1970 - 2011

Tim Hetherington is dead. He was killed in Misurata, Libya. You have probably read about it a million times already. It is a very sad news,
just as every death is a very sad news. In all this sadness let's not forget that Tim Hetherington was a professional war reporter and he simply
had to take the worst case scenario into account. He knew what he was stepping into going to Libya. War reporters do die. In general people in
war zones do die.


What seems strange to me is that when I read about Tim Hetherington's death I mostly read about the death of a 'war photographer' or of a 'war photojournalist'.
This is what the headlines tend to say. I think that his death is a good moment to realize how out of date the definitions we use are. It is truth,
he won World Press Photo (one of my favorite Pictures of the Year ever) but he also made a movie that was nominated for the Academy Award.
Which of those is more important and what should define him? None. He was neither a photographer nor a filmmaker, he was a modern day war reporter
doing it all and asking himself no questions. He had a story to tell and photography was just one of the media he used. This is the direction most of us
should be heading. I don't mean war, I mean asking no such questions and just telling your story.

Here is a quote from the NYT Lens blog interview Tim Hetherington gave after the premiere of "Restrepo": - We live in a post-photographic world.
If you are interested in photography, then you are interested in something — in terms of mass communication — that is past. I am interested
in reaching as many people as possible. And another one: - If we are interested in the outside world and making images of it and
translating it and relaying it to as many people as possible, then in some ways the traditional photographic techniques are really not important.
So simple, so true.

The video above is a 'Diary' of a war correspondent Hetherington had put together after 10 years on the frontline. Devastating.