Lynsey Addario, It's What I Do Book Report
Waiting for the perfect moment to happen, trying to capture the reality of a situation, whatever the situation is trying to say. The first lesson taught by Lynsey Addario’s photojournalism work is about patience. A perfect combination of light, subject, and composition translates to staying input for hours, sometimes days or months, until the story can be told by the photo. The book by "Lynsey Addario", "It’s What I do – A Photographer’s Life of Love and War" invites readers to fully dive into her life as a photojournalist.
Addario’s started capturing photos at the age of twelve. In the beginning, everything captured was out of curiosity until she discovered the truthful meaning of her photos. A reason to tell a story, that’s how everything started.
There is no place for manipulation of the scene in Addario’s photos. The photo will tell the story the way reality is with great composition in a unique style: it’s a combination of tragedy and beauty. Her photo style reflects her ethical principles as a professional photojournalist. What motivates her is the ability to photograph current events for educational purposes, to get people to care about others’ realities, and to document what the world is becoming for the record of history.
Addario’s book will take you to conflict war zones, refugee camps, underground military bases to small villages all around the world. One of her biggest learning and teaching skills is how to photograph people without compromising their dignity. As ugly and brutal as the situations she was in, such as the experience with sexually abused women in the Republic of Congo, covered in the book, chapter 7, “Woman Are Casualties of Their Birthplace”, the people were beautiful and resilient, and that is what she wants the world to see. She uses her photos to break preconceptions, to show the reality of misrepresented people, especially the female gender, and to stay motivated by the same people she photographs.
Over the years, she forced herself to be creative in covering the same scenes. She started shooting her subjects out of focus, in abstract ways, to try to reach a vaster audience, such as visual arts enthusiasts. As a Nikon ambassador, she relies on lenses such as 28mm, 58mm, and 35mm are her favorite lenses, according to the article, "An Interview with Lynsey Addario" published by "Nikon US". Also, trying to convey beauty in the war was a technique to try to prevent the reader from looking away in response to something horrible. She wants the audience to ask questions.
As a photojournalist student, when I think about her ethic and sense of duty, I feel motivated to honor my subjects by shooting photos that will enhance their beauty and story. Each person has a different story and beauty. It’s my sense of duty to reflect that truth in the photos.
Each talented photographer is unique and has a unique style. However, what makes Lynsey Addario a remarkable photographer is that she treats her job as a mission, where she totally infuses herself into the field, traveling and chasing these stories. She learns with her subjects and documents for the world to learn too. Her empathy, patience, dedication, and her ability to make people feel comfortable by never judging them are what make her work unique. Everywhere she goes she understands her photos’ capabilities to reflect the reality and the need for help. It has been a great opportunity for humanitarian support, hoping awareness of the subjects’ suffering might save them.
During my photojournalism experience as a student, I rely on Addario’s lesson on dignifying subjects. Making people feel comfortable when I photograph them has been an experiment even when I don’t feel comfortable myself. I learned that trying is the only way to capture the story the subject wants to tell in whatever reality they are in. Moreover, I learned that my photos don’t need to be perfectly framed, or have the best lighting setting as long as I can pass the story I’m trying to convey. In the long run, patience to capture the perfect moment has brought me to experience different photo compositions by just waiting a few minutes until something unique happens.
In the book, chapter 10, “Driver Expire”, in the photos section, one of the photos that stand out to me is the "United States Military personnel helping load injured soldiers onto a cargo plane en route to Germany from the Balad Air Force base, in Iraq. The interior lights of the plane are red because of an 'alarm red' attack, which indicates that the base is under attack, usually by incoming mortar rounds. Since the attack on Fallujah began in early November, hundreds of soldiers have been injured and evacuated from the country, on November 13, 2006". This photo frames the whole photo of injured people in a war zone, which seems so different from my reality but it does happen in the world. The red lights make this photo composition even more dramatic to think that the moment just happened instead of “planning” to use this kind of lighting.
Also, in chapter 10, “Driver Expire”, in the photos section, the photo of "Khalid, 7 years old, sitting outside of the medical tent of a U.S military base after elders from a village claimed he was injured by shrapnel from a bomb dropped by American troops near his home". This photo reveals the call for help from a child who has been the victim of the war. Addario focuses on the child’s vulnerability and innocence in a single close-up portrait. His eyes say for it all.
My favorite photo in the book, in chapter 10, “Driver Expire”, is in the photos section as well as Addario's website. The composition of this photo is fantastic. Addario’s captured the vulnerability and beauty of the subjects with colorful clothes along with the blue-gray sky mixing with the environmental conditions such as a war conflict.
Soldiers with the Sudanese Liberation Army sit by their truck while stuck in the mud in Darfur, Sudan, on August 21, 2004. The SlA is one of the Sudanese rebel groups controlling parts of Darfur. Rebels, and are currently staging a 24-hour boycott of the Nigerian peace talks for Sudan in protest of recent new attacks against civilians in Darfur, which they say killed 75 civilians in six villages. By Lynsey AddarioEmpathy and respect for the subjects are teaching lessons for us, the audience. Her work has been extremely important for the world to be aware of what happens within the world to aim for peace. She wouldn’t be risking her life if she didn’t believe in the power of her photography.
I highly recommend reading the book to those of you who are curious to know more about it. From the beginning to the end, this illustrated book will hook you into the most adventurous life experiences you will ever read, where this amazing photojournalist document and teach us about love and war.
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