I just read this compelling story by photographer David Burnett of the famous Nick Ut photo from Vietnam.
i learned several things.One, the subject, the child burned by napalm, thankfully survived, in large part thanks to the aid of the photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture with his Leica.
Two, Ut and Kim Phuc are still friends and she has a foundation to help children victims of war.
Three, another photographer at the scene, David Burnett, missed the shot because he was changing film in his Leica.
David’s story below, goes on to tell of other situations where even when he had five cameras, he ran out of frames on all five cameras. Perhaps some of you have your own stories of missing moments. And David says it can, of course, happen with digital cards too.
I was brought to the site by a article in TOP:
JackHighly recommend this story ..it is both heart felt and well told . I met david burnett in Florida and he is a special person. I was an Army Intelligence group at the time of this photo and was due to be called up . We were next but the war ended before we were needed . I can remember the photograph from its first publishing and it was heavily utilized by the anti war movement .
What an honor Roger!
I believe a few photos from that conflict were instrumental in ending it, and that was one of them. I also remember the sudden end of “Eisenhowerian naivety” when Life published the cover of Lt. Cali about the My Lai massacre.
I wouldn’t even try to account for my missed moments in the face of a war correspondent changing film while something so tragic and iconic like that was happening.
-Marc
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