George Rodger
George Rodger (1908-24 July 1995) was a British photojournalist noted for his work in Africa and for taking the first photographs of the death camps at Bergen-Belsen at the end of the Second World War.
Born in Hale, Cheshire, Rodger went to school at St. Bees College then joined the British Merchant Navy and sailed around the world. While sailing, Rodger wrote accounts of his travels and taught himself photography to illustrate his travelogues. However, he was unable to get his travel writing published; after a short spell in America, where he failed to find work during the Depression, he returned to Britain in 1936. In London he was fortunate to find work as a photographer for the BBC's The Listener magazine, which was followed in 1938 by a brief stint working for the Black Star Agency.
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Rodger had a strong urge to chronicle the war. His photographs of the Blitz gained him a job as a war correspondent for Life magazine. He covered the war in West Africa extensively and towards the end of the war followed the allied liberation of France, Belgium and Holland.
Most notably, Rodger was the first photographer to enter the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen in 1945. His photographs of the few survivors and piles of corpses were published in Life and Time magazines and were highly influential in showing the reality of the death camps. Rodger later recalled how, after spending several hours at the camp, he was appalled to realise that he had spent most of the time looking for graphically pleasing compositions of the piles of bodies lying among the trees and buildings.
This traumatic experience lead Rodger to conclude that he couldn't work as a war correspondent again. Leaving Life, he travelled throughout Africa and the Middle East.
In 1947, Rodger became a founder member of Magnum Photos and over the next thirty years worked as a freelance photographer, taking on many expeditions and assignments to photograph the people, landscape and nature of Africa. Much of Rodger's photojournalism in Africa was published in National Geographic as well as other magazines and newspapers.
Life
- George Rodger was born Then his father decided to withdraw Rodger from highschool when he was seventeen because of his behavior and he started to work on a farm. After a few monotonous months,Rodger took his life in a new direction when he boarded a cargo ship to the Middle East, only the beginning of his international travels. Rodger began taking pictures at fifteen, but his true ambition was to become a writer.
Work
Rodger traveled to the United States in 1929, but life was hard during the Great Depression and he managed by working at several factories and farms. Then in 1935 he returned to England where he found a position in BBC's magazine, The Daily Telegraph, for a photographer. He photographed the German Bombings of Londong in 1940 and it was after that that he became friends with Robert Capa, Hans Wild, and Bill Vandivert. Following, LIFE magazine hired him and he began to explore .....He was drawn to Africa and he photographed the Berger Belson concentration camp in 1945 a few days after the liberation of Germany. Those images continued to haunt him for 45 years.
- During WWII he worked as a LIFE correspondent in 61 countries. He returned to Africa another 15 times to make documentarious of several tribes. Finally in 1947, Robert Capa founded the new photography agency, Magnum,with only Rodger, Cartier-Bresson, and David Seymour. Later Bill Vandivert and his wife, Rita, were added.
Legacy
Publications
- Rodger, George. Humanity and Inhumanity.1994.London:Phaidon Press.ISBN 0714831654 ISBN 978-0714831657
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
External links
- Magnum biography
- (French)Sample portfolio of Rodger's WWII photographs
- Brunei Gallery, sample of Rodger's African photographs
- The Nuba Mountains Homepage
Credits
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