When there was one person who’s work influenced me in what i do, than it was James Nachtwey. It started after my trip to Northern India that i stumbled across the film ‚Warphotographer’ that was covering Nachtwey and his work . The film irritated me to an extend that left me confused for some days as i found my own thoughts, my own ways of how i work and think about all this in his words. And i started asking myself if that is a direction where my passion is, to cover the stories of the unheard, even conflicts and war. So maybe this film was not the starting point of what i do, but this film about Nachtwey made it clear to me.

Nachtwey made it not the easy way. He worked on ships in Southern America, drove trucks in the night while reading photobooks of his masters and emerging his passion for telling stories at daytime. He was influenced by the pictures that came from Vietnam and this made clear to him that this was what he wanted to do with life. He worked for a small newspaper in New Mexico for some years, slowly emerging before coming to New York, sleeping on the floor of a friend for months, trying to get work, talking to agencies. The starting point in what he really wanted to do was his assignment in Ireland at the clashes in 1981. He never looked back afterwards.

In the following years he covered more or less every conflict, from the genocide in Rwanda, the famine in Somalia and Sudan, the Balkan conflict, Afganisthan and many more. When there was a place where it was hot, Nachtwey was there for sure, covering the conflicts in an intimate way, always being in the first line. Later he focused more and more also on the not direct war-related aspects like poverty or his campain to create awarness for Tubercolosis.

What make Nachtweys pictures so impressive is that they are showing the most horrifying things in a way that is some kind of aesthetic. He was critisized for that quite often as people say this aesthetic is making the pictures not showing the reality of war. For me that was always what made his pictures so amazing as they are telling so much in one frame and this beauty, if you could call it like that, made people actually look at it, where many would look away normally, horrified in what they see. But many of Nachtwey’s pictures get you fascinated and make you think about what you see. Exactly what you wanna do with your pictures, i guess. Nachtwey most of the time shoots in black and white, what might be a bit old-fashioned for some in a world where bright colours are everywhere. And it might also show the dark and conflict based picture, what we are thinking when seeing b/w pictures from Africa for example. At the same time b/w is so much focusing on the basics, the structures, the elements, to say it short, the main aspects you wanna tell. Nothing what disturbs your eye. That’s what i like about it.

In the last days there was an on-going big discussion about an intership, Nachtwey was offering in his studio. The main issue was that it is unpaid. A huge discussion erupted and i felt a bit ashamed on what people wrote, personally attacking Nachtwey. They compared that offer with modern slavery and things even worse, calling Nachtwey a freak and stuff. Gimme a break. You might not get a direct value in money but you get this opportunity to learn from one of the greatest masters of modern photojournalism. The internship is three days a week, so there is time to work on the other days. Think of Nachtwey’s beginnings. And i guess people would pay Nachtwey for having a look in how he works. Beside the fact that it is not looking bad in your CV. It’s craziness what people are expecting. You can discuss if Nachtwey should know about the struggles of modern photojournalism, how hard it is to find work that actually pays your bills, that he, who is fighting for the rights of people all around the world could be more generous. But what does this offer mean at the end? It brings the intern to fight for it, to really want it, to be hungry to learn. At the end one of the hungy ones will be in Nachtweys studio, sucking in every little bit what could help him at his career. If i would have the time, beside some other reasons, i would apply for it directly. Is there something better than learing from someone who is one of the greatest in his field?

To bring the focus back on the amazing work Nachtwey did in the last 28 years, here is a slideshow from his rescent assignment in Afganisthan.