50 years ago today: the burning monk in Saigon

Fifty years ago today, an Associated Press correspondent made a series of photographs that would shock a president and impact U.S. policy on the Vietnam War.


Associated Press: The Burning Monk: A defining moment photographed by AP’s Malcolm Browne

NBC News PhotoBlog:  Burning monk photo: How a moment became breaking news in 15 hours

Time LightBox: Malcolm Browne: The Story Behind The Burning Monk

Exhibition: 1963

Second Annual “Eddie Adams Day" Honors Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer

Bill Shirley | For The Valley News Dispatch

Retired Associated Press photo executive Hal Buell speaks to a crowd at the Eddie Adams Day dinner on Saturday, June 8, 2013, at the Clarion Hotel in New Kensington. Buell worked with Adams when Adams took his famous photo of an execution in the streets of Saigon in 1968. Here, he discusses another well-known photo from Vietnam of a napalmed girl running by photographer Nick Ut.

Via TribLive
Published: Sunday, June 9, 2013, 12:06 a.m.
                    
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Getting a state historical marker for New Kensington native and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams has been an objective of the New Kensington Camera Club since its creation in 2011.

 

It's one the club hopes to realize about this time next year, club President Don Henderson said.

 

Adams, who had a lengthy, prolific and varied career, is perhaps best remembered for the Pulitzer-winning image he captured of a South Vietnamese general executing a Viet Cong prisoner on a Saigon street during the Tet Offensive in 1968.

 

The club hosted festivities for its second annual “Eddie Adams Day” Saturday, beginning with a program and display of his photos at the Alle-Kiski Valley Heritage Museum in Tarentum and concluding with a dinner at the Clarion Hotel in New Kensington.

 

Adams' former editor, retired Associated Press photo executive Hal Buell, was the guest speaker for the dinner.

 

Inspired by Adams' “signature picture,” Buell spoke of “Pictures People Hate,” images that make people angry with the newspapers that publish them. He had the audience play the role of editor, deciding whether they would print images considered controversial.

 

Buell, 82, of Queens, New York City, retired from the AP in 1997. He said Adams did not like the photo for which he is best known.

 

“Eddie was an incredible photographer and a remarkable human being. His obsession in life was to make great pictures. He just wanted to be the world's best photographer,” Buell said. “He didn't like pictures that hurt people.”

 

The reaction to the photo was bad, Buell said, not because it was graphic, but because it showed what “bums” America's allies were in Vietnam, and brought into question how the nation got involved with a country that would carry out an execution on a street.

 

But Adams felt his own image portrayed the executioner, police chief Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan, badly. Earlier that day, Loan's aide and the aide's family had been assassinated by the Viet Cong, Buell said.

 

“For many years he wouldn't talk about the picture,” Buell said of Adams. “He felt the picture did not tell the whole story.”

 

Seeing no reason Adams shouldn't be honored with a historical marker, Henderson said only time has delayed it — a requirement for a person to be so recognized is that they be deceased at least 10 years.

 

Adams died Sept. 19, 2004, making him eligible beginning next year.

 

Proceeds from the Saturday events will go toward pursuit of the marker. Henderson said the club will apply for it in December. If approved, he hopes for a dedication ceremony including a street festival this time next year, which falls near Adams' birthday on June 12.

 

Because Adams had been a Marine, Henderson said it would be fitting for the marker to be located at the New Kensington war memorial on Ninth Street, across from Peoples Library.

 

Henderson said the club also hopes to have “Eddie Adams Day” made an official observance in New Kensington.

 

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-226-4701 or brittmeyer@tribweb.com.

On display

Twenty-one photographs by New Kensington native and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams are on display this month at the Alle-Kiski Valley Heritage Museum, 224 E. Seventh Ave. in Tarentum.

 

A $5 donation is suggested for those who are not members of the historical society.

 

The photos can be viewed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 12, 15, 19, 22 and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, call 724-224-7666.

The Legacy of Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers

Via The Newseum

By Dinah Douglas, assistant Web writer

WASHINGTON — On June 5, 2013, the Newseum hosted the panel discussion "The Legacy of Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers." Evers was a civil rights icon who in 1954 became the first NAACP field secretary in Mississippi. Evers spearheaded demonstrations and boycotts of businesses that practiced racial discrimination and organized voter registrations for African Americans. He was assassinated in the driveway of his home 50 years ago on June 12, 1963.

Evers's widow, Myrlie Evers, headed a panel that included former NAACP chairman Julian Bond and Jerry Mitchell, a reporter for The Clarion-Ledger, whose work helped convict the man who assassinated Evers. Gwen Ifill, senior correspondent for "PBS NewsHour," moderated the discussion.
The event was one in a series related to a new exhibit at the Newseum titled "Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights Movement," which will open Aug. 2, 2013. The exhibit coincides with the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and will explore the new generation of student leaders in the early 1960s who fought systematic discrimination by exercising their First Amendment rights.

Related Exhibition: 1963

Twenty-three years ago today, Jeff Widener ran out of film during the most important assignment of his life

Jeff Widener—AP

A Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Changan Avenue in Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. The man, calling for an end to the recent violence and bloodshed against pro-democracy demonstrators, was pulled away by bystanders, and the tanks continued on their way.

Via Time LightBox


The brutal crackdown at Tiananmen Square was underway and Widener, a photographer for the Associated Press, was sent to the square to capture the scene. “I rode a bicycle to the Beijing Hotel,” Widener says. “Upon my arrival, I had to get past several Chinese security police in the lobby. If they stopped and searched me, they would have found all my gear and film hidden in my clothes.” But there, in the shadows of the hotel entrance, he saw a long-haired college kid wearing a dirty Rambo t-shirt, shorts and sandals. “I yelled out, ‘Hi Joe! Where you been?’ and then whispered that I was from AP.” Widener remembers. He asked to go to the young man’s room. “He picked up on it,” says Widener, “and out of the corner of my eye I could see the approaching security men turn away, thinking I was a hotel guest.”

Renowned Photojournalist Bill Eppridge Feature on CBS Morning Show

CBS news correspondent Michelle Miller interviews Bill Eppridge
photo by Adrienne Aurichio

June 5 will mark the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. The CBS Morning Show will feature a segment during the week of June 3 with the renowned photojournalist Bill Eppridge (air date to be announced, check your local listings).

Updated: Here is the segment:RFK assassination: Newly discovered footage backs up doctor's story about aiding Kennedy

Related:

The Historic Master Print of "Robert F. Kennedy Shot"

 Bill Eppridge: An American Treasure Review "An Eye On The Times"

Memorial Day, 2013

 

 

Steve Ruark—AP

Marines Capt. Daniel B. Bartle, front left case, Capt. Nathan R. McHone, back left case, Master Sgt. Travis W. Riddick, front center case, Cpl. Joseph D. Logan, back center case, Cpl. Kevin J. Reinhard, front right case, and Cpl. Jesse W. Stites, back right case, Jan. 23, 2012.


"With troops dying on distant battlefields in wars increasingly out of the public eye, photographs of the simple transfer ceremony on the tarmac at Dover offer all of us a chance to pause, to recognize men and women who were deserving of a future, and who gave what Abraham Lincoln called “the last full measure of devotion.” The dignified transfers are one step in a fallen service member’s long journey home. Viewing the photos and remembering the people inside those caskets can be one small part in our role as a grateful nation."


Full post with slideshow: Honoring the Fallen: One Photographer’s Witness to 490 Dignified Transfers



Via Time LightBox

1963

 Charles Moore, Fire Hoses Aimed at Demonstrators, Birmingham, 1963,

Gewlatin silver print, 11” x 14”

THE Magazine
June, 2013

The very time I thought I was lost/
My dungeon shook and my chains fell off
—African-American spiritual


 

In the preface to his 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, a poetic exploration of race and religion in the United States, James Baldwin made an important, if paradoxical proclamation: “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” More than half a century after thethirty-one-year-old African-American writer released his book to a shifting American public, civil rights issues are still a vast and clumsy national topic.

Monroe Gallery’s current show of black and-white photographs is titled, simply enough, 1963, and covers that tumultuous year in American history with empathy and remarkable beauty. While human-rights concerns were gaining visibility in many parts of the country, changes must have felt imperceptible in many others, and the exhibition does a great job of visually encapsulating this disparity. Entering the space, one first sees photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr.—fitting enough, considering he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. An image of this iconic moment shows King at a podium, surrounded by listeners. Nearby,the picture Fire Hoses Aimed at Demonstrators, Birmingham, 1963, depicts three people being blasted with water from an unseen fireman during a protest in Alabama. The image is jarringly visceral and utterly captivating. In President John F. Kennedy Visiting Berlin, 1963, we see a gaggle of admirers clamoring around the figure of the president in a black car. JFK’sassassination would take place just five months later, a knowledge that, for the viewer, imbues the scene with an incredible poignancy. In a nearby photo, a barefoot Jackie Kennedy walks along the Palm Beach shoreline with her little son.

Undoubtedly, for most of us the show is a powerful history lesson. James Meredith, the first African-American to graduate from the infamously segregated University of Mississippi, is pictured surrounded by U.S. Marshals but his face retains a calm poise. A sobering handful of images memorialize the funeral of Medgar Evers, a pioneering and vocal advocate for African-American rights, who was shot and killed by a Ku Klux Klansman who wasn’t initially convicted of the crime. For the most part, the other half of the gallery space displays work that’s less politically and emotionally charged. A particularly lovely composition shows Steve McQueen and his wife relaxing in a hot tub, cigarettes and wine goblets in hand. The next photograph shows the be-sunglassed actor sitting on a sofa, holding a pistol. Next to this is a four-paneled composition of Sean Connery, posing with a sly grin and a gun. An image of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra and a handful of photos of athletes like Arnold Palmer and Sandy Koufax round out this part of the show. These shots are no doubt meant to inject a little levity, but I thought the placement of images that either depict violence or else strongly suggest it, coupled with Hollywoodstyle showiness and triumphant moments in sports history, made for an incompatible and somewhat unpalatable juxtaposition.

In 1963, ten years after he spoke of his conflicted relationship with America, James Baldwin penned a letter to his teenage nephew, elaborating on what he called “my dispute with my country.” In it, he warns the boy that though people know better than to behave out of fear and hate, they often “find it very difficult to act on what they know.… To act is to be committed and to be committed is to be in danger.” Fifty years after this letter was written, it can still be said that the politicians who ostensibly represent us are afraid to be committed to a strong position when it comes to making decisions on issues like gun control and same-sex marriage. There’s a potentially squirmy reaction from photography lovers who walk into Monroe Gallery and expect foggy landscapes and nudes, and that’s one of the reasons 1963 is such an admirably courageous little exhibition. More than a show, this grouping of photographs is really a meditation on an era that isn’t completely in America’s rearview mirror. In 2013, being an American and loving America can feel downright paradoxical, and though we can’t always make amends for the wrongs committed by our nation in her past, the work in this show seems to quietly remind us that through learning and remembering, we can pave the way for a kinder future.

—Iris McLister

 

 

"a damaging setback for press freedom in the United States"

Via Committee To Protect Journalists

May 21, 2013
Attorney General Eric Holder
Deputy Attorney General James Cole
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Via fax

Dear Attorney General Holder and Deputy Attorney General Cole:

The Committee to Protect Journalists was founded 32 years ago to fight for the rights of journalists around the world and defend their ability to report the news without fear of reprisal. Throughout our history our work has exposed abuses committed against frontline journalists covering conflict or working in repressive societies.

Our board of directors rarely has seen the need to raise its collective voice against U.S. government actions that threaten newsgathering. Today, however, we do see that need: We write you to vigorously protest the secret seizing of phone records of The Associated Press. The overly broad scope of the secret subpoena and the lack of notification to the AP by the Justice Department represent a damaging setback for press freedom in the United States.

We share the concerns of the AP, as expressed in a letter sent to you by President and CEO Gary Pruitt, and join the organization in demanding the confiscated materials be returned and the originals destroyed. (We note, for your information, that AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll is vice chairman of CPJ's board of directors).

The actions of your department undermine press freedom in this country. Just as troubling, they set a terrible example for the rest of the world, where governments routinely justify intervention in the media by citing national security.

We note, for example, that President Obama met Thursday with Prime Minister Erdoğan of Turkey, where at least 47 journalists--more than any country in the world--are jailed, mostly on national security-related charges. In meetings with his counterparts from repressive countries, President Obama should be able to press these issues and point to the United States as a country that has not sacrificed its deeply rooted commitment to press freedom in the name of national security. Sadly, the Justice Department's actions make it more difficult for the president to make that case.
We urge you to take immediate steps to ensure that the press is able to carry out its critical function without further unnecessary government intrusion. We ask that the confiscated phone records be returned to the AP and that you take action to guarantee that any future efforts to obtain phone records or other information essential to newsgathering is communicated to the news organization in advance so that the action can be challenged in court as justice demands.

Sincerely,

Sandra Mims Rowe
CPJ Chairman
Andy Alexander
Franz Allina
Christiane Amanpour
ABC News/CNN International
Terry Anderson
CPJ Honorary Chairman
Tom Brokaw
NBC News, CPJ Advisory Board
John S. Carroll
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
The Washington Post
Sheila Coronel
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Gerry Fabrikant
The New York Times
Josh Friedman
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Anne Garrels
Arianna Huffington
AOL Huffington Post Media Group
Steven Isenberg
CPJ Advisory Board
Jonathan Klein
Getty Images
Jane Kramer
The New Yorker
Mhamed Krichen
Al-Jazeera
Lara Logan
CBS News
Rebecca MacKinnon
David Marash
CPJ Advisory Board
Kati Marton
Michael Massing
Victor Navasky
The Nation
Andres Oppenheimer
The Miami Herald
Clarence Page
Chicago Tribune
Erwin Potts
CPJ Advisory Board
Gene Roberts
Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland
María Teresa Ronderos
Semana.com
David Schlesinger
Paul Steiger
ProPublica, CPJ Advisory Board
Jacob Weisberg
The Slate Group
Mark Whitaker
Matt Winkler
Bloomberg News

Jet Star Roller Coaster, Iconic symbol of Hurricane Sandy devastation, demolished

Stephen Wilkes: Hurricane Sandy, Seaside Heights, NJ, 2012

Demolition crews removing roller coaster sunk by Sandy
By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News

Via NBC News

 

 

A roller coaster that was plunged into the Atlantic Ocean after Super Storm Sandy ripped through the Jersey Shore last October and became a symbol of the devastation was being demolished Tuesday afternoon.

The partially submerged Jet Star coaster was once a popular destination at Casino Pier, an amusement park in Seaside Heights, N.J. But when Sandy ravaged the Jersey shoreline, destroying parts of the pier, the coaster tumbled into the ocean.

Watch live video at NBCNewYork.com

Footage recorded at the scene showed demolition crews beginning to rip apart what remains of the former thrill ride. The crews are expected to use barges in the water and on-shore equipment to dismantle and uproot the coaster, Casino Pier spokeswoman Toby Wolf told NBC New York.

The demolition will take roughly two days to complete, Wolf said.
Casino Pier has reportedly asked Weeks Marine, the construction and dredging company hired to tear down Jet Star, to salvage a piece of the fallen coaster, which park officials intend to install as part of a planned Sandy memorial, according to NBC New York.

Prince Harry, who earlier Tuesday visited the storm-battered towns of Mantoloking and Seaside Heights with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at his side, said that he saw the “American spirit” manifested in the coastal region's recovery from natural disaster.
The prince is scheduled to appear in New York City on Tuesday evening to promote British trade and a community baseball program.

Santa Fe Darkroom to Close After 19 Years

The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 14, 2013

Santa Fe darkroom rental firm going out of business

The popularity of digital photography is responsible for the demise of The Darkroom, a Santa Fe business which has rented darkrooms to film photographers for the last 19 years.
 

“It’s a labor of love,” owner Linda Wilson said of darkroom work. “I think there are still going to be people doing this kind of work, but there’s just not the need for it as there used to be. … I’m focusing on my personal work [film photography] now.”
 

Wilson said Diane DiRoberto started The Darkroom in the same spot at Suite O, 901 W. San Mateo Road, in 1994, then sold it to her four years ago. In addition to renting darkrooms, the business offered workshops and exhibitions of photography.
 

A farewell reception and exhibition of recent photography is set from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 18. That will be followed with a darkroom liquidation sale, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 25 and 26.
 

The Darkroom is unrelated to Camera and Darkroom at 1005 S. St. Francis Drive.

More: http://thedarkroomsantafe.com/