Horst Faas

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Horst Faas
Dr. Erich Salomon Prize

Horst Faas (28 April 1933 – 10 May 2012) was a German

photo-journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is best known for his images of the Vietnam War.[1]

Life

Horst Faas as born on 28 April 1933 in Berlin, which was then part of

conflict in Bangladesh. Inside Bangladesh, photographer Rashid Talukder considered it too dangerous to publish his photographs and he released them more than twenty years after Horst's photographs had appeared.[2]

Faas is also famed for his work as a picture editor, and was instrumental in ensuring the publication of two of the most famous images of the Vietnam War.

Napalm Girl" photograph caused a huge controversy over at the AP bureau;[4]
an editor had objected to the photo, saying that the girl depicted was naked and that nobody would accept it. Faas ordered that Ut's photo be sent over the wire.

In September 1990, freelance photographer Greg Marinovich submitted a series of graphic photos of a crowd executing a man to the AP bureau in Johannesburg. Once again, AP editors were uncertain if the photos should be sent over the wire. One editor sent the images to Faas, who telegrammed back, "send all photos."[5]

In 1976, Faas moved to London as AP's senior photo editor for Europe; he retired in 2004. In retirement he organised reunions of the wartime Saigon press corps and ran international photojournalism symposiums.

He produced four books on his career and other news photographers, including Requiem, a book about photographers killed on both sides of the Vietnam War, co-edited with fellow Vietnam War photojournalist Tim Page.[6]

Controversy over Ut photograph credit

Carl Robinson, a former

Napalm Girl" image from having been taken by a photo stringer (freelance photgrapher) to AP photographer Nick Ut, who had also been at the scene and taken similar photographs. [7] In the 2025 documentary film The Stringer, directed by Bao Nguyen, a group of journalists and investigators claim that the 'Napalm Girl' photograph was taken by Vietnamese stringer Nguyen Than Nghe.[8]

Robinson speculates that Fass ordered the credit change to Ut because Fass felt guilty for the death of Ut's older brother, Huynh Thanh My, on an assignment Fass had given him. [7] Shortly before the release of the documentary the AP released the results of their own investigation, which maintains that Ut is properly credited with the photograph.[9]

Selected images from Faas's 1965 Pulitzer Prize portfolio of Vietnam War photography

Awards

  • 1965: Pulitzer Prize (Photography): "For his combat photography of the war in South Viet Nam during 1964."[10]
  • 1964: Robert Capa Gold Medal for his "Coverage of Vietnam"
  • 1972: Pulitzer-Prize (Spot News Photography) together with Michel Laurent: "For their picture series, 'Death in Dacca.'"[10]
  • 1997: Robert Capa Gold Medal together with Tim Page: "Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina"
  • 2005:
    Dr. Erich Salomon Prize
    of the German Society of Photography for his lifetime achievement

References

  1. ^ "Horst Faas, AP photographer who brought world compelling images of Vietnam, dies at age 79". The Washington Post. Associated Press. 17 April 2012. Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  2. ^ "Images of Independence, Finally Free". New York Times, Lens. 5 December 2012.
  3. ^ "The man who shot Vietnam". The New York Times. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  4. ^ Khan, Stephen (6 June 2022). "'Accidental Napalm' turns 50: the generation-defining image capturing the futility of the Vietnam war". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 20 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  5. ISBN 978-0-465-04413-9.[permanent dead link
    ‍]
  6. ^ "Horst Faas: Horst Faas, who has died aged 79, was an award-winning photographer best known for his arresting images of the Vietnam War". The Daily Telegraph. 11 May 2012.
  7. ^ a b "Controversial doc 'The Stringer' investigates famous Vietnam War photo". The Washington Post. 26 January 2025. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  8. ^ Horton, Adrian (26 January 2025). "'Uncomfortable truths': controversial film challenges authorship of famous photo". The Guardian.
  9. apnews.com
    . 26 January 2025. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  10. ^ a b [1] http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1965

Further reading
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