Terence Sumner Kirk, a former World War II prisoner of war who built a pinhole camera from cardboard scraps and used smuggled-in photo supplies to snap photographs of fellow malnourished Marines, has died. He was 89.
Risking a certain death sentence if he was caught by Japanese soldiers, Mr. Kirk built a pinhole camera from scraps of cardboard and used smuggled-in photo supplies to snap priceless photographs of prison life so the horrors could not be forgotten.
Continue reading at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Kirk wrote a book about his experience, The Secret Camera, which is available for US $30 from Owl Wise Publishing.
This is exactly why photography isn’t only good for art or family keepsakes, but can have a huge social impact. Don’t you think that Holocaust-deniers would have an easier time of it without photography? The officers who beat Rodney King? Tiananmen Square? The right to photograph and video is important!
Via Pinhole Visions