I like to try new things. I like to sample the world. I like the buffet so I can sample a little of everything. I have had a gazillion desired "occupations" in my life (like I think many young people do). One that was inspired in part by Eugene Smith's work and the movie The Killing Fields was photojournalism. Instead of writing about myself too much this week I offer a few images and links that speak to my influences, ask that you indulge my wish to only briefly "show" my interest/passion for this topic, and read a short little personal story from today's news feed:
Eugene Smith: "William Eugene Smith, was an American photojournalist known for his refusal to compromise professional standards and his brutally vivid World War II photographs."
My photography teacher in high school told me stories of Smith often being reprimanded by Life magazine for missing deadline due to his need to understand a subject before capturing it. I loved that for him, a photo needed to capture more than just a moment of light on a subject. His photos have so much soul in them I hurt in my jealousy for his talent.
Here are 9 of my favorites... but goodness, it was so hard to pick, so these are almost random and in no particular order to offer a sample of his more famous topics:
The Killing Fields: is a 1984 British drama film set in Democratic Kampuchea, which is based on the experiences of two journalists: Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg. The film, which won eight BAFTA Awards and three Academy Awards, was directed by Roland Joffé and stars Sam Waterston as Schanberg, Haing S. Ngor as Pran, Julian Sands as Jon Swain, and John Malkovich as Al Rockoff. The adaptation for the screen was written by Bruce Robinson and the soundtrack by Mike Oldfield, orchestrated by David Bedford. (wikipedia)A history teacher who my friends had recommended this film that came out when I was 12. I saw it when I was 13 (in ninth grade) and dreamed of using a camera to right the world's wrongs. I wasn't sure how to make this a job except by applying to a school with a good communications program. The school I looked at which might have offered me a path to photojournalism was too big for me, and the small school I went to led me to religious studies instead...
'Always Giving Us Hope':
Friends, Family Remember Luke Somers
December 06, 2014 5:13 PM ET
NATE ROTT
American photojournalist Luke Somers, who was killed by al-Qaida militants in Yemen Saturday, was described by those who knew him as passionate, inspiring and committed to the Yemeni people.Somers had been held captive for more than a year. He died during a U.S. special forces rescue attempt, along with a South African teacher who was also held hostage by the militants.
Somers was born in England and raised in the U.S., and he was always struck with a bit of wanderlust.
"Luke was the friend that you had in high school or college that you would find kind of inspiring," says Shawn Gillen, who taught him at Beloit College in Wisconsin, "because he was willing to go the distance."
Somers worked as a salmon fisherman in the Arctic, lived in Jamaica and spent time in Egypt before moving to Yemen full-time in 2011. It was there that he took a hobby of photography and turned it into a career.
Tik Root, a freelance journalist who worked in Yemen at the same time as Somers, calls him "an extraordinarily passionate and thoughtful person."
"I think what really shone through was his love of Yemen and the Yemeni people," Root says. "He sort of felt at home there, it almost seemed to me."
Somers' sister, Lucy Somers, who still lives in the U.K., alluded to that comfort in a video she put out last week, pleading with al-Qaida militants to spare her brother's life, just days after U.S. special forces' first attempted to rescue him.
"When foreign nationals were advised to leave Yemen," she says, "Luke refused to go, saying he felt safe and at home there."
He also had friends there, including Fuad al Kadas, who spoke to NPR from Sanaa, the nation's capital. "He's different than the other journalists," Kadas says. "He makes friends, Yemeni friends, local friends.
"He [was] always giving us hope that things in Yemen will be good."
Kadas says that Somers was living with him before he was kidnapped in 2013. Ever since, when he goes out, friends ask about him — "Any news about Luke?"
"Every day they ask about him," Kadas says.
With Saturday's news, Kadas says, some were overwhelmed. "My dad couldn't speak," Kadas says. "My dad couldn't speak today."
Somers was 33 years old.
To get more of the facts on this story click on the link below:
NPR: The Two-Way
American Hostage In Yemen Killed In Filed Rescue Attempt
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