Reaching Out, First-Aid Center During Operation Prairie

This dramatic view of a wounded soldier reaching out to another is a visual icon of the Vietnam War. The complex organization of this image was not a result of mere chance.  Larry Burrows had studied Old Master paintings and tried to replicate their richness and subtlety in his photographs. This knowledge of art history made Burrows especially sensitive to the emotional and pictorial functions of color, which he used to consistently powerful effect.  It was exactly during this period-the mid-1960s-that the illustrated press made a decisive change from black and white to color.