Dith Pran by Charlotte Pritchard. 2007 . Blogfinger.net. Posted 2014.
By Ocean Grover Charlotte Pritchard :
“Do you recognize this former frequent Ocean Grove visitor?
“Dith Pran loved our boardwalk. I once watched a grandmother ask him to take a photo of herself and her grandchildren on the pier: seeing that he had his usual collection of long lenses, she handed him her little point-and-shoot camera. He had trouble figuring out which little button to push. We laughed about his clumsiness with the tiny camera as he handed it back to her. She walked away happy, utterly unaware that her photo had just been taken by the NYTimes photographer and anti-genocide activist whose early years as a war photographer were the basis for a movie—“The Killing Fields.” This photo was taken about a year before he died in 2008.”
charlotte
Editor’s note: Yes Charlotte, I also met Dith Pran one day on the OG boardwalk, near the Pavilion. I recognized him, and we spoke briefly; I photographed him as he photographed others. He seemed like a gentle and kind man, and I remember wondering if anybody else on the boards that day recognized him.
As Charlotte points out, he was a Cambodian journalist who showed great courage during the Khmer Rouge genocide in the 1970’s. He barely survived his ordeal, and many members of his family perished during that era. The movie describes his relationship to Sydney Schamberg, the New York Times reporter covering that story.
I knew that Pran often was assigned to Ocean Grove when the Times wanted some shots from here. Given his amazing story (obtain “The Killing Fields” if you haven’t seen it.) I always thought that it was wonderful that he became a photographer for the NY Times .
Here is the NYT obit. from 2008. Pran died of cancer at age 65. He had been living in New Jersey.
Movie Trailer from “The Killing Fields:”
——Paul Goldfinger, photography editor @Blogfinger