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


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. 










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, December 12, 2024

San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo

 BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 12, 2024

black and white famous photograph of Marines raising the US Flag on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jim in WWII

U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, Feb. 23, 1945. (AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal, File)

Credit/©: ASSOCIATED PRESS


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A photojournalist who captured one of the most enduring images of World War II — the U.S. Marines raising the flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima — will have a block in downtown San Francisco named for him Thursday.

Joe Rosenthal, who died in 2006 at age 94, was working for The Associated Press in 1945 when he took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.

After the war, he went to work as a staff photographer for the San Francisco Chronicle, and for 35 years until his retirement in 1981, he captured moments of city life both extraordinary and routine.


Rosenthal photographed famous people for the paper, including a young Willie Mays getting his hat fitted as a San Francisco Giant in 1957, and regular people, including children making a joyous dash for freedom on the last day of school in 1965.

Tom Graves, chapter historian for the USMC Combat Correspondents Association, which pushed for the street naming, said it was a shame the talented and humble Rosenthal is known by most for just one photograph.

“From kindergarten to parades, to professional and amateur sports games, he was the hometown photographer,” he told the Chronicle. “I think that’s something that San Francisco should recognize and cherish.”

The 600 block of Sutter Street near downtown’s Union Square will become Joe Rosenthal Way. The Marines Memorial Club, which sits on the block, welcomes the street’s new name.

Rosenthal never considered himself a wartime hero, just a working photographer lucky enough to document the courage of soldiers.

When complimented on his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, Rosenthal said: “Sure, I took the photo. But the Marines took Iwo Jima.”



Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The story behind the 'iconic' Buna shot from WWII

 Via Australian Photography

By Stephen Dando-Collins | 4 December 2024

black and white photograph of a wounded Australian soldier, Private George ‘Dick’ Whittington.  Barefoot, walking with the aid of a long stick, his eyes were covered by a rough bandage. Guiding Whittington was volunteer Papuan carrier Raphael Oimbari

George Silk’s The Blind Soldier. Later, Silk would say there was something distinctive about the two subjects. The Papuan carrier in particular grabbed his attention: “He was helping him so tenderly,” he said. Image: Australian War Memorial


Early on Christmas Day, 1942, 26-year-old George Silk rose from his cot at battalion HQ at Soputa in northeast Papua and began walking to the Buna battlefront 10km away.

Around his neck hung his two cameras – a Rolleiflex Standard for close-ups, and a 35mm Zeiss Ikon Contax fitted with a telephoto lens for distance shots.

Silk was a New Zealand camera shop assistant who’d turned up in the Canberra office of Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies in January 1940.

He talked Menzies into hiring him as Australia’s second government combat photographer, and after working in North Africa, Silk was reassigned by the Australian Department of Information (DOI) to the New Guinea campaign.

For close to three years Silk had striven to take the ‘great’ war picture, something to emulate or surpass Robert Capa’s famous 1937 shot from the Spanish Civil War, The Falling Soldier.

Now, with the Australians and Americans starting to gain the upper hand in the fight against the Imperial Japanese Army in Papua, Silk was anxious to get his best shot before the Battle of Buna-Gona ended.

So, on December 24 he dragged himself from his hospital bed outside Port Moresby, where he’d been laid low by malaria, and hitched a ride back to the front.

On the track to Old Strip, Silk, rounding a bend in the tall kunai grass, saw two men approaching side-by-side. One was a wounded Australian soldier, Private George ‘Dick’ Whittington.

Barefoot, walking with the aid of a long stick, his eyes were covered by a rough bandage. Guiding Whittington was volunteer Papuan carrier Raphael Oimbari, a farmer in his twenties.

It almost seemed as if Silk would be intruding if he photographed the pair. “I wanted to take the picture, but I didn’t at first,” he later recalled.

But his documentarian’s instincts kicked in. Using his Rolleiflex from the waist with the pair less than two metres away, Silk snapped a single shot without even looking down into the viewfinder.

Seemingly unaware of him, the wounded soldier and carrier passed Silk by. Hurrying after them, he obtained the soldier’s details before the pair continued on.

Later that day, Silk joined Whittington’s 2/10th Battalion. Clicking away in the thick of the fighting that afternoon, he collapsed face-down on the battlefield. Malaria had caught up with him. 

Towards sunset, an Aussie soldier found the photographer lying with the dead all around him. Evacuated to Moresby, Silk ended up in a malaria ward.

You can’t keep a good photographer down. Silk was soon back at the front. At Giropa Point on December 31 and January 1, he took what he considered his two best pictures of the war, close-ups beside Bren-gunners and Vickers-gunners with bullets whistling all around. Again, Silk collapsed with malaria, and again he ended up in hospital.

Meanwhile, another George, American Life photographer George Strock, snapped three dead American soldiers on Buna Beach.

In hospital, George Silk learned the DOI had banned his two Giropa Point photos – one showed a dead Digger, while one of the Bren-gunners had dropped down dead beside him seconds after he took his picture.

At the same time, Silk’s photo of Whittington and the ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel’ was also banned for being ‘too graphic’.

Silk was incensed. So, he wined and dined a young female clerk working in the DOI’s Port Moresby office and brought her into a conspiracy.

She had prints of his three banned pictures made at the DOI’s Sydney photographic laboratory and sent to her.

She gave them to Silk, who passed them to a war correspondent friend, who had them approved by the American censor at GHQ in Brisbane. Silk then gave his prints to George Strock, who smuggled them to Life.

Strock knew the Pentagon banned publication of photos of American dead, but was appalled by apathy towards the war at home. He was determined to jolt his fellow Americans into getting behind their troops.

On March 8, 1943, Life published Silk’s The Blind Soldier, full page.

Readers hailed it the best picture of the war. A month later Silk was fired by the DOI. Parliamentary backbenchers called for him to be charged with treason. His friend Damien Parer resigned in protest at his treatment.

Meanwhile, Life management struggled for seven months to gain War Department approval to publish Strock’s Three Dead Americans.

Going all the way to the White House, they discovered that, like George Strock, President Roosevelt was determined to cement Americans behind the war effort by being honest with them. With his approval, Three Dead Americans appeared in Life on September 20, 1943, shocking America.

In 2014, Time magazine would describe it as ‘the photograph that won the war’. Two iconic images, and one amazing story. ❂


The Buna shots: The Amazing Story Behind Two Photographs that Changed the Course of World War Two, by Stephen Dando-Collins, is published by Australian Scholarly Publishing. It’s the never before told story of two arresting photographs, two courageous photographers, and the quest for truth in war. You can order a copy here: https://bit.ly/3ZQ5DpV


Saturday, June 22, 2024

Save The Date: July 6, Free screening of Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc. Tony Vaccaro

black and white photograph of Tony Vaccaro  holding his camera whle seated on an airplane wing during WWII

 

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce a major exhibition of more than 45 photographs celebrating the life and career of Tony Vaccaro. “Tony Vaccaro: The Pursuit of Beauty” The exhibit opens on Friday, July 5, with a public reception and Gallery conversation with Frank Vaccaro, son of the photographer, 5 – 7 pm.  

Monroe Gallery will sponsor a free screening of the HBO Documentary Film “Underfire: The Untold Story of Pfc Tony Vaccaro” on Saturday, July 6, 4 pm at the Jean Cocteau Theater. 

Free tickets here.

The film tells the story of how Tony 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.

 In 1943, with the Allied invasion of Europe imminent, a newly drafted 21-year-old Tony Vaccaro applied to the U.S. Army Signal Corps. He had developed a passion for photography and knew he wanted to photograph the war. “They said I was too young to do this,” Tony says, holding his finger as if taking a photo, “but not too young to do this,” turning his finger forward, pulling a gun trigger. Not one to be denied, Tony went out and purchased a $47.00 Argus C3, and carried the camera into the war with him. He would fight with the 83rd Infantry Division for the next 272 days, playing two roles – a combat infantryman on the front lines and a photographer who would take roughly 8,000 photographs of the war.

 In the decades that followed the war, Tony would go on to become a renowned commercial photographer for magazines such as Look, Life, and Flair, but it is his collection of war photos, images that capture the rarely seen day-to-day reality of life as a soldier, that is his true legacy. Tony kept these photos locked away for decades in an effort to put the war behind him, and it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that this extraordinary body of work was first discovered and celebrated in Europe. In the United States, however, Tony has yet to receive his due and few people have heard of him.

 Though the narrative spine of the film is a physical journey in which Tony brings us to the places in Europe where many of his most powerful photos were taken, over the course of the film we also trace Tony’s emotional journey from a young GI eager to record the war to an elderly man who, at 93, has become a pacifist, increasingly horrified at man’s ability to wage war. Tony believed fiercely that the Allied forces in WWII were engaged in a just war, but he vowed never to take another war photo the day the war ended, and he didn’t.

 In addition to numerous interviews with Tony, the film includes interviews with a number of other people, including Tyler Hicks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for the New York Times; Lynsey Addario, a Pulitzer Prize-winner who has covered conflict for 30 years for the New York Times, Time, National Geographic, and other major publications; Anne Wilkes Tucker, a photography curator and curator of the comprehensive exhibition WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY; James Estrin, a Senior Photographer for the New York Times and editor of the Times’ Lens blog; and John G. Morris, who was the photo editor of Life Magazine during World War II and was Robert Capa’s editor.

 Concurrently, Monroe Gallery is featuring a major exhibition of photographs by Tony Vaccaro. The exhibit continues through September 15, 2024.

 

Tony Vaccaro died on December 28, 2022, eight days after celebrating his 100th birthday. Orphaned at age 6, he immersed himself in studying classic European art and by age 10 had a box camera. He photographed WWII from a soldier’s perspective, documenting his personal witness to the brutality of war.  After carrying a camera across battlefields, he become one the most sought-after photographers of his day, eventually working for virtually every major publication: Flair, Look, Life, Venture, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Quick, Newsweek, and many more. Vaccaro turned the trauma of his youth into a career seeking beauty. This exhibit explores the extraordinary depth of his archive and features several new discoveries being exhibited for the very first time.

 

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.




Saturday, December 9, 2023

Limited Offer: Free streaming of documentary film "Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro"

Underfire The Untold Story of Tony Vaccaro from Passion River Films on Vimeo.

 


On November 14. 2016 HBO Films premiered “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro”. The film tells the story of how Tony 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.

We are pleased to offer for a limited number free streaming of this important documentary. Contact the Gallery for details. The film is also available from Amazon and Apple TV+.

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

Throughout the month of December, we will be posting tributes and memories of Tony Vaccaro on our Instagram feed. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona is currently featuring the exhibition American Icons: Wright and O'Keeffe, photographs by Tony Vaccaro; and his work is on display at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe.

View a selection of available fine art prints from Tony Vaccaro here.


Monday, December 4, 2023

Remembering Tony Vaccaro on the anniversary of his 100th birthday and subsequent passing

 

Galleriests Michelle and Sid Monroe pose with Tony Vaccaro in front of his photograph of Sophia Loren at a Pop Up exhibition in New York, 2016
Tony Vaccaro with Michelle and Sid Monroe at his Pop Up exhibition in New York, 2016




Beginning in 2016, Monroe Gallery of Photography presented annual exhibitions of photographs by Tony Vaccaro to honor his birthday, December 20. He travelled to Santa Fe to attend 3 exhibits and meet hundreds of collectors and enthusiastic admirers.

To celebrate his 100th birthday in December, 2022, Monroe Gallery of Photography hosted two exhibitions, in New York City and Santa Fe. Despite recently having been hospitalized for emergency surgery for complications from an ulcer, Tony recovered and attended the pop-up Tony Vaccaro Centennial Exhibition of his photographs in New York City. The City of New York officially proclaimed December 20, 2022 “Tony Vaccaro Day”, and Vaccaro was feted by friends at a surprise birthday party at his favorite local Italian restaurant that evening.


Tony at his Centennial Pop Up exhibition in New York, December, 2022



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


 Throughout the month of December, we will be posting tributes and memories of Tony Vaccaro on our Instagram feed. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona is currently featuring the exhibition American Icons: Wright and O'Keeffe, photographs by Tony Vaccaro; and his work is on display at Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe.




Saturday, October 1, 2022

Tony Vaccaro 100: A Life of a Photographer from War to Culture

 

The Museum für Photographie Braunschweig logo


Via Photography in Berlin

October 1, 2022

color photograph of Tony Vaccaro holding a test stip, NY, 1968


A Life of a Photographer from War to Culture

Curated by Barbara Hofmann-Johnson, Director Museum für Photographie Braunschweig.

The Museum für Photographie Braunschweig shows for the 100th Birthday of Tony Vaccaro (* December 20, 1922 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, lives in Long Island, NY) an exhibition of the American photographer of Italian descent and presents important and award-winning works from different creative phases. These include photographs taken during and after World War II in Europe and important portraits of artists, musicians, politicians and cultural figures.

With a special sense for composition and the connection to the outside space, fashion photographs are also part of Tony Vaccaro’s work. Some of the artistically staged fashion shots are part of the exhibition, especially those that were taken for a documentary for Marimekko, the Finnish design house in the 1960s, are particularly noteworthy.

The exhibition at the Museum für Photographie Braunschweig is created in cooperation and with the support of Tony Vaccaro Studio, New York City, USA and the Monroe Gallery of Photography Collection, Santa Fe, NM, USA.


Museum für Photographie Braunschweig

Helmstedter Straße 1 · 38102 Braunschweig
Opening hours: Tue – Fri 1 – 6 pm, Sat & Sun 11 am – 6 pm
Admission: 3,50 € / reduced 2,00 €. Happy Thursday: Free admission & extended opening hours until 8 pm & guided tour at 6 pm every first Thursday of the month.




Monroe Gallery of Photography will announce two additional major exhibits celebrating Tony Vaccaro's 100th birthday. "Tony Vaccaro: The Centennial Exhibition" will be on view in Santa Fe, NM and New York, NY - details to be announced