ZORIAH - A PHOTOJOURNALIST AND WAR PHOTOGRAPHER'S BLOG: December 2008

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December 2008

December 30, 2008

Behind the Image – July 4th Independence Day in Baghdad, Iraq

In the summer of 2007 I was based at a tiny Joint Security Station (JSS) in Baghdad's Ghazaliya neighborhood. It was infamous at the time for being extremely violent and still plagued with roaming death squads and insurgents, and prone to bombings, rocket attacks and sniper fire.

The JSS was a small cluster of Iraqi homes that had been "requisitioned" by the U.S. Army and was being shared by both U.S. and Iraqi military forces. The homes had an otherworldly feel about them, with their large columns, front lawns and ornate interiors. There was something bizarre about this small taste of luxury in the middle of a war zone; a palace with windows packed with sand bags, whose roof was home to snipers and .50 caliber machine guns. It made me wonder what it had been like a few years before — who lived there, what where their lives like and how different those lives were from those of the troops occupying the space beneath its roofs.

I happened to be living in the home, embedded with U.S. troops on July 4, which is America's Independence Day. There was a different feeling in the air leading up to this day and everyone seemed almost happy. An armored convoy of tanks and fighting vehicles rolled up in the morning and delivered a barbecue feast, which was closely guarded until the afternoon. When the baby-pool was blown up and filled, and the non-alcoholic beer was being distributed, a soldier and I noticed the writing on boxes of food: "U.S. Beef — Military and Prison Grade ONLY." We laughed and pointed it out to a few others, whose reactions ranged from amused to infuriated.

This photo was taken that evening, after we had eaten a nice meal and played football (soccer) with the Iraqi soldiers. As we all stood around talking and munching on Fica's (the Iraqi equivalent of Lay's Potato Chips) the calmness of the night was shattered by an explosion directly above our heads. We all hit the ground and began to scramble. Then we heard laughter. The soldiers had come up with a few fireworks and when they ran out they dug into their supply of flares and shot them out of the grenade launchers on their M-4 assault rifles. I set my camera up and caught this long exposure.

Technical: This was shot wide, at 16mm with an 8-second exposure at f/2.8. My ISO rating was 500. No tripod was used, just a portion of a brick fence to prop up the camera and a rock underneath the lens to give it a good angle.

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December 26, 2008

Asian Tsunami Anniversary - Thailand Tsunami Then and Now Comparison Series

On December 26th, 2004 I was flying from Saigon, Vietnam to Bangkok, Thailand. I had been covering the AIDS epidemic as well as poverty and urban slums for the past two months from both Cambodia and Vietnam and was looking forward to a week of down time with friends. The Asian Tsunami struck only moments before my plane landed in Bangkok and I was on one of the first flights to Phuket the next day. I covered the devastation from both Thailand and Sri Lanka during the following weeks.

As an ex disaster specialist I still had many friends working in the filed all over the world at that time and in the year following the Tsunami I kept in close contact with them. Only months after the Tsunami struck, I began to hear stories, as I expected, of how western money coupled with the tourism industry was rebuilding Thailand with record speed while Sri Lanka and Banda Aceh, Indonesia were left with few resources.

Slightly ahead of the one year anniversary of the Asian Tsunami, I decided to return to Thailand where I re-shot each image taken the year before from the exact same angle at nearly the same time of day. Unfortunately I was not able to get the funding necessary to do the same comparison project in Sri Lanka. It was another example demand and marketing concerns dictating what news reaches the public, and at the time my resources were limited by what editors and publications would pay me to shoot, as I had not yet discovered independent journalism.

Post Script: The important events and issues I cover aren't always the subjects that sell to corporate media. These human stories need your support and funding to be told. The cost to produce this work is substantial and I can not continue to do this without your support. Please consider a subscription of $25 per month to help insure I can continue my work:

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December 25, 2008

Notre Dame Christmas Mass / Sacre Coeur Midnight Mass - Paris, France

Life often reminds me of its beauty. Happy Holidays to all of you, whoever you are and whatever your holiday may be...

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I leave for Cairo today...more soon...

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December 23, 2008

My Life — December, 2008 - Paris, France

I arrived in Paris about a week ago, flying in from Stockholm to a city that truly feels like home to me. I have been here many times in my life, as I worked for a service organization through VFP International here in France when I was 16 and again when I was 19. It is a city of beauty, mystery, excitement and many other things that we all need more of in our lives.

I came here for a few meetings with local newspapers, magazines, photographers and for an interview with Radio France that they requested several months ago. I am also eager to begin looking into how much it would cost to rent a flat here, as I have not had my own apartment in six years and am feeling the need to have one consistent thread in my life. Paris is ideal for many reasons, but most important is its proximity to pretty much anywhere, allowing me to reach Africa, the Middle East or the U.S. in less than 10hours.

I am staying with friends from the CouchSurfing project while I am here, and if you are not familiar with this wonderful international community, have a look at their website www.couchsurfing.com. If you decide to become a member, make sure you add me as a friend; you can find my profile here http://www.couchsurfing.com/people/zoriah.

CouchSurfing is not only a way to live internationally on a tight budget, but a way to become quickly integrated with the local population. It is essential for me to be connected with locals in every country that I work in, as I need to understand them and their way of life to be able to document their world. In developing countries and during disasters, I often live in refugee camps, tent villages or with families.Sometimes I just sleep on the ground when that's what everyone else is doing. In my opinion, living like this — staying in peoples' homes, meeting their friends, experiencing the conditions they deal with and participating in their lives — gives me a huge advantage over other journalists who spend their time in hotels.

One of the reasons for this trip to Paris was to research and shoot a story. All I will currently tell you isthat it is full of rich characters, danger, adventure and history. I have around 1,300 images I have shot for this story, and the next week or two will be devoted to editing those down to 20 or fewer. The extremely difficult circumstances this story was shot under will also require extra time for post-processing, color correction, noise reduction, etc., but it will be quite worth it. I am posting two teaser shots below — those of you who know the history of Paris may be able to guess the story from these shots. But you will all know soon!

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December 22, 2008

Afghanistan - Boys Under Tree During Village Search

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Two boys pass time under a tree as U.S. troops search their village for an individual wanted for questioning, northeastern Afghanistan, 2007.

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