(By Walt Challap)-War in Iraq is just announced is over. This event was not like the Olympic Games or Miss Universe contest where there are gold, silver or bronze medal winners. There is no first, second, or third place in the war; it is about to survive or die.
There were several photojournalists who did not come back alive. There were hundreds of journalists who did not like to report and take the risks from the front lines. There were millions of people, in most cases, who did not have an accurate report from the war theater. Unfortunately some news did not have the real portrait about the sacrifices in the battlefields; a lot assumed and were some far from the truth. Those who survived with their cameras are few, and their minds recorded incredible moments better than their cameras.
We heard continuously about the victims from both sides of confrontation in the war, but most people put little attention to those who went to document the war. Those photojournalists who had to put under risk their lives, in some cases, were not recognized after all.
Since the Civil War, photojournalism is an important tool in order to document the actions. Once again, the war in Iraq was documented by few brave photojournalists. Write names in this comment might fall inaccurate because most photographers did not go for fame, and it would be unfair to forget somebody.
After all, photojournalists make history with images that document about how was it and it will never be the same. Real pictures are when are taken “as it is.” The writer may create his own story; the journalist reports “as it is.” Any photographer can take and manipulate his or her picture; the photojournalist makes the picture “as it is.”
Another war will not be the same. Another war picture will not be the same. Photojournalists who died in the war are not the same anymore, but they did what few can do; they deserve a great respect for their job done.
walpic 