Life.

It can be neither planned nor arranged to our liking.

We try every day to direct its course and guess the outcome.

But we never really can.

Today I intended to show you a number of photos I shot from a walk about the neighborhood, through the city, and to my work that I make each morning.

These photos are edited and stored and ready to go, but something more important has happened. So those photos will wait until tomorrow.

This morning, I got word that four photojournalists covering the ongoing conflict in Libya have been injured.

Tim Hetherington has died.

Chris Hondros sustained a severe brain injury which resulted in his death.

Guy Martin and Michael Christopher Brown are hurt but expected to survive.

Early reports indicate they were working near the front lines when they were hit by a mortar attack.

Conflict reporters and photojournalists do amazing, necessary work. The conditions are dangerous and demanding, but without these men and women, we wouldn’t have any insight into what goes on on the ground. They are our ears and eyes. They risk their lives to help us understand that our lives can’t be spent in isolation when others are persecuted and treated without dignity.

Hetherington co-directed the war documentary “Restrepo.” This film tells the story of a U.S. Army unit fighting in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. What he did in this documentary exemplified the best sort of work conflict journalists do: make human – and real – the story behind the numbers.

We hear, all too frequently, of troops being killed.

We read reports, all too frequently, of the loss of life due to war and natural disasters.

It’s far too easy to let these reports become just faceless numbers. These journalists try to keep us from doing so.

So, please, next time you open your paper, or browse through a news outlet’s web site, and view the images coming out of these conflict areas, remember that there are men and women on the other side of those photos.

I am heartbroken over this loss. Please join me in praying for the families and friends of Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros, Guy Martin and Michael Christopher Brown.

And all those surrounded and affected by violence and war.

To read more about these photographers, visit these links:

[1] – [2] – [3] – [4] – [5] – [6]