Tim Hetherington
Encyclopedia
Timothy Alistair Telemachus Hetherington (5 December 1970 – 20 April 2011) was a British-American photojournalist
with work that "ranged from multi-screen installations, to fly-poster exhibitions, to handheld device downloads." He was best known for the documentary film
Restrepo
(2010), which he co-directed with Sebastian Junger
; the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2011. Hetherington was killed by mortar shells fired by Libyan
forces while covering the 2011 Libyan civil war
.
on the Wirral Peninsula
and grew up in Southport
, Sefton, where he attended St Patrick's Primary School. He went on to attend the Jesuit Stonyhurst College
and read Classics
and English
at Lady Margaret Hall
, Oxford
in 1989. Shortly after graduation he received £5,000 from his grandmother's will, money which enabled him to travel for two years in India, China and Tibet. That trip made him realize he "wanted to make images", so he "worked for three to four years, going to night school in photography before eventually going back to college." He then studied photojournalism under Daniel Meadows
and Colin Jacobson in Cardiff
in 1996.
, in London
, where he was the sole staff photographer.
Hetherington spent much of the next decade in West Africa
, documenting political upheaval and its effects on daily life in Liberia
, Sierra Leone
, Nigeria
, and other countries. In the Second Liberian Civil War
, he and his broadcast colleague James Martin Brabazon
were the only foreign journalists to live behind rebel lines, which earned them an execution order from then-Liberian President Charles Taylor. Hetherington was a photographer on Liberia: An Uncivil War (2004) and The Devil Came on Horseback
(2007).
Hetherington won the 2007 World Press Photo
competition for his picture of a tired American soldier covering his face with his hand following a day of fighting in the Korengal valley, Afghanistan
. The work was made for Vanity Fair
, for which he was a contributing photographer. Hetherington made several trips to Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008 with writer Sebastian Junger; the two collaborated on the 2010 documentary
Restrepo
based on their assignment in Afghanistan. The film received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival
. In 2006, Hetherington took a break from image making to work as an investigator for the United Nations Security Council
's Liberia Sanctions Committee.
Hetherington received a 2009 Alfred I. duPont Award in broadcast journalism, and the 2008 Rory Peck Features award
for his broadcast work titled Afghanistan – The Other War, which was also made in the Korengal Valley and aired on Nightline
, a programme of ABC News
.
In 2010 he directed the short film "Diary":
On April 27, 2011 Hetherington was posthumously presented with the "Leadership in Entertainment Award" by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
(IAVA) for his work on Restrepo
.
Hetherington was posthumously awarded the Frontline Club Memorial Tribute Award on November 23 2011, along with photojournalists Chris Hondros
and Anton Hammerl
for their exceptional contribution to journalism.
Hetherington was killed while covering the front lines in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya
, during the 2011 Libyan civil war. There appeared to be uncertainty whether he was killed by a mortar shell
or an RPG round. The same attack also killed photographer Chris Hondros
and gravely wounded photographer Guy Martin. A source said that the group was traveling with rebel fighters. One report said "several Libyan rebels" were also killed in the blast, and at least two other journalists also survived it. Hetherington tweeted
the previous day, "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO".
Hetherington is survived by his mother, father, sister, brother and three nieces and nephews.
Just days after Hetherington's death in Misrata, the Libyan city of Ajdabiya
renamed its largest square after him. Anti-Gaddafi protesters also held a march to the newly renamed Tim Hetherington Square in his honour. "We have named the square after this hero and I now consider Tim as one of our martyrs," Al Jazeera
quoted a Libyan surgeon in the city as saying.
Senator John McCain
sent two American flags to a memorial service in New York, one given to the Hetherington family and the other given to Idil Ibrahim, "Tim’s girlfriend of one year whose parents had emigrated from Somalia" according to one account. The flags were delivered in person at the service by four American veterans of Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan, who had been "many times ... under fire with Tim" and Junger, who wrote the account of the service.
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
with work that "ranged from multi-screen installations, to fly-poster exhibitions, to handheld device downloads." He was best known for the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Restrepo
Restrepo (film)
Restrepo is a 2010 documentary film about the Afghanistan war, directed by American journalist Sebastian Junger and British/American photojournalist Tim Hetherington....
(2010), which he co-directed with Sebastian Junger
Sebastian Junger
Sebastian Junger is an American author, journalist and documentarian, most famous for the best-selling book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, his award-winning chronicle of the war in Afghanistan in the 2010 movie Restrepo, and his 2010 book War.-Background:Junger was born...
; the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2011. Hetherington was killed by mortar shells fired by Libyan
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
forces while covering the 2011 Libyan civil war
2011 Libyan civil war
The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...
.
Early life
Hetherington was born in BirkenheadBirkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
on the Wirral Peninsula
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
and grew up in Southport
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
, Sefton, where he attended St Patrick's Primary School. He went on to attend the Jesuit Stonyhurst College
Stonyhurst College
Stonyhurst College is a Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition. It is located on the Stonyhurst Estate near the village of Hurst Green in the Ribble Valley area of Lancashire, England, and occupies a Grade I listed building...
and read Classics
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
and English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at Lady Margaret Hall
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m....
, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1989. Shortly after graduation he received £5,000 from his grandmother's will, money which enabled him to travel for two years in India, China and Tibet. That trip made him realize he "wanted to make images", so he "worked for three to four years, going to night school in photography before eventually going back to college." He then studied photojournalism under Daniel Meadows
Daniel Meadows
Daniel Meadows is an English photographer turned maker of digital stories, and a teacher of photography turned teacher of participatory media.-Life and career as photographer:...
and Colin Jacobson in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
in 1996.
Career
Hetherington's first job was that of a trainee at The Big IssueThe Big Issue
The Big Issue is a street newspaper published in eight countries; it is written by professional journalists and sold by homeless individuals. It was founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991...
, in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he was the sole staff photographer.
Hetherington spent much of the next decade in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
, documenting political upheaval and its effects on daily life in Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, and other countries. In the Second Liberian Civil War
Second Liberian Civil War
The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy , emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and...
, he and his broadcast colleague James Martin Brabazon
James Martin Brabazon
James Martin Brabazon , is a British documentary film-maker, journalist, author, and news photographer. Brabazon specializes in reporting from war zones and areas where access is restricted....
were the only foreign journalists to live behind rebel lines, which earned them an execution order from then-Liberian President Charles Taylor. Hetherington was a photographer on Liberia: An Uncivil War (2004) and The Devil Came on Horseback
The Devil Came on Horseback
The Devil Came on Horseback is a documentary film by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg illustrating the continuing Darfur Conflict in Sudan. Based on the book by former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle and his experiences while working for the African Union, the film version had its premiere at film...
(2007).
Hetherington won the 2007 World Press Photo
World Press Photo
World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955 the organization is known for holding the world's largest and most prestigious annual press photography contest....
competition for his picture of a tired American soldier covering his face with his hand following a day of fighting in the Korengal valley, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. The work was made for Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
, for which he was a contributing photographer. Hetherington made several trips to Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008 with writer Sebastian Junger; the two collaborated on the 2010 documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Restrepo
Restrepo (film)
Restrepo is a 2010 documentary film about the Afghanistan war, directed by American journalist Sebastian Junger and British/American photojournalist Tim Hetherington....
based on their assignment in Afghanistan. The film received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. In 2006, Hetherington took a break from image making to work as an investigator for the United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
's Liberia Sanctions Committee.
Hetherington received a 2009 Alfred I. duPont Award in broadcast journalism, and the 2008 Rory Peck Features award
Rory Peck Award
The Rory Peck Award is an award given to freelance camera operators who have risked their lives to report on newsworthy events. It was set up in 1995 and is named after the Northern Irish freelance cameraman Rory Peck, who was killed while reporting on the siege of the Moscow White House in 1993....
for his broadcast work titled Afghanistan – The Other War, which was also made in the Korengal Valley and aired on Nightline
Nightline
Nightline, or ABC News Nightline is a late-night news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. It airs weeknights, usually for 31 minutes. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main...
, a programme of ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
In 2010 he directed the short film "Diary":
- 'Diary' is a highly personal and experimental film that expresses the subjective experience of my work, and was made as an attempt to locate myself after ten years of reporting. It's a kaleidoscope of images that link our western reality to the seemingly distant worlds we see in the media.
On April 27, 2011 Hetherington was posthumously presented with the "Leadership in Entertainment Award" by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America , is an advocacy group dedicated to United States veterans of the War in Iraq and War in Afghanistan. The group claims to be the nation's first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars and has more than 200,000 Member Veterans...
(IAVA) for his work on Restrepo
Restrepo
-People:*José Manuel Restrepo, a Colombian political figure, botanist and historian*Carlos Eugenio Restrepo, a Colombian politician and lawyer*Laura Restrepo, a Colombian writer*Ximena Restrepo, Colombian athlete...
.
Hetherington was posthumously awarded the Frontline Club Memorial Tribute Award on November 23 2011, along with photojournalists Chris Hondros
Chris Hondros
Chris Hondros was an American Pulitzer Prize-nominated war photographer.-Biography:Chris Hondros was born in New York City to immigrant Greek and German parents who were child refugees after World War II...
and Anton Hammerl
Anton Hammerl
Anton Hammerl was a South African freelance photojournalist. He was shot and killed by troops loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi while covering the 2011 Libyan civil war on April 5, 2011. Hammerl’s family, friends, and colleagues did not learn of his death until over a month later, on May 19, 2011...
for their exceptional contribution to journalism.
Death
In a June 2010 interview for The New York Times, when asked by photojournalist Michael Kamber about Infidel, the book he did with Chris Boot that was about to be published, Hetherington commented on the level of danger he encountered when working on it:- The first time I went to Afghanistan, in 2007, the world was very much focused on Iraq. People had forgotten – and now we have come to accept – that the Afghan war was going out of control. When I got to the Korangal ValleyKorangal valleyThe Korangal Valley in Afghanistan is located south of the Pech River in the Pech District of Kunar Province in northeastern Afghanistan. To the east is Asadabad, capital of Kunar Province, to the west is the Chapa Dara District, and to the south is the Chawkay District...
, and there was lots of fighting going on, it completely surprised me. I was gobsmacked. At the end of October 2007, 70 percent of American bombs being dropped were in that valley, and the casualty rate was at 25 percent wounded. So the images I made were very action oriented. Photojournalism. Reminiscent of classical war photography. I did that because I wanted people to see that there was a lot of fighting going on. Anyway, I go back and the fighting sort of bored me. Because when you are in a lot of combat after a while, a lot of it – you know? If you are inside a base that’s being attacked, like RestrepoRestrepo (film)Restrepo is a 2010 documentary film about the Afghanistan war, directed by American journalist Sebastian Junger and British/American photojournalist Tim Hetherington....
was, you are in a fairly good position. The likelihood of you being killed was pretty low, unless they put a mortar on you.
Hetherington was killed while covering the front lines in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, during the 2011 Libyan civil war. There appeared to be uncertainty whether he was killed by a mortar shell
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
or an RPG round. The same attack also killed photographer Chris Hondros
Chris Hondros
Chris Hondros was an American Pulitzer Prize-nominated war photographer.-Biography:Chris Hondros was born in New York City to immigrant Greek and German parents who were child refugees after World War II...
and gravely wounded photographer Guy Martin. A source said that the group was traveling with rebel fighters. One report said "several Libyan rebels" were also killed in the blast, and at least two other journalists also survived it. Hetherington tweeted
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
the previous day, "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO".
Hetherington is survived by his mother, father, sister, brother and three nieces and nephews.
Just days after Hetherington's death in Misrata, the Libyan city of Ajdabiya
Ajdabiya
Ajdabiya was one of the districts of Libya. It lay in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital was Ajdabiya. As of 2007 it was subsumed within the enlarged Al Wahat District....
renamed its largest square after him. Anti-Gaddafi protesters also held a march to the newly renamed Tim Hetherington Square in his honour. "We have named the square after this hero and I now consider Tim as one of our martyrs," Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera is an independent broadcaster owned by the state of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation and headquartered in Doha, Qatar...
quoted a Libyan surgeon in the city as saying.
Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
sent two American flags to a memorial service in New York, one given to the Hetherington family and the other given to Idil Ibrahim, "Tim’s girlfriend of one year whose parents had emigrated from Somalia" according to one account. The flags were delivered in person at the service by four American veterans of Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan, who had been "many times ... under fire with Tim" and Junger, who wrote the account of the service.
Books
- Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold. Umbrage, 2009. ISBN 188416773X.
- Infidel. Chris Boot, 2010. ISBN 1905712189. About Afghanistan.
See also
- List of English film directors
- List of film and television directors
- List of photojournalists
- List of Stonyhurst alumni/ae
External links
- timhetherington.com, Hetherington's official website
- "Brit Wins World Press Photo 2007" l nu.nl. Accessed 2 November 2010.
- "Long Story Bit by Bit". Umbrage Gallery. Accessed 5 May 2009.
- Interview with Laura Flanders and Tim Hetherington on Restrepo. GRITtvGRITtvGRITtv is a television show hosted and founded by Laura Flanders. GRITtv is broadcast from New York City on Free Speech TV via Dish network and on public television stations nationwide, as well as online...
- Remembering Tim Hetherington - slideshow by Life magazine
- Tim Hetherington's channel at Vimeo, containing Diary (2010) and Sleeping Soldiers single screen (2009)