Amiable and charismatic, Tim Page throws himself into photojournalism as the Vietnam War escalates, to become the icon of a generation of fearless and unconventional “gonzo” photojournalists.
Tim Page, the legendary photojournalist of the Vietnam War, died yesterday in Australia at the age of 78 from cancer.
His old colleagues pay tribute to a “mentor”, an “extraordinary talent” in the person of the English photojournalist who covered countless events for half a century. He became known for his series of shocking photos from the Vietnam War.
With a Leica camera in hand and a cigarette – or something stronger – in his mouth, Tim Page spent most of the 1960s criss-crossing the Indochina peninsula to capture images that would mark the war, but and an entire era.
“Every photo of the war is an anti-war photo,” he would say in an interview half a century later. “Journalistic coverage influenced public opinion.”
Amiable and charismatic, Tim Page throws himself into photojournalism as the Vietnam War escalates, to become the icon of a generation of fearless and unconventional “gonzo” photojournalists.
The character played by Dennis Hopper in the film Apocalypse Now was based on Tim Page.
But Vietnam affected both his personal life and his professional career: it would take him more than a decade to recover from the wounds of the war, and he would later openly admit to suffering from post-traumatic stress.
Tim Page as a person “wasn’t liked by everyone”, explains his friend Luke Hunt, but he was very open and a mentor to many young photographers who wanted to follow in his footsteps.
“He was a gifted writer (…) an extraordinary talent.”
In the early 1990s, Tim Page settled in Cambodia, where he worked for several international media outlets.
He later dedicated himself to keeping the peace and honoring the memory of journalists who lost their lives on the front lines of the war, seeking for years to shed light on the disappearance of his friends Sean Flynn and Dana Stone, believed to be that they were killed by the Khmer Rouge.
In 1997, he participated in the writing of the book “Requiem”, which follows the footsteps of 135 photojournalists who lost their lives in the Indochina War and then in the Vietnam War.
“He almost made it his life’s purpose. In the end, he was able to pay tribute to them,” says his friend Mark Dodd, who describes Tim Page as a passionate “student of the human condition.”
RES-EMP
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