[April 20, 2010]

In February of this year, my home country, Chile, was hit by an 8.8 Earthquake and later on, a tsunami. Many people  lost their homes or died as a result of it.   All of the important media from around the world  gathered there to record the results of this catastrophe. Out of all those images, there was one that stood out and became the icon of the relief effort. TV and print media used this photograph to infuse hope in the Chilean people,  but also used it  to raise funds for humanitarian actions. Since day one, I was touched by this image, maybe because  Chile is my country and I felt the loss. Today I want to share my interview with the experienced photographer who shot this famous photo. He is one of the best photojournalists in Chile and has worked for the Associated Press since 1997.

This is the story behind the photograph that touched a country… “The man with the Flag”.

“Let’s start talking about your iconic photograph from the earthquake in Chile…

How it happen? How did you get there and get that shot? Do you remember how it all happened?”

” About this photograph, named by the media and people as ‘The man with the flag,’ let me tell you that this was part of the news coverage of the mega-quake that shocked the central area of Chile with an 8.8 intensity. The day before of the earthquake, February  27th, I was on my way back to Santiago from Southern Chile, after spending vacation with my  wife and two children. That day we stopped in Talca (one of the most damaged cities ) because we wanted to visit my wife’s grandma before getting back to work. It was about 3:40 a.m. when the quake happened… the hours afterward were completely filled with chaos and uncertainty. All the services, such as power, communications, and water were not working, so the first thing to do was to take care of my family so that I could go out and work.

An hour after the quake, I was walking on Talca’s streets and I saw entire blocks of houses collapsed and in the middle of a thick darkness. From there , I took my first shots of the earthquake.  I worked in Talca until 5 p.m. Saturday the 27th.

I had to wait there until I could get a Sat-phone that someone else was bringing from Santiago, because I knew that there was no other way to communicate or send my images to the AP.

On Sunday the 28th, at 1:30 a.m., I got to a small fishing town call Pelluhue, that we heard got hit by a tsunami. At that time, was almost impossible to do anything because there was a thick fog.  Visibility was no more than 20 feet. About 7 a.m. I was working in the company of Victor Ruiz (Reuters Photographer) and Juan Carlos Romo (Photographer for “El Mercurio”), when the visibility started to get better.   What we saw at that moment confirmed the evidence of a tsunami. The whole town was destroyed, and very few people were walking around what was left of it. About an hour after we got there, at 8:55 a.m. according to the metadata of my camera, I saw a man digging and taking something out of the earth about 80 meters from where I was.   After a few seconds, I  realized that was a flag. I was still too far away for a good shot, so I hurried up, and when I was  close enough, I took that shot.  At that moment, the man looked up,  turned towards me, stood up, unfolded the flag, and  showed it to my camera. I only shot three frames, all the same, only one was sharper than the others.”

What’s the story behind the man in the photo?

“ Bruno Sandoval is an artisan who had been working in that little town, with his fiancee’, mom, and friends since December 2009. The day when the earthquake and tsunami happened, Bruno and his fiancee’ were in another town, about 80 miles from Pelluhue. Right after the catastrophe, Bruno traveled to his town, with the hope of finding his mom and friends alive. He got there the same day as me, the 28th. and he found out that his people were fine. After he discovered this, he went to the place where I photographed him. He was renting a house by the beach, where he kept all his belongings, money, and car; stuff that he was saving through his work during that summer season. Unfortunately, the house was no longer there so he was walking and searching the beach for his stuff, but without success. He was doing that when he saw something ‘red’ buried in the sand. While he was pulling this ‘thing’ from the sand, he realized that was a dirty, muddy, and torn Chilean flag. Later, according to his words, looked at it, shook it,  and then he saw me running toward him, so he lifted it up and showed it to my camera.”

How do you feel about the fact that this photo became an icon for all the fundraising organizations, government, TV, and most importantly, the Chilean people?

” The photo of ‘The man with the flag’ was the 7th photo that I sent that day. When I sent it in, I never imagined that it would be chosen as the icon for hope in the middle of this catastrophe, but about 2 days later, I started to hear about what was happening with this image.

It surprised me, big time , with the effect that photo caused, but even more than that, I was surprised that it was used for good. The photo was quickly used as a symbol for hope, and from that point on, it got used by TV, Internet, flyers, posters, magazines, newspapers, etc.

As photographers, we always have a utopian belief that the world can change with what we capture. This photograph did not change the world, but, without a doubt, it became an ‘act’ of reflexion/thinking about the capacity of human beings for getting over  a hardship; to keep going on; and a way of “rescuing” the spirit in a tragedy such as this one.

I think, and I have been only a witness to this, that Bruno Sandoval is the real “author” of this document and the message that it carries.”

What was the most difficult part of covering this earthquake? How was it, to work in the middle of those circumstances?

” The most difficult part of this tragedy was to be part of it; to experience it with your own family. We were vulnerable.  We could have died, as many people did. But, the other difficult part was to leave my family behind. I had to go and work. That afternoon my son Diego was still in shock, and when I had to say good bye to him, he approached me and he was begging and crying  not to leave them. That was hard. Sincerely, many things went through my mind.  I questioned how necessary it was to leave home and leave my family in the middle of the chaos.

That never happened before,  so that was, by far, the most difficult thing. “

Is there any “secret” advice perhaps, for capturing a moment like this one? What do you think was a key for you?

” I can attest, there’s no formula for this. Since I shot this photo, I have thought a lot about how wrong we are in our approach to our images. It seems that we live our lives looking for certain photographs, that unknowingly, most of the time, serve our personal egos as photographers. We are paying attention to aesthetics, but not to the content, and we waste out lives pursuing this. Those images never get to establish a contact between the people and what we photograph. That’s exactly the opposite in ‘The man with the flag’ picture.

There can be many critiques of this photograph. I’m sure that I’d receive letters from photographers (If I ask for), commenting that it is not a great picture, or even worse, that it is a bad picture. But then again, that type of discussion appeals to our egos; not to how it is received by the common people, who at the end, are the ones who look at our photos. I’m learning a lot about this occurrence, because “technically better” is not always the most important thing. “

Now, let’s talk about your career.

Who has been an inspiration for your photography? How do you keep inspired? Do you read Blogs?

” In this vast and giant world of photography, there are many photographers in which you can find inspiration, from the masters such as W.E. Smith, Robert Frank, Jousef Koudelka, Cartier-Bresson, Sergio Larrain, to the modern photographers that are infinite, and that I for sure will forget to mention here. I believe you can always find inspiration in the work of many other photographers, but you cannot imitate them well enough. It’s kind of a school with endless information; where to learn how to see and observe. Although, I do want to mention some Chilean photographers that I admire: Sergio Larrain, Marcelo Montecinos, Tomas Munita, and Claudio Perez.”

What are the characteristic of a good photographer in the type of work you do.

” In the case of a photojournalist for the Associated Press, it is essential to have the capacity to “roll with the punches” ; to shoot, no matter the  diversity of circumstances that you face in this job. You need to be good and flexible as a photographer, so that you’d to be able to shoot, whether in a catastrophe or in a sporting event, for example. You have to know how to handle different situations.

Over the years, I have learned that you need to be able to manage yourself with different technologies. But you also need to know how to tell a story and manage the logistic that are required.  I think the photographers from agencies such as AP, have a wider “freedom” to evolve than in a newspaper, per se. You get to choose the topic to cover and all the logistics that it requires. “

Where did you get your vision for photography? How did you get here?

” It started when I was a child and is based on daily experiences with my father, who performed a lot of different jobs as a photographer to keep his vocation alive. Photography was part of our family, day after day.  I saw it running through us. On the weekends, I spent a lot of time with my dad in the darkroom, processing rolls in black & white. I did not understand what was happening; I was just standing there in that darkroom, impress by how images were appearing from nothing on those papers.

My relationship with photojournalism started as an accident, because I never thought about dedicating my life to this. I studied photography, and right after that, got an internship with an important newspaper. There, my path in photojournalism started. “

Last question,

How long have you been photographer? Who have you work for?

“I started in 1991, the year of my internship at La Nacion newspaper. From 1993 till 1996 I worked for La Epoca newspaper, and then in 1997 for La Tercera newspaper. Since December 1997, I have worked for the Associated Press. As a photojournalist, I have cover all kinds of events, such as politics, news, international, sports, etc. “