Pixiq

News outlets are reporting that two photojournalists, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, were killed by mortar fire Wednesday in Libya. Our sincerest condolences go out to their families, friends, and coworkers.

I won't rehash what all the news outlets are cutting, pasting, and reporting (Tim, an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker for Restrepo; Chris, a Pulitzer prize nominee, etc. etc.). Instead, I would like to speak to this from a personal place. I never met Chris, though I had heard of him by name, but I did have the priviledge of meeting Tim Hetherington a little over a year and a half ago.

I heard Tim speak at PhotoPlus in 2009; he presented "The Documentary Hybrid: Images and Possibilities." Two things struck me immediately upon meeting him: first, he was a tall, handsome man with a demure, self-assured demeanor. The second thing that struck me was his passion for photography and telling a story.

He had just finished—or rather, was wrapping up—his still photography series called "Sleeping Soldiers," an assignment for Vanity Fair as a contributing photographer. This series was created while he was embedded with an American unit in Afghanistan. Actually, he was one of the first photojournalists to be embedded with an active combat unit in Afghanistan. The project was simple, and beautiful: he captured the rare moments of repose among the soldiers—a very different look at life on the battlefield from the typical images we see from the frontlines. This project then turned into Restrepo; at the time of the talk, he had film clips that later became this Oscar-nominated documentary. It is an intense look at the very dangerous life in one of the most war-torn regions: the Korengal Valley.

From Tim's bio on the Restrepo website:

Hetherington has reported on conflict and human rights issues for more than ten years. He was the only photographer to live behind rebel lines during the 2003 Liberian civil war - work that culminated in the film "Liberia: an Uncivil War" and the book "Long Story Bit by Bit : Liberia Retold" (Umbrage 2009), and his work for Human Rights Watch to uncover civilian massacres on the Chad / Darfur border in 2006 appeared in the documentary "The Devil Came on Horseback".

Tim was doing "multimedia,"—in this context, meaning combinations of stills and video—long before manufacturers were putting video capabilities into their camera. In fact, he was doing this before digital cameras became the default technology for photojournalists. He knew intrinsically that still photography and video would be the wave of the future, and while he was embedded with this platoon in the Korengal Valley, he lugged around still and video equipment. The images, and the film, are stunning. The intimacy with these soldiers is almost uncomfortable, and the constant proximity to danger is mind boggling.

Tim was what all frontline photographers are: Brave. Dedicated. Driven. Passionate. His yearn to capture the humanity in an inhumane environment created some of the most beautiful images I've ever seen of war.

He carried his message to the world. He showed all of us, cozied up in our homes, watching Netflix, and enjoying the basics (like running water and a roof over our heads) what it means to be a soldier on the battlefield. He brought us to the edge without our ever needing to leave our comfortable worlds, and showed us the reality of what happens in war.

He was just as much a soldier as the men in the platoon; the only difference was that Tim's weapons were his cameras.

He died as he lived: on the frontlines.

Rest in peace, Chris, Tim, and all the other journalists in the world that allow these stories to be told, at the cost of their lives.