OT Spotted: French woman Leica photographer in Vietnam war

Hi, Just an FYI. I don't normally read the USA Today newspaper, but I

found the Friday, April 29 paper on the train home. There was a

double page spread on page 8A-9A, titled "30 years later: Are we still

warring over Vietnam?"

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Anyway, there's a picture (on page 8A) of a young French woman,

Catherine Leroy, who in 1966 at the age of 21, felt "obsessed" to go

to Vietnam to become a photojournalist. In the picture she has what

looks like a Leica M3 (and some other camera). Anyone see this pic?

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I googled her, and in the google page it says she's a member of

Photo.net. Does anyone know her? She has a personal website:

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<a href="http://www.pieceuniquegallery.com/">Piece Unique Gallery</a>

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Regards.

Here is her biography from the Piece Unique Gallery:

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Catherine Leroy was 21 years old when she set out to Vietnam in 1966 with a one-way ticket to Saigon and a Leica camera. In less than two years, her intrepid reporting made her one of the most published photographers in the Vietnam war.

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In 1967, Ms. Leroy was the only accredited journalist to partake in a combat jump with the 173rd Airborne during Operation Junction City. Two weeks after the battle for Hill 881, she was wounded with a Marine unit in the DMZ.

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In 1968, Ms. Leroy was captured by the North Vietnamese Army during the Tet Offensive in Hue. She managed to talk her way out and came back to Saigon with a unique document of the North Vietnamese Army in action. Her story put her on the cover of Life magazine.

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Ms. Leroy shot and directed "The Last Patrol" in 1972, a film about Ron Kovic and the anti-war Vietnam veterans. She later documented many areas of conflicts, including Somalia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Iran, Irak, Lebanon and Libya.

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Ms. Leroy has won many awards including the George Polk award for Best Reporting Requiring Exceptional Courage and Enterprise Abroad, Picture of the Year, The Sigma Delta Chi and The Art Director's Club of New York. She was the first woman to receive the Robert Capa Award for her coverage of the civil war in Lebanon in 1976. In 1997, she was the recipient of an Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University Of Missouri.

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She co-authored the book "GOD CRIED" with Tony Clifton, about the siege of West Beirut by the Israeli army in 1982.

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Exhibits include:

<br>- "The Indelible Image" -group show- The Corcoran Gallery Washington, 1986

<br>- "Visa Pour L'Image"- Perpignan- France -1996- Retrospective.

<br>- The Robert Capa Gold Medal Winners Exhibition in Japan 2000-2001

For those who don't want to hunt and click, the Leica pictures are here:

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<a href="http://www.pieceuniquegallery.com/leroy/cl_gallery.html">Catherine Leroy Gallery</a>

Great link--but how is it OT?

We forget such times, images and emotions too quickly. Whether you are an American or

not, it's hard to not feel for US GI's and normal people in these images. I fear that other

recent events will also be forgotten too soon. These brave and committed photographers

really help us to understand and remember. They are out there every day and surely not

for the money.

Another great book is titled "Vietnam", photos taken with his leica rangefinder by Larry Burrows.

You might also want to check out "Shooting Under Fire," by Peter Howe. A section of

the book is devoted to Catherine Leroy.

 

Tim

There was an article and portfolio of Leroy in 'American Photographer' magazine; December 1988 with her on the cover.

She is featured in the May-June issue of American Photo magazine, as she prepares to

parachute down the Cambodian border, her two Leica Ms hanging from her neck, along

with her famous photo of a marine hunched over a dying comrade on Hill 881. She was 21

at the time

My Lord what images of the horror and futality of war, makes the issues of

"bokeh", digital vs. film, shutter noise. and the rest of the B.S. seem rather silly.

This level of war photography ended rather abruptly with the Pentagons,

"embedded photographers."

Gary, the photo you show is a tragic reminder of the deaths of the two PJs who were killed

when an american tank opened fire on the Hotel Palestine in Bagdag two years ago,

though everybody knew there were only members of the press in the hotel, and absolutely

no "enemy" activity. How many journalists have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of

the "war"? 50? 60?

<p>I always wonder at whose expense has the fame and fortune of war photography been gained. The whole surreal reasons for the war and the complete lack of achievement at its demise.<br>

Yet, some pay homage to the collection of barbaric horrors. The loss of lives by all invovled should be the reason to stop the attributes of fame and fortune. Claims of information and man's inhumanity to man are just to cloud the issue. The sheer folly and waste of human lives, the ongoing suffering and human degredation, surely, are reasons strong enough to stop all wars.</p>

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