David Gilkey RIP

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David Gilkey RIP

Postby nowonmai » Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:50 pm

Not sure Helmand is worth the bones of a Pomeranian Grenadier. In fact I am sure, it isn't.

Bloody Marjah.

NPR Photographer, Interpreter Killed In Afghanistan
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June 5, 20165:26 PM ET
EYDER PERALTA
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NPR photographer David Gilkey at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, on May 29, 2016.
NPR photographer David Gilkey at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, on May 29, 2016.
Michael M. Phillips/The Wall Street Journal
David Gilkey, an NPR photojournalist who chronicled pain and beauty in war and conflict, was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday along with NPR's Afghan interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna.

David and Zabihullah were on assignment for the network traveling with an Afghan army unit, which came under attack killing David and Zabihullah.

David was 50 and Zabihullah, who for years also worked as a photographer, was 38-years-old.

David was considered one of the best photojournalists in the world — honored with a raft of awards including a George Polk in 2010, an Emmy in 2007 and dozens of distinctions from the White House News Photographers Association.

It is fair to say that David witnessed some of humanity's most challenging moments: He covered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He covered the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. He covered the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. He covered the devastating earthquake in Haiti, famine in Somalia and most recently the Ebola epidemic in Liberia.

His images were haunting — amid the rubble, he found beauty; amid war, he found humanity.

Zabihullah Tamanna (left) and David Gilkey in Afghanistan on June 2.
Zabihullah Tamanna (left) and David Gilkey in Afghanistan on June 2.
Monika Evstatieva/NPR
Back in 2010, after he covered the earthquake in Haiti, he talked about his craft. The camera, he said, made things easier.

"It's not like you put the camera to your face and therefore it makes what you're seeing OK, but certainly you can put yourself in a zone," David said. "It's hard, but you can't get caught up in it and become part of it. You still need to maintain your state of mind that you are helping tell this story."

His craft, he said, was about more than journalism.

"It's not just reporting. It's not just taking pictures," he said. "It's do those visuals, do the stories, do they change somebody's mind enough to take action?"

In an email to staff, Michael Oreskes, NPR's vice president for news said David died pursuing that commitment.


"As a man and as a photojournalist, David brought out the humanity of all those around him," Michael said. "He let us see the world and each other through his eyes."

Zabihullah, who was known as Zabi, worked as a photojournalist for the Chinese news agency Xinhua. More recently, he wrote for Turkey's Anadolu News Agency. Zabihullah kept a tick-tock on the country. He wrote the big news — when a new Afghani president was sworn in — but also covered the daily attacks and drone strikes that killed militants and civilians.

NPR's Phillip Reeves recruited Zabihullah to NPR. He called him a "great colleague."

"He was a lovely man, with a great eye for a story and deep wisdom about his country," Philip said. "He clearly loved his family."
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Re: David Gilkey RIP

Postby seektravelinfo » Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:10 am

Rest in peace, sir. His days were numbered, quite sure he knew that going in, but he had a good long ride, his assistant not so much.

I admire him immeasurably because even though his photographs won't make a bit of difference, even as he wanted them to, and even though he had his doubts he still kept shooting. That's a true quality.
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Re: David Gilkey RIP

Postby ROB » Mon Jun 06, 2016 7:38 am

Was going to post this too.

Vale.
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Re: David Gilkey RIP

Postby nowonmai » Tue Jun 07, 2016 12:04 am

seektravelinfo wrote:Rest in peace, sir. His days were numbered, quite sure he knew that going in, but he had a good long ride, his assistant not so much.

I admire him immeasurably because even though his photographs won't make a bit of difference, even as he wanted them to, and even though he had his doubts he still kept shooting. That's a true quality.


Agree all except the point about knowing his days were numbered. I never met anyone who really believed they had it coming, except for one, and it never came to him. I'm sure he went there thinking he would be coming back, which doesn't make it any less courageous.
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Re: David Gilkey RIP

Postby seektravelinfo » Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:54 am

Really? I would think that someone who is in that very dangerous line of work and/or avocation would be very cognizant of the very strong possibility of death. But I could see where a person would be so focused on the task at hand and even though surrounded by death and destruction sees it as all in a day's work. Also, the camaraderie that one can experience in such settings would make one happy to be alive.

If you're always going to be pissing your pants out of fear of dying then you wouldn't be much use at all, but still, wouldn't you have to know that the possibility was strong.

Ever since I long ago read that book A Prayer for Owen Meany I have believed that a person's moment of death is pre-determined. It's only a moment and many different scenarios can take you there. Knowing that, I guess it doesn't matter when that moment will be, but still, you can only dodge bullets for so long don't you think.
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Re: David Gilkey RIP

Postby The Turd Polisher » Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:31 pm

from Keith Jenkins at Nat Geo, formerly with NPR and a colleague of David Gilkey

Remembering David Gilkey, Photojournalist and Friend
National Geographic’s Keith Jenkins remembers NPR photojournalist David Gilkey as a compassionate storyteller, colleague, and friend.
By Keith Jenkins
PUBLISHED June 6, 2016

Journalists and their editors have been doing this far too often of late: eulogizing their lost colleagues, trying to make sense of their passing in foreign lands on dangerous soil in pursuit of the story, in pursuit of the truth.

It has become far too easy for them to be targeted because it has become far too easy for everyone to be targeted. Everyone is at risk, and we must take extraordinary care to not forget those who live in mortal fear every day.

David Gilkey understood his role in all of this. He was a truth-teller. His job was to use his skills as a journalist to keep us from forgetting the truth and hopefully, to act in order to keep the next crisis from happening.

However his role as a storyteller doesn’t speak to the warmth and humanity that was the largest part of every action David Gilkey took. From photographing the U.S. Marines on the battlefield to mentoring young college interns, David Gilkey was fully present and gave his all with style, grace, and humor. I will miss that most of all.

For five years at NPR I helped David get ready for his ‘mission’—to provide voices to the voiceless—on a daily basis. As a journalist his work with photography, video, and spoken word was simple and direct. You knew a David Gilkey photo when you saw one, primarily because everything he did before and after the shutter clicked was designed to place the subject and the story front and center.

Whether that subject was a barber in Alabama, a veteran learning to rock climb in Colorado, a medic at a forward operating base in Iraq, train passengers crossing the Siberian tundra, or earthquake survivors looking for hope in Port au Prince, David reminded us all that everyone mattered. Everyone deserved to have their story heard.

David’s journalistic legacy must go hand-in-hand with his legacy as a human being. Working with David taught me that the self is so much less important than the other. David’s passing reminds me that giving the self over in service of the other is one of the highest callings any of us can achieve.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photo ... ournalist/
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