Seeing war: presentation, perception, and responsibility

 Via MEER Culture

June 9, 2025

"In the mid-19th century, governments and military institutions began actively employing photographers during conflicts to document their war efforts, images that were then used to cultivate a sense of national pride back home. Two well-known examples are Roger Fenton’s photographs of the Crimean War and Matthew Brady’s photographs of the American Civil War.

However, by the 20th century, with the rise of World War II, the technological boom, and the growing need for mass communication on a global scale, conflict photography began to shift toward a more raw and activist approach. It became widely used as a medium to expose concealed truths and reveal the horrors of war. This transformation became particularly prominent during the Vietnam War, where the power of photographic imagery played a central role in shaping public opinion and confronting audiences with the brutal realities of the conflict." -click to read full article

WWII  Eighty Years is on exhibit through June 22, 2025

“10 Frames Per Second” Podcast delves into the world of photojournalism through the lens of Ron Haviv, a renowned photojournalist and co-founder of the VII Agency

 Via 10 FPS Podcast    A Photojournalism Podcast For Everyone

April 17, 2025

 

On this episode of “10 Frames Per Second” we delve into the world of photojournalism through the lens of Ron Haviv, a renowned photojournalist and co-founder of the VII Agency. In this episode Haviv shared his journey, experiences, and his thoughts on the evolving landscape of photojournalism.

(We are honored to feature Ron Haviv's work in our booth C8 next week at The Photography Show Presented by AIPAD)

Getting Started in Photojournalism

Ron Haviv’s entry into photojournalism wasn’t a childhood dream but rather a journey of discovery during his university years. Influenced by hobbyist photographers in his life and a job with a fashion photographer, Haviv found himself drawn to the world of photography. His career took off with a chance encounter and a generous offer from fellow photojournalist Chris Morris, leading to his first international assignment in Panama.

The Impact of Photojournalism
 
Haviv’s work has had significant impacts, both positive and challenging: Panama: His photographs from Panama were used by President George H.W. Bush as part of the justification for the U.S. invasion, highlighting the power of images in political discourse.
Bosnia: Despite capturing evidence of atrocities, his photographs were initially ignored, underscoring the limitations of photojournalism in effecting immediate change.

The Role of Photo Agencies

Haviv co-founded the VII Agency to give photographers more control over their work and careers. The agency, which emerged at the dawn of the digital age, has adapted to the changing landscape of photojournalism by focusing on embracing digital technology to streamline operations. His non-profit initative, the VII Foundation, helps support long form journalism projects while providing a free education in visual journalism.

The Importance of Education and Mentorship

Haviv emphasizes the critical role of education in photojournalism. With the democratization of photography, it’s essential to train photographers in storytelling and business. This is so that they can tell great stories with their work and draw in clients that will be willing to pay for their pictures and services.

The Lost Rolls Project

One of Haviv’s notable projects is “The Lost Rolls,” a book and public archive exploring memory and photography. This project involved developing forgotten rolls of film, leading to deep reflection on the stories that were captured and what memories would have been attached to them. Now Haviv is encouraging the public to take part in the project by contributing their own lost rolls and stories.


Ron Haviv’s journey and insights offer a profound look into the world of photojournalism. From the power of images to influence political decisions to the challenges of ensuring their impact, Haviv’s experiences highlight the complexities and responsibilities of being a photojournalist. As the industry continues to evolve, education, mentorship, and innovative projects like “The Lost Rolls” remain vital in preserving the integrity and impact of photojournalism.

Monroe Gallery of Photography Announces Representation of Ron Haviv

March 24, 2025

Ron Haviv

Young displaced girls from Darfur, Sudan leave a camp to gather firewood for their families. The US government declared the war in Darfur a genocide. Darfur, Sudan 2005

Santa Fe, NM - Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce exclusive representation of acclaimed photographer Ron Haviv for fine art print sales.

Ron Haviv is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and an award-winning photojournalist. He co-founded VII Photo Agency and The VII Foundation, where he currently serves as a director. He is dedicated to documenting conflict and raising awareness about human rights issues around the globe. 

Haviv has produced an unflinching record of the injustices of war covering over 25 conflicts, and his photography has had singular impact. His work in the Balkans, which spanned over a decade of conflict, was used as evidence to indict and convict war criminals at the international tribunal in The Hague. President George H.W Bush cited Haviv’s chilling photographs documenting paramilitary violence in Panama as one of the reasons for the 1989 American intervention. His work is in the collections of numerous museums and he has produced five monographs. He also has provided expert analysis and commentary on current events for the media including opinion pieces for the Washington Post and The New York Times and spoken at TEDx along with numerous other lectures at Universities and conferences.

Monroe Gallery will exhibit several examples of Ron Haviv’s work at the 2025 Photography Show presented by AIPAD in booth #C8, April 23 – 27 at The Park Avenue Armory in New York City.

Monroe Gallery of Photography was founded by Sidney S. Monroe and Michelle A. Monroe in 2001. The gallery specializes in photography that embodies the universal understanding and importance of photojournalism. Monroe Gallery was the recipient of the 2010 Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Excellence in Photojournalism.

 

Podcast: Documenting war crimes with Ron Haviv

 Via iMEDd

March 12, 2025

Listen here.

Photography Exhibition: “A Brief Guide to Investigating War Crimes”

Documenting war and war crimes is a special segment of photojournalism. Tim McShea, a student at Johns Hopkins University, discusses with Emmy nominated and award-winning photojournalist Ron Haviv the stories behind some of his iconic photos (see here) during iMEdD’s International Journalism Forum for the Forum’s pop-up newsroom. Ron Haviv is a co-founder of VII Photo Agency & The VII Foundation.  

A selection of Ron Haviv's photographs will be part of the Monroe Gallery presentation at The Photography Show presented by AIPAD in booth C8, Park Avenue Armory, NYC, April 23 - 27, 2025.

Photo exhibition "A brief guide to investigating war crimes"

 

Via Stereosis

Photo exhibition "A brief guide to investigating war crimes"

The non-profit journalism organization iMEdD (incubator for Media Education and Development) presents the photo exhibition "A Brief Guide to Investigating War Crimes", curated by award-winning photojournalist and director of the VII Foundation, Ron Haviv and the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN).

The exhibition features photographs from the GIJN Guide for journalists on war crimes investigation, with the participation of VII photographers, offering a compelling visual narrative on conflicts, war crimes and their consequences. Through these images, the exhibition highlights the importance of investigative journalism, human rights research and legal documentation in reporting the truth. 

The exhibition will be hosted at Stereosis, Thessaloniki, from 7 to 20 March 2025. 

The opening will take place on Friday, March 7 at 20:00 and admission will be free. 

In the context of the exhibition, the educational pillar of iMEdD, Ideas Zone, organizes two parallel events:

Drawing on his experience in more than 25 conflicts, including his work in the Balkans used to convict war criminals in The Hague, Haviv will share knowledge on war crimes documentation, best practices for ethical reporting, and the role of visual evidence in legal liability. Participants will gain practical skills and a deeper understanding of the responsibility involved in recording history through the lens.

Date and time: Saturday 8 March 2025, 11:00-13:00 (Duration: 120')

Lecture by Ron Haviv | "Testimony 1989-2024"

A dynamic retrospective of conflicts from Central America and the Balkans to the Arab Spring and Ukraine. Through short films and personal reflections, Haviv explores the role of the photographer, the consequences of war and the responsibility of being a martyr.

Date & Time: Sunday 9 March 2025, 11:00-13:00 (Duration: 120')

Admission is free. Due to limited seats, the workshop will be on a first-come, first-served basis and the lecture will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

New York Times: From Sandy Hook to Uvalde, the Violent Images Never Seen

 Via The New York Times

May 30, 2022

Frustrated Americans ask whether the release of graphic photos of gun violence would lead to better policy. But which photos, and who decides?

"For a culture so steeped in violence, we spend a lot of time preventing anyone from actually seeing that violence. Something else is going on here, and I’m not sure it’s just that we’re trying to be sensitive.”

--Nina Berman, a documentary photographer, filmmaker and Columbia journalism professor.

Full article here.

Victims of Armed Conflict in Colombia the Focus Photography Exhibition in Santa Fe

Santa Fe, N.M.—September 7 , 2016—The Photography Department at Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD) is proud to announce an exhibition entitled “Drifting Away/Río Abajo” by Colombian visual artist Erika Diettes. The exhibition, which is part of SFUAD’s Artists for Positive Social Change™ series, opens Sept. 16 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Atrium Gallery at the Marion Center for Photographic Arts. Diettes will speak on campus Sept. 17 from 4 to 5 p.m. in Tipton Hall.

Diettes’s work honors the victims of armed conflict between the government, guerillas (FARC) and drug lords in Colombia. In this series, images of artifacts of the disappeared––a shirt, a shoe or a pair of eyeglasses––are photographed in water and printed on huge plates of glass that are framed and placed on the ground like large-scale tombstones.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the university will host a conversation between Diettes and Kate Ware, curator of photography at the New Mexico Museum of Art, on Sept. 17 from 4 to 5 p.m. in Tipton Hall on the SFUAD campus. Diettes will then sign copies of her book Memento Mori: Testament to Life. The event is free and open to the public.

Diettes is a Colombian visual artist and social anthropologist whose work focuses on the deeply personal yet universal effects of political violence and injustice. Her work is part of the permanent collection of major museums, including the Museo Nacional in Bogatá and Museo de Antioquia in Colombia and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. It has been featured at the Fotofest Biennial, the Festival de la Luz in Buenos Aires, the Ballarat Foto Biennale in Australia, and in an exhibit at CENTER, Santa Fe, N.M.

The Atrium Gallery at the Marion Center for Photographic Arts and Tipton Hall are located on the SFUAD campus at 1600 St. Michael’s Drive. The exhibition can be viewed weekdays between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. through January 14.

Launched in 2011, Artists for Positive Social Change explores a specific theme relevant to society and the work of artists who push the creative boundaries through a university-wide series of events, courses, lectures and performances.

About SFUAD’s Photography Department
The Photography Department at Santa Fe University of Art and Design offers a comprehensive education in the theory, techniques, history and ethics of photography. This base, integrated with a strong foundation in other visual and liberal arts, provides students with the knowledge and perspective they need to pursue photography as a creative professional. The program, housed in the Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts, encompasses both analog and digital technologies, giving students the chance to work in exemplary traditional and alternative process darkrooms and a state-of-the-art digital facility. Students also have access to the Beaumont and Nancy Newhall Library, an outstanding resource on the history, aesthetics and technology of photography.

More details here.

About Santa Fe University of Art and Design:

Santa Fe University of Art and Design is an accredited institution located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, one of the world’s leading centers for art and design. The university offers degrees in business, contemporary music, creative writing, digital arts, graphic design, film, performing arts, photography and studio art. Faculty members are practicing artists who teach students in small groups, following a unique interdisciplinary curriculum that combines hands-on experience with core theory and prepares graduates to become well-rounded, creative, problem-solving professionals. SFUAD boasts an international student body and opportunities to study abroad, encouraging students to develop a global perspective on the arts. Santa Fe University of Art and Design is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission

Live-Stream tonight: After James Foley- Covering Conflict When Journalists Are Targets

Via Columbia School of Journalism


Tuesday, Sep. 9, 2014, 7:00pm

         

Dean Steve Coll leads a panel to discuss the current risks, rewards, and inner workings of conflict reporting in the aftermath of reporters James Foley and Steven Sotloff's tragic murders.


Speakers include Reuters columnist and former New York Times reporter David Rohde, held captive for seven months by the Taliban before he escaped; New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi, previously the West Africa bureau chief for The Associated Press; Phil Balboni, GlobalPost CEO and co-founder, who spent two years fighting for Foley's release; Nicole Tung, a freelance conflict photographer and Foley friend who first discovered him missing; and Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. This event is sponsored by Columbia Journalism School, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Overseas Press Club of America.


Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. This event will be live streamed.

WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY Opens Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11, in Houston

WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston  

Admission on opening day is free to all visitors, in recognition of Veterans Day; admission remains free to active-duty military and veterans through the run of the exhibition

WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY travels nationally to Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and Brooklyn Museum through February 2014

Houston—September 2012—On November 11, 2012, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, debuts an unprecedented exhibition exploring the experience of war through the eyes of photographers. WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath features nearly 500 objects, including photographs, books, magazines, albums and photographic equipment. The photographs were made by more than 280 photographers, from 28 nations, who have covered conflict on six continents over 165 years, from the Mexican-American War of 1846 through present-day conflicts.

Read more here.



Related:

"People don't think this war has any impact on Americans? Well here it is," Nina Berman says of the image of a somber bride staring blankly, unsmiling at the camera, her war-ravaged groom alongside her, his head down.

CNN: Classic andHistoric Portraits of War


Financial Times: War and Peace (with slide show)


NY Daily News: War photography exhibit debuts in Houston museum


 KPRC TV Houston  Exhibition showcases war photos (with video)


Houston Chronicle: "It's a subject that has deep impact, and because most of us don't experience war first-hand, photographs are our collective memory of it"
 

The New York Times: "Battlefield Images, Taking No Prisoners"


Photo District News: War Correspondence


Modern Art Notes Podcast features the new Museum of Fine Arts Houston exhibition “War Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath.


MFAH debuts unprecedented exhibit of war photography

Time LightBox: "War/Photography, on view from Nov. 11 to Feb. 3, is a magnificent, wide-ranging exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston"

"Every photograph is a product of the photographer’s experiences in their entire life"

In case you missed this important interview with photojournalist Ben Lowy by Jonathan Blaustein on A Photo Editor, we have posted the links below. A must read.


I caught up with Ben Lowy in August. He’s a busy man, juggling family and personal projects with a super-charged career. In the last year alone, he was in Libya, on Jon Stewart, won the photojournalist of the year award from the ICP, and had his book, “Iraq Perspectives” published by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke.



Ben Lowy Interview – Part 1

"I’m an open book. I’ve got nothing to hide. I was pretty fucked up by things that happened in 2007. And I felt really guilty about surviving."

Ben Lowy Interview – Part 2


"Photography, regardless if it’s photojournalism, or some sort of esoteric contemporary art, you’re putting a bit of your soul in it. That soul is what makes you take a picture at that instant. It’s what makes you compose, to wait for things to happen. For serendipity.

Every photograph is a product of the photographer’s experiences in their entire life. It’s everything that comes together that makes them want to take that picture at that instant. Otherwise, we would all be robots."


Via APhotoEditor

Panel Discussion | Shifting Sands: Conflict Photojournalism and Ethics

featuring Marcus Bleasdale and Stephen Mayes
Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 6:30pm
Aperture
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10001

What are the ethical responsibilities of a photojournalist who chooses to cover conflict? Can he or she be truly neutral, or do they have a responsibility to reflect the moral and political imbalances of the situations they report on?

Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2003
© Marcus Bleasdale/VII

The panel will explore the ethical pressures on photojournalists in conflict and will consider their accountability for the positions they take and the pictures they make, how they make them, where they place the work and the voice they attach to it. The discussion will consider the responsibilities and consequences, intended and otherwise, of reporting on conflict.


Marcus Bleasdale – Photographer, VII
Jason Cone – Communications Director, Doctors Without Borders USA
Philip Gourevitch – Journalist, The New Yorker
Thomas Keenan – Director of the Human Rights Project, Bard College
Kira Pollack – Director of Photography, Time Magazine
Stephen Mayes, Moderator – Managing Director, VII


More here.