Damien Parer
Damien Parer (born August 1, 1912 in Malvern , Melbourne ; † September 16, 1944 in Peleliu , Palau ) was an Australian cameraman and photographer, whose film documentary Was in New Guinea for Australia and New Zealand was decisive for the morale of the troops and yet also the horrors of the war illustrated.
Initially deployed by the Ministry of the Interior for use in the Middle East , Parer was responsible for the technical organization and practical management of the operation for the Australian Imperial Forces in that area.
His subordinate and future friend was the four years younger photographer George Silk , who had no practical documentation experience at all and was originally only hired as a supporting still photographer.
In contrast, Parer has already had a career as a still photographer and cameraman in commercial and civil documentary productions. The contents of the briefing, which your top boss gave you on the way, are passed down through Parer:
- "To build a true picture of the Australian soldier in movie and stills.
- To make good movie single reelers (1 to 10 minutes) showing cause and affect [sic]. Something after March of Time idea why we are here and what we are doing in the long rang perspective as it affects us in Australia.
- To keep newspapers and newsreels supplied with really hot spectacular news. "
According to the practice at the time, “still photographs” were also used from the films themselves for the newspapers , and still photos that Silk made were cut in between in the weekly news reports.
The technical equipment that Parer had bought, consisted of Newman-Sinclair - film cameras , a Graflex and 35 mm Contaxgehäusen that Silk with wide-angle and telephoto lenses began. After both had completed the basic military training of the AIF, both developed a close cooperation in filming and still photography, which should be exemplary for modern war photography.
During this first campaign, the two of them hardly got close enough to the front line , but even here they managed to take a number of candid snapshots that met with a positive response at home. They found themselves in a desert - trench warfare again, draw the hundreds of miles back and forth surged, without giving them the crucial opportunities. At least Parer had the chance to get some high-profile footage of some raid bombing and first worked with ABC reporter Chester Wilmot when they were producing a cover story about the siege of Tobruk .
After a few months, the otherwise reliable Silk developed into a true “accident-prone” in a “positive” sense. When he negligently changed course with his truck , he found himself in the middle of Operation Crusader and the Sidi Rezegh tank battle , i.e. in the middle of the action.
Both Parer and Silk often quarreled with the new head of their unit. Captain Frank Hurley, a camera veteran of the First World War , in Silk's opinion, had absolutely no understanding of the possibilities the compact cameras offered for reporting. The young cameramen loathed Hurley's inclination for posed shots and preferred authentic photos. Neil McDonald admitted that her disapproval of Hurley was a little harsh. In his mid-50s, he was also worried about their safety. On the other hand, Silk and Parer would have been absolutely right in insisting on the effectiveness of the smaller cameras.
In November 1942 Damien Parer and the war correspondent Bill Marien shot the film Men of Timor during the Battle of Timor , which caused a sensation in the allied countries. When both were deployed a little later as a team in the hotly contested New Guinea , both were technically sophisticated war photographers. There Silk was supposed to succeed in his “masterpiece” in December 1942 after the 300-mile forced march of the Kokoda Trail . On a field path, he photographed a blinded Australian soldier with a walking stick, which is being led by the hand of a Papuan . The image, simple but flawless, had such a humanitarian and racial message that the image , which was initially censored, caught the attention of the creators of Life magazine. Soon after, Wilson Hicks hired the New Zealander and published his photograph of the wounded soldier for the first time in March 1943 . The picture later served as the frontispiece in the book "The War in New Guinea: Official War Photographs of the Battle for Australia" , published in Sydney in May of the same year .
Parer, who was seriously ill from dysentery in the meantime , also had disputes with the authorities about payment and image rights after his recovery, so that after some back and forth he was able to accept an offer from Paramount News . While negotiations were still ongoing, Parer was killed on September 16, 1944, the third day of the Battle of Peleliu . He had been using a tank as cover and was going back to film the faces of the marines advancing when a Japanese machine gunner opened fire on him. However, his friend and colleague was supposed to survive the war.
After the war Parer was posthumously awarded high honors. Nevertheless, his widow was refused payment of compensation for the image rights that went beyond the usual warrior's pension , stating that it was not possible to determine without a doubt who had made which of the images and when, and that most of the original prints had been destroyed during the move.
literature
- MacDonald, Neil / Brune, Peter: 200 shots: Damien Parer, George Silk and the Australians at war in New Guinea , St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1999.-x, 197 p., ISBN 1-86448-912 -X
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Parer, Damien |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian cameraman and photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 1, 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Malvern , Melbourne |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 16, 1944 |
| Place of death | Peleliu , Palau |