The French photographer Marie-Laure de Decker, who has died aged 75 of heart failure, was one of the first women to gatecrash the male-dominated world of photojournalism. As a young woman she endured being in front of the lens, as a model, to help her meet her goal: to be behind it. She had to fight to succeed, and said: “If you’re a woman you’re never taken seriously.” Yet she reported from the Vietnam war, the struggle for independence in Mozambique, riots in Chile and the oppression of apartheid in South Africa.
She did not photograph the horrors that she witnessed. Instead, she brought her compassionate eye to bear on the victims of conflict: the displaced elderly, combatants in quiet moments, women and children. She said: “I am proud not to show blood. I censor myself as soon as the shot is taken. I have moral principles.”
