its front page it was rather painful but it showed the paper's courage and commitment to the truth regarding the incident. In fact, I felt the impact a bit more personally perhaps since one of the victims hailed from Honokaa, Hawaii, a small town where some of my relatives once lived and I enjoyed visiting. It brought the war in Iraq home to me. It seems to me that few media outlets in America have the bravery to publish such photos today. Photographs of Slumdog Millionaires are more in vogue.
Whatever the case, we all owe those who have risked their lives to tell us the truth with their cameras a debt of gratitude. One-hundred-thirty-five photojournalists lost their lives between 1945 and 1975 in Indochina and the count is still running in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Philippines and elsewhere.
The question is, does anyone care?
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
Stung Meanchey Landfill Phnom Penh Cambodia Photographs
What about the people producing the photography? Has life changed for them? Well I suppose you would have to ask one who captured imagery in Vietnam and still covers conflicts today. There aren't' too many of them left to offer us a comparative analysis.
During the war in Indochina, photographers came from all stripes. Some men were already renowned such as Robert Capa who lost his life after stepping on a landmine in Vietnam in 1954, and others never had even one shot published. One, Sean Flynn who disappeared in Cambodia, even had a famous father who knew a bit about film himself.
What Can We Compare?
Photography gear heads will be able to address the technical aspects of digital vs. film etc., but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about what today's conflict photojournalists can get access to these days. If photojournalism is "about the work", does the work look different to you? To me the imagery from the war in Iraq seems different from the imagery captured in Vietnam, but I'm not sure we get to see it all.
My fellow MONDO Library contributor, Zoriah Miller, was asked to leave Iraq by military commanders after posting photos on his Warshooters blog last year. He was told that the Marine Corps would not allow even the pants or shoes of an injured or killed Marine to be depicted in images.
According to a report filed from Baghdad by Michael Kamber, himself a photojournalist for the New York Times,
"On the morning of June 26, Mr. Miller, 32, was embedded with Company E of the Second Battalion, Third Marine Regiment in Garma, in Anbar Province. The photographer declined a Marine request to attend a city council meeting, and instead accompanied a unit on foot patrol nearby.
When a suicide bomber detonated his vest inside the council meeting, killing 20 people, including 3 marines, Mr. Miller was one of the first to arrive.
His photos show a scene of horror, with body parts littering the ground and heaps of eviscerated corpses. Mr. Miller was able to photograph for less than 10 minutes, he said, before being escorted from the scene.
Mr. Miller said he spent three days on a remote Marine base editing his photos, which he then showed to the Company E marines.
When they said they could not identify the dead marines, he believed he was within embed rules, which forbid showing identifiable soldiers killed in action before their families have been notified. According to records Mr. Miller provided, he posted his photos on his Web site the night of June 30, three days after the families had been notified."
Mr. Miller offered a statement:
Please know that my intent is to show the true nature of the horrors of war in hopes that this will deter others from committing or accepting senseless acts of violence.
So what is going on here? Did Larry Burrows have such concerns when he took the Life Magazine photo (above) depicting a wounded US soldier and a mate with a jammed M-60 when he was flying in that helicopter? Are today's photojournalists allowed to "tell it like it is" or does censorship exist on many levels.
When the New York Times showed four American contractors hanging on a bridge in Falluja 5 years ago on its front page it was rather painful but it showed the paper's courage and commitment to the truth regarding the incident. In fact, I felt the impact a bit more personally perhaps since one of the victims hailed from Honokaa, Hawaii, a small town where some of my relatives once lived and I enjoyed visiting. It brought the war in Iraq home to me. It seems to me that few media outlets in America have the bravery to publish such photos today. Photographs of Slumdog Millionaires are more in vogue.
Whatever the case, we all owe those who have risked their lives to tell us the truth with their cameras a debt of gratitude. One-hundred-thirty-five photojournalists lost their lives between 1945 and 1975 in Indochina and the count is still running in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Philippines and elsewhere.
The question is, does anyone care?
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
Stung Meanchey Landfill Phnom Penh Cambodia Photographs
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