8 ms·

Boy photographer seeks danger as others flee (1968)

138 points by senorqa 2y ago

sirmike_ 2y ago
[flagged]
songeater 2y ago
what happened to him? quick google-fu doesn't seem to answer the question...
- tshanmu 2y ago
  same - I tried unsuccessfully to find his eventual story.
  - 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
    he probably left the camera behind for a steady job as soon as circumstances allowed for it. that would be quite in line with vietnamese work ethics. maybe even got a degree given that his father was also a scholar and switched to photography only for the sake of making a living in times when his academic education was not in demand. he also probably suffered from traumatizing experiences.
- bitdivision 2y ago
  I found a vietnamese blogpost [0] seeming to say he was active until 1975? But also mentioned at the end: "Then the boy seemed silently disappeared from the Saigon newspaper village. No one knows the fate of What about the special reporter later" There's also a comment saying that someone worked with him in San Francisco later on. "That young reporter, also known as Hole M Cuong. Me and Cuong, worked in a San Francisco Wash Lab in 1977 until 1981, when I On vacation, I still work there and now I have the pleasure of mastering the Pentax-shaped machine that Cuong used to take pictures of at that time." Perhaps someone more familiar with Vietnamese names could work out if he pops up somewhere else. [0]: https://www.quinhon11.com/2016/08/lo-manh-hung-phong-vien-chien-truong_46.html https://www.quinhon11.com/2016/08/lo-manh-hung-phong-vien-ch...
  - yorwba 2y ago
    The article isn't saying that he was active until 1975, but only indicating that it is talking about history that precedes the surrender of South Vietnam to the North in 1975.
  - keane 2y ago
    Thanks for this link! That 2016 comment appears to say he was known alternatively as Lỗ Mạnh Hùng or Lỗ m Cường. "Cường and I worked in a photo developing lab in San Francisco (image processing lab) … Cuong still works there". I'm not sure how many photo labs were still operating in the city in 2016 but Google Maps is listing only 20 there now. If he was 12 in 1968 he would be around 68 today. We also know his father was AP photojournalist Lỗ Vinh so possibly the Associated Press or NPPA might have a lead. 13 results here from his father: https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/search?query=lo%20vinh&mediaType=photo&st=keyword https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/search?query...
    - cholmon 2y ago
      Scribd has a PDF of "Vietnam Magazine" from February 2016 (https://www.scribd.com/document/325931427/Vietnam-February-2016 https://www.scribd.com/document/325931427/Vietnam-February-2...). Page 40 of this PDF has the following quote that supports the San Francisco shop story: "Hung eventually left Vietnam and ran his own photo shop in San Francisco, where he met former AP photographer Horst Faas in 1998, according to the San Francisco Examiner. 'They paid me $10 a picture,' Hung told Faas. 'It could support my whole family for one month.' A selection of Hung’s photos follows."
      - keane 2y ago
        Amazing find. That mention of the Examiner led to the June 22, 1998 edition, front page of the Style section by Vietnam veteran Edvins Beitiks ("Ed"), "'Requiem' for A War, An Era": "And at each exhibit, Faas has been approached by people with their own memories, people wanting to talk. In San Francisco, he was surprised by Jimmy Lo Hung, who took pictures for AP as a 12-year-old during the Tet offensive and now runs his own photo shop on Ninth Street. Hung had brought a picture of himself in a helmet with PRESS across the front, and a laminated story headlined 'Boy, 12, in Dangerous Jobs'. 'They paid me $10 a picture,' he said, 'and that was big money in Vietnam. It could support my whole family for one month.' Hung lost all his pictures and negatives when the North Vietnamese invaded the South. 'I only had a few minutes to escape,' he said, remembering that 'I was pulled aboard a helicopter filled with soldiers. They held my leg while it took off. So many soldiers trying to get on… some didn't, some dropped down.' Faas, sitting beside Hung, said 'This kid, I didn't even know he was alive. I'm happy, really happy, to see him.'" I wonder if the lab might have been Newtec Color Lab Inc at 122 9th St which appears to have been run by a Jimmy H Lo (Jun 1956–Jan 2018). There's also a tribute to Horst Faas at the Vietnam Reporting Project here: https://vietnamreportingproject.org/2012/05/remembering-hoorst-faas/ https://vietnamreportingproject.org/2012/05/remembering-hoor...
- aaron695 2y ago
  [dead]
2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
beautiful but also sad for obvious reasons. having been to vietnam (a couple times by now) one of the first things i noticed was how life and work are not just seemlessly connected there but in fact appear inseparable and in some cases practically identical. this is somewhat common in many developing countries of course but for vietnamese people entrepreneurship seems to be part of their dna. even in other asian countries i didn't see so regularly families having dinner in what was a shop for clothes or a garage just an hour ago. almost every business there is a family business. so, it's no surprise that this young fellow just naturally decided to financially support his family by following in his father's footsteps when he got sick. i'm absolutely sure there was no sensationalist interests or seeking of danger at play. he probably would have preferred to go to school and play with his friends. it was simply the natural decision to take in times of uncertainty and danger.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  Mostly agree, just a minor nitpick > he probably would have preferred to go to school and play with his friends. Not all kids want to do kiddie things. At 10yo or so, if I had the competence and choice between doing actual work for 8 hour at my dad's office, and going to school with the other kids, I'd totally have chosen the former. I don't think kids should work or skip school, but their personal preference is probably more varied than we account for.
  - LtWorf 2y ago
    > I'd totally have chosen the former. Yeah, for 1 day… then you'd know what it was about and would have preferred the less boring alternative.
    - makeitdouble 2y ago
      Honestly I always preferred to be doing something than sitting in a room listening to lectures. In college I pulled all the tricks in the book to convert real projects/internships into units, and I'd be seriously depressed if I had to go back to school. I think that's also why I have such a hatred for regular in-person corporate meetings.
yrgi 2y ago
[flagged]
bluSCALE4 2y ago
[flagged]
- vvpan 2y ago
  Here is a list of journalists killed in the conflict: https://cpj.org/2024/04/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/ https://cpj.org/2024/04/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-...
- gotoeleven 2y ago
  Well besides hospital patients and perhaps orphans, hamas has decided that journalists are the best human shields. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-gaza-tower-that-housed-ap-doubled-hamas-electronic-warfare-site-2021-06-08/ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-gaza-t...
  - imwillofficial 2y ago
    Oh yes, it’s the “terrorists” fault they bombed that school, decimated that hospital, and gunned down escaping hostages. That logic is wild to me.
    - bluSCALE4 2y ago
      Next level victim blaming.
  - terminatornet 2y ago
    very funny posting an article from 2021 about hamas using human shields after israel has spent 6 months claiming every hospital in gaza has hamas tunnels running underneath them, blowing them up, then killing and starving everyone
  - defrost 2y ago
    "Israeli authorities maintain that the building housing our bureau was destroyed because of a Hamas presence that posed an urgent threat. We have yet to receive evidence to support these claims," the AP said in a statement. "AP continues to call for the full release of any evidence the Israelis have so that the facts are public." Three years on and Associated Press is still waiting. A cynic might wonder if Israeli authorities simply dislike journalists covering Gaza first hand.
sema4hacker 2y ago
I get the impression he was generally tagging along with his photographer father, who was taking so many of the photos of the boy we see in the article.
imwillofficial 2y ago
I’ll read a story like this and can’t even comprehend what living that life must be like. For all our gripes in the modern world, we have it really really good.
weinzierl 2y ago
A somewhat similar story from the other side of the world is told in the semi-autobiographical novel "Cidade de Deus" by Paulo Lins.

138 points by senorqa 2y ago

sirmike_ 2y ago

[flagged]

songeater 2y ago

what happened to him? quick google-fu doesn't seem to answer the question...

tshanmu 2y ago
same - I tried unsuccessfully to find his eventual story.
- 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
  he probably left the camera behind for a steady job as soon as circumstances allowed for it. that would be quite in line with vietnamese work ethics. maybe even got a degree given that his father was also a scholar and switched to photography only for the sake of making a living in times when his academic education was not in demand. he also probably suffered from traumatizing experiences.
bitdivision 2y ago
I found a vietnamese blogpost [0] seeming to say he was active until 1975? But also mentioned at the end: "Then the boy seemed silently disappeared from the Saigon newspaper village. No one knows the fate of What about the special reporter later" There's also a comment saying that someone worked with him in San Francisco later on. "That young reporter, also known as Hole M Cuong. Me and Cuong, worked in a San Francisco Wash Lab in 1977 until 1981, when I On vacation, I still work there and now I have the pleasure of mastering the Pentax-shaped machine that Cuong used to take pictures of at that time." Perhaps someone more familiar with Vietnamese names could work out if he pops up somewhere else. [0]: https://www.quinhon11.com/2016/08/lo-manh-hung-phong-vien-chien-truong_46.html https://www.quinhon11.com/2016/08/lo-manh-hung-phong-vien-ch...
- yorwba 2y ago
  The article isn't saying that he was active until 1975, but only indicating that it is talking about history that precedes the surrender of South Vietnam to the North in 1975.
- keane 2y ago
  Thanks for this link! That 2016 comment appears to say he was known alternatively as Lỗ Mạnh Hùng or Lỗ m Cường. "Cường and I worked in a photo developing lab in San Francisco (image processing lab) … Cuong still works there". I'm not sure how many photo labs were still operating in the city in 2016 but Google Maps is listing only 20 there now. If he was 12 in 1968 he would be around 68 today. We also know his father was AP photojournalist Lỗ Vinh so possibly the Associated Press or NPPA might have a lead. 13 results here from his father: https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/search?query=lo%20vinh&mediaType=photo&st=keyword https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/search?query...
  - cholmon 2y ago
    Scribd has a PDF of "Vietnam Magazine" from February 2016 (https://www.scribd.com/document/325931427/Vietnam-February-2016 https://www.scribd.com/document/325931427/Vietnam-February-2...). Page 40 of this PDF has the following quote that supports the San Francisco shop story: "Hung eventually left Vietnam and ran his own photo shop in San Francisco, where he met former AP photographer Horst Faas in 1998, according to the San Francisco Examiner. 'They paid me $10 a picture,' Hung told Faas. 'It could support my whole family for one month.' A selection of Hung’s photos follows."
    - keane 2y ago
      Amazing find. That mention of the Examiner led to the June 22, 1998 edition, front page of the Style section by Vietnam veteran Edvins Beitiks ("Ed"), "'Requiem' for A War, An Era": "And at each exhibit, Faas has been approached by people with their own memories, people wanting to talk. In San Francisco, he was surprised by Jimmy Lo Hung, who took pictures for AP as a 12-year-old during the Tet offensive and now runs his own photo shop on Ninth Street. Hung had brought a picture of himself in a helmet with PRESS across the front, and a laminated story headlined 'Boy, 12, in Dangerous Jobs'. 'They paid me $10 a picture,' he said, 'and that was big money in Vietnam. It could support my whole family for one month.' Hung lost all his pictures and negatives when the North Vietnamese invaded the South. 'I only had a few minutes to escape,' he said, remembering that 'I was pulled aboard a helicopter filled with soldiers. They held my leg while it took off. So many soldiers trying to get on… some didn't, some dropped down.' Faas, sitting beside Hung, said 'This kid, I didn't even know he was alive. I'm happy, really happy, to see him.'" I wonder if the lab might have been Newtec Color Lab Inc at 122 9th St which appears to have been run by a Jimmy H Lo (Jun 1956–Jan 2018). There's also a tribute to Horst Faas at the Vietnam Reporting Project here: https://vietnamreportingproject.org/2012/05/remembering-hoorst-faas/ https://vietnamreportingproject.org/2012/05/remembering-hoor...
aaron695 2y ago
[dead]

2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago

beautiful but also sad for obvious reasons. having been to vietnam (a couple times by now) one of the first things i noticed was how life and work are not just seemlessly connected there but in fact appear inseparable and in some cases practically identical. this is somewhat common in many developing countries of course but for vietnamese people entrepreneurship seems to be part of their dna. even in other asian countries i didn't see so regularly families having dinner in what was a shop for clothes or a garage just an hour ago. almost every business there is a family business. so, it's no surprise that this young fellow just naturally decided to financially support his family by following in his father's footsteps when he got sick. i'm absolutely sure there was no sensationalist interests or seeking of danger at play. he probably would have preferred to go to school and play with his friends. it was simply the natural decision to take in times of uncertainty and danger.

makeitdouble 2y ago
Mostly agree, just a minor nitpick > he probably would have preferred to go to school and play with his friends. Not all kids want to do kiddie things. At 10yo or so, if I had the competence and choice between doing actual work for 8 hour at my dad's office, and going to school with the other kids, I'd totally have chosen the former. I don't think kids should work or skip school, but their personal preference is probably more varied than we account for.
- LtWorf 2y ago
  > I'd totally have chosen the former. Yeah, for 1 day… then you'd know what it was about and would have preferred the less boring alternative.
  - makeitdouble 2y ago
    Honestly I always preferred to be doing something than sitting in a room listening to lectures. In college I pulled all the tricks in the book to convert real projects/internships into units, and I'd be seriously depressed if I had to go back to school. I think that's also why I have such a hatred for regular in-person corporate meetings.

yrgi 2y ago

[flagged]

bluSCALE4 2y ago

[flagged]

vvpan 2y ago
Here is a list of journalists killed in the conflict: https://cpj.org/2024/04/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/ https://cpj.org/2024/04/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-...
gotoeleven 2y ago
Well besides hospital patients and perhaps orphans, hamas has decided that journalists are the best human shields. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-gaza-tower-that-housed-ap-doubled-hamas-electronic-warfare-site-2021-06-08/ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-gaza-t...
- imwillofficial 2y ago
  Oh yes, it’s the “terrorists” fault they bombed that school, decimated that hospital, and gunned down escaping hostages. That logic is wild to me.
  - bluSCALE4 2y ago
    Next level victim blaming.
- terminatornet 2y ago
  very funny posting an article from 2021 about hamas using human shields after israel has spent 6 months claiming every hospital in gaza has hamas tunnels running underneath them, blowing them up, then killing and starving everyone
- defrost 2y ago
  "Israeli authorities maintain that the building housing our bureau was destroyed because of a Hamas presence that posed an urgent threat. We have yet to receive evidence to support these claims," the AP said in a statement. "AP continues to call for the full release of any evidence the Israelis have so that the facts are public." Three years on and Associated Press is still waiting. A cynic might wonder if Israeli authorities simply dislike journalists covering Gaza first hand.

sema4hacker 2y ago

I get the impression he was generally tagging along with his photographer father, who was taking so many of the photos of the boy we see in the article.

imwillofficial 2y ago

I’ll read a story like this and can’t even comprehend what living that life must be like. For all our gripes in the modern world, we have it really really good.

weinzierl 2y ago

A somewhat similar story from the other side of the world is told in the semi-autobiographical novel "Cidade de Deus" by Paulo Lins.