'Here I Am. The story of Tim Hetherington, War Photographer'

Alan Huffman's unofficial biography, published March 2013

“To begin this compelling account of Tim Hetherington’s harrowing life as a photojournalist, journalist Huffman (Sultana) sketches the scene of his death, which came while covering the 2011 Libyan uprising. Bleeding from a mortar wound to his leg, “propped against ammunition boxes” in a makeshift ambulance, Hetherington (1970–2011) died under the scrutiny of cameras close enough “to pick up the stubble on his chin.” As a war photographer, Hetherington captured the subtle as well as the frantic—commonly switching from digital to film for a more intimate effect—on warfronts from Liberia to Sri Lanka. Huffman details Hetherington’s early career, friendships and experiences with rebels in Africa, and influences and aesthetic struggles. These set the stage for his years in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley working on the documentary Restrepo with Sebastian Junger, which earned an Academy Award nomination. Huffman glowingly propounds that “ footage and photos in the Korengal would be... among the best produced by any photographer in any war.” It’s this larger-than-life persona that enters Libya in the book’s second half, following the frenetic group of photographers Hetherington took up with in Misrata.”—Publishers Weekly

 

“Huffman looks at what it means to be a war reporter in the twenty-first century through the lens of the iconic Hetherington’s life.” —New York Post

 

“[Huffman] investigates not only the significant life of his subject, whom he admires greatly, but also the craft of the war photographer … Huffman excels at heightening the drama, depicting the rapid-fire action and constant danger of working among soldiers and guerrillas engaged in battle.” —The Boston Globe