War teaches you how to see. Not in an artistic sense, but in a living sense. Every detail is information, and each flicker of movement becomes a decision. I did not realize this at that time, but that continuous scanning and forced status awareness started the way I experience everything. I went to war with a rifle and a camera; Only one still shapes how I see the world today.
The camera I did and the things I could not ignore
An nineteen -year -old signed a dotted line in seventeen, dedicating the next eight years of his life to the United States Army, a lifetime dream. Finally came in 2007 unavoidable; It was my time, and Iraq was a destination. I traded college textbooks for a rifle, an unpublished piece of gear: Canon Powershot G7, a beautiful poketeable camera for that time. I put it in my cargo pocket and took it everywhere.
Photography served both as a device for escape and a device for documentation. Documentation of a time in American history that was full of decisive decisions – not everyone agreed to him. For me, I was called to work, complete it and return home in a piece. A twelve hours shift, six days a week, takes a toll on both body and brain. You need a escape, and that the Canon Powershot G7 was just so – from the reality. Day and day outside, it was only that.
Trained to notice everything
Hyper-awareness, the most essential skill in a battle field, is still a defined characteristic in photography today. You are trained to notice the smallest things, such as the behavior of the people and a small, insignificant bag of garbage on the ground, which can all increase the danger. With this, I was inadvertently trained for both my duties and photography.
This was the twist on which I started notice of light, color and stories in my photography. You can always find anything picture if you allow yourself to see and practice without a camera in your hand. To study the worldly, finding time out and what you see as insignificant is what you were watching. There is a story to tell the thing that seems insignificant only, whether it is the subject of image or a piece that supports the story. All that training has trained my eyes to look deeply in my environment, while I am making images.
Relying on patience, time, and your intestine
In a fighter region, hesitation is dangerous – but therefore the crowd is happening. The same is also for photography. I don’t remember who said this, and it doesn’t matter. The slow is smooth, and smooth sharp. Instead of taking time to do things correctly, instead of running, eventually leads to greater speed and efficiency. There are often mistakes as a result of escape, which then, in turn, require time -taking improvements. Whether it was a fighter region for me or in the region making images, this is true. Running into the back ground of the camera, making intentional mistakes, leading to low efficiency and, at the same time, later time -taking reforms are required. If you take time to correct these mistakes while shooting, you will have less time to fix them in front of the computer or leave the image completely.
During my time in a fighter area, patience was required. After observation, it was waiting for the right time, and then proceeding at the right time. Photography is similar. This includes observing a scene, studying details, deciding on settings, and then selecting the right moment to click on the shutter. Learning to read the room and the environment helped me to danger, and finally, for my photography, allowed me to read the body language of a subject so that they can catch more story in words. I became more aware of my surroundings, but I also learned to rely on the spirit of my intestine – I was usually right. If it moves like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is more than a duck. I have differentiated my work as a photographer. This is strange. People ask me how I come on my subjects. Well, this is my intuition.
What a really ‘meaningful’ looks like
When someone thinks of war, it often attracts the ideas of explosions, destruction – and this is the truth. It went ahead of me for me. I took a picture of those and property who got caught in the tide of war. It was calm after the war that I caught in the pictures. The meaning goes far beyond clear; It dug deeply in the story, which is waiting to tell. My job in Iraq was about the things I could photograph, and I was present at that time. I spent a significant time on the perimeter of a base pulling safety. I had a bird scene about the environment. Mostly, these were children who were asking for things they wanted from American soldiers. I started learning that these interactions were meaningful in a way, and I started taking pictures of these children.
It has always reached my work and continues to do so. I take a picture of small cities of iowa and midwests. I am ready for microscopic moments that are still standing, as well as nobody’s attention and people are also there. I quickly learned not to scream the significance. These are moments that are remembered because we do not take time to find meanings every day. I find these moments every day in Iraq – normal.
Spore of invisible goods and creativity and recovery
An animal of invisible goods can be inactive for years after someone’s return. A long journey was taken forward, and my luggage was gradually accumulated for years until all this happened. A time came, and the long battle ahead was PTSD, major depressive disorder and anxiety. It changed how I saw the world after one year deployment in the war zone. Photography has played an important role in helping managing these diagnoses. Photography is not a treatment, but is a way to cope regularly. Creativity and photography have become a means to express feelings of experience through art and image forming. Photography was always at the forefront, well in the army ahead of my time. I did not know that photography would be a way to deal with war stains, after long time I leave.
The world of opposite: calm in chaos and frame
The world of opposite: calm in chaos and frameIn war, the opposite is everywhere. Explosions and silence, day and night, life and loss – and the list can run. The moments of chaos were later after moments of silence. Whether it rises on the morning sun horizon or morning prayer in the mosque, it can be heard. I was ready for quiet moments, the moments of beauty that you surrounded yourself in the battlefield; You just had to get them out and find good in bad. Later, it will affect my photography, as I was ready for empty places, long shadows and cool places. I believe that the environment and the moments of life shape our style as photographers, as well as the topic that we start photographing.
Unmatched and unseen
The moments I captured taught me one thing: real power is not clear; What is this sign. Whatever you cannot see anything insignificant or anything important is the moment when you should click on the subject. I recently stumbled into a folder of images on an old hard drive from my deployment, and these pictures are in this article. I saw the photo, and the more I studied it – initially after believing that the principle was just a snapshot that was documenting my time – I started looking at the moments of that time, which I clicked on the shutter, which I thought I thought I was insignificant, became really necessary moments. I did not realize this at that time, but it took eighteen years to recognize the importance of these moments.
Iraq also taught me that silence is never empty. In war, silence is never good. There is some possibility around the corner, and silence becomes dangerous. In photography, silence is not just about what is; This is about what can happen below the surface – the moment around the corner. You start reading the language of the body, empty chairs, soft light – as a potential carrier of all meanings. Silence in a picture “nothing is happening.” It is stress, waiting, memory or emotional weight.
Photography as peace
It has been eighteen years since the shoes on the ground in Iraq, but it is still in everyday life and when I pick up my camera. This is clear in my compositions, especially the way I frame separation and seek peace in my images. Photography exceeded a craft; This became a way to face and express my feelings. Images have become conversation – what I saw then and how I am watching now.
Frame that still follows me
I did not become a photographer because of Iraq; I was already in the early stages of becoming one. Iraq made me realize the importance of photography- and at that moment, and well beyond, in the coming years, unknown to me. It became a way to take and move me away from real world and everyday feelings that became heavy. I could not explain them with words, but with images, mental calm and leading moments of peace, where I could express these feelings without the need to do them orally. Old pictures still wander – not what they show, but because they missed me. Like many people, I also came back from the war with a mark, but I also came back with a frame, and I have been filling it since then.
