Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts

Friday, January 9, 2026

Documenting history: Ron Haviv on one’s visual truth

 Via iMEdD 



One of the most consequential conflict photojournalists of our era, Ron Haviv, talked with us about how his photographs have contributed to the downfall of dictators, assisted war crimes tribunals, and led the way for the representation of conflict for the world —from Panama and the former Yugoslavia to Darfur and Ukraine. We discussed the power and limitations of visual representation in journalism, particularly in the reporting of history.


Ron Haviv is one of the most consequential conflict photojournalists of our era. He has spent over three decades on the frontlines of history, photographing more than 25 conflicts in over 100 countries. His work has not only documented history but actively influenced it —from serving as evidence in war crimes tribunals to helping trigger shifts in US foreign policy. We first sat down with him at the iMEdD International Journalism Forum to explore the full range of his career, focusing on the enduring ethical mission of photojournalism and the forces currently reshaping it: from the critical educational role of the VII Academy to the way we perceive and verify visual truth. We later met at this year’s Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC25), where we expanded our initial conversation to reflect how these questions continue to evolve. As he put it during his GIJC25 “Investigative Visual Journalism” workshop, “Visual journalism is a field of practice that incorporates reporting, visual documentation, narrative storytelling, and public accountability,” a definition that underscores both the gravity of the work and the moral imperative that accompanies it.

Over several decades, Haviv’s images have spanned the full spectrum of photojournalism’s impact—from the war crimes courts in The Hague, where his photographs were part of the evidence, to his coverage in Panama that may have influenced US policy, and his ongoing documentation of humanitarian crises in places such as Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Taken together, these different outcomes naturally lead to a central question:

How have these different outcomes ultimately defined your view of photojournalism’s core purpose and its enduring ethical responsibility in the contemporary media landscape?   

Now having the ability to look back at my work and its impact —and also its lack of impact— over the course of the last 40 years or so, I can see that not only my work but the work of visual journalism plays a role in society, that it partners with society in its ability to inform, to educate, to cajole, to embarrass people into action.   

I think that the overall goal has always been, relatively from the beginning of my career, to create work that has the ability to have an impact, to push, to motivate people into some action, or at the very least to have understanding and awareness of what’s going on, especially in terms of places where their governments are often complicit, responsible, or have a play in what’s going on in a faraway place.   

As an American, often that’s almost the entire world, so I feel that responsibility as an American visual journalist.

The overall goal has always been to create work that has the ability to have an impact or at very least to have understanding and awareness of what’s going on, especially in terms of places where their governments have a play in what’s going on in a faraway place.  I feel that responsibility as an American visual journalist.

color photograph of Opposition candidate Guillermo Ford in blood-soaked shirt in Panama, on the election day, 1989
Opposition candidate Guillermo Ford in Panama, on the election day, 1989. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation.


What was the most defining moment in your career that made you realize the power of photography, the power of the image?   

I think it’s probably just a combination of two things. The first would be right at the beginning of my career, my first real foreign assignment in the Central American country of Panama, where a dictator held elections, lost the elections, nullified the elections, and then had the would-be victors beaten.   

I photographed the vice president-elect [editor’s note: Guiellermo Ford], covered in the blood of his bodyguard, who was killed trying to protect him, being beaten up by a paramilitary supporter of the dictator. That photograph was featured on the front pages of newspapers and magazines around the world. Later that year, when the United States invaded Panama to overthrow the dictator, the president of the United States [editor’s note: George H. W. Bush] referenced the photograph as one of the justifications for the invasion.   

It wasn’t whether I agreed with the invasion, and I certainly didn’t believe the invasion was solely due to the photograph, but the photograph did play a role in the discussion that led to the invasion. It was discussed in Congress, used by the opposition on the ground in Panama, and utilized to raise awareness and garner more support for overthrowing the dictator.   

Then, three years later, in the third war in former Yugoslavia, I was in Bosnia, and I was able to document a Serbian paramilitary group known as the Tigers, executing unarmed Muslim civilians. I managed to take a photograph, basically documenting what later became known as ethnic cleansing. The photograph was also published around the world, but this time there was no reaction. The same president who reacted to the photograph in Panama was in power during the war in Bosnia and did nothing. And so, while I was, I don’t think naive, to believe that the Panama picture succeeded on its own, including the foreign policy of the American government, when a similar photograph came into play a few years later, it was not part of the American foreign policy, and therefore, nobody was going to react to it, and nobody did. It was only after time that the photograph began to take on its own power.

It was in those two instances that I realized both the power and the limitations of what a photograph could do. 

Members of Arkan's Serbian paramilitary group, the Tigers, execute unarmed Muslim civilians during the first battle of the Bosnian war
Bijeljina, April 1992. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation



You’ve often said your work “documents history.” Thinking about all the historical moments you’ve covered, which one feels most crucial for your archives, and how does your role as a witness influence your continued drive to document history?    

First of all, the work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history. For me, starting early on, to be in Berlin when the wall came down, to watch Nelson Mandela walk out of prison, to be at Baghdad when the statue came down, to witness these things for myself, real history, it’s remarkable, it is incredible, what an amazing way I think to live my life.    

Now, when you add the fact that I’m able to take photographs and share my subjective interpretation of these events with people, showing them what I saw and what I think, it is an incredible privilege. That itself is a motivating factor in continuing to do this, because the world continues to change.    

In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring, all these different things that need documentation and have had an incredible impact on the lives of people in the world.     

For me, to be able to see it, document it, and experience it is quite incredible.    

Photography allows for multiple interpretations, and framing is critical. Have you ever had your photos misinterpreted or presented in a way that distorted their meaning?    

The biggest one and probably the most impactful one was from a photograph in Bosnia. I took a photograph of ethnic cleansing, and it was a very well-known photograph, and it’s been continuously published around the world. But what’s important about the photograph, aside from what you see in the image, is the caption, so you know what’s going on, who’s who, what does the symbol on the soldier’s arm say, who are the civilians that are dying, and so on.    

During the first part of the war in Ukraine in 2014, a well-known Russian blogger with millions of followers took the photograph and let the image stand on its own. All he did was change the captions and say, “Ukrainian soldiers kill Russian civilians”. And then the photograph goes viral in Russia. Τhen somebody made an exhibition and used the same caption. So, I think to this day, if you show that photograph to people in Russia, they won’t identify the victims as Muslims and the assailants as Serbs.
    
The work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history […] In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring. For me, to be able to see [the impact on lives of people], document it, and experience it is quite incredible. 



You’ve often said your work “documents history.” Thinking about all the historical moments you’ve covered, which one feels most crucial for your archives, and how does your role as a witness influence your continued drive to document history?    

First of all, the work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history. For me, starting early on, to be in Berlin when the wall came down, to watch Nelson Mandela walk out of prison, to be at Baghdad when the statue came down, to witness these things for myself, real history, it’s remarkable, it is incredible, what an amazing way I think to live my life.    

Now, when you add the fact that I’m able to take photographs and share my subjective interpretation of these events with people, showing them what I saw and what I think, it is an incredible privilege. That itself is a motivating factor in continuing to do this, because the world continues to change.    

In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring, all these different things that need documentation and have had an incredible impact on the lives of people in the world.     

For me, to be able to see it, document it, and experience it is quite incredible.    

Photography allows for multiple interpretations, and framing is critical. Have you ever had your photos misinterpreted or presented in a way that distorted their meaning?    

The biggest one and probably the most impactful one was from a photograph in Bosnia. I took a photograph of ethnic cleansing, and it was a very well-known photograph, and it’s been continuously published around the world. But what’s important about the photograph, aside from what you see in the image, is the caption, so you know what’s going on, who’s who, what does the symbol on the soldier’s arm say, who are the civilians that are dying, and so on.    

During the first part of the war in Ukraine in 2014, a well-known Russian blogger with millions of followers took the photograph and let the image stand on its own. All he did was change the captions and say, “Ukrainian soldiers kill Russian civilians”. And then the photograph goes viral in Russia. Τhen somebody made an exhibition and used the same caption. So, I think to this day, if you show that photograph to people in Russia, they won’t identify the victims as Muslims and the assailants as Serbs.    

The work that I do is not completely altruistic, right? It is because I have this interest in history […] In the time since I started, the world changed in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, in 2001 with the Twin Towers, then the War on Terror, then the Arab Spring. For me, to be able to see [the impact on lives of people], document it, and experience it is quite incredible. 

Photojournalists who cover conflicts and civil unrest have long been challenged to decide whether to put the camera down and offer help when faced with a victim. How do you grapple with that ethical dilemma, and how difficult is it to make such a profound decision under pressure?    

It’s a personal decision. Everybody has to make their own choice. So, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer, but I had to decide early on in my career what I would do when it would happen. On paper, it’s simple.    

If I’m the only one there that can help and I’m not going to get killed, I’ll help. If somebody else is there, if there’s a doctor, a medic, somebody else who can do the same thing I could do, then I’m going to do my job, because I am there as your eyes. I have a responsibility; I’m not there as an aid worker. There is no question I’ve had the ability and opportunity to save people, and I’ve had times when I felt there was nothing I could do or I would be killed, and I was left with the only thing I could do, which was to try to document the aftermath. There have been times when I wasn’t allowed to do even that because I had a gun put to my head.    

There have been times when my colleagues and I have taken wounded people to hospitals and feeding centers. The only thing I don’t do is insert myself into the situation once I’ve interacted. Then, I’m no longer a journalist, and I stop taking photographs. I don’t photograph things that I influence.    

Following Jean Baudrillard’s reasoning that “a war that is not broadcasted is a non-existent war”: Do you find that some conflicts become more real or “existent” than others simply because they receive more media coverage?  

Absolutely. There was a Reuters correspondent who was killed in Sierra Leone named Kurt Schork. He was one of those journalists who would look for these non-existent wars and realize, “Oh, nobody’s paying attention to this.” And when he would show up, everybody else would follow, because this was something we needed to pay attention to.    

There’s a lot going on in the world, and the audience is often completely burned out, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be documented or that we shouldn’t pay attention to it.      

If I’m the only one there that can help and I’m not going to get killed, I’ll help. If somebody else is there, who can do the same thing I could do, then I’m going to do my job, because I am there as your eyes.

Since we are talking about documenting history and you have covered so many war zones, how do you feel about the fact that history in Gaza was not fully documented?  

I don’t know if I like the phrase of that, because it would be unfair to the Palestinian journalists who risked their lives and did an incredible job of documenting it.  

At the same time, while we saw the impact of Israel’s attacks on Gaza civilians, which was one part of it —and a very, very big part of it—, we only saw a very small glimpse of Israeli soldiers, almost nothing of them in action, and we didn’t see Hamas at all; it’s like Hamas was a ghost. So, you can say two-thirds of that conflict was not documented. If you want to use the word “fully” in that way, then I think yes, it’s very difficult to say it was fully documented.

But we have the same thing to some degree in Ukraine, right? The Russian side is probably a little bit more documented than Hamas, but still very limited. It’s very hard as a foreign journalist to get to the Russians to document what they’re doing.

In most wars, all sides are becoming very aware of the value or importance of outside imagery. All sides document themselves with citizen, government and military “journalism”. In cases like Ukraine, Russia, Gaza, there is always a need for independent journalism to be done on the ground. It would fill the story out in a different way. But again, that being said, in the war in Gaza the amount of powerful and, as far as I’m concerned, believable material that has come from the Palestinian journalists can’t be denied, and it’s what we have.

A stroller lays abandoned on the path to safety as people flee a Russian assault. Irpin, Ukraine, 2022
An abandoned stroller sits at a crossing where Ukrainians fled Russian forces advancing through the town of Irpin, Ukraine, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation.

You co-founded the VII Photo Agency. What was the vision behind starting an agency? And how has it adapted to the continuously evolving landscape of photojournalism and visual journalism?   


In about 1999 through 2000, 2001, Mark Getty from the Getty family and Bill Gates from Microsoft made an assumption that whoever controls imagery in this new digital world would be in very good shape in terms of finances. So, they both started photo agencies, one called Getty Images, the other called Corbis. Then they proceeded to acquire all of these smaller photo agencies, effectively cornering the market and controlling the imagery used on the internet.   

Three colleagues —Gary Knight, John Stanmeyer, and Antonín Kratochvíl— and I were represented by a small agency called Saba, run by a guy named Marcel Saba. And then Chris Morris was with Blackstar, James Nachtwey was with Magnum, and Alexandra Boulat was with SIPA. All of us felt that the agencies were going to be bought up by these conglomerates, except for Magnum, and we were not going to have much of a say in how our work was represented, we would be part of a multinational corporation, and we basically wouldn’t have any control over the business side of our photography and the distribution of our photography.   

So, Gary Knight and John Stanmeyer thought it was a good time to break away from these corporate entities and start something where we could control our own destiny. It was primarily a decision driven by business, but one that also emphasized independence in terms of our work, including where our work could be seen, who we work for, and having control over our own destiny.  

As the United States moves into a second Trump administration, the idea of “fake news” remains deeply rooted, from the highest political offices down to everyday conversations on the street. At the same time, economic pressures on traditional media have reduced the number of employed visual journalist.


black and white photograph of a man detained outside a Federal courtroom in New York City by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be sent for deportation, 2025

A man is detained outside a Federal courtroom in New York City by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be sent for deportation (2025). Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation.


Given the current economic pressures, rapid technological change, and deep political polarization in the United States, how do you think these forces will shape the future of journalism and photojournalism, both in terms of working conditions and the kind of stories that will be told?    

As the United States moves into a second Trump administration, the idea of “fake news” remains deeply rooted, from the highest political offices down to everyday conversations on the street. At the same time, economic pressures on traditional media have reduced the number of employed visual journalists—pushing audiences and newsrooms to rely more heavily on “new” and alternative media for everything from politics to war coverage. Yet there is often a growing disconnect between the role of a trained visual journalist and the amplification of certain narratives circulating through these newer platforms. 

This raises ongoing and essential questions: Who is a journalist? Who is their audience? And how is reporting being produced, verified, and distributed? In visual journalism especially, the departure of experienced practitioners has created space for the rise of the citizen journalist—often providing immediate and invaluable perspectives, but also further blurring the boundaries of expertise, credibility, and responsibility. 

What is your general view on the future of journalism and photojournalism? What gives you hope, and what keeps you up at night most of the time?   

What continues to give me hope is that you still see instances where imagery can rise above the noise, still have an impact, and still have people remember photographs. Let’s just start with the photograph of Aylan Kurdi, “the child on the beach”. Several photographers took that photograph, which went around the world. Most importantly, the then-Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, spoke about that photograph and talked about how it changed her opinion about migration. So, it had a dramatic impact alongside the other millions of people who saw that photograph.  

We had a Getty photograph from the US border with a child crying. Being separated from his mother, she was being questioned by border police, which went viral and became a talking point for the conversation about the border. There are times when photographs can rise above the discussion and engage people. This gives me hope that it can continue to happen.   

On the other hand, we have so many images taken that what if these images are no longer able to rise above the noise, and people become overwhelmed by photojournalism, or simply don’t care or don’t want to pay attention to it. That’s fearful. When that happens, especially when photographers are risking their lives to tell these stories, it’s a waste of that energy and effort; most importantly, it is completely disrespectful to the stories we’re trying to tell.    

My fear is that it will reach a point where people are only looking inward and won’t care, even if they are somehow responsible for other people’s lives. They just don’t want to acknowledge it, adjust to it, change it, or make it better. That’s one of the reasons why this work exists: to remind them we’re all interconnected.   

The diversity of voices is one of the biggest changes, certainly from when I started.
In an era where anyone can capture and share moments on social media, how has this reshaped the role of the photojournalist?  


I don’t think it’s changing anything. You’re talking about places and people photographing things that I was never going to see, or any of us ever going to ever see before. So, this is great. This is an extra layer of visual information. But these are often just snapshots. These are like moments in time, which can be very dramatic, incredible, and powerful; no question about it. But in terms of this idea about authorship, integrity, telling a story, narrative, the citizen journalist is not doing that; that’s still our job. It’s still what we’re trained for. So, they’re different things.

But again, this idea of citizen journalists, people wanting to take photographs with their phones, or small cameras, and becoming more interested in photography, is great for the idea of photography, because people are starting to appreciate it even more, and then they become engaged not only as content providers, but also as content consumers.


Through VII Academy and Foundation, you teach the next generation of photographers. Do you observe significant differences in how younger photographers approach and value their work compared to previous generations?   


Well, I think now because of technology and the affordability of cameras, whether motion or still, they have the ability to tell their own stories of their own communities and so on, in a way that they never had before. Through many of our students, we’re seeing stories from Libya and Iraq and Afghanistan and Peru and Colombia.  


I think the diversity of voices is one of the biggest changes, certainly from when I started. [Back then] it was still mostly male-dominated —mostly western male and certainly mostly white. I think that there’s room for multiple voices; I think now we’ve reached that point. Something that the Foundation through the Academy is very conscious of ensuring is that they are able to learn and to tell their stories with authorship, with integrity and with the principles of proper photojournalism.


If you had to choose two photos that characterize you, which ones would they be and why?  


As a photojournalist, I would have to go back to the two early photographs, one from Panama, and one from Bosnia, because they basically created these two pillars. One of the possibility of affecting change and the other the limitations of what you can do. So, it would be the vice president being beaten and the civilians being killed.   


As a person, maybe there would be a picture from Bosnia of this Albanian guy from North Macedonia, a guy named Hajrush Ziberi, who’s been taken prisoner, and his hands are like this, and he’s asking me basically to help him. He knows he’s going to be killed. And I couldn’t help him. That picture has a lot of impact on me, because I also met the family, spent time with them, and am still in touch with them. I had thought that when I was going to meet them, they would blame me for not saving their son, and they were exactly the opposite and thanked me, which I thought was so kind; it’s hard to believe. His death didn’t go unnoticed, and it had an impact.   


There’s a photograph from Darfur, of a young girl with her two friends. She’s about to walk seven to eight hours in the desert to get firewood for her family. Her life was very difficult. I tried to find her after the picture was taken, but I was never able to find her. I don’t know if she survived or not. But the way she holds her body, the clothing and color of the clothing that she’s wearing, it’s a very resilient yet resigned image. She was trying to be helped by the international community, and to this day, 20 years later, Darfur still is not helped, so it’s very symbolic of kind of my approach or my feeling that in the end, I think there was some good done with some of my work, but most of the time the work failed.   


What is the most important lesson you’ve learned during your long and distinguished career?    


That I can’t be everywhere at once. The world continues to change, so there’s always another story to come. I strive to do the best that I can, always with utmost respect and dignity for the subjects I am photographing.  

color photograph of Young displaced girls from Darfur, Sudan leave a camp to gather firewood for their families
Girls of Darfur, 2005. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Haviv/ VII Foundation





Ron Haviv, Co-Founder and Director of the VII Foundation, was a speaker at 2025 iMEdD International Journalism Forum, where he led a workshop titled “If I can’t see it, I can’t document it” together with photojournalist Nicole Tung.

This interview is published by iMEdD and is made available under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This licence does not apply to the images by Ron Haviv included in this publication, which are published courtesy of Ron Haviv and the VII Foundation for the purposes of this piece. Any other use of these images by third parties requires their prior permission.


Thursday, October 2, 2025

American photojournalist urges Kurds to honor past while embracing future

 Photojournalist Ed Kashi will be at the Gallery tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 3 for a book signing and conversation with Don Carleton, Executive Director of the Briscoe Center For American History.

Conversation begins at 5:30, book signing follows

Seating is limited RSVP essential

Exhibition continues through November 16, 2025


October 2, 2025


ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An American photojournalist who has documented Kurdish struggles for more than three decades urged Kurds to honor their history while also embracing their cultural identity and future role in the world.

“It’s important to hold on and remember the past, but it’s so important to move forward… not to forget the past, but not to dwell on it,” Ed Kashi told Rudaw earlier this week. 

Kashi said that he first arrived in what is now Kurdistan Region in 1991 during the refugee crisis that followed the Kurdish uprising against Saddam Hussein, which was then brutally suppressed and led to a massive refugee crisis as over a million Kurds fled to the mountains along the Turkish and Iranian borders, fearing renewed genocide. In response, a US-led Coalition launched Operation Provide Comfort to deliver aid and enforce a No-Fly Zone, which led to a de facto safe haven where Kurds began to establish their own autonomous administration in 1992.

“I was with [Kurdistan Democratic Party President Masoud] Barzani and [late Patriotic Union of Kurdistan leader Jalal] Talabani in the mountains,” he recalled. “They were trying to figure out what to do… reclaiming their authority for good and bad, establishing political structures, economic structures, [and] trying to figure out how to reclaim this land.”

“There is so many reasons now for Kurdish people, especially in Iraq… [where] you actually have a chance to move forward, you know, to teach new generations about your amazing, glorious history and past, and to talk about good things that are happening,” Kashi said

Reflecting on the aftermath of the Anfal campaign in 1988, which killed an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Kurds and destroyed more than 4,000 villages, he said, “I had never seen anything like that before: all the destroyed villages, towns and communities.”

Kashi, who spoke to Rudaw on the sidelines of the inaugural Kurdish Studies Forum at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) on Saturday, echoed an AUIS graduate Lana Salim, who last week, during an episode of Rudaw’s Legel Ranj program, said Kurds should not only look back on tragedy but also celebrate their cultural and artistic contributions. “It is time for us as Kurds… to remind ourselves of the cultural and artistic essence we have, [and] act based on the premise that we should be a player in the world,” she said.

His 1994 book When the Borders Bleed: Struggle of the Kurd, which he published with the late British journalist Christopher Hitchens, had lasting resonance. 

“A Kurd I met in Europe told me that book taught them about their history,” Kashi said. “One of the beautiful things about doing something for so long is when you meet people and realize your work had an impact on their lives.”

“I truly believe if we can change one mind, that is when change begins,” the photojournalist said. “If you can change one young person to maybe become a historian or a Kurdish scholar or a journalist to tell the stories of their own people, that is a beautiful thing.”

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Online lecture July 23: Nina Berman on work made in 1987 when she traveled with a group of American Vietnam War veterans on their return trip to Vietnam


Via Pemumbra Foundation

July 21, 2025


Penumbra is excited to host a series of online public lectures in July 2025, where artists will share insight into the projects being digitized through this program.

On Wednesday, July 23, Nina Berman will discuss work made in 1987 when as a young photographer and journalist she traveled with a group of American Vietnam War veterans on their return trip to Vietnam. The experience had a significant impact on her and influenced her later work more generally on the costs of war and American warmaking.



July 23, 7-8PM | RSVP here


Nina Berman is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, journalist and educator.  Her work explores American politics, militarization, environmental issues and post violence trauma.  She is the author of Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq, (Trolley, 2004) portraits and interviews with wounded American veterans, Homeland, (Trolley, 2008) an examination of the militarization of American life post September 11, and An autobiography of Miss Wish (Kehrer, 2017) a story told with a survivor of sexual violence which was shortlisted for both the Aperture and Arles book prizes. Additional fellowships, awards and grants include: the Gugggenheim Fellowship in Photography, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the World Press Photo Foundation, Pictures of the Year International, the Open Society Foundation, the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship and the Aftermath Project. Her work has been exhibited at more than 100 international venues from the Whitney Museum Biennial to the concrete security walls at the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan. Public collections include the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of the City of New York, the Harvard Art Museums and the Bibliothèque nationale de France among others. She has participated in workshops around the world for young photographers and is a professor at Columbia Journalism School where she directs the photojournalism/documentary photography program.

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Podcast - Nina Berman: A Lens on Consequence

Via Foto

 Foto 026 - Nina Berman by Michael Howard




 

 In this episode, Michael talks with Nina Berman, a documentary photographer, filmmaker, and professor whose work interrogates the relationship between power, militarization, and the American experience. Over a career spanning three decades, Nina has consistently focused her lens on systems of violence and their aftermath, from war zones to police training grounds to the staged patriotism of political spectacle.

A Guggenheim Fellow, two-time World Press Photo winner, and professor at Columbia Journalism School, Nina is also the author of three major books: Purple Hearts – Back from Iraq, Homeland, and An Autobiography of Miss Wish. Her photographs have been exhibited in venues such as the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

In this conversation, she discusses how her work has evolved from portraits of wounded veterans to broader investigations into how militarized thinking permeates everyday American life. She reflects on the ethics of long-term documentary work, the emotional cost of sustained witnessing, and why photography remains a vital civic act.

This is a powerful episode with one of the most uncompromising voices in American documentary photography — a conversation about courage, clarity, and using your camera to look directly at the systems that define our time.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Exhibition & Film Screening: FRAGMENTS IN TIME Ashley Gilbertson & Franco Pagetti in Association With Monroe Gallery

 Via Mad Rose Gallery




Ashley Gilbertson

FRAGMENTS IN TIME
Ashley Gilbertson & Franco Pagetti
Reception: Saturday July 12th 12-5pm
Mad Rose Gallery’s Mercantile
5 Main Street, Millerton, NY
Exhibition runs: July 4th - August 30th
EXHIBITION COURTESY OF MONROE GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY


FILM SCREENING- “ONLY THE DEAD SEE THE END OF WAR” 
Sunday July 13th, 3pm
Q&A: Writer/Producer Justine Rosenthal & Writer/Director Michael Ware 





color photograph on men on horses participating in Buzcashi, the Afghan national sport

“What is today a trace, tomorrow becomes record”
-Franco Pagetti


MAD ROSE GALLERY is honored to present the work of distinguished photographers Ashley Gilbertson (Australia) and Franco Pagetti (Italy).

Their photographs trace the subtle topography of human experience— where stillness carries weight and absence speaks. From snow-laden vineyards to fractured interiors, each image is an act of bearing witness: restrained, exacting and quietly profound.
Here, the visible and the invisible are held in tension— not explained, merely observed.
Join us as we celebrate these two photographers and their gifts of extracting from the real.


color photograph of Officer Eugene Goodman with left hand rased and right hand on his holstered gun facing mob during the Storming of The Capitol, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021 pitol, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021
Ashley Gilbertson


Ashley Gilbertson is an Australian photographer and writer living in New York City, recognized for his critical eye and unique approach to social issues. Gilbertson is a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, ProPublica and UNICEF. Gilbertson’s photography is in museum permanent collections across the world, including The Smithsonian, Centre Georges Pompidou, National Gallery of Victoria, Harvard Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Art in Houston, and The National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York.

Franco Pagetti has spent years working in conflict zones, though he has never considered himself a war photographer. His enduring focus lies with the people, traces that history leave on faces, gestures and places. With a background in science and a past in fashion, his eye blends rigor with instinct. His photographs have appeared in TIME, The New York Times, Newsweek and in campaigns for brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, San Pellegrino, Nespresso and Armani. Whether in Baghdad or backstage, Pagetti doesn’t chase events, he observes what they leave behind. A contributor to The VII Foundation. When not on the road, he lives in Milan, Italy.





Only the Dead is Dr. Justine A. Rosenthal and Michael Ware’s documentary retrospective of seven years, beginning with the “Coalition of the Willing’s” invasion of Iraq in 2003. It records the birth of the Islamic State in 2003, reveals a US war crime committed by soldiers in 2007, and takes you to the front lines of the conflict’s greatest battles. Only the Dead was nominated for an Emmy in the outstanding current affairs program category. In Australia, the film won the prestigious Walkley Award (Australian Pulitzer Prize) and collected three AACTA’s (the Australian Oscars)

Dr. Justine A. Rosenthal is an expert in international affairs and terrorism, and the former head of Newsweek magazine’s global operations. She served as editorial director of the Newsweek /Daily Beast Company and executive editor of the print magazine. Rosenthal was previously editor of the prestigious The National Interest foreign policy journal based in Washington, DC where she published heads of state such as Henry Kissinger, former CIA operatives and analysts, military professionals and leaders in academia. Michael Ware is CEO/President of Penance Films and TV, an independent documentary company which he co-owns with Rosenthal. Best known for his coverage of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," he lived in Baghdad for most of the war, first writing for Time magazine. In 2006 he became chief prime-time foreign correspondent for CNN. During his time with the network, he also presented two specials for CNN International, "Pakistan's Vital Vote" and "Iraq: Inside the Surge."


MAD ROSE GALLERY at The Mercantile is a new multipurpose art space in the heart of Millerton, New York that fosters an inclusive, creative community. Through curated exhibitions, educational programs, and events, we aim to inspire, connect, and enrich lives, celebrating both emerging voices & established artists. 

The Mercantile upcoming workshop series will include Photography, Painting, Drawing, Collage and Yoga classes Wednesdays - Sundays. 










Friday, May 23, 2025

War Reporting in a Time of Chaos | Phil Klay, Ashley Gilbertson, Victor Blue, & Danielle Paquette in Conversation

 Via 20summers.org


Sunday, May 25, 2025

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Hawthorne Barn

29 Miller Hill Road, Provincetown, MA

RSVP Here


In a panel discussion moderated by National Book Award–winning author and Marine veteran Phil Klay, distinguished conflict journalists and photographers Victor J. Blue, Ashley Gilbertson, and Danielle Paquette will discuss their work in conflict zones on several continents over the past couple of decades. How has their work changed? How has it changed them? And as we move into a chaotic time both in the news industry and in foreign relations, where old assumptions about the international order are quickly being upended, what are unique challenges of covering wars now? And what insights can long-time war correspondents offer as we look out into an uncertain future? 

Phil Klay is an author, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and a professor at Fairfield University. His short story collection Redeployment won the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction, and his novel Missionaries was listed by former President Barack Obama as one of the best books of 2020. He also regularly writes essays on politics, culture, and American military policy for publications such as the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post.

Ashley Gilbertson is an Australian photographer and writer living in New York City recognized for his critical eye and unique approach to social issues. He is a frequent contributor to major media outlets and a collaborator with the United Nations. For over twenty years, Gilbertson’s work focused on refugees and conflict, an interest that in 2002, led him to Iraq. His work from that country was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal, and in 2007, Gilbertson’s first book, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, was released, going on to become a best seller. Today, Gilbertson documents global migration in Africa and Europe, and works on climate, social and health issues in the United States and Asia. He writes regular opinion and news stories for outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, ProPublica, and UNICEF. In 2014, a multimedia story on the militarization of the South China Sea earned him an Emmy nomination.

Victor J. Blue is a New York based photojournalist whose work is most often concerned with the legacy of armed conflict, human rights and the protection of civilian populations, and unequal outcomes resulting from policy and politics. He has worked in Central America since 2002, concentrating on social conflict in Guatemala, and since 2009 has photographed the Counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan. He has completed assignments in Syria, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Iraq, and India, and has documented news stories and social issues across the United States. He worked as a staff photographer at The Record in Stockton CA, and holds a Masters Degree in Visual Communication from Ohio University. He practices a deeply reported, character driven documentary photography that tries to both inform viewers intellectually and move them emotionally, and communicate something universal from the particular circumstances of individual lives and struggles. 


Danielle Paquette is a national correspondent for The Washington Post. She previously served as West Africa bureau chief and has reported from more than 20 countries on four continents. Paquette joined The Post in 2014, starting as a roving economics reporter. A native of Indiana, she has also worked for the Tampa Bay Times and the Los Angeles Times. She resides in the nation’s capital with her husband and dog.

Sunday, April 13, 2025

New Exhibition: WWII - Eighty Years and Free Film Screening

 


Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to present a special exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the largest and most violent military conflict in human history. “WWII – Eighty Years” opens on Friday, April 18, with a special free screening of the HBO Documentary Film “Underfire: The Untold Story of PFC Tony Vaccaro” on Saturday, April 19 at 5 pm. Seating is limited, RSVP required. The exhibition continues through June 22, 2025.

This anniversary reminds us of war’s cost and the courage to believe in humanity, even in the darkest times.

At the age of 21, Tony Vaccaro was drafted into WWII and was a combat infantryman in the 83rd Infantry Division on a boat heading toward Omaha Beach, six days after the first landings at Normandy. The acclaimed HBO Films documentary “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro” tells the story of how Tony Vaccaro survived the war, fighting the enemy while also documenting his experience at great risk, developing his photos in combat helmets at night and hanging the negatives from tree branches. The film also encompasses a wide range of contemporary issues regarding combat photography such as the ethical challenges of witnessing and recording conflict, the ways in which combat photography helps to define how wars are perceived by the public, and the sheer difficulty of staying alive while taking photos in a war zone.


   

 Preview the exhibition here.

RSVP for the film screening here.

Thursday, March 13, 2025

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.

Saturday, March 1, 2025

A new show at the Rijksmuseum tries to make sense of the US with ‘American Photography’; includes Nina Berman's "Marine Wedding"

 

March 1, 2025

Via The Financial Times


"Nina Berman’s “Marine Wedding” chronicles the marriage in 2006 of mutilated Iraq War veteran Tyler Ziegel, a plastic dome replacing his broken skull, and his childhood sweetheart Renee Kline. The bride appears grief-stricken, the couple divorced within a year and Ziegel died at 30 from an overdose.


The first such major survey in a European museum, American Photography, drawn from the Rijksmuseum’s eclectic collection plus well-targeted loans, is timely, launched as Europe struggles to understand Trumpian America. Installed thematically — “Face to Face”, “At Home”, “On the Road”, “Selling Points”, “Death and Disaster” — it records how the camera has eyed the country in reportage, advertisements, protest posters, family and amateur snapshots, photo-booth strips, memorabilia." --Full article here


Friday, February 28, 2025

Photo exhibition "A brief guide to investigating war crimes"

 

Via Stereosis


exhibition poster for " A brief guide to investigating war crimes" exhibit and programs at Stereosis in Greece



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.

Monday, February 10, 2025

A Field for Ghosts: American Photography at Rijksmuseum

Via FAD Magazine

February 10, 2025 



"A step through the gallery doors reveals the first of many rooms that archive, dissect, and tinker with the values and experiences of American culture. The themes are immediately apparent. Domestic strife, racial politics, the suppression of queer identities, sexuality, ecology, and individuality; each of these ideas finds its example, its case. Whether considering the dual personalities in Robert Mapplethorpe’s self-portraits, the interweaving of indigenous art practices with modern photography in Sarah Sense’s work Hinushi 18, or the few surviving artefacts of the country’s abandoned towns in Bryan Schutmaat’s landscapes, the overall impression resounds. America is a nation at war with itself. Conflict, reflected in the photography, regarded as an essential component of the modern experience of life in the USA.

The results of these battles are morbid and cruel. One photograph, from Nina Berman’s collection Marine Wedding, depicts the marriage of a disfigured soldier sent to fight in one of the American governments many international warzones. Described simply by the accompanying placard, the viewer is informed that the marriage broke up, and that soldier had died from alcohol and morphine overdose since. Likewise, the piercing work of Nan Goldin chronicles her experiences with domestic violence and the AIDS crisis as it ravaged New York. In Cookie and Vittorio’s wedding, New York City 1986, Cookie Mueller, featured in another depiction of a wedding, walks the aisle with her soon-to-be husband, though anyone who knows the story will understand how tragic this became after the fact, as they both died shortly afterward."

--Full article here

American Photography, 7th February to 9th June 2025, Rijksmuseum

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

The line between activism and journalism breaks

 Via Neiman Labs

By Hafsa Maqsood

December 10, 2025


“When journalists around the world are being killed for practicing their freedom of press, journalists have no choice but to become activists.”

There is a growing frustration in the pit of the global journalism industry’s stomach. A frustration that comes from witnessing an entire year of devastating war in the Middle East, massive bloodshed, and ongoing conflicts across the globe where nothing seems to be working. A sickening frustration fed by the reeking hypocrisy of trying to “holding truth to power” in a post-truth world simultaneously bowing to power.

This frustration was born long ago in the stomachs of marginalized members of various diasporas, like myself, coming from histories of ancestral displacement and ravaging colonialism, and it is in part what has motivated them to join media and journalism industries only to be met with walls of supposed objectivity. An “impartiality” that leads to donning a hollow mask of white neutrality discordant with their lived realities.

That frustration will come to a breaking point in 2025 and translate into tearing down the line between activism and journalism that has already been breached, particularly since the 2020 rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

When democracies are in peril, when international laws meant to hold humanity accountable are being disregarded, when people charged with criminal offenses are leading governments, when journalists around the world are being killed for practicing their freedom of press, journalists have no choice but to become activists.

In 2025, journalists will no longer be told that coming in to work with a “Free Palestine” sticker on their laptops or water bottles is controversial and against guidelines while a “Stand With Ukraine” sticker is praised. Massive refugee and humanitarian displacements that occurred in 2024 will also impact news audiences. As journalists respond to audience demands, this shift will encourage a journalistic focus on human interest and global perspective stories that amplify refugee and diaspora narratives. Diaspora communities will play a crucial role in shaping these narratives through activism and storytelling that will bloom in the 2025 media and journalism industry.

When giving a lecture on media framing at the University of British Columbia in 2022, I held a roundtable attended by many members of Palestinian diaspora in Canada. Every one of them expressed turning away from legacy media in favor of citizen journalism and treating activists as sources for news. What if journalists with training and established platforms could tap into these audiences who are rejecting them in favor of unofficial news sources? What does this rejection mean for the decline of legacy media and journalistic ethics of “truth-telling?”

The answers to these questions, I predict, will come to fruition in 2025. We, as an industry, will have to reevaluate the meaning of “journalistic independence” if we want that sickening pit of frustration to heal. And the demands of a growing diaspora born out of conflict, war, and displacement will be one exceedingly difficult to ignore.

Hafsa Maqsood is a journalist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Calgary.

Monday, September 30, 2024

Review of new film about Lee Miller references Tony Vaccaro

 Via truthdig

September 29, 2024

A Photographer’s Legacy, Airbrushed

"It’s surprising that it took this long to give Lee Miller the Hollywood treatment. A former model and eventual frontline World War II photographer, with an eye that rivaled Robert Capa and Tony Vaccaro, she lived a haunted life following the publication of her revelatory Vogue magazine spread depicting the liberation of Dachau. “Lee” arrives in theaters this week as a reminder of both Miller’s work and the need to memorialize the details of genocide. Sadly, the movie does little more than gesture at both."

--full article

Monday, September 23, 2024

Oklahoma State University Museum of Art Exhibit “How We Rebuild” Includes Gallery Photographer Nina Berman

 Via Oklahoma State University Museum of Art

September 23, 2024


The Oklahoma State University Museum of Art presents “How We Rebuild,” opening Sept. 24, 2024. This selection of photographs examines the aftermath of conflict, focusing on what it takes to recover the heartbeat of humanity.

The exhibition draws from 12 years of work created by grant winners and finalists from The Aftermath Project, a nonprofit organization committed to telling the other half of war stories after the conflicts have ended — what it takes for individuals to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, and to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace.

Documentary photographer Sara Terry founded The Aftermath Project to impart the importance of “aftermath photography,” yearning for a society that doesn’t forget the people and places that conflict photography covers.

“The end of war does not mean peace. It is simply the end of death and destruction. Every story of war includes a chapter that almost always goes untold — the story of the aftermath, which day by day becomes a prologue of the future,” Terry said.

The photos selected for “How We Rebuild” center and reflect on the human stories and memories that define us. The assembly of images features moments of hope, agency and resilience.

“These photographs serve as a powerful reminder that rebuilding isn’t just physical — it’s emotional and communal, requiring empathy, patience, and shared understanding,” said Liz Roth, OSU Museum of Art interim director.

This exhibition invites audiences to engage with the visual narratives and reflect on the role of the photographs in helping communities heal. “How We Rebuild” is organized by ExhibitsUSA, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance.

Artists included in the exhibition are Rodrigo Abd, Juan Arredond, Fatemeh Behboudi, Nina Berman, Pep Bonet, Andrea Bruce, Monika Bulaj, Kathryn Cook, Jeremy Dennis, Gwenn Dubourthoumieu, Michelle Frankfurter, Alessandro Gandolfi, Glenna Gordon, Ron Haviv, Jessica Hines, Olga Ingurazova, Andrew Lichtenstein, Luca Locatelli, Davide Monteleone, Saiful Huq Omi, Javad Parsa, Adam Patterson, Joseph Sywenkyj, Sara Terry and Donald Weber.

“How We Rebuild” is on view Sept. 24 through Dec. 20 at the OSU Museum of Art. Learn more at the website.

For more information about The Aftermath Project, visit theaftermathproject.org.


Wednesday, June 5, 2024

D-Day + 80: remembering Tony Vaccaro

 

black and white photograph showing waterfront and beach at Normandy, 1944
Tony Vaccaro: Normandy, June, 1944


As a U.S. Army private, Tony Vaccaro's boat sailed for Normandy on D-Day+12 in June 1944, before landing, June 18. 

Just before leaving for France, while all the other soldiers were busy checking their gear, Tony secretly wrapped his Argus C3 camera in layers of plastic to keep it from the water and to hide it from his commanding officer. He photographed the Normandy coast through a buttonhole in his outer jacket.

Drafted into the war at the age of 21, he was denied access to the Signal Corps, but Tony was determined to photograph the war and had his portable 35mm Argus C-3 with him from the start. For the next 272 days, Tony fought on the front lines of the war, documenting his personal witness to the horrors of war.

The pictures – many of them raw, graphic, disturbing – follow his advance, and that of his unit, the 83rd Infantry Division, from the beaches to Berlin.

They represent one of the most complete collections of images of World War II, as seen through the eyes of someone who fought during the conflict. 

Read "D-Day through a lens: ‘First the rifle, then photographs’" on CNN

In 1994, the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Tony was awarded the French Legion of Honor, among many other awards and recognitions. The documentary film Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro premiered at the Boston Film Festival in 2016 and was distributed by HBO.  The film led to a career renaissance for Tony Vaccaro.

color photograph of Tony Vaccaro, left, with John Kerry at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of D Day, June 7, 2014 - By U.S. Department of State
Tony Vaccaro, left, at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of D Day, June 7, 2014
Via US Department of State/Wikipedia

Tony Vaccaro passed away peacefully on December 28, 2022, eight days after celebrating his 100th birthday.


A new exhibition, "TONY VACCARO: The Pursuit of Beauty" opens at Monroe Gallery of Photography on July 5, 2024, and will be on view through September 15, 2024.




Wednesday, May 22, 2024

War Photography: Movie vs Reality

Via The Real Frame: War Photography on Screen - The Real Frame


May 21, 2024 by David Butow David Butow


As if the political tension in the United States couldn’t get any higher, this spring a new movie depicting a full-scale, near-future civil war in the country is filling theaters and drawing good reviews. The film, “Civil War”, directed by Englishman Alex Garland, (“The Beach”, “Ex Machina”), imagines that the country is ruled by a quasi-dictator serving his third term as president. The opposing side is comprised of a well-organized and equipped army of rebels (called the “Western Alliance”), that is on the move to Washington, D.C. to remove him from power.

The main point of the movie is, I think, to force audiences to confront the possibility, however remote, that something like this could actually happen. The U.S., despite illusions of “exceptionalism,” is fundamentally no different from any other empire that can break down and/or break apart. This is big stuff, but the POV of this terrible scenario is told through the narrow experiences of a group of four journalists, principally two still photographers played by Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny.

It’s rare that photojournalists are the main protagonists in a film, they’re usually quirky side characters like Dennis Hopper’s idiosyncratic portrayal of a half-crazed Vietnam War photographer in “Apocalypse Now.” But putting them in the center of the plot requires detail of their working habits, and more importantly, into the emotional and ethical challenges they face as they make their way through one violent situation after another. The whole raison d’être of them being there is questioned. Are they after the thrill or some greater good? What is the role of journalistic observers in conflict? I can’t say those questions are deeply examined but they are certainly put up on the metaphorical blackboard (or video projector if you prefer).

If you haven’t seen the film but might go, be aware there is a lot of violence depicted, sometimes rather realistically and without the heavy music and other mood overlays we’re used to in Hollywood movies. I found this starkness jarring, but effective. Another thing I thought the film did rather well was show how quickly things can happen, often when you’re not expecting them, and also how chaos and semi-normalcy can exist in proximities much closer than you might expect.

Conversely, I thought there were some things about the journalists the filmmakers definitely got wrong, but how many movies have I seen where the main characters are lawyers, doctors, cops or soldiers? I imagine that people in those professions, who are used to being depicted on screen, don’t usually overanalyze every misleading detail. But the photojournalistic community, never shy about taking itself seriously, and with a rare spotlight on its profession, has had a lot to say about “Civil War.”

The best commentary I’ve seen is in the video here. It features a thoughtful interview with photojournalists Lynsey Addario, Peter van Agmatel, Ron Haviv and John Moore. These four have about as much experience covering conflicts as any photographers working today, and they are all highly intelligent and deeply reflective about those experiences. In addition, the photographer Mohamed El Masri, speaking with the assistance of a translator, describes the specific danger and challenges with covering the war in Gaza.

They’ll tell you what they thought of the movie, but more important, how they think about the role of the press, and what it is really like to witness, record and communicate terrible acts of violence.




Tuesday, November 14, 2023

New Project "The Missiles On Our Land" investigates the human and environmental risks of a new Air Force Nuclear Missile program


 

Nina Berman: 

"This is a project I’ve been working on the last year with colleagues at Princeton and Columbia about the US nuclear arsenal and our plans to spend nearly 2$ trillion building more weapons. It will be published as a package (video, podcast, print pieces) on Scientific American and on our website missilesonourland.org on Nov 14. Like most things that concern the US military, there has been almost no public engagement around these policies and so I hope you find it informative."


View the full project here

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

The Soldier in the Snow: A dark journey down the rabbit hole of war photos, blanketed in snow.

 

Via Patrick Witty, Field of View


White Death, Pvt. Henry Irving Tannebaum Ottre, Belgium 1945: Dead soldier covered in snow
Tony Vacarro


Private First Class Tony Vaccaro, carrying an M-1 rifle and an Argus C3 brick camera, photographed this scene January 11, 1945, during the Battle of the Bulge. At first glance, it looks like a painting - spartan and stark, the composition as cold as the day.

“I saw the soldier that was lying down so peacefully, so beautiful as if an artist had drawn it.” Vaccaro recollected in the excellent 2016 documentary Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro. “Death, that is beautiful. It’s a contradiction. You want the ugliest aspect of mankind, death, to be beautiful. Otherwise it can not be a monument.”

Vaccaro died in 2022 at the age of 100. The photo, titled “White Death, Requiem for a Dead Soldier,” was published alongside Vaccaro’s obit in The New York Times.


Full article here



screen shot of the NY Times front page of February 26, 2022 with Tyler Hicks photograph of dead soldier in snow by a tank in Ukraine