[alamo5000]

Check out some of these amazing shots!

Caution...some shots are not for the faint at heart.

Photographer Collection: Horst Faas in Vietnam - Plog

[arnold]

War is dreadful; we need pictures like this to remind the young how bad things can get.
Interesting to see a range finder camera around his neck. No auto focus either. How would a DSLR survive those conditions? "Oh dear, I have flappy mirror and back focus problems, do you have a charged battery on you?"

[alamo5000]

I thought the same exact thing. No autofocus, no "auto", none of it. Now on a photographic level what have we (collectively) turned into?

[p38arover]

Great photos! Too many to comment on but one of the first which I liked from a photographic point of view is that of the troops crossing the bridge to a background of mist/smoke.

[Obin Robinson]

Long before I had ever heard of Horst Faas I had seen photo #24 and it was one of my favorites. Between riding in a helicopter over Iraq in 2009 and having experience working on and flying in a Vietnam era Huey gunship I can almost hear and feel what is going on in that photo.


obin

[wildman]

we need pictures like this to remind the young how bad things can get.

No - it's the old men in their air conditioned walnut paneled offices that need to be reminded.
The young have always understood what the old mean when they say "we" must defend "our" national interests.

[pete-tarmigan]

I thought the same exact thing. No autofocus, no "auto", none of it. Now on a photographic level what have we (collectively) turned into?

No auto-exposure either. Maybe not even auto-aperture lenses, i.e., having to practise stop-down metering for every shot.

[sergysergy]

incredible and moving shots

[narual]

No - it's the old men in their air conditioned walnut paneled offices that need to be reminded.
The young have always understood what the old mean when they say "we" must defend "our" national interests.

While I agree about the elders, I'm fairly sure Arnold is referencing young people with the "We're gonna go kick some ASS! It's going to be exciting! I can't wait to get out there in combat!" (and possibly "it'll be way more badass than counterstrike!") attitude.

[wildman]

I'm fairly sure Arnold is referencing young people with the "We're gonna go kick some ASS!

I agree and his point was well taken.
I was just trying to go beyond that to what, in my opinion, was closer to the core social cause of war, any war - the powerful telling the weak who and what they should hate and what is worth dying for.
This dynamic is ageless.

[alamo5000]

As for photography...look at all the responses here. The pictures tell a story. A very moving one at that. Don't you wish your pictures could tell stories like that and with that same effectiveness?

[mdodrill]

powerful stuff....thanks for posting

[wildman]

As for photography...look at all the responses here. The pictures tell a story. A very moving one at that. Don't you wish your pictures could tell stories like that and with that same effectiveness?

Sorry. Didn't mean to rain on anyone's parade.
Some images just don't allow me the luxury of viewing them dispassionately.

[alamo5000]

Sorry. Didn't mean to rain on anyone's parade.
Some images just don't allow me the luxury of viewing them dispassionately.

No way man. You're supposed to look at them passionately. That's the whole point...

I wish more people looked at images with passion... or better yet, made them with passion too.

[gaweidert]

No auto-exposure either. Maybe not even auto-aperture lenses, i.e., having to practise stop-down metering for every shot.

A lot of those shots were probably taken without metering, If you practiced the sunny 16 rule and had tons of experience you don't really need the camera to tell you what shutter speed and aperture you need to use for every shot. I have worked with a few people that were walking light meters. Amazing how well they could tell what settings to use without metering. Negative film has a pretty wide exposure range.

If you had to meter, it really wasn't that hard on many cameras. Press a lever to meter first shot. Just fire away for subsequent shots. If lighting conditions change you tweaked the aperture ring accordingly. Since you hand was already on the lens. focus and aperture adjustment were easy to do. If you grow up on manual focus then it is not any slower than auto focus for many shots. If you used the DOF scale on a lens and found that at f16, everything form 12 feet out was in focus, then you just set you focus to 12 feet and fired away.

Everyone on this site who has never used an older manual film camera should take one and try walking aournd the neighborhood with a roll of film in it and give the sunny 16 rule a try. You may be surprised at the results.