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Tim Page left England at 17 to travel across Europe, the Middle East and to India and Nepal. He found himself in Laos at the time of the civil war and ended up working as a stringer for United Press International.
From there he moved on to Saigon where he covered the Vietnam War for the next five years working largely on assignment for TIME-LIFE, UPI, PARIS MATCH and ASSOCIATED PRESS. He also found time to cover the Six Day War in the Middle East in 1967.
The role of war-photographer suited Page’s craving for danger and excitement. He became an iconic photographer of the Vietnam War and his pictures were the visual inspiration for many films of the period. The photo-journalist in ‘Apocalypse Now’, played by Dennis Hopper was based on Page.
The Vietnam War was the first and last war where there was no censorship, the military actively encouraged press involvement and Page went everywhere, covering everything. He was wounded four times, once by ‘friendly fire’ and the last time was when he jumped out of a helicopter to help load the wounded and the person in front of him stepped on a landmine. He was pronounced DOA at the hospital. Extensive Neuro-surgery left him hemiplegic for a year.
Recovery for Tim came in the form of involvement with Americas Vietnam Vets who were worse off than himself. He became a ‘carer’ for amputees and traumatically shocked and stressed young men whose future was now looking very bleak as the govt of the day abandoned them. One of these young men was Ron Kovic, who was portrayed by Tom Cruise in the film “Born on the Fourth of July” – and at last their plight which Tim had been documenting and was also very much a part off was revealed to the rest of the world. The 70’s also found Tim freelancing for music magazines such as “Crawdaddy” and “Rolling Stone”. This enabled him to add images of rock ‘n roll legends to his archive.
It was while he was recovering in hospital in spring 1970 that Tim learnt the fate of his best friend, house mate and fellow photographer Sean Flynn, (son of Hollywood actor Errol) who had been captured in Cambodia. Throughout the 70’s and 80’s, Page’s mission was to discover the fate and final resting place of his friend and to erect a memorial to all those in the media that were either killed or went missing in the war. This led him to found the ‘Indochina Media Memorial Foundation’ and was the genesis for the book ‘REQUIEM’. With his friend Horst Faas, photo editor for Associated Press and double Pulitzer Prize winner, they co-edited the book and commemorated the work of all the dead and the missing, from all nations, who were lost in the thirty year struggle for liberation.
Tim Page is the subject of many documentaries, two films and the author of nine books (all of which are registered with National Library of Congress in D.C).
His archive contains over 750,000 photographs, taken in 85 countries over 40 years and some of his images are held in collections in the following prestigious institutions:
The Imperial War Museum, London. UK
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
National Archive of Film, Television & Photography, Bradford, UK
The Freedom Forum, Washington, D.C. America
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
The Princes Trust, UK
The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. (also just opened at the Smithsonian, an exhibition called “The Road to Freedom”, with Tim’s images an imposing 8.1m x 8.1m.
Awards bestowed on Tim for both his photographic and humanitarian work:
The Robert Capa Award
The American Society of Media Photographers Award (the 6th recipient in history)
Vietnamese Cultural Hero of the Revolution (7th recipient in history)
The Infinity Award
The George Polk Award
The Overseas Press Club Award
The Olivier Rebbot Award
The National Press Photographers Association
The Irish Press Photographers Association
In 2003, Tim went to The Solomon Islands for KCELJAG (The Key Centre of Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance) to cover the Australian Governments Peace Intervention Force. He documented the handing in and cutting up of 3,600 weapons – all of which was achieved with soccer matches, dog handling displays, face painting and bagpipes! No flak jackets required! This created a template for future ‘interventions’ that will respect culture, heritage, religion, traditions and most importantly not allowing troops into town to create a false economy.
In February 2004, Tim took 2 students from Griffith University, Q’ld to Cambodia to document the work being done by PAPC (Peace Art Project Cambodia), turning weapons and UXO (unexploded ordinance) into art. An exhibition of these photographs called “Aftermath”, opened on International World Peace Day.
He has returned ‘cathartically’ to Indochina 50 times, during which he has become ‘patron’ of MAG (Mine Action Group) – profiling and highlighting the plight of the victims of wars most insidious weapon – the landmine. (www.mag.org.uk)
Every two years, Tim through his foundation, the IMMF, hosts a photo workshop in Vietnam, followed by a two week exhibition of the images. (www.immf.com)
His interest and passion now is to bring the world’s attention to the plight of the innocent victims. He gifted the “Requiem” exhibition to the Vietnamese govt, where it has become the most visited tourist sight in Vietnam and when exhibited at QCA Gallery in Brisbane, Australia, one person per minute passed through the exhibition.
Tim no longer covers wars, he freelances from Brisbane, has taken up a position as Adjunct Professor of Photojournalism at Griffith University. He regularly exhibits his work and continues to proactively promote peace.
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