AN EXCLUSIVE NICK UT
Special interview By José Jeuland at the Leica's Celebration of Photography exhibition, Singapore
One thing led to another, and before I knew it, it was finally time for the interview!
JOSE JEULAND: Thank you, Nick, for having us here today with you, and welcome to Singapore! How many times have you been to Singapore?
NICK UT: This is my second time in Singapore! I have been too busy during the war to come to visit, but this is the second time I've been invited here by Leica, and I'm sure I'll return again in the future.
JOSE JEULAND: We are excited to feature your work in Lens Magazine. I'm sure many people already know you, but please introduce yourself. Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where do you live now?
NICK UT: My name is Nick Ut, and I was born in Vietnam. I was a young man during the war and learned much from my brother, a photographer. Not long later, he was killed in the war in 1965. I was devastated when I heard that my older brother had died. Not much later, I lost my second brother, who died in the war. I lost two of my brothers in a single year, and my family was deeply grieving. I learned so much about photography from my older brother, so I was significantly affected.
I am currently a US citizen living in Los Angeles, California. I worked for Associated Press (AP) for almost forty years and was always busy traveling for shoots. We shot for various events, including sports, news events, celebrities, etc.
Back when I was in Vietnam, I knew nothing about shooting for sports or about Hollywood. Only after I moved to the USA I got to photograph many famous people like Betty Davis and Michael Jackson.
JOSE JEULAND: How did you start your journey in photography?
NICK UT: I started because of my older brother. I learned so much from him. After he died, I began to look for jobs at the age of 16. I joined AP and worked in the dark room, developing daily films.
I had a Leica camera, which I would use to take pictures on my own daily.
One day, there was a rocket attack, and I managed to take a good picture of the chaos.
After that, I continued to shoot every day, everywhere in the war, hoping to become a professional photographer one day. Unfortunately, I have sustained injuries in my leg and arm in the war, and I have many photographer friends who died doing warzone photography, so I consider myself lucky to still be here today.
JOSE JEULAND: I know you are part of the Leica Hall of Fame and have won many prestigious awards, such as the Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo of the Year. Please share more about the pictures that made you famous.
NICK UT: I shot a picture of the Napalm attack, "The Terror of War," with a Leica M2 camera and a 35mm lens. When the owner of Leica found out, he invited me to Cologne and gave me an M90 Leica, a perfect camera. After that, I traveled with the Leica everywhere I went. He then invited me to another Leica show here in Singapore. So exciting!
JOSE JEULAND: Can you share more about what it was like to do warzone photography?
NICK UT: I was swamped every day during the war, carrying my cameras and losing sleep over bombings and helicopters. I traveled all across the country and took tons of pictures. In the past, there was only film, so I had 50 rolls of film with me.
I was carrying films, medicine, and even food in my backpack. And I even had a lot of lenses with me: 24mm, 105mm, 50mm, and 300mm, so I was at huge risk of escaping slowly in times of danger.
JOSE JEULAND: Tell us about the workflow during the war; How did you ensure you were at the right place at the right time? What was your strategy when documenting the war?
NICK UT: I waited patiently and carefully and never shot when it was raining because I had to ensure that my camera stayed dry. If I walked along the Mekong River, I packed everything securely in my bag. Once, I was walking along the river when a Viet Cong soldier with an AK- 47 started shooting everybody. I had to jump into the water to save myself and lost all my film. At least I managed to save my own life!
JOSE JEULAND: After losing so many family members in the Vietnam war, what motivated you to keep going and continue risking your life to take pictures in the war?
NICK UT: You never know what will happen in a war; it's crucial to pass the message and continue sharing the complex lives with the world so that war crimes and life's difficulties will come to awareness. And as for myself, the only thing you can do is be careful and stick with the right people. That's how I managed to survive for so long.
JOSE JEULAND: Could you share with us the proudest moment of your career?
NICK UT: I have many friends who took pictures of the Viet Cong. I was also friends with photographer Malcolm Browne, who shot the photo of Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death in 1963. I am fortunate to have connected with so many talented photographers.
Henri Huet was the best photographer in Associated Press (AP) at the time. He won so many awards, other than the Pulitzer Prize.
We were terrific friends and won many awards together. Huet took my place for a job in Laos and was shot to death while he was in a helicopter. I was so sad that I took a helicopter to Laos. I was hopeful that Henri was still alive, and I spent a week looking for any signs of life but to no avail.
I flew back to Saigon a week later.
JOSE JEULAND: When you take pictures in difficult moments, do you still consider composition much in the short time you have to take pictures?
NICK UT: It's true that during the war, you don't have much time to consider composition and other aspects of photography. You just shoot fast and trust your instinct and gifted talent. But in a calmer life, When I'm in Hollywood, many photographers are around when something big happens. I never want to have the same picture as another photographer, so I always try to find a way to take something different from a different angle.
JOSE JEULAND: What is the best characteristic of a war photographer?
NICK UT: Many good photographers these days are young people. You need to be smart and have at least two
good cameras, a computer, a wide lens, and a long lens. Think hard about which picture would be the best to tell a story. Nowadays, digital photography is much more convenient, which is excellent for the industry.
JOSE JEULAND: Since COVID-19 hit, how did you cope with global travel being less accessible?
NICK UT: I have traveled to many countries in my photography career. After COVID, I stayed in the USA and only took domestic flights to take pictures. I took pictures of everything, from animals to homeless people. I also had to cover a story about COVID and take some pictures, so every day is a new experience.
JOSE JEULAND: What is the best Leica camera for you?
NICK UT: Leica makes many good cameras, and I really love my Q2, the M11, and the SL2. I don't need a big camera because it slows me down sometimes.
JOSE JEULAND: Do you have any advice or tips to give to people who want to start a career in photography?
NICK UT: Many young photographers today want to do things quickly and get results. Don't shoot too much! You might lose your job. At AP, I've seen photographers taking enormous amounts of pictures of roads, cars, the sea, and 50 frames
of a single person, and editors didn't like it. The key is quality over quantity. It's okay to shoot more if you're doing a personal project, but not if you're working for a studio.
JOSE JEULAND: Other than "The Terror of War," do you have another favorite?
NICK UT: "The Terror of War" is the best picture I've taken in my life because you can see the raw emotion and the whole story coming through one single image. Besides this, I like the photos expressing a lot of action, where you can see the people running from the attacks. Those are the most intense in terms of emotion. But I also like the pictures I took of Paris Hilton, Michael Jackson, and other famous people.
JOSE JEULAND: Anything else you'd like to add?
NICK UT: I hope young photographers do better and take photos of important subjects! Many of them (the Young generation) are very smart and work hard. They'll also need to learn how to shoot videos well. Our industry has changed significantly in the past 40 years, and things are much faster and more convenient now.