James Nachtwey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Nachtwey (born 1948) is one of the most influential photojournalists and war photographers of the late 20th century.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Nachtwey was born in Syracuse, New York. He grew up in Massachusetts, graduating from Leominster High School. He then attended Dartmouth College from 1966 - 1970, where he was a member of Casque and Gauntlet, played rugby, and studied Art History and Political Science. Influenced by imagery from the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights movement, he became a self-taught photographer.
After graduating from college, Nachtwey held a series of odd jobs, including a job as a truck driver. For much of the time, he worked on merchant ships. During this period Nachtwey fell in love with photography. The skills that he acquired in these jobs would later prove useful to him as he navigated the globe in search of news stories.
[edit] Photography
He started working as a newspaper photographer in 1976 at a small newspaper in New Mexico. In 1980, he moved to New York and began working as a freelance photographer. In 1981, Nachtwey covered his first overseas assignment in Ireland. Nachtwey has documented a variety of armed conflicts and social issues. He spent considerable time in South Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Russia, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union shooting pictures of war, conflict and famine, and images of socio-political issues (pollution, crime and punishment) in Western Europe and the United States. He currently lives in New York City.
In 1994, Nachtwey was covering the upcoming elections in South Africa, the first non-racial ones in decades. As an associate of the Bang-Bang Club, he was at the scene when Ken Oosterbroek was killed and Greg Marinovich was seriously injured.
Nachtwey had been injured previously in his work, but it was during his extensive coverage of the United States invasion of Iraq that he received his first combat injury. As Nachtwey, along with TIME correspondent Michael Weisskopf rode in the back of a humvee with the United States Army Tomb Raiders, an insurgent threw a grenade into the vehicle. Weisskopf, acting on instinct, grabbed the grenade to throw it out of the humvee; a split second later it exploded in his hand. Two soldiers were injured in the explosion, along with the TIME journalists. Nachtwey managed to take several photographs of medic Billie Grimes treating Weisskopf before passing out. Both journalists were airlifted out of Iraq to Germany and later to hospitals in the United States. Nachtwey recovered sufficiently to return overseas to cover the Tsunami in Southeast Asia of December 26, 2004.
Nachtwey has worked with Time as a contract photographer since 1984. He worked for Black Star from 1980 until 1985 and was a member of Magnum Photos from 1986 until 2001. In 2001, he was a founding member of the VII Photo Agency.
He was with Thomas E. Franklin at the World Trade Center when Franklin snapped the famous Raising the Flag at Ground Zero photo of three firefighters raising the flag in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Nachtwey later made series of photographs about the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Nachtwey also compiled a photo essay on the effects of the Sudan conflict on civilians.
[edit] Equipment
Nachtwey uses Canon cameras and lenses, and has appeared in Canon advertisements. Currently, he shoots a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II and an EOS-1V film camera. To process digital images, Nachtwey uses a PowerBook G4 laptop in the field, and a Power Mac G4 and an Epson 2200 large format printer in his studio. VII (co-founded by Nachtwey) requires photographers to edit their own photos. When shooting film, Nachtwey uses a variety of 35mm emulsions, both color and black and white.
[edit] Awards, honors and films
His photographs have been exhibited throughout Europe and the States and he has received numerous prizes and awards for his work. In 2001, a documentary about Nachtwey and his work was released entitled War Photographer. The film was directed by Christian Frei and received numerous awards, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary.
In 2006, Nachtwey was selected to win a Heinz Foundation Achievement Award, which carries a $250,000 prize, for his body of work
James is also one of the three winners of the 2007 TED Prize. Each recipient has been granted ONE WORLD-CHANGING WISH to be revealed at the 2007 TED conference, in Monterey, CA. Many members of the TED Community, and a group of world-class companies, have pledged support to help fulfill these wishes. Each winner will also receive $100,000 to be spent however they choose in support of their wishes.
