Photos from Kunar Province, Afghanistan

[asianshepherd]

Impressive footage in B&W! May i know what camera gear do you use in that enviroment ? apart from heavy body armour with ballastic plate and kevlar.

Look forward to hear your stories.

My kit? I actually use 2 bodies: D3 and D90 + 17-35mm & 70-200mm. My only regret is leaving my 24-70mm behind. The D90 gets banged around a lot especially when I'm riding in an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambusn Protected) vehicle but it holds up pretty well. On my last embed I went with a D3 + D80. The biggest problem is dust and it's everywhere! Fortunately, you can pick up a can of dust-off at one of the big bases to help keep the gear clean.

 

[asianshepherd]

Awesome photos!

Yes indeed, the small one seems to be a 120mm mortar. The big gun is a 155mm field howitzer. Looking at the imprints on the artillery shells placed on the ground, they seem to be M795 high explosive HE rounds.

I'm amazed at the high elevation at which the 155mm howitzer gun barrel is firing ; it looks to be that the enemies are less than 5km away, which means that they can easily pinpoint you and return artillery fire almost immediately. I can't even recall having fire the gun at this sort of elevation during my NS days.

Take care and stay safe!

Indeed most of you are right. The first pic is that of the 120mm mortar and the other is the 155mm field arty. The elevation of the 155mm depends on the distance to the target and since the base is surrounded by mountains anyway, the enemies can pretty much see where we are but they don't have any heavy artillery so it's not a problem... yet and for now. Most times, we get RPGs coming into the base as well as rockets but these are usually fired more for effects than accuracy. Most of the Talibans are not so well trained in that respect. Thank god actually!

Kunar Province has the reputation of being the most violent province in Afghanistan. Currently I would say Helmand (southern Afghanistan) is either leading or will catch up soon. We are pretty close to the Pakistan border and there are many old Mujaheddin smuggling routes that sees a lot of Taliban traffic. Also majority of the Pashtun tribes here are rather hostile to the presence of foreign troops so trying to operate here is undoubtedly very hard.

 

[wheresmycheese]

amazing.. lovely set one of the best i've sen locally thus far on clubsnap. inspiring too!!

 

[r0n1n]

awesome capture! what's the 3rd pic btw? missiles? don't you have problems on cam shake? :bsmilie: i pity the children *sigh* if you see a barret m107 in action, please post some pics! be safe man thanks!

 

[roDz]

Bro...1stly,i hope you will be safe...2ndly,post more pics...its not often we get to see these kinda pics...thanks alot bro...:thumbsup:

 

[Oly5050]

My kit? I actually use 2 bodies: D3 and D90 + 17-35mm & 70-200mm. My only regret is leaving my 24-70mm behind. The D90 gets banged around a lot especially when I'm riding in an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambusn Protected) vehicle but it holds up pretty well. On my last embed I went with a D3 + D80. The biggest problem is dust and it's everywhere! Fortunately, you can pick up a can of dust-off at one of the big bases to help keep the gear clean.

Hmmm....would an E3 be of great help in this kind of environment? I mean with regard to dust on sensor? Anyway, I dun see any dust specks in your photos, so u must be doing quite well in protecting ur sensor.

 

[asianshepherd]

Hmmm....would an E3 be of great help in this kind of environment? I mean with regard to dust on sensor? Anyway, I dun see any dust specks in your photos, so u must be doing quite well in protecting ur sensor.

I don't know much about the E-3 but my guess is that better sealed than the D90 (? correct me if I'm wrong). Since I almost never change lens on the move that helps in keeping most of the dust out. The D90 has a self cleaning sensor and I suppose that helps too. On days when I carry 2 cameras on patrol it would be: D3+17-35mm and D90+70-200mm. If the patrol involves a lot of walking up and down mountains then I'll use the D90+17-35mm. Obviously if you have only DX cameras then it's real easy to carry 1 body with a 18-200mm. My setup kinda sucks but it works for now. I have a can of compressed air to help clean the exterior of the cameras. It gets REALLY dusty out here!

 

[asianshepherd]

awesome capture! what's the 3rd pic btw? missiles? don't you have problems on cam shake? :bsmilie: i pity the children *sigh* if you see a barret m107 in action, please post some pics! be safe man thanks!

The 3rd pic shows 155mm artillery shells and they use them a lot at the base where I was. There is a fire mission EVERY day and when the 155 goes off it shakes the buildings - at least our barracks which is actually made out of plywood.

I've actually shot (ie use it) the Barrett M107 out here. You don't see them in action in Afghanistan that much as there aren't that many snipers attached to the platoons and the ones I've met use rifles similar to the Winchesters or something. BTW, the Barrett is about 14kg and that's a lot of weight to be humping with up and down the mountains here!

 

[Oly5050]

My setup kinda sucks but it works for now. I have a can of compressed air to help clean the exterior of the cameras. It gets REALLY dusty out here!

You bet it works! Your photos look great!

 

[absoluthal]

Nice pics bro.....
I seriously admire you.
Hope everything goes smoothly there.

 

[sprintist]

great photojournalism there, really a great but dangerous opportunity. stay safe and do share more!

 

[Teegongkia]

Stay safe and bring back more awesome photos for us to view.
Amazing man....respect:thumbsup:

 

[r0n1n]

The 3rd pic shows 155mm artillery shells and they use them a lot at the base where I was. There is a fire mission EVERY day and when the 155 goes off it shakes the buildings - at least our barracks which is actually made out of plywood.

I've actually shot (ie use it) the Barrett M107 out here. You don't see them in action in Afghanistan that much as there aren't that many snipers attached to the platoons and the ones I've met use rifles similar to the Winchesters or something. BTW, the Barrett is about 14kg and that's a lot of weight to be humping with up and down the mountains here!

whoa barrack shakes! :bigeyes: cool, how i wish i could also fire the M107 yup, that 50cal monster will be heavy going up or down the mountains..better to bring M4 :bsmilie: again, stay safe!

 

[torneil]

Yes, the presence of mountains and knolls explain the need for that sort of close to 90 degrees elevation when firing the 155mm howitzer guns. I'd imagine that the gun breech mechanism would be close to hitting the ground during recoils when firing the guns at high elevations. Glad to know that the Talibans don't have heavy artillery guns, but those baddies may have at least some small calibre mortars? Run when you hear the whistle of mortars and shells in flights coming inbound!

Indeed most of you are right. The first pic is that of the 120mm mortar and the other is the 155mm field arty. The elevation of the 155mm depends on the distance to the target and since the base is surrounded by mountains anyway, the enemies can pretty much see where we are but they don't have any heavy artillery so it's not a problem... yet and for now. Most times, we get RPGs coming into the base as well as rockets but these are usually fired more for effects than accuracy. Most of the Talibans are not so well trained in that respect. Thank god actually!

Kunar Province has the reputation of being the most violent province in Afghanistan. Currently I would say Helmand (southern Afghanistan) is either leading or will catch up soon. We are pretty close to the Pakistan border and there are many old Mujaheddin smuggling routes that sees a lot of Taliban traffic. Also majority of the Pashtun tribes here are rather hostile to the presence of foreign troops so trying to operate here is undoubtedly very hard.

 

[torneil]

These 155mm HE shells (weighing over 40kg with armed fuse attached), have a killing radius of close to 100m if I recall correctly. The firepower is awe-inspiring and earth shaking for sure. There was once when my 7-tonner, parked 50-80m directly behind the gun during fire missions, had its windscreen shattered at the end of an live-firing exercise in Thailand.

The 3rd pic shows 155mm artillery shells and they use them a lot at the base where I was. There is a fire mission EVERY day and when the 155 goes off it shakes the buildings - at least our barracks which is actually made out of plywood.

I've actually shot (ie use it) the Barrett M107 out here. You don't see them in action in Afghanistan that much as there aren't that many snipers attached to the platoons and the ones I've met use rifles similar to the Winchesters or something. BTW, the Barrett is about 14kg and that's a lot of weight to be humping with up and down the mountains here!

 

[spindoctor]

Great series. Are you a professional photojournalist? Do you sell your pics?

 

[Amda Latul-Nair]

These are just awesome. Really.

:thumbsup:

 

[chalib]

Thks for sharing :thumbsup:

 

[PrimePhotog]

Two words... "World Class". Fantastic photojournalism.

Take care.

 

[zoossh]

These photos have to be the best series of journalistic photo I have seen on clubsnap.

Please continue to share your experience with us.

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