War Photographer

[c.cloudwalker]

i plan on showing it to one of my intermediate classes which should be very interesting as well

Very good idea. I sent a copy to the group I was teaching in GA and some of them are now hot on the idea of shooting the city's first Pride Day parade. Which, considering the area, could turn into a kind of war zone.

But make sure and watch it first. I seem to remember you mentioning that you had some fairly young students. Some of the images could be disturbing to some people.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Hooligan Dan, while looking for stuff on the web I found out that Nachtwey left Magnum to create his own agency. It is called Agence VII and has an office in Los Angeles. Might be worth checking it out.

It also makes me wonder about Magnum. Why did he leave?

 

[Hooligan Dan]

Hooligan Dan, while looking for stuff on the web I found out that Nachtwey left Magnum to create his own agency. It is called Agence VII and has an office in Los Angeles. Might be worth checking it out.

It also makes me wonder about Magnum. Why did he leave?

Yeah, I know all about VII. They do some great work. Also incredibly difficult to become one of them. I chatted with Nachtwey's assistant a few months back actually. All the reporters and photogs at my paper were suppose to get in touch with a person we admire and get advice. Never got to Nachtwey himself but got pretty close. Oh well. :blushing:

Becoming an embedded photographer isn't that hard these days though. A former shooter for another local paper went to Afghanistan last year and told me how he got hooked up with an army IED sweep unit. Apart from the paperwork, he basically had to prove he was a pro, pass a background check, and pay for the plane to ticket to where they told him to fly.

If I could afford the ticket I'd do it now.

 

[Hooligan Dan]

Btw, have you picked up Nachtwey's book, Inferno? It's $150usd new but you can get them pretty cheap used. Got mine for 65. Well worth the money though. Amazing book.

 

[Warren Peace]

I got this as a present for my b-day and it is one of the best presents I have received. Very inspirational and is a must watch.

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

No hijack felt. Lol.

Anything that will take this thread back to the top of the pile is worth it it it helps make one more person watch the darn movie. Too few people have any idea what it really is to be a war photog. They have some kind of romantic idea of it but that is it.

Can you get this friend of yours to comment? I bet it would be interesting.

I wish he were a friend, but he is a customer that comes into the studio with his family. Unfortunately, I do not have his contact information because if I did, I would not only lose my job, but also have his wife after me! lol

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I wish he were a friend, but he is a customer that comes into the studio with his family. Unfortunately, I do not have his contact information because if I did, I would not only lose my job, but also have his wife after me! lol

Gotcha and, no, I wouldn't want you to lose your job. Especially not now.


Love your screen name btw. I obviously don't know what it means to you but, to me... I really liked Anne Rice's books and I love oriental food which the ricebowl part makes me think of, lol.

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

I wish he were a friend, but he is a customer that comes into the studio with his family. Unfortunately, I do not have his contact information because if I did, I would not only lose my job, but also have his wife after me! lol

Gotcha and, no, I wouldn't want you to lose your job. Especially not now.


Love your screen name btw. I obviously don't know what it means to you but, to me... I really liked Anne Rice's books and I love oriental food which the ricebowl part makes me think of, lol.

Well, I am actually preparing to move on to somewhere else, or just magically grow some balls and go freelance (photography, web and graphic design). That's an entirely different thread of it's own.

Thank you for the compliment of my name. Yes, it's in reference to my favorite author, Anne Rice. "Anne Rice" for the author, and at the time I created this screen name, which I use all over the internet, I had a betta in a fish bowl. Fish keeping is one of my geeky hobbies, and I am a moderator on an aquarium forum. Oriental food just happens to be one of the food groups I love.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Well, I am actually preparing to move on to somewhere else, or just magically grow some balls and go freelance (photography, web and graphic design). That's an entirely different thread of it's own.

Don't know much about you so it may not apply to your situation but those are the thoughts that crossed my mind when I read your post:

Freelance web and graphic design is fairly easy and cheap to start. It can also be started while holding a regular job depending on your energy level

Photography can get fairly expensive gear wise and it might be better to wait on that part of the equation until the design part really works well. At which point you can drive photo business to your design business...

As you probably know, there are millions of cheap photos to be had out there and you can probably get a good chunk of what you may need cheaper than by shooting it yourself.

Good luck with the business.

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

Thanks for the well wishes. I am currently freelancing, a full time student, have a job (looking for another as well), and a single parent. It's safe to assume I have the energy.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Thanks for the well wishes. I am currently freelancing, a full time student, have a job (looking for another as well), and a single parent. It's safe to assume I have the energy.

Lol, yes, I would say so.

 

[william Duke]

Great film. Soft spoken guy with powerful images. I was interesting to see how far he would go with the print manipulation. Anybody see the 17 min video of the shooting of the Reuters photographer on the wikileaks site?

__________________________
William Duke Photographic Illustration

 

[usayit]

Yes... the video was leaked... war isn't so glamorous in real life. If you going to pursue this, do it for the right reasons... not for reason people have conjured in their head via stories and movies. You just might have to face some of the ugliest parts of humanity. A good person to check out would be Kevin Carter.. his walk between being a photographer versus a human.. his pulitzer prize photo.. and the circumstances around his suicide.

The one thing you'll notice with Mr. Nachtwey is that he is in a conflicted world. He's in that world because it is calling but not necessarily because he likes being there.

btw... Magnum photos probably would be a tough way to get into it... try the media outlets. Except for the very early photographers, most come to Magnum through other media outlets...


Many photog's I've met are attracted to photography of the poor homeless just as they are attracted to war photography.... I generally see them doing it for selfish reasons.

 

[usayit]

Becoming an embedded photographer isn't that hard these days though. A former shooter for another local paper went to Afghanistan last year and told me how he got hooked up with an army IED sweep unit. Apart from the paperwork, he basically had to prove he was a pro, pass a background check, and pay for the plane to ticket to where they told him to fly.

If I could afford the ticket I'd do it now.

Wow.. this is surprising. I would imagine most soldiers on the front lines would hate to have to worry about some photographer getting in the way or slowing them down. Nor would I think the state department would want the media fiasco that occurs when a civilian journalist is killed.

I recall a few stories in the news of a few trying to do this, getting detained, and sent back home.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I didn't mean to imply that it is easy to get into one of those agencies. It is not. But it is doable. Of course, I don't really know what you have shot so far and if it would be enough to get you in. The problem is to prove yourself which is why I started by just flying into the country and started getting shots. It also helped that I was a bit nuts. Actually was a good candidate for not making it out. As talked about in the movie.

There are sometimes ways to find a free ticket. For example, when I was in Afghanistan (Russian time) I met a couple of young guys who were there on a humanitarian mission, bringing in food and cloth and school supplies. Nothing says you couldn't skip the flight back...

I have not seen Nachtwey's book but, to be honest, I don't usually look for this kind of books. I have seen enough of war. As I said in my original post, I was kind of tricked into watching the movie.


William Duke, unfortunately, there are quite a few of those types of videos. I saw my first one (film back then) in the early 70s. It was somewhere in S. America. It was also what got me interested in the idea of shooting wars.


usayit, a lot of good things are being done for selfish reasons. So what? As long as it gets done, I tend to not worry about the why. War photography is hard physically and mentally if you do it right so I will never discourage someone who is interested in doing it. We need those images. I'm probably wrong but I think they are our best chance to someday have a world without war. The only thing I make sure of when I talk to young people who are interested is to dispel the romantic myth. There is nothing romantic about war photo and the people with that idea are the most likely to either not get any worthwhile shots or to make it back in a body bag.


By the way, anyone ever saw the movie "Under Fire" with Nick Nolte? Just a movie, yes, but the basic theme was of incredible interest. I don't want to tell the story in case someone here has not seen it but it made me think long and hard about whether I would/could do what the Nolte character did. No one I know was ever faced with such a choice but the few close friends I talked about it with all agreed with me.