Honoring Tim Hetherington & Chris Hondros: Their Work, Coverage, Restrepo Clips

Reposted from IndieWire.com

A soldier resting at Restrepo bunker in Afghanistan, named the World Press Photo of the Year for 2007.

Sadly, Restrepo documentarian and photojournalist Tim Hetherington was confirmed killed in Libya Wednesday, along with photographer Chris Hondros. Below is a selection of their photographs (top six are Hetherington’s, bottom five are Hondros’s), updates and statements on their deaths, and clips from Hetherington’s Oscar nominated documentary, Restrepo, which the National Geographic Channel will rebroadcast again:

“@NatGeoChannel: In honor of the late Tim Hetherington, we’ll be airing a special encore of his film, Restrepo, on Monday. Details to come.”

Here is the Documentary Channel’s video in memoriam of Hetherington, in which he states “that role as a witness is important, somebody has to go there and document and witness for others to see.”

Their websites: Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros.

“Doc” Old treats a soldier during the heat of combat.

- The Daily Beast’s coverage includes Sebastian Junger’s (Hetherington’s Restrepo co-director) statement, as well as one from The White House:

“‘Tim was very brave. We were in a lot of combat situations, and I can’t imagine a better combat photographer,’ Junger said of Hetherington. But he said the best way to remember the fallen photographers was to recall that they were killed not while trying to snap a front-page photograph, but while attempting to chronicle of the destruction caused by armed conflict. ‘He and Chris Hondros and the other journalists in Misrata were capturing the horror of Misrata, but they were also capturing something much greater and more important: all of the tens of thousands of civilians that have been killed in the past decades. That’s what they were going there for—Rwanda, Sarajevo, Liberia, the list goes on.’”

“The White House issued statements saying it was saddened by the deaths, and calling for the Libyan government to protect working journalists. ‘The United States will work to do everything possible to assist those who were injured in getting the care they need. Our thoughts are with these brave journalists and their loved ones,’ one statement said.”

Soldiers shoot at enemy forces across the valley.

- From CJ Chivers, the author of Pulitzer Prize winning The Gun, a marine corps vet and a senior writer for the NYT who is in Libya:

“We’re numb here as the clock nears 4:30 a.m., and we’re not quite sure what to do. The deaths of Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington on Tripoli Street still seem unreal. Bryan just walked off from the little space we’ve been huddled in, working. He’ll sleep soon, I hope. The work kept us busy enough to hold the worst of the feelings away. But now the work is almost done, and it will hit again with the same shock as the first word….These are the organizations and the people — HRW [Human Rights Watch], IOM [International Organization for Migration], Andre [Liohn]— who make it possible to imagine, on days like these, that we are people still, just as Chris and Tim did in the work that defined their lives.”

Specialist Misha Pemble-Belkin sits below a dummy figure sometimes used to draw enemy fire at the Restrepo bunker.

- The New York Times’ updated coverage, and The Lede’s conflict videos.

- The Guardian states many journalists remain in Misrata:

“Journalists from the BBC, Channel 4 News and other news organisations are to remain in Libya’s rebel-held city of Misrata, despite an assault by pro-Gaddafi forces that led to deaths of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros on Wednesday…The Mediterranean port city has seen some of the fiercest fighting since the Arab spring uprising began in December, with rebel fighters holding out against troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi for seven weeks.”

Specialist Brian Underwood shouts out to his gunner while preparing grenades, during an insurgent assault on Restrepo.

Men from Second Platoon horse around to pass the time.

[Tim Hetherington - Vanity Fair]

A child Liberian militia soldier loyal to the government in Monrovia.

A Liberian militia commander loyal to the government cheers after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces at a key strategic bridge in Monrovia, 2003.

An Iraqi girl screams after her parents were killed when US soldiers fired on their car when it failed to stop at a checkpoint in Iraq.

A rebel fighter celebrates as his comrades fire a rocket at troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi near Ajdabiyah in Libya.

A malnourished two-year-old girl sits at an Action Against Hunger feeding centre in Monrovia.
[Chris Hondros, Getty Images - The Guardian]

Here are two clips from Restrepo ; watch the complete film streaming on Netflix.

Here, in our video of Junger and Hetherington (though he’s mostly out of frame), Junger says the pair planned to return to Afghanistan in April and get back to work; “the war hasn’t stopped just because of the Oscars.”