Banding Together for a Fallen Colleague: The Friends of Anton

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On April 5, 2011, South African freelance photographer Anton Hammerl disappeared while covering the revolution in eastern Libya. For weeks his family, and the world, held out hope that he was alive, believing he had been captured by the Gaddafi regime. Then on May 19, Hammerl’s family discovered through eyewitness accounts that he could not have survived injuries he sustained while photographing a battle between rebels and Libyan soldiers.

Last week, a fundraising website, Friends of Anton, was launched in an effort to raise money for Hammerl’s family. Renowned photographers, including João Silva, David Burnett, Kenneth Jarecke, Bruno Stevens, Yunghi Kim, and Todd Heisler, have donated prints in support of their fallen colleague. The photographs can be purchased through the Friends of Anton website.

Hammerl, 41, a former picture editor and photographer for The Saturday Star in Johannesburg, South Africa, is survived by his wife Penny and their three children: Aurora, 11; Neo, 7; and 6-month-old Hiro.

A Marsh Arab floats on his canoe through the Kurmashia marsh in southern Iraq.Joao Silva—The New York Times
Afghans refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2001, as U.S.-led military action in Afghanistan was about to begin.Yunghi Kim
Girls wear their ceremonial drumming uniforms at the Ataman Platov Cossack Cadet school in Belaya Kalitva, Southern Russia. Anastasia Taylor-Lind
An image of a Sri Lanka government soldier is overlapped with the image of a Tamil girl staying at a war-torn church in Jaffna, where the long civil war has devastated people’s life and economy due to the fighting between the Sri Lanka government troops and LTTE rebels, despite the 2002 ceasefire. Q. Sakamaki
Zaza Katalandze and Tamas Jivanja stop to fix Zaza's car after driving through a small river in Ocumi, Abkhazia.Ivor Prickett
New York City, 1991.Kenneth Jarecke
Girls wear soviet era military uniforms as part of Victory Day celebrations in Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, Russian Federation.Tomas van Houtryve—VII Network
Josh Febres, Bronx, New York, 2009. From the New York Times series, "One in 8 Million."Todd Heisler—The New York Times
The window of the Al Zahawi cafe on Rashid street in Baghdad, Iraq, February 12, 2003. The cafe was named after a famous local poet and musician.Bruno Stevens
Sheep at dawn, Firebaugh, California.Matt Black

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