A photojournalist and physician documents his remarkable career.

Trained as a physician and self-taught as a photographer, Matthew Naythons documented many of the most important global and domestic events of his generation. Light In Dark Places encompasses the depth and breadth of his career.

Post-medical school Naythons worked forty-eight-hour emergency room shifts in rural California, which gave him freedom to explore the world of photojournalism as a freelancer, eventually joining Time. He left on a Marine helicopter out of Saigon the morning the city fell, and was the first journalist into the horror of Jonestown, landing after nightfall in a silent dark encampment. He covered the Yom Kippur War, the Nicaraguan revolution, and the United States invasion of Grenada, among other stories.

After photographing the exodus of skeletal Cambodian refugees into Thailand in 1979, Naythons laid down his cameras and returned to his first calling. He founded International Medical Teams, which brought American physicians, nurses, and paramedics across the Thai border into Cambodia.

Matthew Naythons in Nicaragua 1979 with Susan Meiselas. Photo by Alain DeJean, courtesy of Susan Meiselas.

Many of the images in this book bear witness to the aftermath of wars and natural disasters. Yet amid the darkness, his photographs also illuminate luminous moments of life, joy, and hope. “Cameras peer through darkness,” Naythons reflected. “I’ve used mine to shed light in dark places.”

In addition to the photographs, the book includes an autobiographical essay by Naythons. A foreword by Judith Thurman, an introduction by Jon Lee Anderson, and an afterword by Don Carleton, all further serve to put Naythons’s life and career in historical context.

Nicaraguan Revolution

Presented by The Reva and David Logan Gallery of Documentary Photography

at UC Berkeley Journalism

The event is free to the public, but please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Jim Marshall Fellowship, which provides support for outstanding graduate students who use photography in their work.

Reception: 5:30 — 6:30 pm
Presentation + Q&A with Professor Ken Light: 6:30 pm — 8:00 pm
Venue: North Gate Hall Courtyard (reception) & Logan Multimedia Center (presentation)
RSVP here.