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Acclaimed photographer Anja Niedringhaus Dies in East Afghanistan April 9, 2014

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Afghanistan, Anja Niedringhaus, AP , comments closed

ACCLAIMED PHOTOGRAPHER ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS DIES
By ANGELA CHARLTON

Anja Niedringhaus, 48, was killed and an AP reporter was wounded on Friday, April 4, 2014 when an Afghan policeman opened fire while they were sitting in their car in eastern Afghanistan. Niedringhaus an internationally acclaimed German photographer, was killed instantly, according to an AP Television freelancer who witnessed the shooting. Kathy Gannon, the reporter, was wounded twice and is receiving medical attention. (Photo/Markus Schreiber)Anja Niedringhaus faced down some of the world’s greatest dangers and had one of the world’s loudest and most infectious laughs. She photographed dying and death, and embraced humanity and life. She gave herself to the subjects of her lens, and gave her talents to the world, with images of wars’ unwitting victims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and beyond.

 
Shot to death by an Afghan policeman Friday, Niedringhaus leaves behind a broad body of work — from battlefields to sports fields — that won awards and broke hearts. She trained her camera on children caught between the front lines, yet who still found a place to play. She singled out soldiers amid their armies as they confronted death, injuries and attacks.

Two days before her death, she made potatoes and sausage in Kabul for veteran AP correspondent Kathy Gannon, who was wounded in the attack that killed Niedringhaus, and photographer Muhammed Muheisen.

“I was so concerned about her safety. And she was like, ‘Momo, this is what I’m meant to do. I’m happy to go,’” Muheisen recalled. And then they talked, and argued. Mostly, they laughed.

Niedringhaus, 48, started her career as a freelance photographer for a local newspaper in her hometown in Hoexter, Germany, at the age of 16. Her coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall led to a staff position with the European Pressphoto Agency in 1990. Based in Frankfurt, Sarajevo and Moscow, she spent much of her time covering the brutal conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

She joined The Associated Press in 2002, and while based in Geneva worked throughout the Middle East as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. She was part of the AP team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of Iraq, among many journalistic awards and honors for her work. In 2006-07, she studied at Harvard University under a Nieman Fellowship.

“What the world knows about Iraq, they largely know because of her pictures and the pictures by the photographers she raised and beat into shape,” said AP photographer David Guttenfelder. “I know they always ask themselves, ‘What would Anja do?’ when they go out with their cameras. I think we all do.”

Niedringhaus captured what war meant to her subjects: An Afghan boy on a swing holding a toy submachine gun. A black-clad Iraqi giving a bottle to her baby as she waits for prisoners to be released. A U.S. Marine mourning the loss of 31 comrades.

Other images showed life going on among the killing: A Canadian soldier with a sunflower stuck in his helmet. A young girl testing her artificial limbs, while her sister teasingly tries to steal her crutches. A bearded Afghan man and grinning boy listening to music on an iPod borrowed from German soldiers.

“Anja Niedringhaus was one of the most talented, bravest and accomplished photojournalists of her generation,” said AP Vice President and Director of Photography Santiago Lyon. “She truly believed in the need to bear witness.”

She didn’t stop caring when she put down the camera. In 2011, she photographed a Marine who had been evacuated from Afghanistan with severe injuries. She wanted to know what happened to him, and after six months of searching she found him. She showed him her photos from that day, and gave him a piece of wheat that had stuck to his uniform when he fell; she had plucked it and saved it when she was done taking photographs.

“I don’t believe conflicts have changed since 9/11 other than to become more frequent and protracted,” she told The New York Times in a 2011 email exchange. “But the essence of the conflict is the same — two sides fighting for territory, for power, for ideologies. And in the middle is the population who is suffering.”

Niedringhaus was injured several times on assignment, including having her leg badly broken in the Balkans after narrowly escaping an ambush. She suffered severe burns to her leg in Iraq, and received a shrapnel injury while on patrol with Canadian forces in Afghanistan.

There were many more close calls; after one, in Libya, she took up smoking again five years after quitting.

“Benghazi was hell today,” she wrote a colleague from Libya in 2011. “The tanks came in while I was brushing my teeth.” In the days to come, she sheltered with a local family, sleeping on the floor. When the gunfire in front of the house kept her awake, she listened to music on her iPhone.

While she rejected the idea that she was fearless, she made colleagues feel safe in danger zones. She insisted on local freelancers getting the same protections that visiting staff photographers had.

She was as stubborn as she was caring.

“If she believed in something, she was convinced she was right and there was almost nothing you could do to dissuade her,” said former AP reporter and editor Robert Reid, who met Niedringhaus in Kosovo in 1998 and worked with her in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said she was determined to cover the U.S.-led military presence in Afghanistan to the very end, even as the world’s interest waned.

She captured victory too — on Olympic podiums, at World Cups, at Wimbledon and beyond. And world diplomacy, solar airplanes and cow-fighting contests.

And she found fun in it all.

AP photographer Jerome Delay, who met her in Sarajevo in the 1990s, remembered playing ping pong with Niedringhaus on a dining table at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. Back home on another continent that might have been another planet, he wrote, “we raced our motorbikes around Lake Geneva between G-7 photo ops and riots.”

This summer, after covering tennis at Wimbledon, she planned to swim the width of Lake Geneva.

Anywhere, everywhere, she laughed — a wide-mouthed, head-thrown-back laugh that could wake an army and infected everyone nearby.

At an exhibit of her work in Berlin in 2011, she said: “Sometimes I feel bad because I can always leave the conflict, go back home to my family where there’s no war.”

That family includes her mother, two sisters and an aunt. Several years ago the family bought an old house in the central German town of Kaufungen, where she liked to spend time with her niece and nephews.

Her teenage niece and goddaughter won first place in a riding competition Friday and dedicated the victory to her.

Niedringhaus is the 32nd AP staffer to die in pursuit of the news since AP was founded in 1846.

“This is a profession of the brave and the passionate, those committed to the mission of bringing to the world information that is fair, accurate and important,” said Gary Pruitt, the AP’s president and CEO. “Anja Niedringhaus met that definition in every way. We will miss her terribly.”

___

Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

Unordinary Lives in Afghanistan September 22, 2011

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Afghanistan, Manca Juvan , add a comment

Manca Juvan’s amazing work from Afghanistan is now alive and open for discussion. With a new stand alone website and a selection of essays and photos and an open request for comments and discourse it is a rare look at the realities of that country.

Here is her communication in her own words:

www.unordinarylives.com has come to life!

I would like to take the opportunity and encourage you to have a look at the web site that supports the book publication, exhibition and discussion events on Afghanistan, exploring the human dimensions of the ongoing war there.

As we are approaching the 10th anniversary of the last war in Afghanistan, together with the recent announcement of international troops withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2014, it is even more important to emphasize the overshadowed development and humanitarian needs of the country that still leaves millions of Afghans with no access to basic assistance and has triggered their distrust of the international community and their government.

I am kindly asking you to take a moment and share your thoughts to support an evolving discussion on Afghanistan and the human aspect of war.

With appreciation,
Manca Juvan

Alisa 9 a mine victim in the Alberto Cairo Clinic in Kabul
Alisa 9 a mine victim in the Alberto Cairo Clinic in Kabul

Rajab, a homeless addict in Kabul Photo Manca Juvan
Rajab, a homeless addict in Kabul Photo Manca Juvan

Jodie Bieber Wins World Press Award February 22, 2011

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Afghanistan, World Press Awards , add a comment

Photo Jodie Bieber
Photo Jodie Bieber

“Jodi Bieber has won the overall 2011 World Press Photo award for her portrait of Bibi Aisha, the young Afghan women disfigured in an act of punishment (above left). Bieber outlines her thoughts on making the photograph in a brief interview here. Any image selected from over 100,000 entries produced by 5,847 photographers is going to draw its fair share of advocates and detractors.”

David Campbell

http://www.david-campbell.org/2011/02/14/thinking-images-v10-bieber-afghan-portrait/

Jim Johnson and others have bought into the politicization of the image by TIME magazine and shows effectively how meaning can be changed by the addition of context and text. Aesthetics and style issues have brought out a comparison to Steve McCurry’s photo of an Afghan girl that itself has been recontextualised and used in many different ways and for differing purposes. The debate is a profound one and shows that imagery, its use and context can have baggage attached.

Controlling useage is difficult to say the least.

http://politicstheoryphotography.blogspot.com/2011/02/category-mistake-at-world-press-photo.html

Stephen Mayes wrote:

No image has a single meaning, and it’s a mistake to suggest a permanent monolithic significance to Jodi’s image just because of Time’s use of the picture. Time’s use was prominent in 2010 and as the image evolves in our cultural awareness this prominence will fade. For example, this very article recontextualizes the image in an anti-war context, giving it a new and contradictory meaning. “Who is using this photograph and to what end?” In this instance it’s Jim Johnson subverting the original use. Neither do I see evidence that the jury ignored alternate meanings of the image. If anything, Jim is at risk of being seen to impose a meaning of his choice on the image, which will itself dissolve as the picture’s significance morphs over the coming years.
Stephen Mayes

15 February, 2011 09:33

nikos efstratiou said:

The aesthetics of Bieber’s image are very similar (if not the same), but not the rhetoric. The rhetoric is documentary propaganda at its best. By this I do not mean what Bieber’s initial intention was, but rather how the image was used, circulated and distributed and in which context.

15 February 2011

Jodie Bieber and Steve McCurry Photos
Jodie Bieber and Steve McCurry Photos

Manca Juvan UNORDINARY LIVES October 12, 2010

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Afghanistan, exhibition, Manca Juvan , add a comment

Congratulations due to Manca Juvan who is exhibiting the body of work called ‘Unordinary Lives’ in the Moderna Gallery, Ljubljana,  Slovenia from the   19 th of  October 2010. On Tuesday 26th of October at 10.30 there will also be a round table discussion called “Afghanistan through the development lens” in the auditorium of Moderna Gallery.  Ghulam Rasoul Wahid from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and Karim Merchant, international advisor on Rural Development will head the round table. The discussion will be in English.

Manca’s amazing work can be seen in the online magazine:  www.metaphoronline.com.au/mag and on her website: www.mancajuvan.com

Photo Manca Juvan
Photo Manca Juvan

Ukrainian Rations October 7, 2010

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Afghanistan, Australian photographers, VII Agency , add a comment

Ukrainian Officers Military Ration Photo Ashley Gilbertson VII Agency
Ukrainian Officers Military Ration Photo Ashley Gilbertson VII Agency

Ashley Gilbertson  (born 22 January 1978) is an award-winning photographer best known for his images of the Iraq war. Born in Melbourne, Australia, he started his career at thirteen taking pictures of skateboarders.[1] After graduating secondary school, he was mentored by Filipino photographer Emmanuel Santos,[1] and later Masao Endo in the Japanese highlands.While he was based in Australia, Gilbertson worked on socially driven photo essays ranging from drug addiction in Melbourne to war zones in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. In 1999 he photographed Kosovar refugees who had been granted temporary safe haven in Australia. For the next three years Gilbertson’s work focused on various refugee problems across the globe.[2]

In March 2009, he became a member of the VII Photo Agency‘s VII Network.

The following has been written  on the VII website about the photos: “Early in the war in Afghanistan, among the international troops who mingle at Bagram Air Base, a single French combat ration (cassoulet, perhaps, with deer pâté and nougat) could be traded for at least five American Meals Ready to Eat, better known as M.R.E.’s.

Recently though, the barter values have changed.

A fellow journalist who just got back from an embed with the French told me that today they look forward to visiting the Americans for a meal. American rations — hamburgers, chili, peanut butter, candy — they say, are “fun.”

Each year, among the countries with troops in Afghanistan — the current number is 47 — tens of millions of dollars are spent researching how to fit the most calories, nutrition and either comfort or fun into a small, light package. The menus and accompaniments are intended not just to nourish but also to remind the soldier of home. Some include branded comfort foods — Australians get a dark-brown spreadable yeast-paste treat called Vegemite, for example — while others get national staples like liverwurst (Germany), or lamb curry (arguably Britain’s new national dish). ”

I am in Kyiv, Ukraine eating Ukrainian food  at excellent restaurants  scattered through the capital city while on a personal project here and noticed that Ashley has photographed Ukrainian officer rations. Uncertain about their content I have posted the images as enigmatic puzzles. Are they images of varenyky, salo and garlic, salted herrings or cabbage rolls?

Ukrainian Officers Military Ration Photo Ashley Gilbertson VII Agency
Ukrainian Officers Military Ration Photo Ashley Gilbertson VII Agency

Ukrainian Officers Military Ration Photo Ashley Gilbertson VII Agency
Ukrainian Officers Military Ration Photo Ashley Gilbertson VII Agency

L’Aquila- Giulio Petrocco December 21, 2009

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Afghanistan, Italy, Photojournalism , add a comment

L'aquila - A Via Crucis is performed in the Piazza d'Armi refugee camp
L’aquila – A Via Crucis is performed in the Piazza d’Armi refugee camp

The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake  occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The main shock occurred at 3:32 local time on 6 April 2009, and was rated 5.8 on the Richter scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale;  its epicentre was near L’Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, which together with surrounding villages suffered most damage.

The earthquake was felt throughout central Italy; 307 people are known to have died, making this the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.

Palazzo del Governo, the administrative centre of L'Aquila, with structural damage
Palazzo del Governo, the administrative centre of L’Aquila, with structural damage

Giulio Petrocco was there and comments on the current scenario:
“Nowadays big complexes of houses have been built in order to take the IDPs out from the camps and into some more decent accommodation. the fact is that the destruction caused by the quake cannot be fixed I think in less than 4-5 years. Too many tons of rubble to be cleaned out, too many things to rebuild or to fix. anyway. a lot has been done and a lot of people in l’aquila think that they’re on the right way to get back to some sort of normal life. The government said that the city might be declared a tax free zone for ten years in order to try to “bring back life to a dead body”. The biggest issue in fact in the next years might be to  invert the diaspora effect that the quake had on the area of L’Aquila and to encourage newcomers  to adopt the city and forget what happened.”

Giulio Petrocco is planning to head to Afghanistan with the Italian Carabinieri and will be writing for Metaphor Online.

Italy’s contribution to Afghanistan dates back to the spring 2002 when a squad of the Carabinieri’s Special Intervention Group (GIS), after accompanying former King Zahir Shah back to Afghanistan, remained in Kabul and trained his Afghan security team. A platoon of Carabineri, integrated into Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), carried out training activities in support of the Afghan National Police (ANP) through 2003. A Carabinieri team, with training functions, was then present in Herat from the outset of the Italian-led PRT in 2005 and cooperated with US training commands in support of the Herat-based Afghan police. Between 2007 and 2008, the Italian contribution in support of the Afghan Police sector reached its present size. As of today, Italy’s contribution in the police sector totals approximately 70 people, mainly Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza (financial police): 34 Carabinieri in Adraskan (Western Afghanistan) train the Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) in cooperation with CSTC-A; 13 Guardia di Finanza officers in Herat train the Afghan Border Police (ABP) and custom officers in cooperation with CSTC-A.

At the NATO Summit in Strasbourg-Kehl, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced a “Carabinieri surge”. The total number of Carabinieri will thus be brought shortly to 100. The added value of the Carabinieri training methodology is particularly appreciated by the US government which does not possess police forces with military (or militarized) status such as the Italian Carabinieri. The Italian contribution in support of the police sector is mirrored by Italy’s participation, as a full member, in the work of the International Police Coordination Board (IPCB) and in its relevant bodies. Italy has provided its financial contribution to the Law & Order Trust Fund (LOTFA), the UN managed financial instrument that supports building and equipping the Afghan police.

But Italy, consistent with its traditional pro-European stance, also supports the EU role in Afghanistan. On top of its other contributions, Italy is making a valuable contribution to EUPOL, as it has since that mission’s inception. An Italian Carabinieri officer has held the position of EUPOL Deputy Commander in recognition of Italy’s support to the mission. Nearly 20 officers (Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza and other contracted civilians) are integrated into the EUPOL and additional personnel from the Guardia di Finanza will soon join EUPOL. Overall, Italy is the third largest contributing nation to EUPOL. In cooperating with CSTC-A over the last years, the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza have continuously engaged both the Afghan authorities and the US commands in developing training curricula more in tune with a European approach to policing.

Brookings Institution Think Tank

 L'Aquila - Firefighters rescue squads look for survivors digging through the rubble of  fallen buildings
L’Aquila – Firefighters rescue squads look for survivors digging through the rubble of fallen buildings