War - Tim Hetherington

Tim Hetherington's work as a war photographer has recently come to the fore again partly as a result of the hard hitting BBC TV Series Once Upon a Time in Iraq (you can find it on iplayer although the series is still running at the time of writing).

Hetherington was one of a brave band of photojournalists who cover global conflict. Born in Birkenhead on Merseyside in 1970 he later read English at Oxford before inheriting £5K on his grandmother's death and spending it on travel in the far east. This time convinced him that he wanted to make images and he went on to study photography at night school. Later he studied photojournalism with Daniel Meadows and Colin Jaconbson before becoming the only staff photographer on The Big Issue.

He then spent nearly a decade documenting strife in West Africa and the impact it had on daily life. Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone were all in states of conflict during those years. After a spell with the UN he started to make trips with writer Sebastian Junger to Afghanistan for Vanity Fair. He won the award for the World Press Photograph of the Year in 2007 with the photograph reproduced below.

Hetherington and Junger were embedded with a single U.S. Army platoon (Second Platoon, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team) serving at a remote outpost in the Korengal Valley. They filmed the 2010 documentary film Restrepo there a film which clearly shows the ferocity of the fighting. At the time is was said to be the most dangerous posting with 25% casualties.

The film is online on various channels and I watched it recently on Chili for £2.49. 

Sadly Hethington was killed in Libya in 2011 covering the civil war amid indiscriminate shelling by Gadiffi's forces. He survived the initial wounds but died from a loss of blood later. He is buried in Brompton Cemetery.

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