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Conflict Photographer James Natchwey Has My Respect
I do not usually watch 60 MINUTES. But I set TIVO to record well beyond the end of each weekend’s golf tournament. At some point, there was a 60 MINUTES teaser that mentioned “perhaps the greatest war photographer ever”. So after old-timer Lucas Grover who won his second tournament in a row, The FedEx St. Jude Championship, his third in two months after a ten-year drought, I watched two interesting features on 60 Minutes. The piece on the iconic James Natchwey, however, had just begun when the tape ran out. So I did a Google search and found the feature here on the CBS News website. You will have to sit through a single long commercial near the beginning, but I was very glad that I found the whole interview. It was moving, dramatic, fascinating, beautiful, horribly revealing, and inspirational in many ways. If you are human, you owe it to yourself to view the video and see what we have been doing to each other for the past four decades.
My favorite parts were when Natchwey, now 75, talked about how he got started, his comments on his 9-11 images, and the short video that shows a bullet parting his hair! He was right there when Ken Oosterbroek was shot and killed by members of South Africa’s National Peacekeeping Force (NPKF) in Thokoza Township, about 25 km east of Johannesburg, on 18 April, nine days before the 27 April 1994 elections in South Africa, the country’s first all-race elections. In 2003, Nachtwey was injured in a grenade attack on his convoy while working in Baghdad; he made a full recovery.
You can enjoy a sampling of his work on his Instagram page here. What a shame that IG censored (“covered”) several images because they may contain violent or graphic content. Also, check out his Witness galleries by clicking here.
In short, James Natchwey is a great man by any standards. I would love to have included one or two of his powerful images here but could not find a way of getting in touch.
From the Website
James Nachtwey grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he studied Art History and Political Science (1966-70). Images from the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights movement had a powerful effect on him and were instrumental in his decision to become a photographer. He has worked aboard ships in the Merchant Marine, and while teaching himself photography, he was an apprentice news film editor and a truck driver.
In 1976 he started work as a newspaper photographer in New Mexico, and in 1980, he moved to New York to begin a career as a freelance magazine photographer. His first foreign assignment was to cover civil strife in Northern Ireland in 1981 during the IRA hunger strike. Since then, Nachtwey has devoted himself to documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues. He has worked on extensive photographic essays in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa, Russia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Romania, Brazil and the United States.
Nachtwey has been a contract photographer with Time Magazine since 1984. He was associated with Black Star from 1980 – 1985 and was a member of Magnum from 1986 until 2001. In 2001, he became one of the founding members of the photo agency, VII. He has had solo exhibitions at the International Center of Photography in New York, the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris, the Palazzo Esposizione in Rome, the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, Culturgest in Lisbon, El Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles, the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, the Canon Gallery and the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, the Carolinum in Prague,and the Hasselblad Center in Sweden, among others.
He has received numerous honours such as the Common Wealth Award, Martin Luther King Award, Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Henry Luce Award, Robert Capa Gold Medal (five times), the World Press Photo Award (twice), Magazine Photographer of the Year (seven times), the International Center of Photography Infinity Award (three times), the Leica Award (twice), the Bayeaux Award for War Correspondents (twice), the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award, the Canon Photo essayist Award and the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant in Humanistic Photography. He is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and has an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Arts.
Your Thoughts?
While I had heard of James Natchwey before, I did not realize the extent of his greatness. How about you?
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
Had not heard of Natchwey, but his photos are powerful, even apart from the subjects. His photos reminded me of the paintings of Alejandro Abt, which I first saw (and photographed) at the post office in Ushuaia. Abt even has a trampoline painting (more menacing than Natchwey’s photo, it seems to be about helicopter executions) that might have been inspired by Natchwey. But to find painting-like photos on the run, under fire, is maybe harder than painting such images.
Thanks for sharing this, Artie. I also record the PGA on my Tivo to run extra time. I did not realize James Natchwey’s interview was on my recording. It’s a good thing I did not delete it yet. Your background information was excellent. I agree that this interview was Riveting and encourage everybody to click on the link you provided to watch it.
Thank you for sharing the link to the 60 Minutes piece on James Natchwey. Riveting.