We also have the collection of david valdez, he was george w. Bushs white house photographer. And we have diana walker, a Time Magazine photographer for 20 years. She is known for her work covering hillary clinton. She covered the Clinton White house really broadly and deeply. She also cover the Reagan Administration and george h. W. Bush. David valdez and diana walker are actively involved in our program. They both belong to our advisory council. What you hope viewers will take away . The importance of photojournalists and new documentary news documentarians. The value of their work, not only for the news but also as historical evidence. These photographs capture and document an amazing array of extremely important processes and event and personalities. I hope the public appreciates the work that they do. They see their work every day on television and newspapers and so forth, and i hope they will not only appreciate the work that the photographers themselves. Thanks for joining us. Y
American history at the university of texas at austin. One of the things we want to find out is how your career began. I know your father was the chief photographer for the philadelphia inquirer, but that does not mean that you would become a photographer. It started with the photographers at the philadelphia inquirer. I used to go back and harass them and then end up upside down. In the print barrel [laughter] i just was enamored with what they did in the business. Justther passed away before my 15th birthday. But i knew what i wanted to do the rest of my life. And i did not know how i was going to do it, but i was on a mission to try to have gone hook on to the news media somehow and become a part of photojournalism. And i was lucky enough to do that. I got out of the marine corps and i had applied at upi news pictures. As the boss said to me in new york, we got so tired of getting letters from you to have a job that we decided to stop the letters and hire you. I ended up coming to a
Beleaguered marine, holed up in a chapel, called the peace chapel. Peace church, yes. And it was a dramatic picture of a soldier under the duress of combat right there, with the enemy surrounding the place. It was a really dramatic couple of days for this squad, from a downed helicopter. But that photograph acquired a history all of its own. Can you trace the impact of that photograph . It took on a 37year history that i could never have ever believed or, you know that that would take place over any photograph that i ever shot. But it happened may 15, 1967. I remember it like it was you and i talking now. But i had gotten dropped into a search and destroy operation up in that providence. And we werent on the ground for 15 minutes, and it was the First Battalion marines. They had been hit pretty bad. The day before, they had taken a lot of casualties. And i was no sooner on the ground walking over to link up with them, and all of a sudden, the north vietnamese had us surrounded like 30
My choice was to get as close to the action in vietnam as i possibly could. I was writing features about kids from fort worth. It is the single most rewarding thing i ever did in all my years in journalism because this would brighten up their day that someone from their hometown would look them up. My best pictures were not on the periphery of the fighting but were woven through it. The kind of pictures i took showed people waiting for something to happen. I basically tried to block out the emotional side of it in the early years, because i really believe that the journalism of detachment was what war coverage was all about. I was very jingoistic when i got there in the beginning. When i got back, i was convinced the war, whatever our good intentions, simply could not be won. Part of the reason i have always done it is a sense of wanting to be where the action is. In the bigger theater, we cast a light in dark corners around the world that you would not see without photographers. So, t
My choice was to get as close to the action in vietnam as i possibly could. I was writing features about kids from fort worth. It is the single most rewarding thing i ever did in all my years in journalism because this would brighten up their day that someone from their hometown would look them up. My best pictures were not on the periphery of the fighting but were woven through it. The kind of pictures i took showed people waiting for something to happen. I basically tried to block out the emotional side of it in the early years, because i really believe that the journalism of detachment was what war coverage was all about. I was very jingoistic when i got there in the beginning. When i got back, i was convinced the war, whatever our good intentions, simply could not be won. Part of the reason i have always done it is a sense of wanting to be where the action is. In the bigger theater, we cast a light in dark corners around the world that you would not see without photographers. So, t