Witness

By James Nachtwey

I've photographed violence and war close up from El Salvador to Chechnya, but one of my nearest brushes with death came in South Africa during Nelson Mandela's 1994 presidential campaign. A large convoy of militant, ultra-right-wing Afrikaners had invaded the tribal homeland of Bophuthatswana to prop up the last vestiges of minority rule. Two colleagues and I were approaching a convoy of Afrikaners shooting at civilians when our car was fired on. We drove away--only to run into a fire fight between the Afrikaners and the Bophuthatswana army. We took cover behind our car. About 30 yards ahead, three Afrikaner commandos were trapped outside a Mercedes-Benz. Two appeared wounded. I knew that to make a photo of significance, I somehow had to get to that spot.

I waited until the firing died down a bit. Then I stood up in plain view, held up my camera and moved forward slowly. Instinct told me neither side had anything to gain by openly killing a photojournalist. As I was taking pictures, a soldier rushed in and shot all three commandos point-blank. The soldiers panicked and turned hostile, so I left. Later a cameraman who videotaped the incident told me one of the soldiers had aimed his assault rifle at my back and pulled the trigger. His weapon jammed, and before he could clear it to shoot again, I was gone.

--James Nachtwey