• Gravely wounded New York Times photojournalist shoots his first assignment since leaving Walter Reed Hospital

    Joao Silva / New York Timesa via Redux

    First lady Michelle Obama, left to right, Mike Meyer, Dakota Meyer and President Barack Obama after Obama signed the Medal of Honor citation in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 15, 2011. Meyer, a former Marine sergeant, received the award for courageous actions while serving in Afghanistan.

    By Robert Hood

    New York Times photojournalist Joao Silva got the assignment to photograph the meeting between President Obama and former Marine sergeant Dakota Meyer on Thursday at the White House. Meyer was being awarded the Medal of Honor, and Silva had been given special access to the Oval Office to photograph the personal meeting between the President and Meyer’s family.

    At first glance this assignment doesn’t seem difficult, but Silva has unique challenges due to an injury he suffered when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan last October. Silva lost both of his legs that day, and he has undergone painful physical therapy and a series of operations since then.

    The New York Times Lens blog has an account of how Silva’s assignment went.

    The first thing he whispered, as the president greeted Mr. Meyer at the Oval Office entrance, was this: “I missed that.”
    Later, he described it all more fully. “I wasn’t getting the shots. I was missing the shots.”
    “And then there is the physical aspect of it,” he said. He added, “Pain. Nonstop, constant pain.” Read more.

    Charles Dharapak / AP

    New York Times photographer Joao Silva, standing at right, prepares to photograph President Barack Obama in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sept. 15, 2011. Silva was injured by a land mine while on assignment in Afghanistan in October 2010.

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  • Photojournalist Joao Silva, back in action and back on page one

    By Rich Shulman

    Last October, New York Times photojournalist Joao Silva stepped on a land mine while covering the war in Afghanistan. PhotoBlog posts here and here documented the event. Silva lost both legs, and was taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for treatment.

    Silva started walking on his prosthetic legs in February.

    Yesterday, he covered the closing ceremonies at Walter Reed for the paper; his photo, below, was featured on today's front page.

    The New York Times Lens blog reported this heartwarming story.

    Joao Silva for The New York Times

    Soldiers and guests watch a parachute demonstration by the Golden Knights after the Casing of the Colors ceremony at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Army held a closing ceremony Wednesday, as authorities prepared to move hundreds of patients and vast amounts of equipment to new and refurbished facilities in Maryland and Virginia.

    Jerome Delay / AP

    In this Feb. 2009 photo New York Times photographer Joao Silva is seen while on assignment in Madagascar. Silva was seriously wounded when stepping on a mine while covering US troops in southern Afghanistan it was reported Saturday Oct 23 2010. Silva was evacuated to Kandahar Air Field where he was receiving treatment, the newspaper said in a statement. Silva, who has received several awards for his work, has photographed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, southern Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East. He is the author, with Greg Marinovich, of "The Bang-Bang Club," a chronicle of a group of four photographers covering the violence in South Africa in the 1990s.

  • NYT publishes account of the wounding of photojournalist Joao Silva

    By Stokes Young, nbcnews.com

    The caption for these pictures as they appear on Carlotta Gall's article in The New York Times:

    Wounded by a land mine, Joao Silva, a New York Times photographer, shot three frames before becoming too weak to hold the camera. He lost both of his legs in the explosion. 
     

    Joao Silva / The New York Times via Redux

    Soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 4th Infantry Division react to photographer Joao Silva stepping on a mine in the Arghandab district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on Oct. 23, 2010, in a three-photo combination. For American troops in heavily-mined Afghan villages, steering clear of improvised explosive devices is the most difficult task.

    Read the story here: A Footstep, Then an Explosion and an Urgent Call: ‘Medic!’

    See more pictures from Mr. Silva's memory card from the day of the mine blast at The New York Times' Lens blog. The blog post ends with this editor's note:

    Support Joao Silva Photojournalist has been set up by Greg and Leonie Marinovich, friends of Mr. Silva, to help him and his family as he goes through rehabilitation. Money is being raised through outright donations and the sale of prints by Mr. Silva. 

    Jerome Delay / AP

    In this Feb. 2009 photo New York Times photographer Joao Silva is seen while on assignment in Madagascar.

  • Joao Silva / The New York Times

    In this photo by Joao Silva, a British soldier with the Royal Anglians B Company calls for more ammunition as his comrades fire towards Taliban positions after elements of their company came under fire during a regular patrol in Kajaki, Afghanistan, on July 23, 2007.

    Joao Silva / The New York Times

    In this photo by Joao Silva, a militiaman loyal to the rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr waves his weapon atop a burning American tank after it was destroyed in a clash with the Mahdi Army in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad on Aug. 16, 2004. The U.S. military said the tank's crew escaped.

    Joao Silva / The New York Times

    Sgt. Jesse E. Leach, squad leader of 4th Mobile Assault Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, pulls LCpl. Valdez-Castillo, wounded by a sniper, towards a safer area, Oct. 31, 2006 in Karma, Iraq, in a photo taken by Joao Silva. Valdez-Castillo survived.

    Photographer injured in Afghanistan

    New York Times photographer Joao Silva was severely injured in southern Afghanistan in a landmine explosion on Saturday.

    Silva stepped on a mine while on patrol with U.S. soldiers near the town of Arghandab on Saturday, the Times reported. Silva, 44, was embedded with a Times reporter Carlotta Gall with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division. Silva was evacuated and taken to Kandahar Airfield, an American and NATO base, and then to a military hospital in Germany, according to Chris Hondros (a Getty Images photographer now in Afghanistan) where he was receiving treatment.

    The South African native has photographed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, southern Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East and won many awards for his work. He is also the author with Greg Marinovich of "The Bang-Bang Club," which chronicles four photographers in South Africa in the 1990s. The Digital Filmmaker has a gripping, tragic excerpt from the book on their site, which describes one instance of the toll conflict photojournalism too often claims.

    Our thoughts are with Mr. Silva, his family and his colleagues. Read and see more in the Times' Lens blog.