Tim Page

Tim Page (born May 25 1944 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent) is an award-winning English photographer who made his name during the Vietnam War and is now based in Brisbane, Australia.

Biography

Page left England in 1962 making his way overland driving through Europe, Pakistan, India, Burma, Thailand and Laos. Without money by this time, he found work as an agricultural advisor for USAID in Laos. He began work as a press photographer in Laos stringing for UPI and AFP. His exclusive photographs of an attempted coup d'état in Laos in 1965 for UPI got him a staff position in the Saigon bureau of the news agency. Celebrated for his work as a freelance accredited press photographer in Vietnam and Cambodia during the 1960s, he was wounded in action three times. 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.

In April 1969 when Page jumped out of a helicopter to help load wounded soldiers he was severely injured, taking a huge piece of shrapnel to the head. This was in fact the latest in a long line of similar injuries, which led his colleagues in the field to joke that he'd never make it to 23 years of age. He spent the next year in the United States of America undergoing extensive neuro-surgery. During recovery he became involved closely with the Vietnam Veterans peace movement and worked as a caregiver for amputees, traumatically shocked and stressed young men. One of these men was Ron Kovic.

In the 1970s Page worked as a freelance photographer for music magazines like Crawdaddy and Rolling Stone. During his recovery in the spring of 1970 Page learnt of the capture of his best friend, roommate and fellow photo-journalist Sean Flynn (son of the famous Hollywood actor Errol Flynn) in Cambodia. Throughout the 70s and 80s he tried to discover the fate and final resting place of his friend and wanted 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". His quest for a resolution of the mystery of Flynn's fate came to an end in 1990, following the discovery of what appeared to be the grave of Flynn and his colleague Dana Stone in the Cambodian village of Bei Met. Forensic examination suggested both had met a violent death.

His book Requiem contains photographs taken by all of the photographers and journalists killed during the wars against the Japanese, French and Americans. Requiem is now also a photographic exhibition in Vietnam's War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh city.

Page is the subject of many documentaries, two films and the author of many books. Page lives in Brisbane, Australia now and no longer covers wars. He has taken up a position as Adjunct Professor of Photojournalism at Griffith University.

elected books

* "Tim Page's Nam" (1983)
* "Sri Lanka" (1984)
* "Ten Years After: Vietnam Today" (1987)
* "Page after Page: Memoirs of a War-Torn Photographer" (1988)
* "Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden" (1995)
* "Mid Term Report" (1995)
* "Requiem" (1997)
* "The Mindful Moment" (2001)

elected films about Page

*"Mentioned in Dispatches".
*"Darkness at the Edge of Town".
*"Frankie's House".

References

* [http://www.lightstalkers.org/timpage Light Stalker's biography of Tim Page]
* [http://timpageimage.com.au Tim Page's homepage]