AFP photographer Patrick Baz was in the Palestine Hotel April 8 when a U.S. tank fired a shell at one of the hotel balconies, killing Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk and Spanish cameraman Jose Couso. Baz recounts the moments that led up to the attack and the ensuing chaos.
Reuter Staff photographer describes a close combat with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan
As a photographer embedded with the Canadians, I was hit by the blast and then enveloped by a cloud of dust and smoke as we scrambled for cover behind a mud wall shielding us from Taliban positions on the opposite side of a grape field.
Canadian and Afghan troops quickly returned fire and I focussed on taking pictures of an Afghan army soldier shooting a heavy mounted machine gun from a nearby ditch.
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People often ask whether it’s worth the risk taking combat pictures. It’s only worth it if you don’t get hurt or worse. The second something bad happens, the gamble is lost.
The last picture, featuring O’Reilly himself, made my day.
A group of elite conflict photographers have banded together under the photo agency, VII, in an effort to uncover the true meaning of the Iraq War.
In the wake of September 11, the VII agency was formed by award-winning veteran cameraman James Nachtwey and colleagues, and has since covered the site at Ground Zero, the invasion of Afghanistan and the Iraq War since America plunged headlong into its « War Against Terror. » For Nachtwey, the accumulated experience of nearly a quarter century of war photography began crystallizing into a vision centered around Ground Zero. Come with us as we discover what this vision was, delve into respective war photographers’ thoughts and actions in the heat of battle, as well as how the face of war has changed since 9/11.
As James Nachtwey says in this video, quoting Robert Capa, « The desire of any war photographer is to be put out of business. »
Thanks to Martin Benois
Was Nagai Kenji deliberately shot at close range by a soldier?
I was ready to ask questions, but he had a few for me. « Are you Eileen Blass » Yup, I said. « Are you flying out on Delta? » Uh huh. « Did you check a large black bag? » Yes. Then I heard my heartbeat in my head. Andrea and I looked at each other. Huh? This was my entire fault?
…
I stepped outside to catch my breath. Oh…my…God…the media had arrived. Live TV trucks, a reporter doing a stand up, video being shot, a still photographer walking around, a man carrying a reporter’s notebook. It was « breaking news. » Watching the scene unfold, I felt like I was watching my own funeral. It was creepy.
That is funny, except when you are the onw involved, I guess!
