Nick Ut and an Iconic Image

When I started this blog, I planned to occasionally feature other photographers whose work has influenced me. There are many, but one who is still among the living and who I follow on Facebook daily, comes to mind today. Nick Ut, real name Huynh Cong Ut, worked for the Associated Press during the Vietnam War and at the age of 21 took one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century, a photo that helped change opinions about that war.

Napalm Girl, Kim Phuc, photo by Nick Ut/AP

Before delivering the film recording this scene, Ut transported the young girl, Kim Phuc, to the hospital. They stay in contact to this day.

Nick Ut still shoots for the Associated Press today and is based in Los Angeles. He posts daily on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1349904571 and it is clear from his posts and many photos of himself at various sites, that he still loves his work as a photojournalist. He has traveled back to Vietnam to document the country as it is today, has covered presidential visits, bank robberies and has covered the Hollywood scene. His work today is as diverse as it can be but it’s important to remember at least one of his photos which helped change the world!

About Kolman Rosenberg

My interest in photography began as a college newspaper and yearbook photographer during the stormy 1960s and 1970s. I was influenced by many of the great photojournalists and documentary photographers such as W. Eugene Smith, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Margaret Bourke-White and other black and white photographers of Life Magazine and the earlier Farm Security Administration. Though many of these photographers documented the horrors of war and the plight of poverty, they also showed me the dignity and adaptability of human beings in their desire to prevail.

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