A Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist shared his experiences and images from a year in a war zone.
Jim MacMillan was a member of the Associated Press team that received the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography this year. He spoke Thursday evening to 40 people at the Remis Sculpture Court in the Aidekman Arts Center.
MacMillan returned in May from a yearlong stint as a photographer and photo editor in Iraq. The 1988 Tufts/Museum School graduate spent time embedded with different units around the country.
"It really felt like fate - I had no idea what I was getting into," he said.
MacMillan went through a fraction of the 12,000 images he shot while in the country, and took time to explain the stories behind the photos. He showed images ranging from an Iraqi soldier and a US Marine "playing soccer with their guns" to Iraqi citizens collecting charred remains of bodies to be properly buried.
The assignment was not easy.
"It's a hardcore insurgent war - there's combat everyday," MacMillan said. "But I thought about the great war photographers, and I can't imagine how they did what they did in World War II and Vietnam."
MacMillian first close-up encounter with the insurgency came when he traveled to Najaf in summer 2004. The city was the center of an insurgent uprising by the al-Mahdi Army of al-Sadr, a group of Shiite Muslims opposed to American occupation.
"Najaf was where I started reporting for real," he said.
The temperature in Najaf reached 135 degrees. To stay hydrated, McMillan drank 12 liters of water each day. He showed a photo of soldiers on their "rest cycle"- even though they were on break, they had their weapons within arms' reach.
The soldiers slept on the cardboard boxes that held shipments of water. "Sometimes they really pamper journalists - I was one of the first to get a cardboard box," MacMillan said.
MacMillian was driving in Najaf when the military vehicle he was traveling in drove over a car bomb. He was later told that he was seated directly above the car bomb - but MacMillian was unharmed.
"I think I was unconscious, or in shock," he said. He remembered seeing soldiers covering their mouths to avoid gas inhalation.
"We were gushing fuel, but luckily the vehicle did not explode," he said.
He had other close calls while in Iraq. His platoon once took 100 mortar shells in one night. Another time a rocket-propelled grenade launcher came in through the window while he was sleeping. At least fourteen people MacMillan knew well have since died.
"By far the worst part of the assignment is the people you lose," he said.
MacMillan showed the entire Pulitzer Prize-winning AP portfolio, which contained 20 photos - three of them his - by 11 photographers.
"This portfolio is just like Iraq, as I saw it ... they really nailed it when they edited it," he said.
The portfolio included an image shot by Khalid Mohammed of the four charred bodies of American contractors in Fallujah. The images caused a stir when they appeared on the front pages of American newspapers in March 2004. Another image in the portfolio showed a wooden coffin and its occupant - the body of an 18-month old Iraqi boy killed by U.S. forces.
"Iraq is being underplayed in American newspapers," MacMillan said. "Reporting is being done, but I'm not sure why it's not getting to the public." He said audiences are either "fatigued by repetitive images" or there has been a "collective decision" to push aside the reality of the war.
Though many of the images shown Thursday evening were horrifying, others contained hints of hope. One depicted thousands of Shiites marching peacefully to protest for peace in Najaf - a march that was successful.
For his work, MacMillan received this year's Bayeux Prize in journalism, awarded annually to the best combat photographer. One year in a war zone, he said, took its toll.
"It took me a month [once I was back here] to stop doing 360's and checking rooftops when I got out of cars," he said, as he showed a photo of soldiers scanning the skies.
MacMillian now works for the Philadelphia Daily News. He was on campus assisting Exposure, the photojournalism program run in cooperation with the Institute for Global Leadership.
Bryan Pyror contributed to this article
