This image is taken from Michel Setboun’s third book about agencies. Eighty reporters were chosen to comment on one iconic image taken during their careers. The image we’re publishing today is a picture by Scott Thode.
“Don’t bother saying hello!” That’s how Venus accosted me for the first time. For the past two years I had been working on the issue of AIDS. I decided to focus on HIV-positive homeless people living in the streets of New York. This encounter upended my life. When I took the picture, it was a warm evening. Venus undressed and suddenly started dancing in the water flowing out of a fire hydrant. It was an explosion of energy. I realized that I was no longer doing simply journalism. This was the person’s very soul. Venus and I became very close. I got to know her family, and she got to know mine. To the very end she fought off death. At that time in America, people were still afraid that you could catch the virus by shaking someone’s hand. Thanks to JB Pictures, I was able to concentrate on this kind of long-term work. It was a tiny little agency. We were very young, helping each other out, children eager to learn. Today, anybody can take a picture. But getting deeply involved in a report has been lost. We don’t know how to tell a story anymore. After Venus died, it became very difficult, emotionally. I didn’t want to always be on the road anymore. My life changed. I became a publisher. I was no longer the one taking the pictures, but I discovered new ways of telling stories through video montage. What I missed the most was the collective energy I felt at JB Pictures. I still believes in the same values. I never stopped bearing witness to the world that surrounded me. but today I put this idea into practice in new ways.
Interview by Daphné Breytenbach.
