Tim Hetherington : photographer, film maker, documentary, photojournalism, new media, visual communication. Tim Hetherington, the daring war photographer and Oscar-nominated co-director of the documentary “Restrepo” about a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, died Wednesday while covering battles between rebels and Libyan government forces.
Hetherington was killed in Misrata, the only rebel-held city in western Libya, said his U.S.-based publicist, Johanna Ramos Boyer. The city has come under weeks of relentless shelling by government troops. Hetherington tweeted Tuesday: “In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces.”
“Tim was in Libya to continue his ongoing multimedia project to highlight humanitarian issues during time of war and conflict,” Hetherington’s family said in a statement. “He will be forever missed.”
Hetherington was nominated with Sebastian Junger, author of “The Perfect Storm,” for an Academy Award for their 2010 documentary film “Restrepo,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Biography Tim Hetherington
Tim Hetherington was born in Liverpool, UK. He studied literature at Oxford University and later returned to college to study photojournalism. He lives in New York and is a contributing photographer for Vanity Fair magazine.
His interest lies in creating diverse forms of visual communication and his work has ranged from multi-screen installations, to fly-poster exhibitions, to handheld device downloads. Known for his long-term documentary work, Tim lived and worked in West Africa for eight years and has reported on social and political issues worldwide.
His project Healing Sport was published by Thames and Hudson as part of group project Tales of a Globalizing World (Thames & Hudson 2003). Long Story Bit By Bit:Liberia Retold (Umbrage Editions 2009) narrates recent Liberian history by drawing on images and interviews made over a five year period. A new book, Infidel (Chris Boot Ltd 2010), about a group of US soldiers in Afghanistan, continues the examination of young men and conflict.
As a film maker, he has worked as both a cameraman and director/producer. He was a cameraman on Liberia: an Uncivil War (2004) and The Devil Came on Horseback (2007), and his directorial debut film Restrepo about a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. His most recent film Diary is a highly personal experimental short currently playing at film festivals.
He is the recipient of numerous awards including a Fellowship from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (2000-4), a Hasselblad Foundation grant (2002), four World Press Photo prizes including the World Press Photo of the Year 2007, the Rory Peck Award for Features (2008), and an Alfred I. duPont award (2009).
