A tribute to Dmitry Chebotayev

Sergie: Here is my written contribution for the Book on Dima. I’ll write you an email later today….

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Птица известна ее полетом…..

we begin and end in dream but through the course of our waking we are not dream but flesh and bone and blood, weighted down by life’s gravity and time’s urgency, born into and back by the way in which we carry our lives and our actions. Though we cannot, not ever, know this life and this world, it, sometimes majestically and sometimes horribly, knows us all too well. How to measure this unfathomable inequality?: to, without certainty and assuredness, without footing and buckles, to extract from the life what it has given up and to share that experience with others. To sing the dark with rhyming and light. Dima’s life and work are a testament to this. His brave and unyielding work in Urkraine and in Chetnya are ballasts by which we can measure our own understanding of place and people’s whose lives have been rendered harshly. My wife, just last week, spoke of the honesty and “beauty” (in the humanistic sense) of his work and that it was clear that his compass pointed toward the undestanding, the noble witnessing of that life and for those who had lived through those difficult times and places. Dima’s work and his character as a person are rhymes by which, all of us can take inside ourselves, swallow them inside our cold and wearied bodies and allow them to sing inside the place of darkness into which we all so often feel trapped.

That he shall remain among his friends and family, not in the relm of dreams but in the life surrounding. Like all sources of light, Dima and his work shall not pass beneath this temporary cloak of darkness and will be folded back and will emerge corona-spark and unyielding.

The deepest and most personal condolences for Dima’s family, friends and loved ones from our family…..

мы – с Вами…....

bob and marina…

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Я был только чем, чего

ты касалась ладонью,

над чем в глухую, воронью

ночь склоняла чело.

Я был лишь тем, что ты

там, внизу, различала:

смутный облик сначала,

много позже – черты.

Это ты, горяча,

ошую, одесную

раковину ушную

мне творила, шепча.

Это ты, теребя

штору, в сырую полость

рта вложила мне голос,

окликавший тебя.

Я был попросту слеп.

Ты, возникая, прячась,

даровала мне зрячесть.

Так оставляют след.

Так творятся миры,

так, сотворив, их часто

оставляют вращаться,

расточая дары.

Так, бросаем то в жар,

то в холод, то в свет, то в темень,

в мирозданьи потерян,

кружится шар.

—ю. бродсKий

Our sincere condolences. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Dear Sergey

Thanks you to this thread.
My most sincere apologies and condolences to friends and family.

I emailed you last night Bangkok time.
Please help to have his story “Chechnya – blind radio hamhttp://www.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000lj.LYbWKLsQ” contribution to our online magazine as I and Dmitry have planned just few days back.
I can’t tell what support or help would come though at least that was his wish, which should be accomplished to tribute his work.

email me g.youme@gmail.com

youme.

Hi Sergey, please accept my most sincere condolences to friends and family.
My backgroud is in web design, so if I can help with anything please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards
Shayne.

Dear Sergey,

Very sad, One of friend youme just send me his link few days ago.I am felling very sad.My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Regards,
Wasif

Dear Sergey,

I am very, very sorry for your loss.

Try the Rory Peck Trust at http://www.rorypecktrust.org/ for your project. Perhaps they may be able to help: info@rorypecktrust.org

I also emailed you the information. Hope this helps some, or at least can give you some direction for Dima’s project.

Gayle

Sergey,

my condolences to you and Dmitry Chebotayev’s family and friends. May his soul rest peacefully in the cradle of God’s hands. My sincerest sympathies for your loss.

Lisa Hogben

Дима, ты пошел туда где свет по-лучше, что и собственно определает настоящий фотограф…

A good photographer always goes to where the light is better…

Dear Sergey,

I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. I never knew him, but would come across his LS picture jigging with a dog and always smiled, assuming he was a character. senseless. like everything else that is happening in Iraq….

ps. .I never saw his images from chechnya. I have a circassian cousin who runs a charity for chechen orphanages….(based in London, but very active in grozny) she has carried out advocacy and fundraising with stanley greene’s work. maybe she could use dmitry’s work, if he shot children/orphans….just to keep his work out there—to be seen, to continue to inspire….anyway, let me know if there is anything that I can do. habjouqa@gmail.com

Dear sergey,
i didn´t know dmitry personnaly, just had some email contact with him this winter. nevertheless his advice helped me a lot. i couldn´t believe it when i heard from his dead in the first moment, he is just about my age… well, i just want to say that he was a very competent and helpfull guy, a big loss.

with permission from Carlo Montali:

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Nothing personal

Photographer Dmitry Chebotayev died this weekend in Iraq. Killed by a roadside bomb while riding with US soldiers. I did not know him very well, just well enough to take it a little bit personal.

Before collaborating with WpN, Dmitry had contributed to my former agency, Reflex News. I remember an eager person, always willing to help, always trying to make things work, very cheerful. When I joined WpN, I was glad to find him again. The last time I spoke with him, it was around ten days ago. We had a conversation that was unfortunately too brief, cut off by bad reception after a few minutes. I sent him an email and skype message, but never had time to hear back from him.

Now he is gone. Roadside bomb. Just like that, nothing personal.

My thoughts go to members of the press, fellow journalists and photojournalists who risk their lives, and sanity, everyday, somewhere. I cannot question the desire to cover events, it is innate, comes with the territory. I cannot stop our contributors to go to nasty places either. So what, then? Maybe say “be careful”, but even so, that seems so weak.

Still, be careful.

My thoughts also go to the unwilling victims of conflicts, all those who had the bad luck to be born at the wrong place at the wrong time. War is an absurd business, so 20th century.

But, most importantly, my thoughts are with the parents and sister Dmitry left behind. How unbelievably painful it must be for a mother to be still alive, with her child dead. It is not meant to happen that way, not like that.

Nothing personal. This is why we must always cherish life and never forget the extra hug to loved ones.

This week WpN starts an exhibition to honor seven prized photographers. On Wednesday there is a party at the gallery, attended by some of these photographers. On that occasion, we all will have a special thought for Dmitry.

Carlo Montali

Editorial Director

World Picture Network – WpN

carlo expressed it beautifully, my thoughs are with dmitri’s family and friends.

I only spoke to him once on LS, I don’t want to make an uninformed remark of what kind of person he was. But from other friends’ and photographers’ comments, he sounds like a beautiful person doing a beautiful thing for other people. I’ll always have a huge amount of respect for Dmitry and others like him.

I feel sad for his family and girlfriend’s loss, as well as your own Sergey. I’ll be following the progress of the possible website and book closely.

The power of a picture,
every morning as I check into LS and I am greeted by the amusing picture of Dmitri dodging the obviously ferocious hound, the picture hasn’t lost its meaning but I am no longer able to smile.
We only met a couple of times; the first time he needed no other excuse to call me when in Damascus than being fellow LS, it was only a few months ago, one of those people you meet and immediately want to be friends with, a nice bloke.
I think Mark Seager wrote earlier about keeping politics out of a tribute to a friend and colleague, he is of course right, somehow though I cant help feeling angry as well as sad, war is never justified but this one even less so, I have cried before over this war and I am crying now.
A nice bloke who did what he had to do who will be sadly missed.

bump up, please

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070508/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_journalist_killed

I was looking at Dmitry’s photos on the net and found this thread and signed up here so I could post. I was with him when he died and I just wanted to say he was a truly amazing person and I will never forget him. Its hard to believe he is not here, that one minute we were joking and the next he was gone. I’m leaving baqouba tonite but now i am in a small trailer with two beds, one he used to sleep in. Now it is empty. I met him at CPIC in baghdad and he showed me online pictures from the Diyala river valley from Time magazine and we agreed that Diyala was the place to be. He went on an embed in Baghdad and I sent him the contacts for Baqouba, and he joined me up here soon after. I did not know him as well as many of you may have, but we became close these last days. Last week he went out with the 3rd platoon and I went out with the 2nd. We came back earlier than him and I kept asking the guys: where is the 3rd? Where is he? I walked away in the dark wondering where he was and if he was okay and a few minutes later saw his goofy silhouette walking down the road toward me. I was so happy to see him, to see how his day was and compare notes. After that we went out together because we agreed it was always better to have a friend along. He will truly be missed.

When people leave this world, we tend to say great things about them, in Dmitry’s case we can never say enough!
I had the pleasure to meet Dmitry when he came to Beirut last November for a week, with his sweet girlfriend… I remember Sergey telling me he gave my number to his 2 friends coming to Lebanon; he sent me Dima’s photo with the dog just to show me how he looked like… When I got it, I started laughing… Couldn’t see his face but told Sergey I will be looking for a photographer dodging a dog…
The first contact I had with Dmitry was when he called from Damascus to tell me they were arriving in Beirut later that afternoon. After 1 minute of talking he was already making jokes and both of us were laughing…
The few days I spent with Dmitry and Natalya, I felt I was with very good friends… We shared lots of laughter and I discovered he, as well as Natalya, was an amazing person in so many ways…

-A talented and ambitious photographer: During his stay in Beirut, a leader was assassinated… Dmitry rushed to take pictures at the hospital packed with mourning followers… the next day I received a message from him, his pictures were published in the New York Times… Two days later he covered the funeral and I get another message from him, a French magazine had asked for an exclusive usage of his photographs.. He was extremely happy and wanted to celebrate.. Dmitry was already dreaming of visiting the Middle East for future assignments.. He already wanted to go to Iraq!!

-A surprisingly generous colleague; I was having a late lunch with Dima and Natalya once, talking about future plans, photography, work, ambitions… It was my last day at AP and I was exhausted, depressed, confused, and horrified by the war and its aftermath… Dima asked for my notebook, grabbed it and started writing his name and contact details… After that he started writing some of the agencies I should check, contacts details for editors of Russian magazines, etc. he told me he will tell them about me as soon as he gets to Russia… I was surprised for having someone I hardly knew who wanted to help so much!!

-A caring friend: After Dima and Natalya left Lebanon, we stayed in touch… I was always getting those nice and warm text messages from him, asking if I was doing fine, sending me his best from both of them… Earlier this year, 2 days’ riots led to killing and injuring hundreds of people, the country was in such a mess we had a curfew, the first since the horrible civil war… my mobile beeped… It was Dima, telling me they are watching the news, both very worried about me, asking me if I need any help and that I was always welcome to go and spent some time in Russia until everything calms down and begging me to stay safe and a good girl :)

-An exceptional partner to Natalya: I got to know the cutest couple I’ve ever met… Dmitry appreciated Natalya to the point that his favorite topic was talking about her, in her presence!!! He told me how they met, how he still wonders sometimes how a girl like her ended up being his girlfriend! He appreciated her like a treasure and well I learned yesterday he used to call her “His Flower.” He was so proud in November that she was starting her new job.

When Sergey sent me the message at 3 am Monday, telling me Dmitry was killed I couldn’t stop crying… I couldn’t believe it… I couldn’t sleep… I kept thinking that Sergey would send me a message later telling me they were mistaken and that Dima is fine. I woke up the second day and kept asking Sergey are you sure, are you sure?! Until it was confirmed… It was the saddest day I am sure for all… We hear everyday of people, journalists, photographers and troops being killed, but when it comes to people we know, our world seems to stop for a while…

I just can’t even imagine how broken hearted his parents and Natalya are… Especially his father and mother, how unbelievably painful it must be for them to lose their child, I just pray for them to find strength to survive his memory…

My sincere condolences to all of those who knew him and appreciated his existence…

My condolences to the family… This was a young man… Too much of this is happening… It should stop!
Peace
Pierre Alozie

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Andy Levin has just announced on another post that the LS projection for the FOB festival will include Dima’s work and that the projection is being dedicated (along with Ajmal) to Dima.

I am certain that Dima’s parents and girlfriends and friends are supportive and very proud.

thanks so much to Andy.

bob

Oh every time I read these posts I just want to cry. When will we as a species of creatures ever learn how much collateral damage is done when an act of agression takes place.

I never knew Dmitry Chebotayev but I know many of the people who are grieving for him now. As Bob Black has said in the past we are all connected by our ‘Songlines’

My ‘Songlines’ lie in the beach and the desert and the mountains in the vastness of this country, but those harmonies can flow over the rocks and the sea and float through the air into the hearts of others all over the world.

Now there is a keening I can hear for the passing of this young man innocent of all things and just an advocate for the truth. The sad, sad song of his mother who will never have another ‘Dima’, the hollow tones of his friends as they write to tell of what a lovely human being he ‘was’.

I am so sorry for all of Dmitry Chebotayev’s friends and family and for all of the losses of this stupid, senseless war.

Its time for brave people now to stand up and say ‘No More.’ That is the power we have as photojournalists. Lets keep this young man’s memory unsullied by the stupidity of politicians. Say ‘No more, War’ at your next election.

My heart goes out to this talented photojournalist’s family and friends and particularly to his girlfriend. I hope they will also get to read Heidi Levine’s thread/words entitled simply: Dmitry Chebotayev because she met him on one of the last days of his life and knowledge of that time can mean a great deal to those grieving. His bio pic with the dog will hold special meaning for me.

Love, peace and respect to him. And to all those seeking the truth around the world in whatever form. Take the best care possible – ALL of you, wherever you are.

Jenny

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