Tributes flow for renowned Kiwi photojournalist

CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth, 1951-2010. Photo / Otago Daily Times

With her jet-black hair, black eyeliner, black clothes and combat boots, Margaret Moth certainly made a powerful first impression.

The former Dunedin television camerawoman who went on to capture some of CNN's most dramatic war images died of cancer today in the US.

She was 59.

Moth became internationally famous when she was was badly wounded while reporting on the Sarajevo conflict in 1992. She was shot in the face, a near-fatal injury, but one which she recovered from after a long battle.

Later, she became terminally ill with cancer.

"She had the ability to face any situation", said close friend Barrington West, a Wellington photographer.

"Her life is unrepeatable in what she achieved and what she saw as a camera operator. You can't even go there. She must have seen so much. She must have seen things in an intimate way that most of us wouldn't even want to know about."

But her upbringing, in Gisborne had been "fairly ordinary", Mr West said.

"It was a normal New Zealand childhood. It was once she graduated from university and she became the first woman employed by TVNZ as a camera operator - she made the most of that small step.

"From a very early age she decided she would pursue a life that was her own on a day-to-day basis. She was straightforward about what life had to offer and she basically achieved it all in a very big way. It's probably the equivalent of several people's lives."

Moth had devoted herself completely to work, Mr West said. She never got married or had children.

"As a New Zealander she represented us so well. She was at the top of her field of international news gathering.

"Her life was a one-off. Look at the dangerous situations she was in. She probably had many, many close escapes. But she kept going back.

"We probably haven't heard the last of her."

Mr West became Moth's skydiving partner after they met in Dunedin.

Newstalk ZB's Danny Watson, who worked with Moth in Dunedin for seven or eight years, said she had broken new ground as one of the first women camera operators, and travelled through "quite conservative parts of New Zealand" wearing a full black dress, challenging everyone she met - in pubs, on the street - on every issue.

"She had views on anything. Quite often she would just be contrary just for the fun of it.

"She challenged people in the establishment. She was not only one of the first women camera operators ... it was the way she dressed and just her demeanor. It was incredible to watch."

Moth had had a great eye for action, which clearly served her well reporting from war zones at CNN, Watson said.

Moth made her mark in Dunedin in the late 1970s as an intrepid camerawoman, a fearless skydiver and an enthusiastic bell ringer.

Pilot Mike Caldwell used to fly her up to Dunedin skies. He said there had been no skydiving club in town - Moth just approached pilots directly, a very unusual sight at the time, particularly for a woman.

She asked to be taken out even in blustery northwesterly winds to altitudes of up to 12,000 feet, from where she could have no idea where she would land, he said.

"She always maintained she wasn't a risktaker. She might have been right, but she certainly used to push the boundaries."

Moth stood out for her philosophy, to get the most out of life, Caldwell said.

"She had an unusual way of standing out. She wasn't a person on a pedestal - she stood out because she stood up. She was a small person who made an impact. She was different and that's why she stood out.

"Even though she only wore black she was a very colourful person."

Moth died of a terminal cancer, which she had learned about months ago. She told a CNN documentary she "would have liked to have gone out with a bit more flair".

But Moth's death - even if not on a battlefield - has many people taking notice anyway.

"The flair that she wanted was probably not in the style that she wanted, but she got it just the same. [Though] I think she probably would have liked to have gone out with more colour," Caldwell said.

Her Television New Zealand supervisor, Paul Donovan, recalled the country's first female television news camera operator as a "lovable rogue", the Otago Daily Times reported.

"She never did anything naughty, but she often just pushed boundaries with a twinkle in her eye."

CNN produced a video of her news camera work in war zones, both before and after being shot in the jaw by a sniper. Entitled Fearless, it details her approach to danger.

In the video, she says she was always very careful.

"I think some people are really brave. Some people are cowards. Most of us sort of fit somewhere in between and I guess I just think of myself like that."

Donovan remembers the day she changed her name from Margaret Wilson to Margaret Gipsy Moth.

"I recall her saying she in fact wanted to change it to Tiger Moth but it wasn't allowed... she loved the Tiger Moth aircraft."

Ms Moth says in the video she wanted to change her name because "every class, when you grew up, there were at least three Margarets".

"I thought, why should I have to live with my father's name? Why can't I have my own name?"

Donovan said her hair was always jet black, and she wore black clothes and eye make-up.

When she lived in a Serpentine Rd flat, she would collect kindling wood from beneath nearby trees.

"I remember her with great glee one day telling us that some kids had seen her this night and run in fear saying `There's a witch, there's a witch'."

Moth was passionate about skydiving and passionate about shooting news, Donovan said.

"She always wanted to have an action-packed life. She always wanted to live life to the max. That was always her philosophy. She wanted to pack as much into her life as she possibly could."

In a 1976 Evening Star interview, Moth said she loved her job.

"Some people work with words, others with pictures; I can talk anybody into anything, but I can't express myself in writing."

Born in Gisborne, Moth said she had initially wanted to be a mechanic but she could not get an apprenticeship.

"It was the first time I realised that being female is a handicap."

She attended the University of Canterbury, where she specialised in film and photography before coming to Dunedin as the first news camerawoman in New Zealand.

On July 23, 1992, Moth created world headlines when she was shot in the jaw while travelling through Sarajevo with a CNN news team.

The Serbian sniper bullet that did hit Moth while she was traveling along "sniper alley" in Sarajevo shattered her jaw, blew out her teeth and destroyed a portion of her tongue.

"My face, it felt like my face was falling off. I remember, I was trying to hold it on.

"I knew I had to keep calm and I knew I had to stay conscious: `If I go unconscious, I will stop breathing'."

She later said that the injury left her forever sounding "like she was drunk".

News reports suggested she might not survive, but two years later, after much reconstructive surgery, she went back to her job in Sarajevo.

CNN reporting legend Christiane Amanpour paid tribute to Moth today.

She "led the complete life," Amanpour said. "I don't think Margaret could ever look back and say, 'What if?' She did it to the max, and she did it brilliantly. And she did it on her terms", CNN reported today.

Moth was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago and entered a hospice in Rochester, Minnesota, early last month.

She said in her video: "I would have liked to have gone out with a bit more flair but I feel I can die with dignity. I don't think it matters how long you live, so long as you can say: 'I've gotten everything out of life'."

- Otago Daily Times, nzherald staff