Tim Page - Legendary Vietnam War photographer dies at 78

bdial · Aug 25, 2022

Legendary Vietnam War photographer Tim Page dies at 78

Photographer Tim Page, whose images and exploits from the Vietnam War made him a legendary figure of journalism in the 1960s, died Wednesday in Australia at the age of 78, fellow journalist Ben Bohane confirmed to CNN.

edition.cnn.com

"Photographer Tim Page, whose images and exploits from the Vietnam War made him a legendary figure of journalism in the 1960s, died Wednesday in Australia at the age of 78, fellow journalist Ben Bohane confirmed to CNN.
Page had cancer, according to Bohane, who said he spent Page's last week with him at his home in New South Wales.
Page was one of a corps of young freelance journalists who would hop on US military helicopters, the iconic transportation of the Vietnam War, to reach some of the most intense action of the conflict."

https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/q_auto,w_727,c_fit/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F220825072234-05-tim-page.jpg

BradS · Aug 25, 2022

RiP Tim.

Arthurwg · Aug 25, 2022

I don't think we will ever see another photojournalism epic like Vietnam. Some of the best war pictures ever made, and Tim was a big part of that.

Sirius Glass · Aug 25, 2022

MattKing · Aug 25, 2022

Thanks for posting this. I find it intriguing how much the Vietnam war photojournalists impacted many of this community - myself included.
I've tweaked the thread title and moved this thread from the In Memoriam sub-forum to the Photographers forum. In Memoriam is actually there to report the passing of those who are part of the APUG/DPUG/Photrio community, plus (in a few cases) people with a strong connection with our community.

Alex Benjamin · Aug 25, 2022

R.I.P.

Arcadia4 · Aug 25, 2022

Photographic tribute here

Tim Page: the Vietnam war photographer’s career in pictures

A look at the work of photojournalist Tim Page, who covered the Vietnam war extensively and was wounded several times while capturing his powerful images

www.theguardian.com

Alex Benjamin · Aug 25, 2022

Interesting bit of trivia, here. On the stretcher is a wounded Tim Page. Man on the right, holding the stretcher, is photographer Sean Flynn. He was the son of actor Errol Flynn who, after trying his hand at acting, became a photojournalist in the mid-60s and in Vietnam was known, as Page, as one of the high-risk photographers. He was captured in Cambodia in 1970 by Communist forces with another of the "high-risk", Dana Stone. Both were never heard of again. Page went back to Cambodia in 1990 trying to find out what happened to them.

Trail Images · Aug 25, 2022

Alex Benjamin said:
He was the son of actor Errol Flynn who, after trying his hand at acting, became a photojournalist in the mid-60s and in Vietnam was known, as Page, as one of the high-risk photographers. He was captured in Cambodia in 1960 by Communist forces with another of the "high-risk", Dana Stone.

Alex, I recall this also as you've mentioned. Always a bit haunting as Sean's dad was truly a part of Hollywood history.

benjiboy · Aug 26, 2022

I met Tim Page once more than thirty years ago, when he came to a camera club I was a member of as a visiting speaker, we took him to dinner before his talk, he was a very interesting man, a voluble animated talker who enthralled us all with his experiences all evening,and give us a night to remember.
Rest in peace Tim, I will always remember meeting you with pleasure.

Ben 4 · Aug 26, 2022

Alex Benjamin said:
Interesting bit of trivia, here. On the stretcher is a wounded Tim Page. Man on the right, holding the stretcher, is photographer Sean Flynn. He was the son of actor Errol Flynn who, after trying his hand at acting, became a photojournalist in the mid-60s and in Vietnam was known, as Page, as one of the high-risk photographers. He was captured in Cambodia in 1960 by Communist forces with another of the "high-risk", Dana Stone. Both were never heard of again. Page went back to Cambodia in 1990 trying to find out what happened to them.

Thanks for this. The date of Flynn's disappearance should be 1970 (per the CNN story linked in the first post and the Wikipedia article on Flynn).

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 26, 2022

MattKing said:
Thanks for posting this. I find it intriguing how much the Vietnam war photojournalists impacted many of this community - myself included.
I've tweaked the thread title and moved this thread from the In Memoriam sub-forum to the Photographers forum. In Memoriam is actually there to report the passing of those who are part of the APUG/DPUG/Photrio community, plus (in a few cases) people with a strong connection with our community.

Vietnam was the first and last war that the military allowed unfettered access to reporters. Because of that, so many photos were so impactful changing what many thought of the war and war itself.

jtk · Aug 26, 2022

Alan Edward Klein said:
Vietnam was the first and last war that the military allowed unfettered access to reporters. Because of that, so many photos were so impactful changing what many thought of the war and war itself.

Alan, I almost agree. However many dedicated photojournalists covered the subsequent wars in Latin America... many have died in Mexico as a result and are continuing to document those horrors.

Life Magazine and our TV sets didn't really change what people thought about "war itself." For example, there's a lot of photography and videography in Ukraine. As well, America never saw much (any?) of the VC photography that's beginning to surface. We saw lots of fine war photography in the Middle East, perhaps most notably Life Magazine's coverage of Kuwait.

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 26, 2022

jtk said:
Alan, I almost agree. However many dedicated photojournalists covered the subsequent wars in Latin America... many have died in Mexico as a result and are continuing to document those horrors.

Life Magazine and our TV sets didn't really change what people thought about "war itself." For example, there's a lot of photography and videography in Ukraine. As well, America never saw much (any?) of the VC photography that's beginning to surface. We saw lots of fine war photography in the Middle East, perhaps most notably Life Magazine's coverage of Kuwait.

Photography can be used for a powerful propaganda effect. As early in photography as our Civil War, guns and bodies were moved around by photographers to get "better" pictures to present to the public. Similarly today, Ukraine photos are mainly from the Ukraine side and are biased to them. That's simple to see. In fact, some videography is against the Geneva Convention Rules of War using POWs in interviews for propaganda purposes. That's illegal. Yet the news industry ignores it. Don't news editors have a responsibility to sanction photo and video violations or do we want them to aid countries ignoring the Geneva Convention?

Photos in Kuwait are different than in Vietnam because we won in Kuwait. Photos in Vietnam showed us often losing. So the effect was profound on public opinion. The fact the US military allowed such wide coverage may have come back to haunt them. That's the point I was making. Photography is such a powerful medium and we often don't appreciate just how so it is. Presented this way or that can affect the public's view of a conflict, pro and con. We photographers of all people should appreciate that.

CMoore · Aug 27, 2022

Catching that last chopper to Heaven i guess
What a life
R.I.P.

Paul Howell · Aug 27, 2022

There is a pretty good documentary

Camera Martyrs of Vietnam covers photojournalist who covered the war from the French to the Fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

Here is a link, it shows on cable once in a while, but expensive to download.

Camera Martyrs of Vietnam

This video looks at the Vietnam War through the eyes of the photographers who covered it. They died with violence, recording a story that was sadder than words could tell. They came from both sides an...

www.films.com

Trask · Aug 27, 2022

Sorry that Mr. Page has passed away, though it seems he certainly did live a full life. Interesting that in the photo in post #6, he appears to be carrying a rifle -- I rather thought that members of the press, even our perhaps especially in a war zone, generally did not bear a weapon in order to avoid being targeted as an active combatant.

I have to add that I like the quote by Bill Brandt in post #8. Something to think about...

Paul Howell · Aug 27, 2022

When a working PJ for varies wire services we were not allowed to carry weapons, I knew of a few who carried canceled handguns, but never a rifle.

CMoore · Aug 27, 2022

Trask said:
Sorry that Mr. Page has passed away, though it seems he certainly did live a full life. Interesting that in the photo in post #6, he appears to be carrying a rifle -- I rather thought that members of the press, even our perhaps especially in a war zone, generally did not bear a weapon in order to avoid being targeted as an active combatant.

I have to add that I like the quote by Bill Brandt in post #8. Something to think about...

If you are in a war zone, you ARE a target. Whether you carry a gun or not is meaningless. Its not like guys in a jungle or 300 meters away are checking to to make sure.......
We dropped Napalm on whole villages of people with no weapons.

I would have carried any weapon i could have gotten my hands on.

jtk · Aug 27, 2022

If you are a photographer/helicopter door-gunner in VN, like the guy who sold me the Graflex XL kit he'd stolen, are you a "war photographer" or instrument of war?

Arthurwg · Aug 27, 2022

Trail Images said:
Alex, I recall this also as you've mentioned. Always a bit haunting as Sean's dad was truly a part of Hollywood history.

I believe Sean had little or no contact with his famous father, and was raised by his mother, Errol's ex-wife, actress Lili Damita. Sean received $5000 at Errol's death but little else in his lifetime.

Alex Benjamin · Aug 27, 2022

Arthurwg said:
I believe Sean had little or no contact with his famous father, and was raised by his mother, Errol's ex-wife, actress Lili Damita. Sean received $5000 at Errol's death but little else in his lifetime.

Parents divorced in 1942. Sean's letters were auctioned in 2015 and they do show that father and son did not get along. Errol seems to have been quite the jackass. Love the David Niven quote: "You always knew where you stood with Errol. He always let you down."

https://www.express.co.uk/entertain...etters-reveal-rift-Errol-Flynn-son-Sean-Flynn

Interesting part of the article is the quote from a Sean Flynn interview: "I found out right away that I liked the... it is hard to say you like war. But I liked the excitement. I felt my strength would be my ability to function under fire, in this case to perform as a photographer. All the photos I took were bad - underexposed. But I was glad to be in Vietnam. Maybe it was proving something. A lot gets lost in perspective, a lot of old personal battles. After you get the s*** scared out of you a few times, it is easy to look back and forget what was actually going on in your mind."

You have to have a heck of a chip on your shoulder to find that what you need to prove yourself is photographing the hell that was Vietnam.

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 28, 2022

Alex Benjamin said:
Parents divorced in 1942. Sean's letters were auctioned in 2015 and they do show that father and son did not get along. Errol seems to have been quite the jackass. Love the David Niven quote: "You always knew where you stood with Errol. He always let you down."

https://www.express.co.uk/entertain...etters-reveal-rift-Errol-Flynn-son-Sean-Flynn

Interesting part of the article is the quote from a Sean Flynn interview: "I found out right away that I liked the... it is hard to say you like war. But I liked the excitement. I felt my strength would be my ability to function under fire, in this case to perform as a photographer. All the photos I took were bad - underexposed. But I was glad to be in Vietnam. Maybe it was proving something. A lot gets lost in perspective, a lot of old personal battles. After you get the s*** scared out of you a few times, it is easy to look back and forget what was actually going on in your mind."

You have to have a heck of a chip on your shoulder to find that what you need to prove yourself is photographing the hell that was Vietnam.

Men who were in combat mainly don't talk about the attraction of excitement, thrill, and power of war. Having others trying to kill you is powerful stuff and puts you on an edge that I've been told is very powerful. It's why you hear how so many have multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq putting themselves in harm's way.

Paul Howell · Aug 28, 2022

jtk said:
If you are a photographer/helicopter door-gunner in VN, like the guy who sold me the Graflex XL kit he'd stolen, are you a "war photographer" or instrument of war?

Active duty photographers are combat photographers, photojournalist who cover wars are now called conflict photographers.

Tim Page - Legendary Vietnam War photographer dies at 78

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