Photos from Kunar Province, Afghanistan

[asianshepherd]

it's good but generally journalistic photo are lacking in this subforum, let alone good ones. i've always thought that travel, documentary and journalistic photos should be taken out and put together, instead of being with landscape and sports, for i just cannot link journalistic photos with celebrity, marathon, racing cars and showgirls. the dimension is quite different.

by the way, shepherd, what happen to the boy who was held by his hip?
and for the shot where the further man is in focus instead of the one in front, is it taken in such a manner becos the further guy is an afghan and the nearer guy is an american, and you wanted to emphasise the local guy more?

one more thing, your pics reminds me of bob strong from reuters. hope that is taken as a compliment

I thank you for your compliment! Actually many of the photos in the reportage forum can be classified as photojournalism unless they are put up for a photo album/snapshot type purpose. Photojournalism itself is rather broad in concept and execution so if someone wants to tell a story of the F1 in Singapore and weave in different aspect of the race rather than just cars and F1 girls then it becomes a feature story that can be considered photojournalism. I've taken photos of car/motorcycle races, marathon, fashion shows and they were part of my work as a photojournalist. War photos just seems to glam things up a little.

The kid in the photo suffered severe burns to both his legs and he's the same kid in the picture preceding. The medics were merely washing the wounds and applying new bandages.

As for why I focused on the Afghan soldier rather than the American, the war here is mostly about the attempt to stablise Afghanistan and even though the American involvement is huge we must not forget that the day they leave, it will be the Afghan themselves who will have to work hard for their own country. Besides, if all the photos show only American soldiers then it will be rather boring.

 

[zoossh]

I've taken photos of car/motorcycle races, marathon, fashion shows and they were part of my work as a photojournalist.

well, but then i guess most people do not get access to the frontstage nor the backstage, but can only touch on these genre in a superficial manner (farther distance too) not enough to tell a story. but once you are given the access, you are expected to perform and deliver. it is always easier just to be an amateur travel photographer, i dun have to deliver. and i generally stay away from misery and avoid documentary issues/photography. and i dun think i will risk myself being arrested just for shooting the truth...

to a certain extent, people shooting in an alien/foreign human-environment will always ask ourselves what other role we should play apart from photography. i'm sure this is something you have thought before, and probably have a much better answer than me. dun even talk about war, i still wonder what attitude i should adopt over beggars....

 

[asianshepherd]

Hello all!

Thanks for your compliments and support for my work in Afghanistan. I hope to try and post more photos as and when I can or have something interesting. So with that I've put up a new set of photos from a patrol I took in the Korengal Valley in a new thread. Check it out when you have time!

Cheers!