 Ralph Graves, managing editor of Life magazine, said of Larry Burroughs, I do not think it is demeaning to any other photographer in the world for me to say that Larry Burroughs was the single bravest and most dedicated war photographer I know of. On a cold, snowy February morning in Washington DC, suffering from jet lag and deciding that perhaps my converse shoes weren't possibly the best choice of footwear, I entered the doors of the museum on a mission. I had waited almost 30 years to feel some sort of physical connection with those powerful war photographs that had implanted themselves in my mind since I'd first seen them. There, on the top floor of the museum, in a corner amongst the other relics of photojournalists in Vietnam, was a crushed and battered lycoron display. This tragic looking item was a tangible reminder of the dangers and perils that photojournalists who cover the world's conflicts face on a daily basis. In the hands of Larry Burroughs, this lycoron was used to create some of the most eloquent and powerful war photography ever captured. Images that, like their creator, speak softly and compassionately about the horrors of war, a juxtaposition of barbarity and the human spirit. When asked about this danger that surrounded him whilst creating these photographs, Larry Burroughs replied in his uniquely British and understated way. Larry Burroughs began his career in 1942 when he started to learn photography and moved on to work in the dark rooms of the Keystone Photographic Agency. There are some accounts that blame Burroughs for melting Robert Kappa's D-Day negatives in the drying cabinet. Now it would be a neatly dovetailed piece of history if this were actually true, however it is just a myth. What is true though is that of course during the 1940s it was a great time to be a budding photojournalist. Larry Burroughs as a photographer is most closely connected to conflict photography, so it's a bit of a surprise to see these photographs he created in the 1950s and 60s prior to his emergence as a war photographer. Even in these photographs you can see the development of the ideas that are later going to give his photography substance depth and resonance. The conflict that Larry Burroughs is most closely connected to of course is the Vietnam War which he covered from 1962 until 1971. During the Vietnam War in order to gain public support for the conflict at home the US military had offered almost unrestricted access to photojournalists. However, Larry Burroughs was the only photographer who was allowed to take the doors of a fighter bomber so he could lean out and snap some of the most extraordinary images of the Vietnam War. When the other photojournalists objected because they were denied the same favour the Army told them or the Air Force told them that Mr Burroughs' request was granted not because he is a photographer but because he is an artist. I've linked to Larry Burroughs' excellent monograph Vietnam in the description below. If you're interested in seeing more of this fantastic artistic photography of war then it's well worth going having a look. Throughout the war Larry Burroughs continued to go to extreme lengths to create his photographs. He even commandeered fighter jets to fly a certain formation just to create a great composition. Burroughs often shot colour film whilst many of his counterparts were still using black and white photography. Color gives his images a sense of immediacy and there is a heightened reality to this. His methods of photojournalism were deliberate and meticulous much like himself. He didn't want to be dependent on chance and instinct. Frequently carefully planned the photographs, alluded to that above with the jet idea, dictating the scenario and the setting and the composition and the observations that he had made of the battlefront and often after spending several days thinking about a single image. To achieve this he did his best to try and understand the conditions experienced by the troops he was photographing. He lived with them on the front line, not often taking photographs for a number of days until he felt that he had gained a level of acceptance with them. You can see one of the ways that Larry Burroughs managed to plan and create these masterful photographs by this little thing in one of the photos taken of Larry during the making of the very famous photo story One Ride with Yankee Papper 13. If you look closely on the edge of the helicopter you can see there's a little sort of stanchion where Larry has attached his nick on F so he can get these dramatic photographs looking down the fuselage of the helicopter at the side gunner. There's this kind of forward thinking and vision and planning that is why so many of Larry Burroughs' photographs are arresting and powerful. Not just content to settle for the easy shot but working hard to create the best possible images. This photo story One Ride with Yankee Papper 13 which ran a life magazine is possibly one of the best examples of the power of photo journalism as a narrative format. Very few photo essays have ever really managed to combine the raw intensity and technical brilliance that we see in this story. And quite rightly One Ride with Yankee Papper 13 is regarded as possibly the greatest photographic document to emerge from the war in Vietnam. Burroughs had been riding with a particular crew on Yankee Papper 13 and in this particular mission they had come under very heavy fire from the vehicle. Short while after the incident Larry Burroughs set down on tape his thoughts about what happened during this incident. The Viet Cong dug in along the tree line and we were just waiting for us to come into the landing zone. We were all like sitting ducks and their raking crossfire was murderous. Over the intercom system one pilot radioed Colonel Ewers who was in the lead ship. Colonel we're being hit. Back came the reply. We're all being hit. If your plane is flyable press on. We did Burroughs continued. Hurrying back to a pickup point for another load of troops. On our next approach to the landing zone our pilot Captain Bogle spotted Yankee Papper 3 down on the ground. Its engine was still on and the rotors were turning but the ship was obviously in trouble. Why don't they lift off? Bogle muttered over the intercom then he sat down our ship nearby to see what the trouble was. The gunner, Private First Class Holian was pouring machine gun fire at a second VC position at the tree line to our left. Bullet holes had ripped both left and right of his seat. The plexiglass had been shot out of the cockpit and one VC bullet had nicked our pilot's neck. The radio and instruments were out of commission. We climbed and we climbed fast the hell out of there. Holian was still firing gun bursts at the tree line. Not until Yankee Papper 13 pulled away and was out of range of enemy fire. We're fairly and halloween able to leave their guns and give medical attention to the two wounded men from Yankee Papper 3. The co-pilot was in bad shape. When Filey and Holian eased off his flank jest they exposed a major wound just below the armpit. Magel's face registered pain burrows reported and his lips moved slightly. But if he said anything it was drowned out by the noise of the copter. He looked pale and I wondered how long he could hold on. Filey began bandaging Magel's wound. The wind from the doorway kept whipping the bandages across his face. Then blood started to come from his nose and mouth and a glazed look came into his eyes. Filey tried mouth to mouth resuscitation but Magel was dead. Nobody said a word. And so often I wonder whether it is my right to capitalize as I feel so often on the grief of others. But then I justify my own particular thoughts by feeling that if I can contribute a little to the understanding of what others are going through then there's reason for doing it. This compassion and empathy with those he was living with under extreme constant danger is best illustrated by one of the most singularly brilliant photographs of war ever taken. In October 1966 on a mud splattered hill just south of the DMZ in Vietnam, Larry Burroughs took this photo which is commonly known as reaching out. An injured marine, crowned in blood-soaked bandages, stark and clear against the mud and dirt reaches out to an injured comrade. This single frame captures the terror desolation of war along with the tenderness and fellowship of the ordinary people who find themselves in the eye of this hellscape. This photograph has been likened to a Goya painting or a scene that might have been painted by Heronius Bosch if Bosch had lived in an age of machine guns, artillery and mechanized war. Interestingly enough, despite the sheer emotional power of this photograph, Life magazine didn't run it originally. A three-time winner of the prestigious Robert Capper Award for his predictive photography required exceptional courage and enterprise. Ironically, Burroughs would meet the same fate as Robert Capper, who had died 17 years earlier, also in China. In 1971, Burroughs, along with three other journalists, were killed when the helicopter they were travelling in took enemy fire and crashed in the jungle. This was when Reaching Out was finally published. At the time, Writing in Life magazine Ralph Graves said, I do not think it is demeaning to any other photographer in the world for me to say that Larry Burroughs was the single bravest and most dedicated war photographer I know of. He spent nine years covering the Vietnam War under conditions of incredible danger. We kept thinking of other safer stories for him to do, but he would do them and then go back to the war. As he said, the war was his story and he would see it through. His dream was to stay until he could photograph a Vietnam peace. The remains of Larry Burroughs and the other journalists were not recovered until 27 years later. His remains were interred at the museum in 2008 and his name included on the journalist memorial which displays the names of almost 2,000 journalists who have been killed while covering conflict around the world going all the way back to 1837. Please leave a like if you enjoyed this video and if you'd like to see more of the great photographers covered, subscribe to the channel so that you don't miss any upcoming videos. Thank you ever so much for watching.