What’s James Nachtwey’s secret scoop?

Photo: James Nachtwey If you haven’t seen War Photographer, the fantastic 2001 documentary about acclaimed shutterbug James Nachtwey, you should. Nachtwey is a brilliant photojournalist whose work I’ve long admired (you can check out some his greatest images here). So, I was pleased to hear that Nachtwey is being honored this year alongside ex-President Bill ...

603429_070309_nachtwey_25.jpg
603429_070309_nachtwey_25.jpg

Photo: James Nachtwey

Photo: James Nachtwey

If you haven’t seen War Photographer, the fantastic 2001 documentary about acclaimed shutterbug James Nachtwey, you should. Nachtwey is a brilliant photojournalist whose work I’ve long admired (you can check out some his greatest images here). So, I was pleased to hear that Nachtwey is being honored this year alongside ex-President Bill Clinton and biologist E.O. Wilson at the digerati-packed TED (technology, entertainment, and design) conference in Monterey, California. Each of the honorees will receive $100,000 for projects of their own design. Clinton is using his cash to help build a rural health system in Rwanda. Wilson wants to create an Internet catalogue of every living species, including millions we’ve yet to identify.

But it’s Nachtwey’s project that has my interest seriously piqued. He plans to use his funds to document “a big story that the world needs to know about,” but is keeping the topic to himself. He says he needs diplomatic contacts to travel to the secret location of an underreported story, and once he gets back, he intends to display the photographs in some novel, public fashion. So, what’s the scoop Nachtwey’s keeping under wraps? Secret prisons? The next Darfur? Bin Laden’s pad? Email Passport with your theories. 

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.
Tag: Media

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