Slain photojournalist Tim Hetherington, remembered in books
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Photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed in an explosion in Libya on Wednesday, may be best remembered for codirecting the Oscar-nominated documentary ‘Restrepo.’ The documentary, codirected by author Sebastian Junger, focused on American soldiers in Afghanistan.
Hetherington had published one book, ‘Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold,’ in 2009. Publisher Umbrage writes that the book ‘entwines documentary photography, oral testimony, and memoir to map the dynamics of power, tragedy and triumph in Liberia’s recent history. It depicts a past of rebel camps, rainforest destruction, Charles Taylor’s trial as a war criminal, and other happenings contrasted with the hope for the future.’
Hetherington’s work as a photojournalist had appeared in many places, including the New Yorker -- here’s a gallery of photographs he shot in Guinea to accompany a 2010 story by Jon Lee Anderson -- and Vanity Fair, which has two galleries of Hetherington’s Afghanistan photographs online.
With his colleague Junger, author of ‘The Perfect Storm,’ Hetherington traveled to Afghanistan to create an intimate document of the lives of American soldiers there. Actually, there were multiple documents: ‘Restrepo,’ Hetherington’s photographs and Junger’s bestselling book ‘War.’
In the acknowledgements to ‘War,’ Junger wrote:
Finally there is my friend, partner and comrade through all of this Tim Hetherington. It’s hard for me to even begin describing his contribution to this work. The images he captured -- both stills and video -- have become almost iconic of the war in Afghanistan. But more than that his humor, courage and companionship during our trips helped make this project psychologically possible for me. It was difficult out there, and Tim’s attitude about those difficulties was crucial. I was once asked about our collaboration, and my answer was something to the effect that working with Tim was like climbing into a little sports car and driving around really, really fast. He saw this story in startling new ways, and I learned a tremendous amount from just talking to him.
‘Thanks, Tim,’ Junger concluded. ‘I hope we get to do many more like this.’
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-- Carolyn Kellogg
