Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship for The Charlotte News.
CHARLOTTE – Photojournalist Robert Nickelsberg sat down in Charlotte to discuss his career, explaining his focus on covering international affairs, his experiences as an American abroad and his projection for the future of the medium.
Gearing up for his talk on Oct. 15 at the senior center, Nikelsberg chatted about his book, “Legacy of Lies: El Salvador 1981-1984,” and how the events outlined in the book have shaped both him and his career.
Q: If you want to give a little introduction on how long you’ve been a photojournalist, how you got started, etc.
A: I began in the late 70s as a photojournalist freelancing in New York and had an interest in Latin America. I decided to go down to Central America. I first went to Costa Rica and got on the Pan-American highway going north.
I went back to Central America and spent two weeks with the guerrillas in El Salvador, crossing the border illegally from Honduras into El Salvador.
In 1981, I made another trip with the guerrillas in Guatemala, also crossing illegally from Mexico.
Q: When you talk about being embedded with the guerrillas, how do you embed yourself in those groups of people who might not be accessible to other journalists?
A: You make contacts outside of the conflict zone. Your point of contact is often a solidarity movement in another country, often Mexico for Central America.
Trust is a big factor. If you are cleared from the outside, that generally gets you through the gate. They vouch for you.
Q: Why did you decide to focus a large portion of your work on international issues?
A: I thought I could illustrate foreign policy, it’s kind of a highfalutin wish. I went to UVM— we were still in the Vietnam War, and we were vulnerable to be drafted. We were involved in that mindset of potentially being a combatant against our will.
Q: When you talk about the U.S. involvement in other countries and places where you were, do you think that your identity as an American journalist impacted how you were treated?
A: It’s very often the government that’s perceived as being dark and with suspicion, not the individual. You’ll often hear, “It’s not you I have a problem with, it’s your government.”
And that has held true wherever I’ve been— that’s the line you hear.
Q: When you were in dangerous places, did you feel that there were moments of humanity that you could cling to? Was that a common occurrence, finding humanity within destructive areas?
A: You have to be able to relate to that situation of the people that are in danger.
I never had a problem relating to people in developing countries. I can live on $2 a day. I can be in countries where there’s no running water or electricity.
Q: How did you deal with the emotional toll of your work?
A: Perform. Do it again. It’s repetitive, but at the same time, you need to have a filter.
There’s no formula. There’s no pill. There’s no mantra for eliminating the effect of death and violence.
You have to deal with it. But it’s going to continue. My pictures are descriptive, not prescriptive.
Q: Do you have a vision for what you hope your work accomplishes?
A: To provoke a dialogue. To reveal what was going on behind the scenes.
It also means understanding how peace is achieved. To understand war, you must understand peace. To understand peace, you must understand war.
And to understand the extreme cases, you have to go to those extreme situations.
Q: Was the majority of your work in dangerous or wartime areas?
A: With TIME magazine, I worked in their (international) bureaus. I worked in those bureaus knowing they were active, dramatic and changing.
Part of your interest in the region is that it’s not just the glaciers of the Himalayas, there’s a war going on.
Q: How do you foresee the future of photojournalism with the idea that anyone with a cellphone camera can achieve some level of photojournalism?
A: Just because Joe Public has a cellphone, he may capture a moment. But in order to tell a story in a series of pictures skillfully, to narrate, to document, to understand what they’re looking at, you need to show some intention and knowledge.
Now there’s so much choice.
Technology has helped, but it’s also minimized the importance of the individual. I don’t have a crystal ball. But how you stretch and stitch stories together, that’s still journalism.
But is it a viable profession? I don’t know.
Q: When you’re making a book, like “Legacy of Lies,” how do you go about structuring the narrative that you want to tell through your photos?
A: I started looking through this film which I hadn’t seen. It stayed in a box for over 20 years. I’d shot three cameras: two color, one black and white.
When I was archiving, I started to organize all the black and white. I had to do it chronologically for it to make any sense. I saw that there was another story here.
I started to see at the same time in 2021, when Kabul Afghanistan was collapsing, that there’s a similar pattern of our government committing to violence and sending in soldiers to train a local army. And then all of a sudden, leaving and not doing anything to improve the situation.
This happened over and over again. This happened in El Salvador. So, I saw a relevancy of this film from 40 years ago to today.
It’s dark.
So, I feel some kind of reward to put this stuff together in an organized way. I find some worth and some value in going back into the past and reinterpreting, reorganizing, and re-editing images to present-day context.
Q: Did the U.S. government ever reach out to you about your work or interfere with your work?
A: I remain on intimate terms with diplomats. I went to all the off-the-record meetings that I could. Whenever I could, no pictures. I just wanted to listen.
I’ve been lied to inside an embassy. I still can’t believe some of the things that were mentioned to me.
So, my suspicions are researched ones, and I take a more informed picture that way.
Q: Do you have advice for aspiring photojournalists?
A: Read as much as possible on the subject you’re covering. Be the most informed that you can be. Rise to the challenge of not knowing enough.
I don’t know how journalism is going to maintain, but I’m still participating, I’m still encouraging other people to try it.