Before

When I came to meet this man, he was at the end of his career.
Thirty-five years in cooperation. He was one of the first. He worked for everybody and everywhere. He met legendary people like Nyerere and the king of Afghanistan.
In those times only mercenaries and missionaries were living in countries like Congo and Cambodia, and so he was in the interesting situation to be considered one of the only objective eye on the spot.
He wrote for dozens of international magazines and, to make more money, also he started to take pictures.
He had thousand of interesting anecdoctes of this era where real adventures where not sold in internet for groups of 8 or more.
And, of course, he was an alcoholic.
Once, after a very heavy shift in Angola, he decided to take a break and, thanks to some friends, he was embarked on a luxury ship cruise as photographer.
"It was great", he told me, we were in a bar in Arusha.
"As part of the staff I could drink for free. And I was the only staff member who was allowed not to be always sober"
"And the pictures?"
"That part was also ok. But never try to work in the darkroom during a storm. Or to pee standing up. Or the two together. But, my god! what a superb whiskey, almost arrogant! And the champagne...friendly as a curious girl...Ah, the first week was memorable..."
"The first week? What then?"
"I start to vomit blood and I had to stop drinking"
"...yeah...there are more funny things to do than vomit blood"
"Of course, but you I did them before"
And his laugh was superb as a whiskey.