For Tim and Chris
With all that’s been going on the last week, the Royal Wedding, the Storms, the back and forth over birth certificates and Libya …. etc.etc. I think it’s important to once again stand still and remember the two photographers who died doing what they did best last week.
They were two of the very few able to make lasting images. Pictures that hurt or move or change your mind, sometimes all at the same time.
Why they became war photographers I can’t tell. I’m not sure anybody can. It must be something deep inside, something hidden which no words can capture.
But what they did, what they gave us was crucial for our understanding of the situation. It could not have been objective - good photography never is - but it helped us widen our view.
Nowadays photography is going down the drain. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about. I mean real photography, where there’s talent, not just to capture the right moment with the right exposure. No. Composition, mood, getting the people, catching them the way they are, opening them through real and honest interaction not just selfish lust for fast documentation.
All of that - and more - these two men were capable of. Now they are gone. Leaving us with more folks pushing buttons, mere witnesses happy to have been there at the right moment, their camera on auto-focus.
If possible, please take the time to read the two articles published in Newsweek, look at the amazing work and take them with you, if only for a day.
R.I.P. Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros.