{ 張亨來 }

John Stanmeyer, East Timor, August 1999:

There were numerous firefights going on between the pro-Timorese Aitarak and the Indonesian militia, so I just ran. A bullet went right by my ear, moving my hair. It was fate that my head was tilted to the right, otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.

Within minutes of nearly being killed, I came across pro-East Timorese independence supporter Joaquim Bernardino Guterres. The military turned their guns on him, and as he started to run they grabbed him and kicked him. Moments later he was lying in a 20ft stream of blood. The military were very unhappy with the pictures afterwards.

I don’t think about the risk to myself, as I probably should. While I was out in Afghanistan, my wife had a miscarriage and she equated it to my being away. That was pretty dreadful, but she’s a writer and understands why I do this. We’ve been to Sudan together, we’ve been ambushed, we’ve been in lots of nutty situations.

From “The Shot That Nearly Killed Me: War Photographers - A Special Report” in The Guardian (June 17, 2011).