Two acclaimed Brooklyn-based photojournalists were killed last Wednesday doing their jobs in war-torn Libya.
Williamsburg-resident Tim Hetherington, whose Afghanistan documentary “Restrepo” was nominated for an Oscar this year, was on assignment in rebel-held Misruta when he was caught in a hail of shells launched by forces loyal to Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi.
He died within a few hours.
His colleague Chris Hondros, who worked out of a studio on Varick Street near Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint, lapsed into a coma after being hit by the shells and was pronounced dead several hours later, according to the New York Times.
The new evidence of the horrifying cost of war stunned many in the borough that the two world travelers called home.
“We worked with him for a long time, so this is such a big loss for us,” said Nan Richardson, publisher of Umbrage Editions, the DUMBO company that put out Hetherington’s photography book “Long Story Bit By Bit: Liberia Retold” in 2009. “He took part in our photo festival last year and his piece, ‘Sweeping Soldiers’ was the most powerful work in the festival.”
Hetherington lived between S. 11th Street and Division Avenue, but most of his work focused on international subjects. But Hondros, a senior correspondent for Getty images who has photographed some of the world’s worst conflicts in the past 20 years, often documented his home borough.
“I’ve seen him around a lot,” said Mark Zustovich, spokesman for Borough President Markowitz. “He photographed our World AIDS Day event last year. He covered the opening of the Long Island Rail Road Terminal.”
Hondros, 41, was born in New York, but grew up in North Carolina. He covered wars in more than a dozen countries from Kosovo to Iraq, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2004.
The Britain-born Hetherington, 40, was one of the best-known photojournalists on the planet. He’s racked up awards, including the Grand Jury Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival for “Restrepo,” and was a Pulitzer finalist, like Hondros.
To honor the fallen documentarians, Markowitz lowered the city flag atop Borough Hall. Other deceased residents who have been honored with a Borough Hall flag-lowering include Brooklyn Dodgers legend Duke Snider in February and former Deputy Borough President Jeannette Gadson in 2007.
“Brooklyn extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues,” said Markowitz in a written statement. “These two men were doing what they did best — reporting to the world about the horrors of war.”