Tim Hetherington's last photo - Magnum Archive

Magnum, who now distribute Tim Hetherington’s work (not without controversy), have just made available in their archive The Libya Negs: Tim Hetherington’s Last Images. Included in the selection is an image captioned “LIBYA. Misurata. April 20, 2011. Tim’s last photograph.” (screenshot above). Some of these photos were published by Newsweek earlier.

Hetherington was killed alongside Chris Hondros last April while working in Libya. Consider contributing to the Chris Hondros Fund or the organizations listed here.

Tim Hetherington archive at Magnum Photos

Magnum has become the overseer of much of Tim Hetherington’s photography, and you can see some 480 of his pictures there now. And while this is a departure from Hetherington’s previous relationship with Panos Pictures, BJP reports that the new arrangement is in line with Hetherington’s and his family’s wishes.

Also of note, Magnum has been distributing an archive of Libyan secret service video and photographs that was recovered by Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch and given to Hetherington and Magnum photographer Thomas Dworzak to determine the best way to preserve and distribute the materials. The work is credited “Collection Thomas Dworzak for Human Rights Watch” in the Magnum archive (here’s a few example images, though I imagine better scans will eventually be available), despite the involvement of Hetherington and Bouckaert in the find. David Campbell questioned this credit and the notion of licensing such images for money, and Magnum released a statement in response.

Lens has also recently compiled some of Hetherington’s work from Libya and links to recent remembrances of and interviews with him, including a reminder of Hetherington’s excellent book: Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold. World Press Photo has also begun an annual grant in Hetherington’s name. There is also a Tim Hetherington memorial fund designed to further the education of students at the Milton Margai School for the Blind in Sierra Leone. The Chris Hondros Fund has also been set up to continue the legacy of Hondros, who was killed alongside Hetherington in Libya six months ago. Please consider making a donation.

And if you’re in New York today, you can go to the opening of Visions: Tim Hetherington at the Bronx Documentary Center (614 Courtlandt Ave., Bronx, NY).

Meanwhile, condolences for Tim continue to be posted at timhetherington.org.

(Tim Hetherington previously on dvafoto)

VII - Questions Without Answers - published by Phaidon

VII Photo has just published will soon release a new book, Questions Without Answers: The World in Pictures by the Photographers of VII, and it looks like a doozy. Collecting the work of all of the full members of VII (less one James Nachtwey, who recently announced he has left the collective), the book is a compendium of stories from the past 20 years relating to our current political, social, and economic atmosphere. This book follows in the footsteps of previous VII joint publications such as War: USA, Afghanistan, Iraq and other books available in the VII store.

By the way, if you buy the book through Amazon, or anything else, after clicking the links above, dvafoto will get a small percentage of the purchase price that we put toward the cost of running the site. Thanks for the support!

Alan Chin - The 9/11 Decade - BagNews Originals

I lived on the Lower East Side, but I slept through the impacts of the planes striking the Twin Towers, and only the ringing telephone woke me up. -Alan Chin on “the 9/11 Decade”: Beyond Pushpins On A Calendar

On BagNews Originals, Alan Chin has just posted a cogent look back at his work over the past decade. The photos, as always from Chin, communicate more than they show, looking beyond individual events to a larger narrative. The text in this piece is worth a read, though, drawing direct relation between seemingly disparate events of international significance and Chin’s own life.

And while we’re on the subject of 9/11, be sure to check out Martin Parr’s excellent take on the merchandising of September 11.

Tim Hetherington - Libya, April 2011

More than anything though, Tim’s photos speak to what it means to be a man and how war often defines masculinity. “Photography is great at representing the hardware of the war machine,” he told his good friend and writer Stephen Mayes, a month before he died. “But the truth is that the war machine is the software, as much as the hardware. The software runs it, and the software is young men. I’m not so young anymore. But I get it. That’s really what my work is about.” -Newsweek editor James Wellford

Newsweek has just published Tim Hetherington’s final images, from Libya in April 2011. Hetherington and Chris Hondros were killed in Misrata, Libya, on April 20, 2011 (Remembrances).

Last week saw the release of snippets of video from a treasure trove of video and stills from the early days of Gaddafi found by Hetherington and Human Rights Watch researcher Peter Bouckaert after a Libyan state security office was burned and looted by protesters.

“I was photographing a funeral, and having spent most of the day with the women, I went to see the body being taken in. A man in the procession started screaming, ‘CIA agent’ and pointing at me. I was surrounded by hundreds of angry men, screaming in my face, grabbing me. I was terrified, and thought, ‘This is it. I am going to die.’” -Ami Vitale in The shot that nearly killed me: War photographers – a special report, the Guardian.

While we all know war photography is a dangerous business–and that’s come into sharp focus in Libya this year, especially–viewers often don’t realize just how quickly a situation can go from sort of okay to life-threatening. That’s what I find so compelling about this collection of short vignettes in the Guardian by photojournalists about the shots that nearly got them killed. Some are stories we know well but remain harrowing: Lynsey Addario talks about her capture and treatment in Libya earlier this year (previously on dvafoto); João Silva relates stepping on a landmine in October 2010.

But others offer a close look into the chaos of being on the ground in far-flung places with only a camera between the photographer and nearly certain death: Ami Vitale describes the time a mob in Gaza thought she was a CIA agent and began to attack; Marco di Lauro talks about when a grenade was thrown in his direction; John D McHugh writes about getting shot while embedded in Afghanistan. None of these are easy reading, and the article serves as a chilling reminder of what goes on before, during, and after a photographer gets the picture.

Teru Kuwayama has posted to Lightstalkers a pdf version of what will become a printed book of the Basetrack project. We previously wrote about the media experiment and its sudden end on dvafoto. Great to see more images from the project beyond what was published on their website. We’re looking forward to seeing the final version in hand, which will likely be great and something new from the looks of it.

“It all happened in a split second. We thought we were in the crossfire. But, eventually, we realized they were shooting at us. You could see and hear the bullets hitting the ground near us.” -James Foley, speaking to Global Post

Very sad news over the weekend as the world learned that photojournalist Anton Hammerl was killed in Libya in early April. Hammerl went missing in Libya in early April 2011 (previously on dvafoto), along with three other journalists, but there was no information about his whereabouts or condition. Late last week, word reached Hammerl’s family that the photographer was shot in early April and later died of his wounds. In the message posted to the Free photographer Anton Hammerl group on Facebook, the Hammerl family reports, “On 5 April 2011 Anton was shot by Gaddafi’s forces in an extremely remote location in the Libyan desert. According to eyewitnesses, his injuries were such that he could not have survived without medical attention.” On Hammerl’s photoshelter page, there’s a set of some of the photographer’s last-uploaded images from the war in Libya.

Donations to support the family of Anton Hammerl are being accepted through FreeFoley.org.

Accounts of Hammerl’s last moments, as well as remembrances and memorials have been appearing online. Below is a list of a few such accounts:

• British High Commissioner releases a statement on the death of South African photographer, Anton Hammerl
• Remembering Anton Hammerl
• Missing Photographer in Libya Is Presumed Dead
• And here’s to you, Anton!…by Edgar Martins
• An astute, thoughtful lensman: South African photographer killed in the Libyan desert had an artist’s eye
• The calling ~ IM Anton Hammerl ~
• Rights groups call for release of photographer’s body, investigation
• A Day Under Fire with Anton
• Libya: Release Body of South African Photojournalist
• Anton Hammerl Dead: Photojournalist Killed In Libya
• Hamba Kahle Anton
• Remembering Anton Hammerl and His Work in Libya
• Safrea calls for formal investigation into Hammerl case
• Photographer tells of desert ordeal
• Reporters’ release tempered by news of colleague’s death
• Anton Hammerl is dead – family
• Anton Hammerl Is Still Missing in Libya

Martijn Kleppe has compiled a good and broad-ranging list of writing and reactions about the images surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden. Included in the list is everything from satirically repurposed videos (above) to reasoned argumentation about whether or not the photos of bin Laden’s corpse should be revealed to the public. I love reading these debates when the issue is so close to heart, but I also take a page from Jon Stewart in thinking that I’m going to love reading a book about all this in about 10 years.

(via David Campbell on twitter)

I’d never met Hetherington or Hondros, but knew their work well. What’s clear from their work and what’s being written about them after today’s tragic news, though, is that they were among the best in the business. Here are some reflections that have been posted recently about the two (titles have mostly been copied and pasted):

• 2 Great photographers lost today in Libya – doing what they loved to do.
• The Toll Of Covering Conflict
• The News We Dont Want to Report
• Photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros killed in Libya [Updated]
• Recent photos from Misrata by Chris Hondros, including some taken before his death and another gallery of images from the day of his death
• Parting Glance: Tim Hetherington
• Tim Hetherington 1970 – 2011
• Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros Killed in Libya
• CPJ’s report
• IN MEMORIAM: TIM HETHERINGTON
• A TRIBUTE TO TIM HETHERINGTON 1970-2011
• Human Rights Watch on Tim Hetherington
• BagNews on Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington
• Remembering Tim Hetherington
• BJP’s coverage, including a photo of Hondros as he was receiving medical attention after the attack (and here’s a bit of discussion, including from the BJP writer, about the decision to publish that picture)
• A Photojournalist Remembered (Chris Hondros)
• ‘Restrepo’ Partner: War Photographer Tim Hetherington Never Thought Himself Brave: Colleague Sebastian Junger on Friend and Veteran War Photographer Killed in Libya Attack
• Parting Glance: Chris Hondros
• The Integrity of Tim Hetherington
• Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros Killed in Libya
• Chris Hondros, friend and colleague
• Honoring Hondros and Hetherington
• Tim Hetherington: A Vanity Fair Portfolio
• Remembering Tim Hetherington Through Restrepo
• Tim Hetherington in Memoriam
• Remembering Chris Hondros
• Almost Dawn in Libya: Chris & Tim, Heading Home.
• only the good die young
• Hetherington Family Releases Statement on Tim’s Death
• Liverpool-born war photographer Tim Hetherington killed in Libya
• A Loss in the Family: Photographer Tim Hetherington, 1970–2011.
• Chris Hondros killed in Libya | 4.20.11 (gallery of recent work)
• Update: Me and Joseph Duo by Chris Hondros (Hondros tells the story of finding and helping the Monrovian fighter in his well-known photograph)
• RIP TIM HETHERINGTON AND CHRIS HONDROS
• Tim Hetherington’s Last Interview
• on life and loss, death and photojournalism
• Tim and Chris
• Dear Tim
• Libya War Photographers’ Final Hours
• John Kerry recalls photographer killed in Libya
• The Most Important Rule of Photography
• Chris and Tim
• ‘There Were Four Times When I Could Have Died’
• For What It’s Worth (seems to have an image of the moment John Kerry mentions of seeing Hondros’ images on the campaign trail)
• Photojournalist Chris Hondros: At Work in Misurata, Libya
• Remember Chris Hondros
• In Memory of Chris Hondros
• KIA in the Age of Facebook
• Post-photography: Tim Hetherington’s living legacy
• Brooklyn flag @ half mast @ Brooklyn Borough Hall for Chris and Tim. RIP.
• Sebastian Junger Remembers Tim Hetherington
• Two War Photographers On Their Injuries, Ethics
• GRITtv: Christopher Anderson: Remembering Tim Hetherington
• Testimony from a Colleague: Looking Back at Tim Hetherington’s Liberia
• Chris Hondros in Memoriam
• Bound and Torn by War: Photographers Killed in Libya Called Brooklyn Home; Living in the ‘Kibbutz’
• Remembering Tim Hetherington
• Service Held for Combat Photographers and Doctor Killed in Misurata
• Tim Hetherington’s Diary: The short film that showed where he was going as a director.
• Journalists Killed in Libya, News Breaks on Facebook
• Photojournalists embark on final journey home
• No safe haven for reporters in Libya
• Benghazi port tonight. Libyans show respect&solidarity 4 Tim Hetherington & Chris Hondros
• Shooters: The City’s War Photographers Mourn Two of Their Own
• On the Media: War photographers change their focus
• Chris Hondros, RIP: How my best friend died in a combat zone
• A Group of Conflict Photographers Runs Out of Luck
• Libyan Rebels Dedicate Town Square to Journalist Tim Hetherington

We will update with more as we see them. Our thoughts are with their families and friends.