Photo News – South African photographer Anton Hammerl shot in Libya by pro-Gadaffi forces

More sad news from Libya, I’m afraid. After the recent deaths of Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondoros, see earlier posts, it has been confirmed that photographer Anton Hammerl was shot in Libya on 5 April by pro-Gadaffi forces.

I first had news on the disappearance of Anton Hammerl via photographer Jodi Bieber while I was on holiday. Jodi helped raise awareness of his situation and made a plea for his release during her acceptance speech at the World Press Photo Awards in early May. Thanks for this email sent through from Africa Media Online.

The statement: “We have sad news. On Thursday we leant that Anton Hammerl, the South African photographer missing in Libya, was killed by pro-Gadaffi forces. On Thursday evening the journalists, who had been detained by the Libyan government at the time Anton disappeared, crossed the border into Tunisia following their release. They called Penny Sukhraj, Anton’s wife and told her the tragic news that Anton had been shot on 5 April 2011 by Gadaffi’s forces. Up to that point all indications from the Libyan government had been that Anton was in captivity.

“Penny had asked us to distribute the last images that Anton filed in an attempt to raise awareness of his captivity. The story was picked up extensively by the picture industry and has been covered by numerous online news sites. One of our partners in the USA, Newscom, sent us a blog post by Ryan Calder who spent a day with Anton in Libya 6 days before his disappearance. Our thoughts and prayers are with Penny and the family at this time.

To send a message of support to Penny and the family you can visit the Facebook page which was set up to raise awareness of his situation.

Press statement on Guy Martin and excerpt from Tim Hetherington interview Long Story Bit by Bit – Liberia Retold from Hotshoe April 2009

Thanks to Nancy Allison for this pointer to an article from the Seattle Times about Tim Hetherington.
One thing though, I’m not sure that it is entirely accurate to refer to Tim as a “war photographer”. He worked long-term on projects highlighting humanitarian issues and had an approach to documenting conflict and its repercussions that seems to extend beyond the commonly-held notion of a ‘war photographer’. In an interview I did, see excerpt from PDF to download, Tim Hetherington he touches on this. I will try and locate the entire interview and upload it as soon as I can as it covers some of these points.

From the interview, Hetherington says: “People are continually lumping things together,” he continues. “For example, people call me a ‘war photographer’ which I find quite interesting… What I have a problem with is people putting me into the photojournalist expeditionary core of someone who is moving around the world taking pictures of violence without thinking about what I am doing”.

Press statement about Guy Martin from Panos Pictures who was seriously injured. I just got this through and am posting in its entirety, my internet is limited in the desert.

For immediate release
Thursday 21st April 2011

University College Falmouth press statement:
Benghazi conflict photographer Guy Martin, University College Falmouth

Following the reports on the death of Tim Hetherington a conflict photographer who was a director and producer of the Afghan war documentary “Restrepo,” in the besieged city of Misurata, Libya, on Wednesday, and that three photographers working beside him were also wounded when they came under fire. Chris Hondros of Getty Images later died in hospital from his injuries.

One of the other two photographers who was seriously wounded is now recovering in hospital in Misurata is Guy Martin who lectures on Press & Editorial Photography at UCF. His partner Polly Fields, a former student at UCF received a Distinction for her MA in International Journalism and won one of only 5 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Young Reporters Awards as part of her Masters is in contact with University College Falmouth with updates.

Mal Stone, Award Leader, Press & Editorial Photography has commented;

“It’s very sad to be writing to you under these circumstances. We are all very upset to hear about Tim and Chris losing their lives in Libya. Our big concern is for the well being of Guy Martin, a hugely talented young photojournalist and a very valued member of our part time staff on the BA (Hons) Press & Editorial Photography course at University College Falmouth. Guy joined our team two years ago in the early days of our young program and has been a huge influence into shaping the course into the success it has become. His knowledge of editorial, documentary and photojournalism has been a huge input to the teaching of our students about the industry and his enthusiasm to help them has given them great motivation to pursue their chosen careers. We were all looking forward to his return in early May when he was due to be back working with us after his assignments in Egypt and Libya. He is a great friend of both the staff and students and we all want to see him back with our ‘family’ here on Press & Editorial Photography. At this time our thoughts are with Guy, Polly and his family.”

RIP Photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington killed in Libya

It is with great sadness that I am posting news of the death of documentary photographer and film maker Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondoros. Tim and Getty photographer Chris were killed by a mortar attack in Misurata. Tim was recently nominated for an Academy award for documentary film Restrepo. His family has released a statement, part of which states:  “Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict. He will be forever missed.”

I interviewed Tim for Hotshoe in April 2009, ahead of the New York Photo Festival 2009 where he gave a talk and previewed the three-screen film Sleeping Soldiers. See links to previous posts about his photo show Long Story: Bit by Bit Liberia reviewed by Katie Lin, on Restrepo with a comment from Tim about receiving the award and a link to a clip from Sleeping Soldiers which was edited by Magali Charrier.

This post is in remembrance of Tim and is sent with thoughts for those close to him.

Restrepo film by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger receives Academy award nomination – Tim gives Hotshoe blog a response

Restrepo gets an Academy award nomination. Let’s hope that the link to the Restrepo trailer posted back in the summer helped generate interest in, and awareness of, the film.

As soon as I heard the news (thanks to 1854 tweets from BJP), I sent Tim an email to congratulate them.

He replied: “Thanks Miranda. We’re completely thrilled. We made Restrepo with equipment we could carry on our backs in the mountains of Afghanistan, and it never crossed our minds that we might receive an Academy nomination for our work.

“We are beyond thrilled, but we feel that this recognition mostly speaks to the courage and dedication of the men of Battle Company who fought and died in the Korengal Valley.

“The nation is at war, and we wanted to bring that war into the living rooms of people across the United States in the most emotional and politically neutral way possible. It is a huge honor for us to play even a small role in the urgent national conversation about this war.”

Tim Hetherington, sent by email 25 January 2011 17:27:49

Photo News and calls for entries – Mid-Week Round Up

Today’s post covers some varied ground from an invitation to view a trailer of award-winning photographer Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger’s feature-length documentary film Restrepo to calls for entries for the Athens Photo Festival 2010, a Web Documentary Award and an artist’s residency in the UK.

RESTREPO
“Winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for a Documentary, RESTREPO chronicles the deployment of a U.S. platoon of courageous American soldiers in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, considered to be one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military.

“From May 2007 to July 2008, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger dug in with the men of the Second Platoon, Battle Company of the 503rd Infantry Regiment (airborne), stationed at Restrepo, sharing duties and and shooting more than 150 hours of combat, frustration, routine, jokes, terror and bravery during daily life at the outpost.

The film goes on general release in US theatres from 25 June with release dates in the UK and Europe to follow. You can support the movie at this critical time by helping to reach as many people as possible. Just view the trailer Restrepo and let other people know.

You can also sign up to support the film at their Restrepo facebook page.

UK RESIDENCY FOR HUMANITARIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Changing Ideas is a charity that “champions the belief that great photographs and visual storytelling can really make a difference to the work of charities and NGO’s. It promotes the use of photography in humanitarian campaigns and as a catalyst for change”.

To this end, it is offering a new residency for photographers, photojournalists and multimedia artists at the Old Church House located in the fishing village of Pittenweem, Fife, Scotland. Residents have full use of the space, which was renovated in 2009 and includes facilities for the disabled.

Resident artists will be given the opportunity to finish existing projects, develop new work and ideas or create work that has a meaningful and humanitarian aspect to them. The charity is”also keen to support collaborations between photographers and journalists that seek to develop new and innovative combinations of image and text”.

COSTS
The residency is offered free of charge, with artists receiving a daily allowance for food, personal expenses etc. Projects may be considered for grants if they are humanitarian in nature and fulfil the aims of Changing Ideas.

Changing Ideas and Old Church House are initiatives of photographer David Graham.