If the war in Ukraine is the biggest story in the world.... are the next generation of great photojournalists there??

[koraks]

where did you hear he was just using film

Eddy is a bit of a celebrity in Dutch analog photo circles and has given lectures from time to time on his work. If you google a bit, you'll find plenty of Dutch websites (which you can run through translate) that mention his use of analog cameras, in particular his Leica.

 

[Frank53]

I believe you, but where did you hear he was just using film and a widelux.

 

[GregY]

Thank you Frank ..... a lot of images on Eddy's Instagram page. eddyvanwessel...... & photos of his cameras both film and digital.

 

[mshchem]

+++ Eddy van Wessel +++
He has won the highest press photography award in the Netherlands several times. Among others, with his photo series on the Ukraine

1e Prijs - Nieuws & Documentair Internationaal serie - Eddy van Wessel - Ruïnes voor de vrijheid - Stichting De Zilveren Camera

Tussen de kapotgeschoten huizen gaat het leven in Oekraïne door, maar door de granaten is de oorlog altijd dichtbij. Veerkracht is het belangrijkste wapen van

www.zilverencamera.nl

Wow, I've seen some of his work. Really amazing photos. Too bad we don't have more outlets. War stinks!

 

[mshchem]

This might be a bit of a ramble. I've been thinking about this for a while.
I'm 63 and grew up as a photographer. I worked full time at five newspapers before switching full-time to sports photography where I spent a career working with MLB and the NFL.
While working at newspapers I attended regular meetings of news photographers and listened to the great shooters of the time. David Burnett, Eddie Adams, Mary Ellen Mark and countless others made the rounds on the 'rubber chicken tour' as speakers at news conferences.
I realize Mary Ellen wasn't a war photographer but the other two were both at Vietnam and seemed to indicate those tough days where part of the road to the successes they found afterwards.

Now this is my question. If the current war in Ukraine is the biggest news story in the world, are the next generation of great photographers over there cutting their teeth? And for all the press and rants from influencer's about how they're giving a voice to people without a voice, or they're the greatest street shooter ever, or how great film photography is, are they going over there with their new Leica M6 (2023) and a hundred rolls of TriX to take important photos, or have they revealed themselves to be a bunch of 'posers'?
Peter Turnley did a great photo essay on people fleeing from the Ukraine by train when the war first broke out.... he did a great job and I can't express how wonderful it was, but he wasn't in the conflict zones or with the troops. But I'm not trying to take anything away from how great the photo story was. (Shot on digital, just to be clear since this is a film website)
Do you feel the next generation of world leading photojournalists are in Ukraine learning how to be photojournalists, or will we be forced to look at photos of the greatest gear ever created for photography, next to a cup of coffee in the safety of the local Starbucks?
Just wondering.

And I could be wrong about this, I'm wrong all the time, just ask my wife.

You can do a google search for Turnley's photos from the Ukraine or find the piece in the Post here..... https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/interactive/2022/agony-endurance-escape-ukraine-pictures/

Very important topic. Thanks for the discussion!

 

[Rob Skeoch]

This video is worth a watch. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Lucius]

If the question is why the leading American photographers are not out there (in contrast e.g. to Vietnam), the answer -- at least in part -- is that the American army isn't there either. But there are a lot of local photojournalists producing hundreds of painfully striking pictures every day...

 

[GregY]

If the question is why the leading American photographers are not out there (in contrast e.g. to Vietnam), the answer -- at least in part -- is that the American army isn't there either. But there are a lot of local photojournalists producing hundreds of painfully striking pictures every day...

Absolutely. The American press reports on a USA-centred world view.

 

[Arthurwg]

James Nachtwey, New Yorker, 2022.

 

[GregY]

Eddy van Wessel - Ukraine

2022-ongoing

eddyvanwessel.com

He working solely on film (as far as I know)
View attachment 333540
Hoe uses Leica and a Widelux.

In the video although he talks about using a number of film cameras (Ricoh, Widelux, M4)....he is using an M9 and M10. And he does in detail address the up & downsides of using digital. BTW that worn M4 was sold and he has a cleaner black paint one.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

If the question is why the leading American photographers are not out there (in contrast e.g. to Vietnam), the answer -- at least in part -- is that the American army isn't there either. But there are a lot of local photojournalists producing hundreds of painfully striking pictures every day...

During Vietnam the US Defense Department allowed reporters to go everywhere they wanted. The Ukrainian government isn't doing the same as they're afraid of negative propaganda like America suffered during Vietnam. Photojournalists are limited in war action often to keep a lid on negative reporting.

 

[GregY]

James Nachtwey, New Yorker, 2022.

That's a good piece. James Nachtwey is really a survivor.

 

[Lucius]

During Vietnam the US Defense Department allowed reporters to go everywhere they wanted. The Ukrainian government isn't doing the same as they're afraid of negative propaganda like America suffered during Vietnam. Photojournalists are limited in war action often to keep a lid on negative reporting.

I guess this may be part of the reason why there isn't more reporting from the front lines, but I think practical military considerations are far more important: photographed positions can easily be geolocated and targeted.

 

[MattKing]

I guess this may be part of the reason why there isn't more reporting from the front lines, but I think practical military considerations are far more important: photographed positions can easily be geolocated and targeted.

Not to mention the fact that reporters and photographers are much more likely to be easily targeted from afar and killed.
If you have a public place in this world, you are easily found.

 

[BradS]

During Vietnam the US Defense Department allowed reporters to go everywhere they wanted. The Ukrainian government isn't doing the same ...

This is something that can be verified or falsified...shown to be true or false.

... as they're afraid of negative propaganda ....

Are a mind reader? Has the Ukrainian government or military come out publicly and stated this to be the case? Do you have evidence to support this assertion? If not, it is editorializing, injecting your ideology. This is why you get in trouble. Limit yourself to facts or at least to statements that can be shown to be true or false by observable evidence and PLEASE REFRAIN from injecting your ideology.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

This is something that can be verified or falsified...shown to be true or false.



Are a mind reader? Has the Ukrainian government or military has come out publicly and stated this to be the case? Do you have evidence to support this assertion? If not, it is editorializing, injecting your ideology. This is why you get in trouble. Limit yourself to facts or at least to statements that can be shown to be true or false by observable evidence and PLEASE REFRAIN from injecting your ideology.

I'm sorry my opinions upset you. You're welcome to post your own opinions. Have a nice day.

 

[KerrKid]

It's been said that the first casualty or war is the truth. Photographers who put themselves in harms way to tell the unvarnished truth are heroes.

 

[Sirius Glass]

This is something that can be verified or falsified...shown to be true or false.



Are a mind reader? Has the Ukrainian government or military has come out publicly and stated this to be the case? Do you have evidence to support this assertion? If not, it is editorializing, injecting your ideology. This is why you get in trouble. Limit yourself to facts or at least to statements that can be shown to be true or false by observable evidence and PLEASE REFRAIN from injecting your ideology.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I'm sorry my opinions upset you. You're welcome to post your own opinions. Have a nice day.

By the rules of the website and common sense it is politics, yet again.

 

[koraks]

Moderator note: alright, back on topic again, please. We read and intervene when we believe lines are crossed. If you believe we should intervene, kindly use the report function.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Moderator note: alright, back on topic again, please. We read and intervene when we believe lines are crossed. If you believe we should intervene, kindly use the report function.

Have done and will do.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

It's been said that the first casualty or war is the truth. Photographers who put themselves in harms way to tell the unvarnished truth are heroes.

Armies limit freedom of news for photographers and war correspondents. There's a lot at stake. Secrecy, movement of troops, morale, propaganda, etc. A nation's life is at stake. It's existential. I remember that in Vietnam, (I served frokm1963-67 but not in country), news was allowed like never before. The Dept of defense afterwards thought they went too far due to a lot of negative press. Subsequently, in the Persian Gulf conflicts, there were more lids on news and photo release. OF course, Russia and Ukraine are doing the same as each protects their interests.

Here's a section of the regulation issued by the US Army during WWII. Correspondents could be tried and imprisoned in court martials if they violated the regs. Censorship of news and photos were regularly done by commanders. See pgs 7-10 on censorship.

U 14. PHOTOGRAPHIC CENSORSnPm.-a. Still pictures.-(1) All photographic negatives taken by official or accredited civilian photographers may be processed in the Signal Corps field laboratory or in such other laboratory installations as the theater commander may designate. Photographs will then be censored by a representative of G-2. (2) No negatives or prints will be released except by authority of the theater commander. Such released prints or negatives will bear the censorship stamp and will be accompanied by suitable captions. A record of all such releases will be kept. (3) Negatives and prints of accredited commercial correspondents not released by the censor will become the property of the United States Government. and will be forwarded through channels to the Military Intelligence Division, War Department General Staff, Washington, D. C., accompanied by full information sheet as to captions and the agency which took the photographs. (4) Films or prints which cannot be processed locally, such as color film, will be delivered to a representative of G-2 marked, "Undeveloped film. Do not open." This will be forwarded by the fastest practicable means to the Military Intelligence Division, War Department General Staff, Washington, D.C. (5) Regardless of the number of accredited correspondents any one agency has in the field, photographs from theaters of operation by newspaper photographers will be "rotoed." Photographs from theaters of operation of weekly magazine photographers will be rotoed.

...

17. DrscrPLINE.-- . A correspondent will be suspended from all privileges for the distortion of his dispatches in the office of the publication which he represents, and also for the Use of words or expressions conveying a hidden meaning which would tend to mislead or deceive the censor and cause the approval by him of otherwise objectionable dispatches. b. In the presence of the enemy he will conform to the actions of the troops, and will not jeopardize the safety of the command or compromise the scheme of maneuver in progress. c. He may be subject to disciplinary action because of an intentional violation of these and other regulations, either in letter or in spirit, and in extreme cases of offense, where investigation proves the circumstances warrant, the correspondent may be placed in arrest to await deportation or trial by a court martial.

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/docs/FieldManualsWWII/FM%2030-26%20(%20Basic%20Field%20Manual%20Regulations%20for%20Correspondent.pdf

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Thanks for your comments. Do you know the names of any who have died? Would like to appreciate their work.

There were three killed a couple of weeks ago, one was a film maker.

3 journalists, including Fox News cameraperson, killed in Ukraine​

Three journalists, including a filmmaker, a producer and a Fox News cameraperson, were killed covering the Russian invasion in Ukraine this week.

Ukrainian producer and fixer Oleksandra "Sasha" Kuvshynova, 24, and Fox News cameraperson Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, were both killed in Gorenka, outside Kyiv, in a shelling on Monday, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Kuvshynova was working with Fox News as a consultant, the network confirmed.

"She was incredibly talented and spent weeks working directly with our entire team there, operating around the clock to make sure the world knew what was happening in her country," Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, said in a statement Tuesday.

3 journalists, including Fox News cameraperson, killed in Ukraine

Three journalists, including a Fox News cameraman, have died covering the war in Ukraine.

abcnews.go.com

 

[Rob Skeoch]

Do you have to be "embedded"?
I'm asking, because I don't know.
Does a photographer have to be 'embedded' with a group? Is there something stopping a photographer from arriving on their own and taking photos. I don't mean right at the front lines but back a bit. Are you able to take photos of tanks rolling along or is everything locked down.

 

[Lucius]

Is there something stopping a photographer from arriving on their own and taking photos. I don't mean right at the front lines but back a bit. Are you able to take photos of tanks rolling along or is everything locked down.

Generally speaking, no -- a professional photographer needs accreditation (just as in peacetime, though of course control will be far more stringent). I don't think military censorship checks every single picture that is released to the public, but the overwhelming majority of photographs one sees are very careful not to show any recognisable topographical features. And there is a universal ban for the general public on taking pictures of military personnel and equipment (which could attract an air strike), as well as of the damage inflicted by an air strike (which could show how effective it was).

But there are more than enough photos like these (all taken over the last few days):