Tag Archives: ap

A Tribute To Those Who Gave Their All

Posted on November 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Last Shutter

Lost Over Laos

The Power Of Photography

Posted on August 13, 2013 | 2 comments

The Napalm Girl By Nick Ut

In my opinion, AP photographer Nick Ut‘s Pulitzer Prize winning photograph from the Vietnam War, commonly known as the “Napalm Girl” is the most iconic and most powerful photograph ever taken.

In this June 8, 1972 file photo, crying children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, run down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places as South Vietnamese forces from the 25th Division walk behind them. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. From left, the children are Phan Thanh Tam, younger brother of Kim Phuc, who lost an eye, Phan Thanh Phouc, youngest brother of Kim Phuc, Kim Phuc, and Kim’s cousins Ho Van Bon, and Ho Thi Ting. AP Photo/Nick Ut

Here’s a superb ABC7 Special about the image, the stories and people involved. It’s well worth watching. Powerful, moving, interesting.

Fascinatingly, this TV documentary also clearly shows the power of photography compared to TV footage. Nick Ut’s photograph has such power and depth, compared to the TV footage which whilst strong, has no where near the strength of the still image. Anyone who doesn’t understand the power of a photograph needs to be shown this documentary.

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Posted in Photography, Video

Tagged ap, associated press, iconic, kim phuc, napalm girl, nick ut, photography, photojournalism, press, Pultizer, south vietnamese forces, south vietnamese plane, south vietnamese troops, vietnam, war

Deadline Every Second

Posted on September 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

12 AP Photojournalists; Eight Countries

Trailer from Ken Kobre on Vimeo.

I had the pleasure of attending a screening of “Deadline Every Second” by Ken Kobré at the Frontline Club a week ago. It’s a brilliantly shot short film covering 12 photojournalists from AP as they cover various assignments around the world, with great photographer interviews as well as superb footage of them actually on the job. Just to make things complete, we’re also treated to the actual images taken by the photographers.

Deadline Every Second screening and Q&A with director and professor of photojournalism at San Francisco State University Kenneth Kobre (on left) and AP staff photographer Lefteris Pitarakis. Frontline Club, London. September 21, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

The event had AP staff photographer Lefteris Pitarakis, one of the featured photographers, and Ken Kobré present for a very interesting Q&A session after the screening.

Deadline Every Second screening and Q&A. AP staff photographer Lefteris Pitarakis ansers questions put from the packed screening room. Frontline Club, London. September 21, 2012. Photo: Edmond Terakopian

I can’t recommend this film highly enough to anyone interested in journalism or world affairs, but also to photojournalists and students of it. Definitely try and see it. It’s being screened by various US TV stations and is also available from Amazon.

Nick Ut-Leica Hall of Fame Award

Posted on September 17, 2012 | 4 comments

Nick Ut is an AP photographer. Using a Leica, he captured without doubt the most iconic photograph taken to date; the napalm girl, during the Vietnam war. Watch the story behind the famous photograph “The Napalm Girl”.

Nick Ut was honored with the Leica Hall of Fame Award on September 17 at “LEICA – DAS WESENTLICHE” at Photokina 2012.

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Posted in Interview, Leica, newspaper, Photography, Pictures, Video

Tagged ap, conflict, icon, image, kim phuc, napalm girl, nick ut, vietnam, war

Horst Faas Exhibition & Memorial

Posted on August 23, 2012 | 2 comments

AP’s Legendary Photographer’s Hong Kong Exhibition & London Memorial

Vietnam 1967 — AP photographer Horst Faas, with his Leica cameras around his neck, accompanies U.S. troops in War Zone C. (AP Photo)

Earlier this year, May 10th, saw the sad passing of one of our time’s greatest photojournalists and picture editors; the legendary Horst Faas. Best known for his amazing images from Vietnam, Horst was a double Pulitzer Prize winner. As AP chief photographer for Southeast Asia and picture editor, he was also instrumental in getting Nick Ut’s powerful ‘Napalm Girl’ on the AP wire, along with another definitive image from that war, Eddie Adams’ Vietcong prisoner execution.

A boy carries a toy rifle as he walks with his mother past French soldiers in battle gear at the Bastille Palace in Oran, Algeria, May 4, 1962. Algeria’s eight-year battle for independence had reached a tense cease-fire pending a July referendum. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)

The sun breaks through dense jungle foliage in early January 1965, around the embattled town of Binh Gia, 64 km east of Saigon, as South Vietnamese troops, joined by U.S. personnel, rest after a cold, damp night of waiting in an ambush position for a Viet Cong attack that didn’t come. One hour later, as the possibility of an overnight attack faded, the troops moved out for another hot day hunting the elusive communist guerrillas. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)

Exhibition

The Foreign Correspondent’s Club, Hong Kong will be have a reception and exhibition on Horst’s work on September 4th. For further details, visit the FCC website. The exhibition of images will remain on display for the foreseeable future.

Memorial

In London, on October 18th at 11.30am, we will be having a memorial service for Horst. The service will be at St Brides Church, Fleet Street.

South Vietnamese civilians, among the few survivors of two days of heavy fighting, huddle together in the aftermath of an attack by government troops to retake the post at Dong Xoai, June 1965. Just a few of the several hundred civilians who sought refuge at the post survived the two day barrage of mortars and bombardment. After the government recaptured Dong Xoai, the bodies of 150 civilians and some 300 South Vietnamese soldiers were discovered. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)

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Posted in Photography, Pictures

Tagged ap, exhibition, horst faas, memorial, photojournalism, photojournalist

Nick Ut’s Iconic Napalm Girl Photo

Posted on August 18, 2012 | 25 comments

40 Years On From AP’s “Napalm Girl” Photograph From The Vietnam War

Anyone with any interest in history or photography will know the image. It’s a photograph that grabs you and never leaves you once you’ve seen it. The image taken by AP’s Nick Ut on June 8th, 1972, shows crying children running away from their village after a Napalm aerial attack by South Vietnamese Forces.

It’s a disturbing image; one that shakes us to our core. The main subject in the shot is nine year old Kim Phuc; running, , wailing the words “Too hot, too hot”, crying and naked. As she was hit by the burning Napalm, it raced up her body and incinerated her clothing on contact. It burnt through the layers of her skin all over her back, leaving her heavily scarred to this day.

This moment brought together photographer and subject, not only to create the most powerful image from the Vietnam war but it also united a nine year old girl who would certainly have died, with her saviour; the young 21 year old Vietnamese photographer, Nick Ut. He drove Phuc to a small hospital, where he was told the small girl was too far gone to save. He showed them his American press badge and demanded the doctors treat the girl and left, assuring them that the girl would not be forgotten. “I cried when I saw her running,” said Ut. “If I don’t help her — if something happened and she died — I think I’d kill myself after that.”

AP staff photographer Nick Ut in Vietnam during the 1970s. AP Photo/Nick Ut

Although AP had strict rules about nudity, legendary AP photo editor Horst Faas broke the rules as soon as he saw the image, as it’s news value far outweighed any policy.

A few days later, Christopher Wain from ITN found out that the little girl had survived. He was on the scene and had given her water and doused her burning back with water from his canteen. He fought to have her transferred to a speciality unit run by the Americans. Although she had 35% of her body scorched with 3rd degree burns, she survived and 13 months later, after multiple painful skin grafts and surgeries, she was allowed to leave the Barsky facility.

Kim Phuc

Photographer Nick Ut with Phan Thi Kim Phuc; the girl in iconic Vietnam War photo “Napalm Girl”. Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. AP Photo/Nick Ut

Kim Phuc, now 49, says “I really wanted to escape from that little girl. But it seems to me the picture didn’t let me go”. After years of difficulty, feeling like a victim of war, then finding love, and finally defecting to Canada, the picture has changed it’s meaning for her. “Most of the people, they know my picture but there’s very few that know about my life,” she said. “I’m so thankful that … I can accept the picture as a powerful gift. Then it is my choice. Then I can work with it for peace.”

To help children caught up in war, she has created The Kim Foundation.

Nick Ut

AP staff photographer Nick Ut views an A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft, as used in Vietnam, fitted with Napalm. April 2010. AP Photo/Nick Ut

Over 40 years have passed since AP’s most iconic image was taken, and Nick Ut, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the image, is very much a full time AP staff photographer, now based in LA. In August this year, Nick visited the AP offices in NY to see his original negatives for the third time ever, since having processed it in the darkroom in Vietnam.

During a visit to the Associated Press headquarters photo library in New York, Aug. 10, 2012, AP staff photographer Nick Ut holds a plastic sleeve containing the original “Napalm Girl” negative, for which he won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. (AP Photo)

To find out more about the background to this amazing image and the surrounding story, I thoroughly recommend this AP article.

Here’s a must watch interview with Nick Ut, describing the events of the day, with some stunning photography.