War photojournalism has become a major part of expressing the less glamourous aspects of war to people back at home. Starting in the late 1800's with the Crimean War, coming right up to the present Afghan and Iraq wars. Although in past decades war photography has been heavily censored, its now being given free reign, to help decide people's opinions on war.
Roger Fenton
Roger Fenton, the first recognised war photographer, was a famous British photographer in the 1800's. His most famous work is arguably his shots of the Crimean War, and war fought between the English and the Russians, with help from countries such as France and the Ottoman Empire. Roger Fenton went over to the Crimea, and took photo's of the battles. His most famous photo came just after the Charge of the Light Brigade (the most famous battle in all of British history), and was called 'Valley of the Shadow of Death' and is pictured below.
Robert Capa
Robert Capa was a photojournalist during World War 2, and worked for Life Magazine in New York. Even though he went out with the soldiers, Robert Capa wasn't actually in the army. He was used mostly to take photos, and had the view that the war was 'romantic'. Because his photo's were taken for a magazine, they were widely believed at the time. His most famous shots are arguably those of D-Day, as he went out with the first wave of soldiers to the beaches and took snapshots of what was happening. Only a few rolls of photo's survived from that shoot, as there was a deadline to meet and Life Magazine rushed the developing time, ruining many photos. A shot from Robert Capa's collection can be seen below.
Tony Vaccaro
Tony Vaccaro was another photographer in World War 2, and this time he was actually a soldier. He took the photo 'Vemmerden', which can be seen below. Vaccaro's photo's were arguably more realistic than Capa's, as Vaccaro was actually a soldier, and took the photo's as he went around on duty. Vaccaro didn't have a magazine back home who he could work for, so instead he developed his own photo's in a destroyed camera shop, using helmets and chemicals he found. When the war had ended, Vaccaro had ten rolls of film destroyed by army censors, due to the explicit nature of some of the shots.
Eddie Adams
Eddie Adams, a photographer who was based in Vietnam during the Vietnamese war, took the most famous picture of the Vietnam war, and was called 'The Execution'. When he was getting prepared to take the shot, he didn't know that the prisoner was going to be shot, and got the picture at the 'decisive moment'. This picture changed the opinions of many Americans, and caused many to turn against the war effort. It also proved that pictures last longer than any video's taken of 'The Execution'.
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