Chris hondros and tim hetherington biography

On the fourth anniversary of their death, an audience full of friends, family, colleagues and admirers remembered photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, with a reflection on their groundbreaking work, and a showcase of the work of others that they have inspired.

Stephen Mayes, executive director of the Tim Hetherington Trust, introduced the evening with the precursor: “In the spirit of Tim and Chris, we want tonight to be looking at growing and going forwards.”

Daniel Meadows, Tim’s teacher at Cardiff University, shared stories of the years he taught him at university, and explained that even from the start Tim was pushing the boundaries of multimedia storytelling.

Meanwhile, a “mere” 67 were killed in Vietnam, including a photographer friend who stepped on a booby trap. Only the little girl standing amidst the splattered blood of her parents survived the January 2005 incident.

Photojournalists like Mac will tell you that they are merely doing their jobs, but that does not convey the hardships and dangers they endure.

Photographers Guy Martin and Michael Christopher Brown also were injured.

There have been many great photographs to come out of the Iraq war, including the work of my former colleague Jim MacMillan, who shared the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for his up-close images of Iraqi insurgents, but the deeply powerful Hondros photo atop this post is by my lights the best.

Hondros was nearby when American troops fired on a car thought to be carrying insurgents.

(Yes, I date myself since Nikon stopped making the Nikormat in 1978.)

And so when right wingers villified as thriller seekers CNN‘s Anderson Cooper, who along with his camera crew was attacked by a mob, and CBS‘s Lara Logan, who was beaten and sexually assaulted, all while covering the frenzied aftermath of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in February, all I can do is grimace.

Most, in my experience, are equal parts purposeful, brave and crazy. But then in the middle of the story, this hammer comes down, and this kid starts talking about how he is blind because he had hot plastic dripped into his eyes during the war,” said Tim in the video.

Tim Hetherington’s legacy of experimental story-telling continues on with the introduction of the Tim Hetherington Trust Visionary Award, won this year by filmmaking team Eline Jongsman and Kel O’Neill, who joined the audience via video-link.

Paul Halliday, Tim’s friend and collaborator, shared some of his work that later influenced Tim as he was developing into a well-known photojournalist.

Family and personal relationships almost invariably suffer.

Then there is my dear friend Susan Winters Cook, winner of the 1994 Robert F. Kennedy Award for Photojournalism, who repeatedly went into black townships in South Africa, places where no white person, let alone a white woman, went, to photograph an appalling squalor and poverty unknown to Americans.

I was in a few hot spots as a reporter and photographer over the years, but beyond being shot at a few times (but never hit), the worst was having to contend with teargas canisters and panicky protesters while shooting a massive anti-nukes demonstration on the streets of Tokyo and getting my hand, one of my Nikormat FTs and a 28 millimeter lens crushed.

Because reporters and photographers seldom were embedded with combat units back then, and if anything have become more fearless.

The International Center of Photography is saddened by the loss of two of photojournalism's most dedicated humanitarian storytellers, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, who were killed in Libya last week.

History will decide which pictures endure.”

Watch and listen back:

I had the good fortune to work with some of the best photojournalists in the business – in both war and peace — over a four-decade career, and while I did not know Chris Hondros or Tim Hetherington, I mourn their passing.

Hondros, 41, a Pulitzer Prize winner widely admired for his work for Getty Images in Iraq and Afghanistan, and fellow photojournalist Tim Hetherington, 40, were mortally wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade yesterday in Misurata, Libya, after filing photos of fighting between rebel and government forces.

Tim was an inspirational ICP faculty member who generously shared his time and talent with our students, members, and general audience. Chris was the recipient of the 2006 Robert Capa Gold Medal of Honor for his coverage in Iraq, a testament to his dedication to covering conflict in the spirit of ICP's mission.

Playing the incredibly evocative ‘House of Pain’, a video of stills from a night Tim spent following staff at Monmouth Hospital A&E, Meadows painted the picture of a photojournalist whose work and ethos would go on to have a tremendous impact.

Self-styled ‘story-breaker’ Topaz Adizes then showcased his award-winning interactive documentary ‘The And’, and described the influence Tim had on him to break down and re-mould the traditional forms of photography and documentary.

“Tim always used to say, ‘How can we create new stories and break past paradigms to create new stories?’ That’s what he was very conscientious about, and what I have tried to do.”

Geoff Johnston, an artist and curator who shared a studio with Tim, shared with the audience some touching raw footage of Tim being interviewed by one of Johnston’s students about his project with a blind school in Sierra Leone after the civil war.

“I wanted to explore imagery and communication ideas, but I also wanted to explore the idea of war.

They are not thrill seekers any more than Hondros and Hetherington were.

The names of Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington can now be added to the honor roll of reporters and photographers killed in modern wars.

Some 149 have been killed in Iraq and another 22 in Afghanistan. The contributions of Tim and Chris exemplify the type of work Cornell championed—the photojournalism we teach, exhibit, and support at ICP.

We send heartfelt condolences to Tim's and Chris' families, friends, and colleagues.

Watch the 2010 ICP Lecture by Tim Hetherington

Watch the 2006 ICP Lecture by Chris Hondros