Monday 25 April 2011

Photojournalist Chris Hondros: At Work in Misurata, Libya


Getty Images Photographer Chris Hondros, 41, was mortally wounded Wednesday in Misurata, Libya, not long after filing intimate, striking images of the fighting between rebel and government forces. Tim Hetherington, the director and producer of the documentary "Restrepo," was killed in the same attack. While Hetherington's photos were not available to us, we honor both his and Hondros' intense commitment to creating inspiring, touching, storytelling images with this post. The images that follow were made by Hondros in Misurata, Libya, the last three days of his life. Hondros and Hetherington will be missed by colleagues and millions worldwide who have been impacted through simply seeing their work. -- Paula Nelson (39 photos total)

Oscar-nominated British film director and photographer Tim Hetherington (L) climbs from a building in Misurata on April 20, 2011. Getty Images photographer Chris Hondros walks in Misurata on April 18, 2011. Both men, 41, were killed and two other Western journalists were wounded in a mortar attack on April 20, 2011, in the western port city of Misurata. Hetherington and Hondros were the second and third journalists killed in Libya during the two-month-old war between rebels seeking to overthrow Moammar Gaddafi and forces loyal to the strongman, who has ruled for 41 years. (Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images)


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A rebel fighter moves through a hole punched in a wall near the front line fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata, Libya. Tripoli Street once was Misurata's posh main avenue for shops and expensive apartments. Now weeks of house-to-house battles between forces loyal to Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi and rebels have left it in ruins. Fighting continues between Libyan government forces that have surrounded the city and anti-government rebels ensconced there, as the Libyan uprising enters its third month. April 18, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter stands near the front lines on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. Fighting continues between Libyan government forces and anti-government rebels ensconced there, as the Libyan uprising enters its third month. April 18, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter stands in the destroyed lobby of a office building on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter stands near the front lines on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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The front line between Libyan government forces (L) and rebel insurgents (foreground) is seen on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter fires at troops loyal to Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi at the front lines on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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Positions held by Libyan government forces are seen in the shard of a mirror set up by rebel insurgents to see around a corner on Tripoli Street in downtown Misrata. April 18, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter wounded by shrapnel in the leg is brought to the hospital in the besieged city Misurata, Libya. Thousands of civilians are trapped in Misurata as fighting continues between Libyan government forces that have surrounded the city and anti-government rebels there, as the Libyan uprising enters its third month. April 18, 2011. #

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A Libyan government fighter captured by rebels is treated in the hospital in the besieged cityl of Misurata, Libya. The Libyan government has come under international criticism for using heavy weapons and artillery in its assault on Misurata, which can cause civilian casualties. April 18, 2011. #

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A Libyan government fighter captured by rebels has his bound hands freed by doctors before he is treated in the hospital in Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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A man tends to his brother's wounds after he was wounded driving his car the day before during fighting in the besieged city. April 18, 2011. #

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A wounded Libyan man has his X-rays looked over by a friend in the hospital in Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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Doctors confer in the hallway of a casualty ward of a clinic in the besieged city of Misurata. Several families were all staying in a house in Misurata, as it was shelled and some people were injured and taken to a hospital as a result. Misurata, Libya's third largest city, has been under siege for almost seven weeks with conditions showing no sign of improvement. April 19, 2011. #

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A doctor stands by a Libyan woman who suffered shattered bones and serious abdominal injuries from an explosive shell landing on her home during fighting in the besieged city of Misurata. April 19, 2011. #

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Doctors work on a baby who suffered cuts from shrapnel that blasted through the window of his home earlier in the morning during fighting in Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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A woman holds a baby who had suffered cuts from shrapnel that blasted through the window of his home. April 18, 2011. #

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Selima Abdullah sits with her youngest granddaughter, Heba, who suffered an injury to her abdomen from shrapnel after an explosive shell landed near her home. April 19, 2011. #

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Foreign workers from Nigeria, Ghana, and other African countries pile in the back of a truck with their belongings trying to leave as the sun sets on the port in Misurata, Libya. Thousands of foreign workers and Libyans alike are trying to leave war-torn Misurata, as fighting continued between Libyan government forces and anti-government rebels. April 18, 2011. #

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A boy looks out from the back of a family car on a main road in Misurata. Fighting continues between Libyan government forces that have surrounded the city and anti-government rebels ensconced there, as the Libyan uprising enters its third month. April 18, 2011. #

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Foreign workers from Nigeria, Ghana, and other African countries pile in the back of a truck trying to leave Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata is a scene of destruction. Tripoli Street once was Misurata's posh main avenue for shops and expensive apartments. April 18, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter signals to his comrades across Tripoli Street during street battles with Libyan government forces in downtown Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter ducks from incoming fire at the front lines on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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Ziad, a brother of slain rebel Nasser Ali Afglio, is consoled by a friend during the funeral for the young Libyan rebel killed during a recent battle with government troops loyal to Libyan ruler Moammar Gaddafi in Misurata, Libya. April 19, 2011. #

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Gravediggers turn the earth while digging a grave for a civilian victim of the Libyan conflict in Misurata. The simple graveyard in Misurata has hundreds of simple concrete graves; many dozens are those that have been killed during the last two months of fighting. April 19, 2011. #

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A month-old simple concrete grave in Misurata, Libya. April 19, 2011. #

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A rebel fighter points in the direction of a Libyan army sniper near Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 18, 2011. #

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Rebel fighters fire at government loyalist troops during street fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. Rebel forces assaulted the downtown positions of troops loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi, briefly forcing them back over a key bridge and trapping several in a building that rebel troops then surrounded. April 20, 2011. #

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Rebel fighters carefully move into a building where they had trapped government loyalist troops during street fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 20, 2011. #

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Rebel fighters move up a stairway where they had trapped government loyalist troops during street fighting. Rebel forces assaulted the downtown positions of troops loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi, briefly forcing them back over a key bridge. April 20, 2011. #

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A Libyan rebel fighter quickly rounds a corner and fires on trapped government loyalist troops a few meters away during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misurata. April 20, 2011. #

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A Libyan rebel fighter rolls a burning tire into a room containing ensconced government loyalist troops who were firing on them during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street. April 20, 2011. #

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A Libyan rebel fighter covers a burning room containing government loyalist troops who were firing on them during house-to-house fighting. April 20, 2011. #

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Libyan rebel fighters discuss how to dislodge some ensconced government loyalist troops who were firing on them from the next room during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street. April 20, 2011. #

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A libyan rebel fighter runs up a burning stairwell during an effort to dislodge some ensconced government loyalist troops. April 20, 2011. #

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Libyan rebel fighters carry out a comrade wounded during an effort to dislodge some ensconced government loyalist troops who were firing on them from a building (background) during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street. April 20, 2011. #

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A Libyan rebel fighter celebrates as comrades fire on government loyalist troops who refused to surrender in a surrounded building (background) during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street. April 20, 2011.Libyan rebel forces fire a heavy rocket propelled grenade at a building holding government loyalist troops during street fighting on Tripoli Street. April 20, 2011. #

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Libyan rebel forces fire a heavy rocket propelled grenade at a building holding government loyalist troops during street fighting on Tripoli Street. April 20, 2011.

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