Philip Jones Griffiths: 1936 to 2008

The battle for District 8 in Saigon in May 1968 produced many civilian casualties. This woman hit by helicopter rocket fire was helped by a nervous South Vietnamese soldier.
We learned with great sadness over the weekend of the death of the pioneering Magnum photojournalist Philip Jones Griffiths (read The Guardian’s obituary here
Jones Griffiths’ searing portraits of the carnage and misery of the Vietnam war helped turn public opinion against military action. Last year we reported on a lecture given by Jones Griffiths in which he drew parallels with the present conflict in Iraq and urged today’s photojournalists to bear witness to what he termed ‘the American Empire on the rampage”. You can read that report in full here