ICONIC PHOTOS
THE PURPOSE: To research the history of Vietnam War photography and to analyze how visual images did influence and indeed continue to shape our understanding of that war.
THE PROCEDURE: Research your particular photograph. Try to find out everything you can that helps to place that picture in context. Who was the photographer? Who were the various people in the photograph? Can you place the photo within a story-line that moves beyond the click of the camera? What was the impact of the photograph at the time? What is the "afterlife" of the image? What did the photographer and the subjects of the photo think about the picture? What happened to them in the days and years after the photo was taken? How, if at all, did the image itself change their lives?
THE P
HOTOS:1) THICH QUANG DUC (1963)
: An extremely useful series of articles from the Quang Duc Homepage.
Venerable Thich Tam Phuong, SELF IMMOLATION.
"THICH QUANG DUC," Wikipedia.
Marianne Arbogast, "DYING FOR CHANGE: SELF-SACRIFICE IN NONVIOLENT ACTION," Witness (May/ June 2003).
"THE SELF-IMMOLATION OF THICH QUANG DUC," Buddhism Today.
Robert J. Topmiller, "MOST VENERABLE THICH QUANG DUC."
Frances Fitzgerald, "SELF-IMMOLATION IN VIETNAM," Fire in the Lake. 1972.
"THE REPORTERS: MALCOLM BROWNE,"
Reporting America at War: A brief biography from a PBS documentary series
about war journalism.
William Prochnau, "America's Little War Becomes A Nightmare," APF Reporter (1989).
Scott Sherman, "SEEING THE WAR," Columbia Journalism Review (November/ December 2001).
Raymond A. Schroth, "A WAR OF THEIR OWN," Columbia Journalism Review (January/February 1996).
"1966: VIETNAM BUDDHIST BURNS TO DEATH," On This Day, BBC.
Geoff Dyer, "The Picture of A Girl Ablaze on A London Street Shocked the World. But Haven't We Seen It Somehow Before," Observer, February 21, 1999.
Greg Chadwick et al.,
MONKS AND MANDALA ART INSTALLATION -- BURNING MAN 2003.
"SELF-IMMOLATION," Wikipedia.
"NORMAN MORRISON," Wikipedia.
Lady Borton,
"MORRISON'S SACRIFICE REMEMBERED,"
Vietnam News Service, January 5, 2005.
2) TET OFFENSIVE STREET EXECUTION (1968)
Horst Faas, "THE SAIGON EXECUTION," Digital Journalist (October 2004).
"TRIBUTE TO EDDIE ADAMS,"
Digital Journalist (October 2004): A comprehensive feature from
an excellent photojournalism publication.
Christopher Reed, "OBITUARY -- EDDIE ADAMS: PHOTOGRAPHER WHOSE IMAGE OF VIETNAM WAR BRUTALITY SHOCKED THE WORLD," Guardian, September 22, 2004.
Myrna Oliver, "PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER EDDIE ADAMS, 71," Seattle Times, September 20, 2004.
"ICONIC PICTURE PHOTOGRAPHER DIES," BBC News, September 20, 2004.
"IN PICTURES: EDDIE ADAMS," BBC News, September 20, 2004.
"WAR PHOTOGRAPHER ADAMS DIES AT AGE 71,"
All Things Considered, September 19, 2004: A short audio feature from
National Public Radio.
"PHOTOGRAPHER EDDIE ADAMS DIES," CBS News, September 19, 2004.
"PHOTOJOURNALISM ICON EDDIE ADAMS, 71, DIES SUNDAY FROM LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE," National Press Photographers Association, 2004.
"IN PICTURES: VIETNAM AT PEACE," BBC News.
"FROZEN STORIES: WHAT EDDIE ADAMS SAW," Stop Smiling Magazine (September 22, 2004).
Rosalind Smith, "EDDIE ADAMS: EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY," Shutterbug (November 2003).
Dan Kennedy, "FACES OF DEATH," Boston Phoenix, December 3-9, 2004.
"TET 1968 SAIGON EXECUTION," Nam Vets Answer Questions.
GENERAL LOAN OBITUARY, New York Times, July 16, 1998.
"NGUYEN NGOC LOAN," Wikipedia.
Brady Priest et al., "THREE IMAGES: THE EFFECTS OF PHOTOJOURNALISM ON THE PROTEST MOVEMENT DURING THE VIETNAM WAR," AC 400, Middlebury College, Fall 1997.
David D. Perlmutter, "JUST HOW BIG AN IMPACT DO PICTURES OF WAR HAVE ON PUBLIC OPINION," History News Network, February 7, 2005.
Michael Browning, "WAR PHOTOS THAT CHANGED HISTORY," Palm Beach Post, May 12, 2004.
Jonah Goldberg, "Goldberg Files," National Review (August 26, 1999).
"EDDIE ADAMS," Newseum.
BARNSTORM: THE EDDIE ADAMS WORKSHOP: An annual seminar that brings together promising young photojournalists in upstate New York.
3) KENT STATE (1970)
Dirck Halstead, "THE PICTURE FROM KENT STATE," Digital Journalist.
"PHOTOGRAPHER JOHN FILO DISCUSSES HIS FAMOUS KENT STATE PHOTOGRAPH AND THE EVENTS OF MAY 4, 1970," CNN, May 4, 2000.
"1995
Retrospective: Mary Ann Vecchio Meets John Filo,"
May 4 Archive.
Bill Bleyer,
"A LONG ISLAND STUDENT DIES AT KENT STATE,"
Newsday.
PHOTOS FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. J. GREGORY PAYNE, May 4 Archive.
"KENT STATE SHOOTINGS," Wikipedia.
Mark Faulk, "FOUR DEAD IN OHIO," Blogfest 2005, May 4, 2005.
Brady Priest et al., "THREE IMAGES: THE EFFECTS OF PHOTOJOURNALISM ON THE PROTEST MOVEMENT DURING THE VIETNAM WAR," AC 400, Middlebury College, Fall 1997.
Michael Browning, "WAR PHOTOS THAT CHANGED HISTORY," Palm Beach Post, May 12, 2004.
:A Digital Journalist feature on a photographer who was a sophomore at
Kent State in 1970.
"KENT STATE SHOOTINGS REMEMBERED," CNN, May 4, 2000.
"MAY 4, 1970 KENT STATE SHOOTINGS," Nam Vets Answer Questions.
4) KIM PHUC (1972)
THE SURVIVOR: PHAN THI KIM PHUC AND THE PHOTOGRAPHER NICK UT:
A Digital Journalist article by Horst Faas and Marianne Fulton.
"'GIRL IN PICTURE' TO RECEIVE HONORARY DEGREE FROM YORK U.," York University Media Relations (October 19, 2004).
Kim Phuc, "'NAPALMED GIRL' ON AN AID MISSION TO PROTECT CIVILIANS FROM WAR," Los Angeles Times (December 24, 2003).
"KIM PHUC PHAN THI," UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors.
"Kim Phuc," Fresh Air, NPR, November 14, 2001.
"Alex Chadwick Talks With Kim Phuc, Who Was Pictured 24 Years Ago," NPR Morning Edition, November 8, 1996.
Gerald Nicosia, "Picturing War: Biography Of Kim Phuc -- The Napalmed Running Girl -- Lets Us See The Vietnam War Through The Eyes Of Working-Class Vietnamese," San Francisco Chronicle (August 20, 2000).
Michael Taylor, "MILITARY SAYS GOODBYE TO NAPALM," San Francisco Chronicle (April 4, 2001).
Ronald Timberlake, "THE MYTH OF THE GIRL IN THE PHOTO HAS BECOME THE FRAUD BEHIND THE GIRL IN THE PHOTO: HIJACKING THE HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM VETERAN" (January 1999).
Barry Romo, "KIM PHUC VISITS WITH VIETNAM VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR," Veteran (Spring 1997).
"HAUNTED FORMER SOLDIER IS FORGIVEN," United Methodist News (February 4, 1997).
Brady Priest et al., "THREE IMAGES: THE EFFECTS OF PHOTOJOURNALISM ON THE PROTEST MOVEMENT DURING THE VIETNAM WAR," AC 400, Middlebury College, Fall 1997.
Michael Browning, "WAR PHOTOS THAT CHANGED HISTORY," Palm Beach Post, May 12, 2004.
5) YOUR OWN PROJECT
a) Some Individual Photographers
DAVID BURNETT:
A photographer
who went to Vietnam in 1970 as a freelancer and was hired by Life.
See the photographs at
.
LARRY BURROWS:
Born in Britain, he covered the Vietnam War for nine
years before being shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in 1971. For a
Digital Journalist website, see
.
ROBERT CAPA: Legendary American journalist famed for his Spanish Civil War and World War II photos. He helped to found Magnum Photos and was killed in 1954 when he stepped on a land mine in Vietnam.
GILLES CARON: A French veteran
of the Algerian War, he covered not only Vietnam but also conflicts in Nigeria
and Israel before disappearing in a Khmer-Rouge controlled region of Cambodia.
See the photographs at
.
DICKEY CHAPELLE: Commemorated in the song "Pearl's Eye View," she covered World War II before and Vietnam as a combat photographer.
SEAN FLYNN: The son of the actor Erroll Flynn, he would be killed in Indochina.
PHILIP JONES GRIFFITHS:
See
for a feature on this Welsh Magnum photographer.
RONALD HAEBERLE: Vietnam-era American photographer most famous for his Life My Lai Massacre images.
DIRCK HALSTEAD: A veteran UPI
and Time reporter who remains active professionally. See the
photographs at
.
HENRI HUET: Born of a French father and a Vietnamese mother, he would cover both the French and American wars before being shot down over Laos in 1971.
DON MCCULLIN:
A British photographer. See
the photographs at
.
HUYNH THANH MY: Vietnamese and the brother of Nick Ut, he was killed in 1965.
TIM PAGE: See the photographs
at
.
MARC RIBOUD: A French photographer who was one of the few westerners to photograph the North Vietnamese.
KYOICHI SAWADA: This Japanese photographer was one of the most important chroniclers of the Vietnam War.
DANA STONE: The photographer who went missing with Sean Flynn in Cambodia.
DICK SWANSON: A photographer
for Life Magazine who worked in Vietnam for five years. See his
personal web-site at
. See also the photographs at
.
b) Some Themes
AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND THE WAR
AMERICAN WOMEN IN VIETNAM
ANIMALS OF WAR
BODIES
CHILDREN OF WAR
COLLISION OF CULTURES
FACES OF WAR
FALL OF SAIGON:
See the Digital Journalist feature
at
.
HANDS OF WAR
PATRIOTS
POWER
SEASONS OF WAR
SHADOWS OF WAR
SIGNS OF WAR
SMELLS OF WAR
SMILES OF WAR
TREATING THE WOUNDED
VIETNAM AND FIRE
THE VIEW FROM THE AIR
WAR COMES TO THE VILLAGE
WAR PROTEST