Denis Cameron (photographer)
Denis Cameron | |
|---|---|
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| Born | October 19, 1928 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | October 6, 2006 (aged 77) London, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Photojournalist |
| Children | 2 |
Denis Cameron (October 19, 1928 – October 6, 2006) was an American photojournalist who was best known for his war photography.
Biography
Cameron was born on October 19, 1928, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He took on a variety of jobs, including work as a pilot in Alaska. In the mid-1950s, he began working as a Hollywood stills photographer. He worked on the sets of several movies, including Birdman of Alcatraz, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He was later employed by Life magazine.[1]
In 1963, Cameron covered the war in Cyprus together with Don McCullin. Next, he was a photojournalist in the Six-Day War of 1967.[1] One of the notable photographs he captured, picturing lieutenant Yossi Ben Hanan triumphantly clutching an AK-47 rifle, captioned "Israeli soldier cools off in the Suez Canal", was used on the cover of Life magazine.[2]
As a photographer, he was present on site of the Prague Spring of 1968. In late 1969, he was sent on assignment by Time and Newsweek to Southeast Asia. He stayed there for six years, documenting the Vietnam War, the Laotian Civil War, and the Cambodian Civil War.[1][3] On February 11, 1974, he suffered burns on his legs and right arm while covering an artillery attack in Cambodia.[4] He unsuccessfully attempted to prepare an evacuation of hundreds of orphans by plane.[5] In 1975, when most war correspondents fled Cambodia, Cameron stayed in Phnom Penh. He spent a month imprisoned in the French embassy together with 20 other journalists, including Sydney Schanberg and Jon Swain, before being released to Thailand. He was a consultant for the 1984 film The Killing Fields about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, but upon watching the completed film, he sought to have his consultative credit removed.[1]
He was present on site of the Lebanese Civil War, the Iranian Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Gulf War.[1]
Personal life
Cameron lived in Los Angeles, Paris, and London. He was married twice and had two children: a son and a daughter. He had dementia and Parkinson's disease and died at the Royal Free Hospital in London on October 6, 2006.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d e Felsenburg, Ben (October 24, 2006). "Denis Cameron". The Independent. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
- ^ Gal, Nissim (January 8, 2025). "Queering Militarism in Israeli Photography". Arts. 14 (1): 5. doi:10.3390/arts14010005. ISSN 2076-0752.
- ^ "UNEDITED FOOTAGE OF CAMBODIA DURING THE KHMER REPUBLIC". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
- ^ "U.S. Newsman Injured". The New York Times. February 13, 1974. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 30, 2025.
- ^ a b "Camden New Journal - Obituaries: Denis Cameron". thecnj.com. Retrieved June 30, 2025.