Others were self-taught civilians, many of whom anonymously sent their films to news agencies.
Many of these photographs are rarely seen, even in Vietnam.
So in the early 1990s, he started tracking down the surviving photographers.
Niven started off with the official channels and the government news agency.
Many of the surviving ones he interviewed didn’t even know each other.
Niven recovered thousands of images, many of which were still in negatives never printed.
There was one photographer, actually a reporter who had a camera.
Many photographers worked in very difficult and dangerous conditions.
For flash photography, some used gunpowder from rifle cartridges and set a match to it.
For us, one photo was like a bullet, said Nguyen Dinh Uu, one of the photographers.
A guerrilla in the Mekong Delta paddles through a mangrove forest defoliated by Agent Orange.
The Americans denuded the landscape with chemicals to deny cover to the Viet Cong.
Image: Le Minh Truong/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
1972.
From here in the mangrove swamps of the Mekong Delta, forwarding images to the North was difficult.
“Sometimes the photos were lost or confiscated on the way,” said the photographer.
Image: Vo Anh Khanh/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
1974.
Militia members sort through the debris of an American plane downed by small-arms fire in the Hanoi suburbs.
U.S. planes targeted Hanoi industrial sites, but most industries were relocated to the countryside.
Image: Doan Cong Tinh/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
1972.
Guerillas guard an outpost on the Vietnam-Cambodia border protected by poisoned bamboo punji stakes.
Sharpened then hardened with fire, punji stakes were often hidden where enemy soldiers would step on them.
Viet Cong meet the enemy face-to-face, most likely in the Mekong Delta or Plain of Reeds.
Image: Hoang Mai/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
April 30, 1975.
“Decades of war were over and we finally had peace.”
Image: Duong Thanh Phong/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
May 1975.
Elders from North and South embrace, having lived to see Vietnam reunited and unoccupied by foreign powers.
New recruits undergo physical examinations in Haiphong.
Image: Bao Hanh/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
September 1965.
Using overhead targets, a militia company practices firing ahead of speeding aircraft in Thanh Tri.
Image: Minh Dao/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
1973.
Construction workers discuss repairs of the bombed out Ham Rong Bridge, in central North Vietnam.
An American MIA search team found pilot remains there.
Image: Unknown Photographer/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
1966.
To the soldiers of the North, the Ho Chi Minh Trail was known as the Truong Son Road.
It proved disastrous, with Southern troops fleeing in panic.
A Viet Cong guerrilla stands guard in the Mekong Delta.
“You could find women like her almost everywhere during the war,” said the photographer.
“She was only 24 years old but had been widowed twice.
Both her husbands were soldiers.
Sept. 15, 1970.
This scene was an actual medical situation, not a publicity setup.
The photographer, however, considered the image unexceptional and never printed it.
Image: Nguyen Dinh Uu/Another Vietnam/National Geographic Books
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