Briton Tim Hetherington (40) has died. The award-winning photographer and filmmaker was killed on April 20, 2011 while covering the conflict between Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and rebels in the city of Misrata, Libya.
Getty photographer Chris Hondros (41) was also killed, and two others, Guy Martin and Michael Brown, were injured in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.
Restrepo: the Human Cost of War
Tim Hetherington is best known for his photojournalism and film work in Afghanistan. His directorial debut Restrepo (2010) chronicles the lives of a platoon of American soldiers during a 15-month tour of duty in Afghanistan's deadly Korengal Valley.
The footage shot on location is complemented by personal interviews conducted with the soldiers several months after the end of their deployment. This material, which reveals the devastating toll war takes on survivors, is often more poignant than the scenes of their daily existence.
Restrepo, which was named after a medic who was killed early on in the mission, won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
World Press Photo Winner
Tim Hetherington was also a highly acclaimed photojournalist. He won the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year Award in 2007, also for his coverage of US soldiers in Afghanistan, which formed the basis of his subsequent documentary.
Hetherington, who had dual British and American citizenship and was based in New York, was working for Vanity Fair magazine at the time of his death.
In a statement on its website, Vanity Fair described his approach to photojournalistic subjects as "imaginative, even artistic," adding that he was "widely respected by his peers for his bravery and camaraderie."
In the same statement, Cathy Saypol, who represented Hetherington for a number of years, said that “we are saddened beyond words that our friend, photographer and filmmaker, Tim Hetherington, was killed in Misrata.”
Hetherington's final tweet, which he posted the day before he died, read: "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by the Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO."
Biography
Tim Hetherington was born in Liverpool, UK in 1970. He studied English literature at Oxford University and later returned to college to take a postgraduate course in photojournalism.
He lived and worked in East Africa for eight years before moving to New York. His projects were often long-term and often dealt with conflict. These include the book Long Story Bit By Bit: Liberia Retold (2009), a collection of images and interviews made over a period of five years; and Restrepo, for which he spent 10 months in Afghanistan.
Hetherington’s experimental short film Diary (2010) can be viewed on Vimeo.
Sources
- David Friend, Tim Hetherington, 40, Killed in Libya, Vanity Fair, April 20, 2011.
- Tim Hetherington, final tweet, Twitter, April 19, 2011.
- Tim Hetherington, Diary (2010), Vimeo.
Cecily Layzell - Cecily Layzell is a food and travel writer and founder of restaurant review site www.eat-amsterdam.com.
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