Stanley Greene 1949-2017

Stanley Greene at Photokina 2012. Photo by Sara T'Rula.

Stanley Greene, the "poet of war photographers" and the founder of the NOOR Agency, died five days ago in Paris, of cancer, at the age of 68.

Olivier Laurent has written an outstanding article about him at TIME.com, equal parts biography, obituary, and tribute. Highly recommended.

"Since the death of her child, Zelina often stares at something far away, elusive. She says she is already dead herself, if only time would hurry up."
Grozny, April 2001. Photo by Stanley Greene/NOOR.

Among conflict photographers, Stanley Greene had a way of keeping in touch with what was truly important. The reminders of his life in the wake of his passing may have that effect on photographers of all kinds.

Mike
(Thanks to Steve Caddy)

ADDENDUM: Reader Michael warns: "Mike, there is an interview with Stanley Greene in that Time.com article which needs a warning. He describes an experience he had when filming for Doctors without Borders which was more powerful and sickening than any of the war photos I have ever seen. It was sublime, in the sense of overwhelming and frightening. I'm serious: I think you should say something about that by way of warning in your post.

"But thank you very much, as usual, for opening my eyes—and here, my ears—to the larger world I live in."

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[Stan B.]

I remember when I heard about the (first) war in Chechnya. And although I can't recall where I read it, the description literally sent a chill down my spine. It was described by seasoned conflict journalists as a time, a place where even the most basic rules of thumb concerning the regularities of war were either absent or discarded; this was an earthy hell beyond all others- more violent, more brutal, more insanely chaotic than any mass insanity they had ever witnessed, or imagined.

That was but one of the situations that Stanley Greene returned to document- over, and over, and over again...

http://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2012/06/look3-report-stanley-greene-on-luck-film-and-supporting-young-photographers.html

[I'm still boggled that Stanley Greene died of *cancer*. --Mike]

[Bill Mitchell]

Thanks for publishing this, especially the video interview.