James Nachtwey: “I Have Been A Witness, And These Pictures Are My Testimony”

Two of fourteen images by James Nachtwey, published by the Boston Globe [Dot Com],October 3rd.

A big thank you to a peasnpickles life.

Nachtwey's Wish: Awareness Of XDR-TB

"Well-known and influential photojournalist James Nachtwey won the TED Prize last year, and as part of his award, he made a wish for help - help in bringing a story to light that he felt was important and underreported. The subject of this story is a new, dangerous type of tuberculosis called Extreme Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. Tuberculosis is both preventable and curable, but inadequate treatment has been driving the emergence of XDR-TB, especially in developing nations. Tuberculosis is not a disease of the past - in 2007 alone, 1.7 million people died from TB - it is the leading killer of people infected with HIV. Nachtwey's wish was that he could break this story, and demonstrate proof of the power of news photography in the digital age. Below are only 14 of many photographs Nachtwey took around the world. For all of the photos, and much more information about XDR-TB, please visit xdrtb.org."

I don't want to belabor the point, but James Nachtwey is, and has been a living master and legend of photojournalism. We lost Phillip Jones Griffiths and Cornell Capa this year, and Nachtwey's mastery can be measured against them and so many others. .

Please see all 7 of these links at the bottom of the Boston Globe piece:

xdrtb.org - Driving awareness of XDR TB
Take Action - What you can do to help
XDR-TB Fact Sheet - from the CDC
Emergence of XDR-TB - from the WHO
Nachtwey's Wish - The story behind Nachtwey's wish to break this story, part of his TED Prize
jamesnachtwey.com - Nachtwey's professional site
James Nachtwey - Wikipedia Entry