Day 3 of 5 of the Black and White challenge (clik the image to see the whole frame & bigger). Ive picked an image from the second intifada. Like so many other images from the Palestinian uprising it was shot in Ramallah, the epicenter of the uprising and literally just down the street from Yassir Arafats office. For any wannabe war photographer it was the place to be: quite likely to get some action, easy to get to (thus one would be back in Jerusalem for a cold beer and internet in the evening), and a good chance of rubbing shoulders with legends like James Nachtwey, Harald Henden, Paul Hansen, and Jan Grarup. However, for all the images of action I thought Id show something else: Two Isreali soldiers sharing a cup of coffee, shielded behind the doors of their armoured car. The picture was taken during a lull in the fighting, not long after I took this picture the protests escalated from stone throwing and tear gas to live fire. I had a hard time choosing an image from this period. I have many images that are much more dramatic, and most focus on the suffering of the Palestinians. But like this one because I think pictures of calm in a conflict arent that common. Though I never became a proper war photographer this was a period I felt I did some decent work, and as a freelancer managed to reach some people, successfully selling many pictures/stories to newspapers and magazines. I think Id find it hard to make such endeavours economically viable today. And of course now I have a daughter, so risk assessment has changed altogether.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 08:25:37 +0000
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