Revolutions, Revelations and Resolutions of Tim Page Tim Page has been at the forefront of world events for the past four decades. He became an iconic photographer of the Vietnam War, was wounded four times, was enshrined on the silver stage when Dennis Hopper portrayed him in Apocalypse Now and has written nine books. But what's more amazing is how he got there from a diverse working life that included a chewing gum factory, the Heineken Brewery, a cook, store keeper, chamber maid and hash smuggler. An Interview with Tim Page
by Joanne Lane Interviewing photojournalist Tim Page is like sitting at the feet of a grand master. You don't really interview at all, you just listen and learn from a discussion that takes in world history, philosophy, religion, ideologies and lifestyle... Whatever it is, it's an absolute privilege. In just one hour he criss-crosses world politics, touches on the future of the European Union, dabbles a little in each of history's major wars, and even spares a thought for tree felling in Tasmania. His social conscience and awareness is fantastic. So is his colourful language. English-born Page has been at the forefront of world events for the last four decades covering conflicts from the Vietnam War to Kossovo, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua and Lebanon. His career began in Laos at the age of eighteen. He rode the streets taking pictures of the civil war and filed his images by cycling down to Nong Khai where dug out canoes slipped across the closed border with Thailand to a US air force base. For four days he provided exclusive coverage of the coup. When it finished the UPI bureau chief from Saigon arrived and offered Tim a job. "Four days later I was on a plane to Saigon," said Tim, "with my motorcycle strapped to the cockpit. They wheeled it down to the centre of a DC6 with petrol in the tank and oil in the crankcase and strapped it where the first class seats are… At the other end I wheeled it off the plane and rode out of the airport." It was an amazing entry into the field of photojournalism and he was told "don't pass go, don't look back, you are now a snapper". It was teeth cutting work and he was often armed with more than a camera. "What do you do when a camp is being overrun, there's no more mines, there's no more barbed wire out there, there's Charlie's hurling grenades at you... you don't say 'excuse me old boy here's my passport and my press card'. You've got the mother on rock and roll with you so you drill him." He learnt a war photographer had to be at the cutting edge of the fight and he went everywhere, covering everything. He was wounded four times in Vietnam. The last time he was wounded by a landmine, pronounced DOA at the hospital and required extensive neurosurgery. He still has a limp. His personality and success have also taken him to silver screen. In the film Apocalypse Now, a photographer character was taken from Michael Herr's book "Dispatches", a front-line report from the Vietnam War. The character played by Dennis Hopper is created from an amalgam of people in the book including Page and fellow journalists Neil Davis, Sean Flynn and David Shaw. While Page did not go home in a body bag many of his colleagues did. He dedicated a recent book, Requiem, to these colleagues and in 1991 he founded the Indochina Media Memorial foundation in 1991 in memory of journalists who died or went missing. The Foundation also works to develop the skills of local journalists. Tim now uses his camera to highlight the plight of the innocent victims of war, particularly those injured by landmines in Cambodia and Vietnam. "Ultimately any good war photography becomes anti-war. Only from a distance, or through the sanitizing filter of television, does war take on the majesty of ballet up close it hurts and smells of death. War is against all things human - ask anyone who's ever been there." War is something he still wrestles with and he has just started post traumatic strain disorder counselling. He tries not to think about the worst aspects of war - including the costs, media censorship and glorification. Tim has never seen the need for war which he says leaves "victims strewn all over the planet." "We can always talk, we can always have dialogue... We don't need to go into conflict. There is a possibility always for negotiation." Page has found his own middle way. He subscribes to no religion, creed or sect but places great merit in the teachings of Buddha. "There is a middle path. There is a dama to follow and the more people we imbue with that, shall we say balanced way of existence, the more dialogue we will have and the less conflict we will have. "You just need to open your eyes and mind, and be mindful that there is an alternative policy and it doesn't hurt. Nobody ends up hurt and everyone profits... but try telling Boeing that, try telling GM Foods that or McDonalds." Tim's personal ongoing journey towards peace is reflected in his recent photojournalism exhibition "From war to peace - revolutions, revelations, resolutions" that debuted at the Brisbane Powerhouse in February. The 260 images are a fantastic window into the life of this man who after decades of confronting war issues, can still subscribe to the natural peace and beauty that surrounds and lies within us all. His exhibition confronts our views of war and peace with powerful images - a woman giving birth, a Vietnamese child carrying a machine gun, maimed victims of war begging on the streets, orphaned children, a child in peaceful meditation... Tim, we salute you.
UPCOMING EVENTS
This year Page has a project for the Commonwealth War memorial in Canberra on the United Nations, will visit Vietnam for the 30th anniversary, run a media workshop in Hanoi and produce two documentaries. He also helps an organisation dedicated to land mine clearing, teaches aboriginal kids at Woomera digital photography and lecture at Griffith University in his hometown Brisbane.
For more information go to www.timpage.com.au BOOK HERE |
