Credit: Tim Hetherington
RESTREPO_JUNGER_HETHERINGTON_008.jpg
  • Tim Hetherington

The photographer (right) who spent a year and three months traveling back and forth between the United States and Afghanistan with Sebastian Junger (left) to capture the deadly, dusty, bewildering day-to-day of 15 soldiers fighting in the Korengal Valley has just died in Libya, Movieline is reporting.

Hetherington’s most recent Tweet:

In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO.

Hetherington and Junger were in town for the SIFF premiere of Restrepo last year—they were co-directors and co-producers. (Junger also wrote a book about the experience, and Hetherington published a book of photos.) They were doing press, and I interviewed them for The Stranger and incorporated some of what they said into a review of Restrepo. We had lunch at Le Pichet. A few things I remember off the top of my head: They were starving—I’ve never seen two guys eat French fries so fast—and talked a bit about how weird it felt to go from doing something that mattered (reporting on the war in Afghanistan from the soldiers’ perspective) to something stupid (a U.S. media tour—lots of hotel rooms, lots of cab rides, lots of talking to people like Steve Scher).

Hetherington was patient and articulate and intense. He had a British accent. He talked about the cliches of war photography, how if he heard the New York Times was going to run a photo from Afghanistan on the cover of tomorrow’s paper he could summon in his imagination exactly the sort of photo they would choose—and was usually right. He talked about the importance of photographers who were trying to break war-photography cliches, and about how that sometimes meant putting yourself in dangerous situations.

I’m going to find the notes from that interview this afternoon and post a little more of what he had to say. Meanwhile, here are 16 of his photos from the Korengal Valley from Vanity Fair, and here’s Vanity Fair‘s obituary.

Christopher Frizzelle was The Stranger's print editor, and first joined the staff in 2003. He was the editor-in-chief from 2007 to 2016, and edited the story by Eli Sanders that won a 2012 Pulitzer...

14 replies on “<i>Restrepo</i> Director Tim Hetherington Reportedly Killed in Libya”

  1. He was the one killed, but a number of pther civilian photo journalists were wounded in the mortar attacks by the Libyan Dictatorship.

    Oh, and thousands of Syrians and Yemenis are still protesting and many are being killed …. right now.

  2. So sad. I was at one of the screenings of Restrepo last year, and it was stunning. The Q&A they did after the screening was one of the most informative and visceral things I’ve ever seen at any SIFF event. What a huge loss.

    As for what the d-bag above has to say, what does that have to do with this? Yes, what you say is true, and that is horrible as well, but so what? Are people not allowed to be upset about this because you think there are more important things going on? That’s pretty idiotic, wouldn’t you say?

    Apparently you’re capable of posting about something besides the tunnel; if this nonsense is any indication, you should go back to that.

  7. I was Tim’s driver last year during SIFF and he was the sweetest man. We hung out at Joe Bar before the screening and he kept offering to buy me a beer, but I was his driver, so I declined and opted for some tea.
    A very sweet man who knew how to tell a story. Very sad.

  9. I would like to take this opportunity to plug “The Bang Bang Club” film coming up at NWFF. It’s a little too slick for its own good at times, but it’s a fantastic true story of photojournalists putting life and sanity on the line to cover the bloody paroxysms of violence (machete battles, gun battles) during the years before Mandela was elected in South Africa.

    Two of the four guys at the center of the movie won Pulitzer Prizes. And one was killed in combat, one lost both legs to a landmine, one was shot on four separate occasions, and one committed suicide.

    The people who walk into war zones with cameras and notebooks instead of guns are incredibly brave.

  11. Saw Restrepo on the National Geographic Channel. It’s an excellent and honest portrayal of what our soldiers are up against in Afghanistan. Hetherington was a man of great skill and courage to make a film like that place himself in dangerous situations. I’m sure Nat Geo will run it again soon if you’re interested in seeing it.

Comments are closed.