“João set the standard that we try to follow. João, brother, be strong and get well soon, we're all with you and your family.”

“João is the most courageous, selfless, and commited photographer I've ever come across. I am one of literally thousands of people he's touched.”

“He is the only one with who you can walk in a street, where everything can happen, and to make you laughing. Big and pure soul.”

“You're a legend - a gentle soul with a fierce eye and deft touch, capable of finding the heart in any and every horrific situation.”

“When you're with him, you feel like he'd stand in front of a charging elephant for you.”

João Silva, 44, a South African photographer on contract with The New York Times, stepped on a mine while accompanying American soldiers patrolling an area near the town of Arghandab in southern Afghanistan on October 23rd, 2010. Despite immediate help from medics, both his legs were lost below the knees.

"Those of you who know João will not be surprised to learn that throughout this ordeal he continued to shoot pictures," wrote Bill Keller, the executive editor of The New York Times, in a memo to staff.

João Silva made his name while covering the violent birth pangs of a democratic South Africa. He was a member of the Bang-Bang Club, a group of photographers who documented the Hostel War during the last days of Apartheid. Since he has covered the major conflicts of our time and won numerous awards.