James Nachtwey's TED talk

(I am cross-posting from my website's blog because this is worth seeing)

Wow.

I just finished watching Jame's Nachtwey's 2007 TED Award acceptance speech.

Please take the time to watch this, even if you don't have an interest in photojournalism.



You can download a hi-res QuickTime file here. I suggest watching the hi-res file so you can see, in detail, Nachtwey's images as they cycle through during his talk.

Soft spoken, articulate and remarkably sincere, Nachtwey is perhaps the most driven person in journalism today. Nachtwey is an accomplished photographer; speaking simply of technique, his images are hauntingly beautiful and visually complex, perfect photographic pieces. But the true power of his work lies in the stories his images tell.

Nachtwey has spent the past 25 years document violence, famine, disease and conflict around the world. Despite considerable personal risk (Nachtwey was nearly killed by a hand grenade in Iraq in 2003) and the horrors that have passed in front of his viewfinder, Nachtwey's sense of purpose is unfailing.

At 20:45-21:15 in the video, Nachtwey said "Photographers go to the extreme edges of human experience to show people what's going on. Sometimes they put their lives on the line because they believe your opinions and your influence matter. They aim their pictures at your best instincts; generousity, a sense of right and wrong, the ability to identify with others, the refusal to accept the unacceptable."

I listened to Nachtwey speak at UC Berkeley last year. Although I feel wierd about agrandizing journalists, it was a privilege to hear Nachtwey discuss his work in his own words. He often explains his work by saying "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."

Please take a moment and look at this portrait Nachtwey made of a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda. Nearly a million people were killed in a month there. How can we let this happen again in Darfur?

(c)James Nachtwey

The work the Nachtwey does touches on the basic compulsions and desires that most photojournalists have. There is, in all of us journalists, a desire to show what is happening in the world, and by doing so, change it for the better.

We all want to do what Nachtwey does, to tell a story so directly, make an image where the only appropriate response is action. We want to inspire like Joe Rosenthal and his iconic image of the flag raising at Iwo Jima, or provoke outrage about the ware in Vietnam like Eddie Adams or Nick Ut.

Nachtwey was awarded a $100,000 by TED to pursue his wish to change the world. In his words, "I'm working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age."

More about his "wish" here.