Editing Larry Burrows

{{Short description|English photojournalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Larry Burrows
| image              = File:Larry Burrows in 1967.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Burrows in February 1967
| birth_name         = Henry Frank Leslie Burrows
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1926|05|29|df=y}}
| birth_place        = London, United Kingdom
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1971|02|10|1926|05|29|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Laos]]
| resting_place      = 
| nationality        = English
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Photojournalist
| employer           = Life Magazine
| known_for          = photography
}}
'''Henry Frank Leslie Burrows''' (29 May 1926 – 10 February 1971), known as '''Larry Burrows''', was an English [[photojournalist]]. He spent 9 years covering the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/19644/larry-burrows-british-1926-1971/|title=Larry Burrows (British, 1926 - 1971) (Getty Museum)|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en|access-date=2019-06-02}}</ref>

== Early career ==
Burrows began his career in the art department of the [[Daily Express]] newspaper in 1942 in London. He learned [[photography]] and moved to work in the [[darkroom]]s of the Keystone photography agency and [[Life (magazine)|Life Magazine]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/larry-burrows|title=Larry Burrows|date=2016-03-03|website=International Center of Photography|language=en|access-date=2019-06-01}}</ref> It was here that Burrows started to be called Larry to avoid confusion with another Henry working in the same office.<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4918753/larry-burrows-vietnam-war-tron-life/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913043021/http://time.com/4918753/larry-burrows-vietnam-war-tron-life/|url-status=live|archive-date=September 13, 2017|title=This Girl Tròn: A Friendship Born of the Vietnam War|last=Đá|first=Gary Jones/ Suối|magazine=Time|language=en-us|access-date=2019-06-01}}</ref> It was not unknown for him to redo a whole day of work in order to secure the best result.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=The great Life photographers|last=the editors of Life ; introduction by John Loengard ; a reminiscence by Gordon Parks|date=2009|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=9780500288368|location=London|oclc=503662130}}</ref>

Some accounts blame Burrows for melting photographer [[Robert Capa]]'s [[The Magnificent Eleven|D-Day negatives]] in the drying cabinet,<ref>[http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2006/10/fsc05.html Flying Short Course: Evolving Newspapers Pushing Photojournalists For Video<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122010313/http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2006/10/fsc05.html |date=2008-01-22 }}</ref> but in fact it was another technician, according to [[John G. Morris]].<ref>Morris blames it on a young developer named Dennis Banks. John G. Morris, "Get the picture, A personal history of photojournalism", Random House Inc, N-Y 1998</ref>

== Photojournalism ==
Burrows had an early success with his coverage of the demolition of the [[Heligoland]] U-Boat Pens in 1947. Working for the [[Associated Press]], Burrows was a passenger in a [[De Havilland Dragon Rapide]]. Officially they were supposed to go no closer than {{convert|9|mi}} to the island. However, Burrows persuaded the pilot to fly over at only {{convert|500|ft}}, knocking out the window [[perspex]] when it obscured his shot. For his efforts he was able to take eleven images and earned himself two pages in ''Life'' magazine.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|title=Mr Larry Burrows|date=12 February 1971|work=The Times|issue=58097|page=14}}</ref>

Burrows would go on to cover stories in [[Suez]], [[Lebanon]], [[Cyprus]], [[Central Africa]], and [[Vietnam]].<ref name=":5" />

He was described in ''The Times'' as an "equipment man" and quoted as saying, "When I take the lot with me there are twenty-six cases".<ref name=":0" />

In early 1971, Burrows was elected a [[fellow]] of the [[Royal Photographic Society]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=British war photographer among four feared dead as helicopter is shot down in Laos|last=Homsby|first=Michael|date=12 February 1971|work=The Times|issue=58097|page=6}}</ref>

=== Vietnam ===
{{See also|Vietnam War}}
Burrows went on to become a photographer and covered the war in [[Vietnam]] from 1962 until his death in 1971.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news |first=Margarett |last=Loke |access-date=2018-11-27 |title=Photography Review; The Vietnam War's Costs, Shown Fearlessly by a Gentle Casualty |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=13 March 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/13/arts/photography-review-the-vietnam-war-s-costs-shown-fearlessly-by-a-gentle-casualty.html}}</ref>

One of Burrows' most famous images was published first in a ''Life'' magazine article on 16 April 1965 named ''One Ride with Yankee Papa 13'', about a mission on 31 March 1965.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/3879815/vietnam-photo-essay-larry-burrows-one-ride-with-yankee-papa-13/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703060538/http://time.com/3879815/vietnam-photo-essay-larry-burrows-one-ride-with-yankee-papa-13/ |url-status=live |archive-date=July 3, 2015 |title=Sudden Death in Vietnam: 'One Ride With Yankee Papa 13' |last=Cosgrove |first=Ben |magazine=Time |language=en-us |access-date=2019-06-02}}</ref>

Flying in a helicopter with the US Marines' Medium Helicopter Squadron 163, Burrows captured the death of Yankee Papa 3 co-pilot Lieutenant James Magel. At the [[landing zone]] Magel was assisted to Yankee Papa 13, where airborne door gunner Lance C. Farley gave first aid. It was to no avail and Burrows captured Farley's distress at the loss of his comrade.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Vietnam Spring |last=Hendrickson |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Hendrickson |date=15 September 1996 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

Of the photograph Burrows said:<ref name=":6">{{cite book |title=1001 photographs you must see before you die. |publisher=[[Cassell Illustrated]] |year=2017 |isbn=978-1844039173 |location=[[London]] |oclc=986847064}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=It's not easy to photograph a man dying in the arms of a fellow countryman... Was I simply capitalizing on the other men's grief? I concluded that what I was doing would penetrate the hearts of those at home who are simply too indifferent.|sign=Larry Burrows|source=}}

''Reaching Out'' was another famous image. It features [[United States Marine Corps|US Marine]] [[Gunnery sergeant|Gunnery Sgt.]] Jeremiah Purdie, who while wounded, is seen reaching out to wounded Lance Corporal Roger Dale Treadway.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualwall.org/dm/MitchellPH01a.htm |title=The Virtual Wall}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2013/01/27/170276058/an-iconic-life-image-you-must-see |title=An Iconic 'Life' Image You Must See |website=[[NPR.org]] |date=27 January 2013 |language=en |access-date=2019-06-02 |last=Amaria |first=Kainaz}}</ref>

Life.com editor Ben Cosgrove said of the photograph:<ref name=":4" />

{{Blockquote|text=Larry Burrows made a photograph that, for generations, has served as the most indelible, searing illustration of the horrors inherent in that long, divisive war — and, by implication, in all wars.|sign=Ben Cosgrove|source=}}

''Reaching Out'' was taken on 5 October 1966 after the Marines were ambushed on Mutter's Ridge. However, the image was not featured in ''Life'' until February 1971, following Burrows' death.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" />

== Death ==
Burrows died on 10 February 1971 with fellow photojournalists [[Henri Huet]] (Associated Press), Kent Potter ([[United Press International]]) and Keisaburo Shimamoto ([[freelancer]] with ''[[Newsweek]]''),<ref name=":2">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1999/12/burrows199912 |title=Saigon Quartet |last=Pyle |first=Richard |magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |date=2 April 2008 |language=en |access-date=2019-06-01}}</ref> when their helicopter was shot down over the [[Ho Chi Minh trail|Ho Chi Minh Trail]] in [[Laos]]<ref name="nytimes" /> as the group covered [[Operation Lam Son 719]].<ref name=":2" />

Following his death the [[Managing editor|Managing Editor]] of ''Life'', [[Ralph Graves (writer)|Ralph Graves]], said of Burrows:<ref name=":5" />

{{Blockquote|text=I do not think it is demeaning to any other photographer in the world for me to say that Larry Burrows was the single bravest and most dedicated war photographer I know of.|sign=Ralph Graves|source=}}

Of his work, Burrows himself said, "I cannot afford the luxury of thinking about what could happen to me".<ref name=":5" />

In 1985, the Laurence Miller Gallery in New York published a portfolio of Burrows' prints, with the assistance of his son Russell Burrows.<ref>{{cite news |title=Vietnam Photo Exhibit on Display at Chrysler |newspaper=[[Newport News Daily Press]] |date=September 29, 1985 |page=I-11}}</ref> In 2002, Burrows' posthumous book ''Vietnam'' was awarded the [[Prix Nadar]] award.<ref name=":3">{{cite news |access-date=2018-11-27 |title=Et aussi... Le prix Nadar à Vietnam, de Larry Burrows |trans-title=And also... The Prix Nadar to Vietnam, by Larry Burrows |url=https://www.humanite.fr/node/275393 |newspaper=[[L'Humanité]] |date=23 November 2002 |language=fr}}</ref>

In 2008 the remains of Burrows and fellow photographers Huet, Potter and Shimamoto were honoured and interred at the [[Newseum]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name=":1" />

Journalist [[David Halberstam]] paid tribute to Burrows in the 1997 book ''Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina'':<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldpressphoto.org/person/detail/1771/larry-burrows |title=Larry Burrows |website=[[World Press Photo]] |access-date=2019-06-02}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=I must mention Larry Burrows in particular. To us younger men who had not yet earned reputations, he was a sainted figure. He was a truly beautiful man, modest, graceful, a star who never behaved like one. He was generous to all, a man who gave lessons to his colleagues not just on how to take photographs but, more important, on how to behave like a human being, how to be both colleague and mentor. Our experience of the star system in photography was, until we met him, not necessarily a happy one; all too often talent and ego seemed to come together in equal amounts. We were touched by Larry: How could someone so talented be so graceful?|sign=David Halberstam|source=''Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina''}}

In December 2019, the Newseum was closed due to financial difficulties and the remains of Burrows, Huet, Potter and Shimamoto were disinterred. Their remains are currently stored at the [[Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency]] lab at [[Offutt Air Force Base]] awaiting a permanent burial place.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/In-The-News/Article/2503681/remains-of-5-vietnam-war-photojournalists-killed-in-copter-crash-wait-at-offutt/ |title=Remains of 5 Vietnam War photojournalists killed in copter crash wait at Offutt for permanent burial |first=Steve |last=Liewer |publisher=[[Omaha World-Herald]] |date=16 February 2021 |access-date=12 May 2022}}</ref>

In 2021, Burrows was posthumously inducted into the [[International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Larry Burrows |url=https://iphf.org/inductees/larry_burrows/ |access-date=2022-07-28 |website=[[International Photography Hall of Fame]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of journalists killed and missing in the Vietnam War]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2018/may/24/bardot-ts-eliot-jfk-the-lens-of-larry-burrows-in-pictures "Bardot, TS Eliot, JFK: the lens of Larry Burrows – in pictures"] in ''The Guardian''
*[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/apr/28/the-vietnam-war-captured-in-colour-in-pictures "The Vietnam war captured in colour – in pictures"] in ''The Guardian''
*[http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0302/lb_index.html Photographs] at The Digital Journalist
*[http://www.boggys.co.uk/download.php?filename=Larry_Burrows_PopPhot_71-07.pdf ''Popular Photography'' Magazine, Larry Burrows - A photographer's own story]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=3lMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 ''LIFE'' Magazine Feb. 19, 1971] Editor's Note about Burrows' death

{{Vietnam War correspondents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrows, Larry}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:War photographers killed while covering the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:English photojournalists]]
[[Category:Daily Express photojournalists]]
[[Category:Photographers from London]]