Joao Silva was wounded after stepping on a mine in southern Afghanistan. He is currently in Germany, stable and resting as of last night. I don’t think its easy, at all, to look at war photography and not think about the wo/man who is looking much, much closer behind the camera and how dangerous and totally important their jobs are. Read the rest of the article and see some of Joao’s incredible pictures here.
Joao at work:
Michael Kamber/For the NYTimes, from the Times website
Some of Joaos work:
Joao Silva/NYTimes - Najaf, Iraq, Aug. 22, 2004: A militiaman loyal to Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr fires toward American positions at the Western border of the old city.
Joao Silva/NYTimes - Baghdad, April 24, 2008: Samera Tula, who was severly burned when a propane gas tank exploded in her home, waits to be taken into a humvee at a Stryker Brigade patrol base.
Joao Silva/NYTimes - Karma, Iraq, Nov. 13, 2006: Marines peer out of a hole on a roof used by the sniper team to observe the surrounding area for enemy activity.
at 8:56 pm
Joao was one of four incredible photographers working in South Africa during the dark 80s (there were many others – these four were sort of lumped together). Joao, Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter and Ken Oosterbroek. Ken was killed in action covering Mandela soon after he was released. I met Kevin over drinks in the East Village one night a few months after that happened. He was very intense, but also very hollowed out. That night I wrote in my journal that I’d just met someone who was already dead. I didn’t exactly know what I meant when I wrote it. But he killed himself two weeks later.