![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/james-nachtwey-the-last-of-the-great-photojournalists/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/131232286_nachtweyindex.jpg&description=Image source, BBC/ Jonathan Head A woman has just discovered the bodies of her husband and brother in her garden in Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The bodies are dusted with frost. She lays one hand on her brother, while the fingers of her other hand touch her mouth. There are two more human hands almost perfectly arranged in the frame, of someone whose face cannot be seen - one resting on the head of a dog, the other playing nervously with her blonde hair. It presents an unexpectedly peaceful moment, arranged with the near-perfect balance of a classical painting. Except it's not - it's a photo from the aftermath of the massacre of civilians in Bucha , taken by the renowned photojournalist James Nachtwey. "Hands and eyes. I'm concentrating always on hands and eyes. And the detail of the dog. You actually seem to see sympathy in the face of the dog," says Mr Nachtwey, who has brought his retrospective exhibition Memoria to Bangkok, the only place it is being shown in Asia. Image source, BBC/ Jonathan Head The collection has 126 photographs from some of the worst conflicts and disasters of our times - from Central America in the 1980s to the ongoing war in Ukraine. A very private, softly-spoken man who prefers to let his images speak for themselves, Mr Nachtwey agreed to be interviewed in Bangkok about his approach to photojournalism, and about the state of the profession in the digital age. Now 75 years old, Mr Nachtwey just missed being part of the Vietnam War generation of photojournalists, when the profession reached the peak of its influence. The searing images from that conflict, from photographers like Philip Jones-Griffiths, Don McCullin and Tim Page, helped swing public opinion against involvement in the conflict and force the US withdrawal from it. But Mr Nachtwey is arguably the greatest of the generation that followed. Five-times winner of the Robert Capa Gold Medal for courageous overseas photographic reporting, his images are known for bo){kind=link}
A woman has just discovered the bodies of her husband and brother in her garden in Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
The bodies are dusted with frost. She lays one hand on her brother, while the fingers of her other hand touch her mouth.
There are two more human hands almost perfectly arranged in the frame, of someone whose face cannot be seen – one resting on the head of a dog, the other playing nervously with her blonde hair.
It presents an unexpectedly peaceful moment, arranged with the near-perfect balance of a classical painting. Except it’s not – it’s a photo from the aftermath of the massacre of civilians in Bucha, taken by the renowned photojournalist James Nachtwey.
“Hands and eyes. I’m concentrating always on hands and eyes. And the detail of the dog. You actually seem to see sympathy in the face of the dog,” says Mr Nachtwey, who has brought his retrospective exhibition Memoria to Bangkok, the only place it is being shown in Asia.