"I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated." James Nachtwey is a well-known American photojournalist and war photographer. Nachtwey has been awarded the prestigious Overseas Press Club's “Robert Capa Gold Medal” five times and is also the bearer of two “World Press Photo awards”. Nachtwey considers his work an art and the photography camera his paintbrush. He was recently injured due to a grenade attack while he was working in Baghdad. He made a full recovery and is still on the field telling his story through his photographs. Early Life. He was born in Massachusetts, a state in the United States of America in the year 1948. He is a History and Political Science graduate from Dartmouth College. He served in the Merchant Marine for a brief period of time. He was greatly influenced by the photography prints by still photographers in the Vietnam war. He was impressed by the way these photographs conveyed so much. To him, they were institutional in telling the story of how the war progressed in Vietnam. They told a story that any amount of words could never express. Instead of enrolling himself in proper photography courses, he taught himself. He started working as a newspaper photographer at the Albuquerque Journal in the year 1976. Though it was a good job, Nachtwey wanted more in his life. To aid this, he started working as a freelance photographer in the year 1981 in the city of New York. Whilst working as a freelancer, he joined the ‘Black Star Agency' which sent him on his first assignment to Northern Ireland. Ireland had always been in a troubled state. Even today, there is a lot of political tension. His assignment broadened his perspectives into photography. Later work. After his first successful foreign stint, he worked in Central America then in the Middle East, then in Africa and also in Eastern Europe. Most of these places were in some state of civil unrest and turmoil at the time. The photographs captured by him in these locations have been published in a number of international publications, including National Geographic, Life, Time, El País, and L’Express among a few. Many photography websites have displayed his amazing pieces of work prominently. Most of Nachtwey’s work is in places of conflict. In the year 1994, Nachtwey was covering the upcoming elections in South Africa, the first non-racial ones in many years. He was at the scene when Ken Oosterbroek, a fellow South African photojournalist, was killed and Greg Marinovich, another South African photojournalist was seriously injured. During this time, he was an active member of the “The Bang Bang Club”, A Club with four photojournalists. Their main objective as a member of the club was to report on the activities within the townships of South Africa between 1990 and 1994, during the transition from the apartheid system to democracy. Many of the pictures he took are available on many photography blogs. Working for “Time”. Nachtwey has worked with the “Time” as a contract photographer since 1984. Nachtwey has been injured many times in his line of work as a photojournalist covering the war. His most serious injuries are attributed to his work during the American Invasion of Iraq and are regarded as his first combat-related injury. Nachtwey, along with a Time correspondent by the name of Michael Weisskopf was riding in the back of a Humvee (Armoured vehicle) with a contingent of the United States Army Survey Platoon when a hostile insurgent threw a grenade into the vehicle. Weisskopf managed to grab the grenade and throw it out of the vehicle they were in. Two soldiers were injured in the explosion, along with the two-time journalists. Nachtwey managed to take several photographs of the medic, Billie Grimes, treating Weisskopf before he himself passing out because of his injuries. For someone who never attended any photography schools, his determination, perseverance and love for photography seem to be better than most of the other people who did. Recent times. In 2001, he was a founding member of the VII Photo Agency, an international photo agency wholly owned and governed by its members. Nachtwey was present during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, (called 9/11) and did a lot of work. Many of the pictures of the attach you see on photo sites were captured by him. He also assembled a photograph essay on the effects of the Sudan conflicts on the civilians. In 2001, a documentary called “War Photographer” was released, focusing on Nachtwey and his work. Directed by Christian Frei, the film received an Academy Award nomination for the best documentary film.
