Tim Hetherington

An award-winning photojournalist turned documentarian, Tim Hetherington spent over 15 years covering wars and conflicts around the globe. Hetherington became interested in photography while traveling after graduating college in 1989. He worked days and took night classes, and then later studied under several noted British photographers. One of his first professional positions was as staff photographer for The Big Issue, a London magazine sold on the street by homeless individuals. Hetherington spent much of the '90s and early '00s documenting the ruinous political conflicts in countries like Nigeria and Sierra Leone, often traveling with rebel groups and living in extremely dangerous conditions. He served as a cinematographer on the 2004 documentary "Liberia: An Uncivil War," which captured the devastation and uncertainty wrought by the nation's burgeoning civil war, and later worked on "The Devil Came on Horseback," a chronicle of the attempts made by a former U.S. Marine sergeant to expose the atrocities being committed in Darfur. In 2010 Hetherington produced and directed "Restrepo," which he and co-director Sebastian Junger filmed while following a U.S. Army platoon stationed in Afghanistan. The film's intense battle action and frank depiction of military life earned Hetherington an Oscar nomination and widespread acclaim. Tragically, this would be the pinnacle of his career; Hetherington and fellow photographer Chris Hondros were killed while covering the Libyan civil war. He has been called a hero and martyr by anti-Gaddafi Libyan people, who renamed a substantial landmark in Ajdabiya "Tim Hetherington Square" shortly after his death.