Archiver
Veteran
The current thread about Nick Ut and the Terror of War image brought something else to mind, a flickr thread from 2008. The OP asked about the best way to destroy the hundreds of Kodachrome slides that were taken by his Japanese war photographer father in law. The OP mentioned a batch of slides labeled Pinkville 1968, which refers to the My Lai Massacre, the largest massacre perpetrated by the US in Vietnam, indeed, anywhere in the 20th century. The fact that his father in law still had photographs of My Lai suggests that they have not been seen elsewhere.
www.flickr.com
The OP wrote:
"Is it safe (environmentally) to burn slides?
"Here's why:
My wife's father was a long-time war photographer and photojournalist for the Japanese press. He was active in the Korean war, French-Indochina, (later the Viet Nam conflict,) Japan, the Philippines and Central America, especially Nicaragua from the mid-fifties until about 1990 or so. As you can imagine, back then, there were a lot of photos to be taken that wouldn't exactly be publishable, given the standards of the times. Still, like any good journalist, he took his photos. The things he shot are, for the most part, what you'd expect, but there are things he saw and photographed that would make Abu Ghraib look like games at a children's birthday party.
"Before he died, he asked me, (knowing my interest in photography,) to make sure these images never see the light of day. "Burn them all" was the phrase he used.
"So here I am, left with a large filing cabinet of slides that I need to destroy. I took a few handfuls of slides and tried to burn then in a bin outside, but the smoke was surprising—thick and foul-smelling. (Those were just a fraction of the stuff he asked me to burn first, the pictures labeled "Pinkville, 1968". Horrible stuff that should never be seen.)
"I've considered shredding them somehow, or pouring a solvent on the lot, but I need to make sure that what I do is permanent and eradicates the images beyond retrieval. I'd also like to do this in a way that doesn't harm both the environment or my own health.
'(Ideally, by burning, as that was his dying request.)
"Any suggestions?"
There was quite the debate between those who thought the OP should honour his father in law's dying wishes and burn everything, and those who thought that preserving vital documentation of war was more important. I was firmly on the side of preservation, despite the photographer's wishes.
The irony is that the family ultimately decided to donate the collection to the Yasukuni Jinja war museum on the condition that the photos never be exhibited, copied or be available to the public. Yasukuni is controversial in that it permitted the enshrinement of Japanese soldiers and officers charged and convicted with war crimes.
This article is about war photographer Ron Haeberle, who's photos showed what happened at My Lai. If this is what Ron shot, what did the unnamed Japanese photographer shoot?
time.com
(edited to correct links)
SLIDE FILM (*Not Xpro*)
Rules are ... * Slide Film shots only !! * No Xprocess (Cross process) shots please !! * Please add a tag with film type to your shots posted in this group. (ex. KODACHROME200, KODAK ELITE Chrome100, FUJICHROME ASTIA100) All photos not corresponding to the rules above will be removed ...
www.flickr.com
The OP wrote:
"Is it safe (environmentally) to burn slides?
"Here's why:
My wife's father was a long-time war photographer and photojournalist for the Japanese press. He was active in the Korean war, French-Indochina, (later the Viet Nam conflict,) Japan, the Philippines and Central America, especially Nicaragua from the mid-fifties until about 1990 or so. As you can imagine, back then, there were a lot of photos to be taken that wouldn't exactly be publishable, given the standards of the times. Still, like any good journalist, he took his photos. The things he shot are, for the most part, what you'd expect, but there are things he saw and photographed that would make Abu Ghraib look like games at a children's birthday party.
"Before he died, he asked me, (knowing my interest in photography,) to make sure these images never see the light of day. "Burn them all" was the phrase he used.
"So here I am, left with a large filing cabinet of slides that I need to destroy. I took a few handfuls of slides and tried to burn then in a bin outside, but the smoke was surprising—thick and foul-smelling. (Those were just a fraction of the stuff he asked me to burn first, the pictures labeled "Pinkville, 1968". Horrible stuff that should never be seen.)
"I've considered shredding them somehow, or pouring a solvent on the lot, but I need to make sure that what I do is permanent and eradicates the images beyond retrieval. I'd also like to do this in a way that doesn't harm both the environment or my own health.
'(Ideally, by burning, as that was his dying request.)
"Any suggestions?"
There was quite the debate between those who thought the OP should honour his father in law's dying wishes and burn everything, and those who thought that preserving vital documentation of war was more important. I was firmly on the side of preservation, despite the photographer's wishes.
The irony is that the family ultimately decided to donate the collection to the Yasukuni Jinja war museum on the condition that the photos never be exhibited, copied or be available to the public. Yasukuni is controversial in that it permitted the enshrinement of Japanese soldiers and officers charged and convicted with war crimes.
This article is about war photographer Ron Haeberle, who's photos showed what happened at My Lai. If this is what Ron shot, what did the unnamed Japanese photographer shoot?
The Photographer Who Showed the World What Really Happened at My Lai
His pictures from that 1968 day in Vietnam showed the world what really happened at My Lai. A half-century later, they are still haunting.
(edited to correct links)
Last edited:
