
The Daring Life of a Forgotten Female War Photographer - brudgers
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture-exploration/2018/08/world-photography-day-dickey-chapelle-female-war-photographer-combat-vietnam/
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neurobashing
What's amazing to me is just how many World War 2 were used in Vietnam. If you
look at those pics: M1 Carbines in abundance (heck, I have my dads), a couple
BARs, Thompson SMGs, a Grease Gun, M1919 MGs (probably converted to 7.62mm
NATO), and the M1 Garand. All ceased production after WW2.

It boggles the mind to think we made SO MANY small arms for WW2 the leftovers
could be shipped halfway around the world to fight another war.

~~~
tokai
Weapons from ww2 are still being used in warfare to this day.[0] You fight
with what you can get your hands on, I guess.

Edit: Also military logistics are not following the same pressures for
upheaval and progress as civilian organizations. During my compulsory military
service I remember getting handed a bedsheet with the year 1933 embroidered on
it. Looked liked it had never been used. We were also trained in usage of out-
phased rifles on top of our normal weapon training. Somewhere they had a huge
pile of old weapons, should they ever be needed. It would not sunrise me if
they still have the Garands on store.

[https://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/whats-inside-a-
ta...](https://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/whats-inside-a-taliban-gun-
locker/)

~~~
gascan
They might still have a big pile of Garands, but many were sold to civilians.

~~~
tokai
My anecdote is not about the US. I thought the compulsory military service
part would make that clear.

We got some of those Garands to rebuild our military after ww2.

~~~
gascan
Sorry, when I initially read your comment I simply interpreted that to be
referencing the draft, e.g. conscription.

~~~
tokai
I could have been more precise. The Garands were a mislead. I served in 08.

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frostburg
If you look at the picture in the header, you can see that she's using a
VISOFLEX in a warzone (a Visoflex is a very bulky and finnicky accessory for a
Leica that turns it into a reflex camera), I wonder how that came to look like
a good idea.

~~~
ubermonkey
My experience with artists and craftsmen of all stripes is that, once they
find a tool or combination of tools that resonate with them, and that with
which they feel they can do better work than with alternatives, they will go
to great lengths to continue using the platform regardless of inconvenience or
other drawbacks.

I have known, for example, .NET developers that worked in emacs instead of
Visual Studio, which is something I have a hard time understanding, but there
was no arguing with his results even if his toolchain was odd and finicky.

In any case, it's a damn shame she's not around to ask. Photography was VERY
different in the 60s.

~~~
maxxxxx
After doing more photography I have developed a lot of respect for that
attitude. Their focus is on the results whereas I (and I believe a lot of
developers) am often more focused on cool tools and always need new stuff to
stay interested. A lot of the best photographers I know have pretty old
cameras because they think about taking pictures and not reading equipment
reviews.

~~~
ubermonkey
The recent (~ 10 years) era has also made lots of folks think of photography
as fast-moving, because pro-level digital happened and then improved SO FAST
that there was an upgrade treadmill where none really existed before.

We're back at a stasis point, though. My 6- or 7-year-old Olympus still takes
great pix; I'm not leaving a lot on the table with it. Any full-frame DSLR is
even better, and they've been around for even longer.

Today's high-tech cameras are definitely more susceptible to life-ending
obsolescence than the mechanical cameras of yore, but I think we'll see folks
use a given body much longer now than we did 5 years ago.

~~~
ghaff
Especially for photographs that are mostly about getting an image rather than
wringing the last piece of technical quality out of a scene, DSLRs have pretty
much approached good enough. Sensitivity is still improving a bit, as is
autofocus, but I'm at the point now where the gear I have is at the point
where a new camera isn't going to really improve on my enjoyment, quality of
photograph, etc.

There's still miniaturization going on. My Fujifilm X-E3 was a big improvement
over the X-E1. But as long as I'm willing to lug a full-frame DSLR around,
there isn't a lot I feel I'm lacking even though it's 4+ years old at this
point.

~~~
maxxxxx
"My Fujifilm X-E3 was a big improvement over the X-E1."

There is definitely still a lot of movement in mirrorless but judging from the
latest releases they will plateau in a few years too. It looks like mirrorless
will soon reach the point where their AF is as good or better as the best
DSLRs.

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failedartifact
If anyone is interested in another great war photographer at the time, Robert
Capa is another great one. His book 'Slightly out of focus' is one of my
favourite books. Highly recommended and is only 2-300 pages long.

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barking
According to wikipedia, she killed in 1965 by a booby trap explosion triggered
by the marine in front of her while on a patrol. She was 47.

~~~
saiya-jin
well, it is stated in the article itself too

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enriquto
These days it seems to be wrong [1] to use the word "female", thus I suggest
changing the title to "The Daring Life of a Forgotten Woman War Photographer".
Yes, it is ambiguous because it seems that we are talking about a certain
"woman war", but we'll get used to it over time.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17891710](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17891710)

~~~
tokai
So we should stop using a word with an etymologically going back thousands of
years, because some lowlifes are misogynistic? It feels very wrong to let them
turn such a fundamental word in to a hate slur.

~~~
enriquto
Of course I was parodying that position :)

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qntty
No you weren't. People get annoyed when it's used as a noun, not a verb.

