Banding Together for a Fallen Colleague: The Friends of Anton

  • A Marsh Arab floats on his canoe through the Kurmashia marsh in southern Iraq.
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  • Afghans refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2001, as U.S.-led military action in Afghanistan was about to begin.
    Yunghi Kim
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  • Girls wear their ceremonial drumming uniforms at the Ataman Platov Cossack Cadet school in Belaya Kalitva, Southern Russia.
    Anastasia Taylor-Lind
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  • 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.
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  • Zaza Katalandze and Tamas Jivanja stop to fix Zaza's car after driving through a small river in Ocumi, Abkhazia.
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  • New York City, 1991.
    Kenneth Jarecke
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  • Girls wear soviet era military uniforms as part of Victory Day celebrations in Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, Russian Federation.
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  • Josh Febres, Bronx, New York, 2009. From the New York Times series, "One in 8 Million."
    Todd Heisler—The New York Times
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  • 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.
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  • Sheep at dawn, Firebaugh, California.
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By Patrick Witty

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.

Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul on Wednesday in preparation for the funeral of a teenage boy who died this week after being hit by a police teargas canister during demonstrations last year. The death of Berkin Elvan on Tuesday sparked demonstrations in cities across the country. The teenager fell into a coma after a blow to the head from a police teargas canister during clashes between demonstrators and security forces in June 2013, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26540220">reports the BBC.</a> At the time Elvan was on the way to buy bread for his family. After his funeral in Cemevi a march is due to take place through the center of the city. The demonstrations started last year in response to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempts to close down a park in the center of Istanbul, but spiraled into widespread protests against his leadership. Elvan’s injury became a rallying point for anti-state protesters. His death is the eighth linked to clashes between demonstrators and state security forces. President Abdullah Gül sent a message to Elvan’s family, admitting that “the mind of the state has become overwhelmed by anger and hatred.” [AP] (Berkin Elvan, the teenager who died on Tuesday, months after being struck in the head by a police teargas canister during demonstrations in Istanbul, will be laid to rest Wednesday. His death has rekindled protests across the city renewed)
Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul on Wednesday in preparation for the funeral of a teenage boy who died this week after being hit by a police teargas canister during demonstrations last year. The death of Berkin Elvan on Tuesday sparked demonstrations in cities across the country. The teenager fell into a coma after a blow to the head from a police teargas canister during clashes between demonstrators and security forces in June 2013, reports the BBC. At the time Elvan was on the way to buy bread for his family. After his funeral in Cemevi a march is due to take place through the center of the city. The demonstrations started last year in response to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempts to close down a park in the center of Istanbul, but spiraled into widespread protests against his leadership. Elvan’s injury became a rallying point for anti-state protesters. His death is the eighth linked to clashes between demonstrators and state security forces. President Abdullah Gül sent a message to Elvan’s family, admitting that “the mind of the state has become overwhelmed by anger and hatred.” [AP]
Berkin Elvan, the teenager who died on Tuesday, months after being struck in the head by a police teargas canister during demonstrations in Istanbul, will be laid to rest Wednesday. His death has rekindled protests across the city renewed

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.

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