Re: Tim Hetherington and Modern-day War Photography

After looking at the photos and the trailer I think Herthergtons vision was to show how life in the frontlines of war and on enemy territory really is. IT is not what people perceive it to be with just death and guns the military is more of a family. They all care deeply about one another and make the best of what they have. Though they do seem fearless and brave they are scared of not knowing what will happen of where hey are going they fear the reputations of certain areas and experience things that are extremely hard to cope with. As stated in the video one soldier tired a number of sleeping pills because he didn’t want to sleep he didn’t want to dream and relive the horror he had experienced. The photos of the soldiers sleeping show that with war there is peace it seems that when they are asleep their minds and body are not at war. One photograph that I thought was very impactful was “Specialist Tad Donoho, Korengal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan, 2008 
Digital C-print” it is the photograph of a soldier standing up screaming with some blood on him and he has a tattoo showing that says “living only to Die” this was impactful to me because out of all the sleeping photos this photograph just popped out. His expression is so strong you can almost feel the frustration and sadness that he is screaming about to relive himself. To me these photographs do not really express heroic. When I think heroic I think of soldier in battle and protecting each other or dominating a situation and helping people when situations are dangerous. I do however think that Hetherington’s Mission to capture war with his photography is extremely heroic such as other war photographers. He is risking his life in order to show people how soldiers live and what they are experiencing rather then sending like a team of people to do his work for him he is there in person documenting these soldiers and their army lives.