Legendary Battle Photographer Says His Negatives Have Been Taken From Him

Legendary struggle photographer Al Rockoff — who was immortalized within the basic film The Killing Fields — has claimed that his historic negatives had been taken from him towards his will in a bitter dispute.

According to a recent report by The New York Times, the disagreement over Rockoff’s negatives facilities on whether or not two males who had been serving to the 77-year-old photographer and organizing his belongings allegedly eliminated his archive along with his consent — or whether or not these negatives had been taken with out correct permission.

Rockoff was a U.S. Army photographer in Vietnam and later a freelancer in Cambodia, spending years documenting the devastation of struggle throughout Southeast Asia. On April 17, 1975, he was among the many few journalists to seize the autumn of Phnom Penh because the Khmer Rouge entered the town. Actor John Malkovich later portrayed Rockoff within the 1984 movie The Killing Fields, broadly regarded right this moment as one of many best movies made about journalism and battle.

‘He Didn’t Want to Make Money Off That Misery’

Rockoff turned recognized for his stark, grisly photographs that conveyed the brutality of struggle. He has by no means closely commercialized these footage or the various he shot throughout repeated returns to Cambodia within the Nineties. In 2000, he held a uncommon print sale in Phnom Penh however in any other case stored his work largely out of the market.

“I am more interested in my pictures than people’s admiration,” he tells The New York Times when requested about promoting or exhibiting his work. “I am not winning a popularity contest.”

“He didn’t want to make money off that misery [of his war photographs],” says Victory Bornas, his ex-wife, who has lengthy acted as a caretaker.

Friends say Rockoff has lengthy resisted outdoors assist in managing or selling his archive. A writer as soon as expressed curiosity in producing a e-book of his work, however he declined, insisting on full management. He has usually mentioned he desires to publish a e-book on his personal phrases earlier than he dies — a challenge he nonetheless hopes to finish.

Doing so would require entry to the hundreds of negatives and slides he stored in plastic circumstances in his rented storage unit. Those photographs sat untouched for many years. More than a yr in the past, nevertheless, the circumstances had been eliminated below circumstances now on the centre of the dispute. By final yr, the storage unit had change into so disorganized that the owner warned it could possibly be a hearth hazard.

According to the report by The New York Times, two males had been aiding Rockoff: Arch Hall Jr., a longtime pal, and Brad Bledsoe. When Rockoff’s well being worsened in early 2023, and he spent every week within the hospital, each males turned closely concerned in each day duties and organizing his dwelling.

“If it was not for me and Arch, he would be dead a year,” Bledsoe tells the information outlet.

The Negatives go ‘Missing’

In early 2024, Hall Jr. and Bledsoe requested Rockoff to signal prints left over from his 2000 exhibition. Bledsoe created an internet site to advertise the work whereas persevering with to assist clear Rockoff’s dwelling. Months later, Rockoff’s ex-wife Bornas says she realized the plastic circumstances containing his negatives had been lacking from his dwelling. She claims she later discovered that Bledsoe had allegedly eliminated them.

According to The New York Times, she wrote in a March e mail: “Bledsoe was able to talk Al into giving him his entire collection of negatives, which Brad now has in his possession.”

Bledsoe denies wrongdoing. He says Rockoff repeatedly requested him to safeguard the photograph archive and act as its caretaker, and that they agreed verbally to share any revenue from future gross sales till Bledsoe recovered his bills.

“Look, I said, ‘A book’s fine, but it’s a lot of work. Let’s start with the website,’” Bledsoe tells the information outlet. “My goal is a comrade-in-arms kind of thing.”

Hall helps Bledsoe’s account: “He begged Brad to save his life’s work because it was in terrible shape,” Hall says.

‘I Didn’t Give Him Anything’

But Bornas says that greater than a yr has handed with out a listing or written settlement outlining how the pictures can be managed or bought. Rockoff has reportedly not filed a grievance or confronted Bledsoe. Friends say his reluctance to ascertain authorized safeguards has left him weak. Bledsoe says there was no time to attract up authorized paperwork and that sorting hundreds of negatives is simply too giant a process to deal with alongside full-time work. He says he’s keen to formalize an settlement however can’t attain Rockoff, claiming others have discouraged contact.

“I have no problem with returning some of Al’s items or all of his items as long as I am compensated for my expenses first, per our agreement,” Bledsoe says.

Rockoff’s ex-wife maintains that he by no means requested Bledsoe to print or promote his pictures. She says she was initially supportive of a modest web site however didn’t anticipate a bigger business challenge involving his total archive.

According to the report, the matter stays unresolved. The web site continues to be on-line, lists no objects on the market, and credit Rockoff because the copyright holder. Bledsoe says that if Rockoff had been to go away, he would preserve the location working till his bills had been lined, then present some proceeds to Bornas earlier than donating the negatives to a museum. For the photographer’s buddies, it stays unsure whether or not Rockoff totally consented or later modified his thoughts, significantly given his reminiscence challenges and PTSD after his time at struggle.

But Rockoff tells The New York Times: “I didn’t give him [Bledsoe] anything. If he has them [the negatives], he has got to give them back.”

The photographer provides: “I have a lot of work to do before I pass on. I will be working at it when I die.”

Image credit: Header photograph licensed by way of Depositphotos.