It was sad to hear of the passing of photojournalist Tom Stoddart. His death, from cancer, at the age of sixty-eight was a shock to most. A globetrotter who covered some momentous events (Princees Di, the fall of the Berlin Wall, wars in Iraq and Lebanon, the election of Nelson Mandela, the siege of Sarajavo) his pictures helped represent significant moments of history. He was also a supporter of Hull International Photography Festival and attended and spoke about his work there. An open, approachable Tynesider happy to share his work and memories.

His family rightly said "Tom touched the lives of so many as a brilliant, compassionate, courageous photographer whose legacy of work will continue to open the eyes for generations. He gave voice to those who did not have one and shone a light where there had been darkness."

He published for Getty, Time Magazine and The Sunday Times amongst other international publications over four decades.

Born in Morpeth, Northumberland, he was the son of a farm worker, Tom’s moral compass was obtained from his mother and his headmaster at the mixed comprehensive school he attended in the fishing village of Seahouses. At 17, Tom saw an advertisement in the Berwick Advertiser for a photographer. He had shown an aptitude in English classes at school and saw the Berwick Advertiser as a potential platform to build a career as a reporter.  Following a successful interview and after an assignment photographing on location at a Women’s Institute party, he knew photography was for him, rather than written reportage.

In The Art Newspaper his friend and fellow photographer  Peter Dench wrote, "I first met him in 2000, when I joined the Independent Photographers Group photo-agency which Tom was part of. For some unfathomable reason, he took an interest in me and my career. He has been a constant guide ever since. He was never a father figure; he was far more than that. He was to me, and I suspect many others, a Godfather of photography. He once told me: “Pete, there’s no such thing as a guardian angel. There’s stupidity, experience, and luck, and I got lucky, very, very early”.

In 2012, 78 of Stoddart's signature images were put on display outside City Hall, on the South Bank of the Thames. Around a quarter of a million visitors, many of whom were in town for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, are estimated to have witnessed the exhibition. Success for Tom was judged by public response. “The best feeling was to be unrecognisable among the work and listen to the comments,” he once told me. “I want to show people things that they thought they knew about.”

His 2002 book "iWitness" covers many of the startling and newsworthy images he took during the twentieth century (it is out of print but there are copies on ebay) and his more recent book "Extraordinary Women" (2020) with a foreword by Angelina Jolie, shows his powers of observation and celebration of the resilience of women. His work will remain a source of both inspiration to photographers and witness to future historians.