[ joao silva ]

sooooooo...joao silva, new york times photographer, stepped on a land mine in afghanistan in october 2010 ~ he lost both his legs below the knee. as soon as i hear 'stepped on a land mine' you know it's not good & i'm kind of waiting holding my breath for the extent of the injury. we hear about the losing limbs but rarely are all the injures talked about... joao had to under go reconstructive surgery to repair his badly injured colon & urethra.... once you hear that, the missing limbs suddenly aren't the breath stopping component...


this man is so calm ~ he felt that his number came up... & given the chance, prostheses permitting he'd go back to photograph more... wow ~ i'll need a few more therapy sessions before i can fully process that.



'CONFLICT ZONE,' inspired by joao silva, is an exhibition of photography taken by world leading combat photographers from the front lines of the wars in iraq & afghanistan is being shown at the New York City Fire Museum


Half of the proceeds will be donated to the CHRIS HONDROUS FUND (chris hondrous was one of joao's colleagues, killed in libya in april 2011), the rest will go to the FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION & the INDEPENDENCE FUND.



joao silva on voyeurism:

'Somehow the camera gives us access to the most intimate moments in peoples' lives. And you do feel out of place when you're photographing a mother cradling a dead son or whatever the case may be. Or a young Marine helping an injured friend — you do feel like you're somewhat out of place. But at the same time, you know that it's important to do it. It's what you're doing there. Otherwise, stay home and hang out with your PlayStation. ... You gotta learn to live with yourself and what you do. When you take pictures — and these are extreme situations — you are intruding. You're very fortunate to be able to record somebody else's history. I've always maintained that the true heroes are the people around me. ... I always understand that it's the history that I'm documenting — that's the whole point of being there.'