Conflicts of Interest

The world is always in conflict. Since World War II, there have been hundreds of conflicts. Some, such as the more recent wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine, make front page news internationally. Others, such as the myriad wars in Africa, do not. Much of what we know about any of these wars comes from the stories of photojournalists and photographers who have chosen to bear witness. Candide McDonald explores their reasons, risks, and rewards.

Why?

The war in Ukraine was American photojournalist Wolfgang Schwan’s first experience covering a war. “I wanted to know more about the war in Donbas for my own education,” Schwan says. He had been following the situation there since 2015. When a new flare up was imminent, Schwan made the trip. He spent two months in Donbas before the war reached there, talking to Ukrainian soldiers and photographing their everyday lives. “I wanted to educate myself as much as I could, to better understand what brought so many young men to the far side of their country to fight in a very cold war in trenches. My goal was to focus only on the soldiers,” he states. “Once the war began, access to the military became increasingly difficult so my focus shifted to the daily news of missile strikes and Russian advances around Kyiv. Instead of documenting soldiers on the frontline, I found greater purpose in helping to show what was happening to the civilians forced to flee their towns, load their children on trains heading west, those who lost everything to shelling, the first responders who risk their lives to arrive at rocket strikes searching for survivors. The everyday stories of how humans continue to navigate the upheaval of life is what inspired me to continue to work there.”

Australian photographer Stephen Dupont was also in Ukraine. Dupont has documented many wars and his motivation is always the same. “For me, it’s really looking at human rights, looking at humanity, and how inhumane war is. It’s incredibly important to witness and document that kind of behaviour, that story. I’ve always looked at photography in a historical sense and because wars are often the big stories of our times, I am drawn to cover them. War is unjust and I want to capture the reality of what is happening on the ground and hope that it will have an impact to move people to have discussions to make change, to feel something about a terrible situation that people find themselves in.”

For US photographer Erin Trieb, documenting war is an incredible and humbling privilege. She says she knew she wanted to be a conflict photographer after visiting a photo exhibition featuring images from World War II, when she was 19 years old. “I first fell in love with the aesthetic and medium of the still image, but then I realised how much power it has when used in storytelling. I connect deeply with other humans, but I find that this connection happens more intensely when situations are heightened. It creates a tight bond between people.”

For Ron Haviv, one of the founding members of the photo agency VII, the first and foremost reason is that there is always a need for documentation. “The work is needed to inform, educate, and amplify voices that cannot be heard. As a secondary life, the work acts as the proverbial ‘first draft of history’,” he adds. “Images have several lives as they exist as evidence to hold people accountable for both their actions and lack of action. The combination of wanting the work to have impact and the privilege of presenting my interpretation of history acts as the base motivation for work.”

The motivation for Nick Ut is different. It’s personal. Ut’s brother, a war photographer, was killed while covering the Vietnam War. “My motivation has always been to help others because my brother always told me that war benefited no one. I was only sixteen when he was killed, but his message stayed with me. I wanted to share his message to the world through my photos. So, with my work, I want to show how conflict, wars, and atrocities affect everyone that is involved, either voluntarily or involuntarily. Conflict does service to no one, but it does destroy people, cities, and our natural resources. I hope that my Napalm Girl image continues to resonate with people so that maybe one day we will have peace throughout the world.”

Cost?

Ut knows first-hand that the risks can be life-changing. He was also shot three times while covering the Vietnam War. “If one is lucky, one will survive documenting conflicts and be able to tell our story to the world. One could easily also lose an arm or a leg. Our mental health is also put to the test. We see so much during war that it is inevitable we will have those memories for the rest of our lives. Many end up with PTSD,” he notes.

Dupont also has a very considered approach to the risks of conflict. “The risks vary from war to war,” he says. “Going to cover the war in Syria would have different risks than covering the war in Ukraine. You’re dealing with a different kind of people. I feel that I wouldn’t cover Syria because it is too unpredictable, and I wouldn’t trust anyone on the ground. I’d find it very difficult to feel safe. Whereas in Ukraine you feel a sense of safety and partnership with the people you’re with. I was obviously with the Ukrainians and not the Russians, and I went to Ukraine because theirs was the side of the story I wanted to cover. I felt that it was an incredibly unjust invasion, inhumane, and unforgiving.” He admits it was partly personal, and there was also a desire to understand it himself. “It’s looking at a country that is in such a dire situation where one of the most brutal conflicts is going on. Most people have no idea about how brutal it is, such a major artillery war with rockets and bombs and drones, and across many different fronts. And it’s Russia – one of the most powerful military nations in the world. I was drawn to that. I really feel for the people. I wanted to photograph it in a way that is honest, but also elicits a feeling in people and has some sort of impact to bring change.”

Trieb also underlines the emotional and mental toll. “Photojournalism is a very physical job, especially war photography. There are dozens of times that I’ve been in danger of being shot, blown up, or kidnapped. To take pictures that tell the story, you have to get close, you have to be in front of what’s happening. But you also have to also feel the emotions of the situation, which is also taxing. You put yourself in situations where you can easily absorb other people’s grief, anxiety, pain, or loss. At the same time, you have to protect yourself, but if you put up too big a shield you can’t properly empathise with the people in front of your lens, which is a huge part of the job. It’s a very tricky balance.” It has taken her more than a decade just to scratch the surface of how to work in this field and stay healthy while doing her job, she adds. “Most recently in Ukraine, there was far less of a physical threat than I’ve experienced in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many times, on embeds in Afghanistan or Iraq, my main concern was not getting injured by bullets or bombs. We used to say ‘eat, sleep, survive’ – and often that was all you had to worry about. However, while there was a physical threat in Ukraine, especially from missiles, it was a much more frustrating and mentally challenging war to cover. The long stretches of boredom coupled with adrenaline rushes, constantly vying for access, combing for stories, witnessing trauma, the general tension and fear that blanketed Kyiv – all of that builds up. It takes a lot of discipline and mindfulness to process that stress in a healthy way. Meditation and exercise are two tools I use to stay healthy while working in the field.” 

Conflict photographer rookie, Schwan felt more vulnerable in Ukraine. “The number one risk was shelling. Most of what is currently covered along the frontline is either Ukrainian army positions, which are more or less known by Russian forces, or responding to strikes in the towns and villages on civilians who are being targeted. At any point, artillery or rockets can land. Everyone does their best to know and practise the best ways to stay safe, but it can be a matter of bad luck sometimes. I have had quite a few instances of shelling on top of my position. If this was at a location with military in the trenches, there was usually a small bunker in which we would shelter until it had passed. In towns or villages, we would have to look for the closest cover, whether a small wall or some rubble. We’d get as small as possible, cover our ears and open our mouths to keep our ears from being blown out.”

Ron Haviv’s understanding of risk is quite different. “The overall risk is that the work has no impact and is not believed in the current world of politicised silos of acceptance. Without the work being believed, the actual risks of covering conflict are even more amplified. The ability of subjects of the photographs to access the images through digital media adds a level of danger as people attempt to control the messenger. Everyone in a conflict zone is becoming more and more aware of the power of the image and the damage or benefit it can do to their cause.”

Reward?

What these photographers are trying to achieve varies also. “Speaking for myself, I’m not taking photos to change the world,” Schwan says. “What the audience does with the photos I take is up to them. If this helps to inform their votes for who is going into political office and how they would have handled the situation, that’s normally my best wish. That being said, there was a photo I took on the opening day of the war of a woman named Olena Kurilo, who was bleeding and bandaged. It made the rounds in papers around the world and caught the eye of a painter in L.A. who recreated the photo onto canvas. She auctioned the painting off for over US$100k and donated the money to Ukrainian charities who help wounded civilians. Seeing the power that one photo can have to bring about change is something that humbles me, and I’m glad that it was able to do so, but the primary goal I set out for is to educate an audience. I don’t want people at home to say they didn’t know.”

Dupont says that he is documenting first. “I’m building up a body of work that I hope will have some sort of public interest and impact on people’s consciousness and conscience. I’m not really working on a picture a day thing; I’m working on a much bigger body of work. I’m looking to build a large essay that will form a book or an exhibition, something that will have an audience that may be a little away from the mainstream, [as] getting the message out to different kinds of audiences spreads awareness of the impact of war. That impact comes in so many different forms. In Ukraine, the suffering of the elderly jumped out for me. I’d never really thought about them in other wars I’ve covered. I’ve covered wars in which young people were fighting and suffering, but in Ukraine I came across so many older people left behind, who had to put up with Russian occupation and had lived in cellars for months. I was deeply sad to see their suffering. They tend to get left behind in every which way. And the animals. There were so many pets left behind, sitting inside a destroyed apartment, waiting for their owner to come back.” Dupont was looking for the stories that touch the soul, he says. “There are so many photographers out there covering the fighting. I’m interested in the impact the fighting has on people and animals, on infrastructure, on the soul of a city, in how it changes things. These bring out the human story and the most powerful stories are human stories.”

Ut hopes to be part of a changemaking process. “We can only document as best we can, although we do want to change the world with our images. Change is brought about by those who see our images and want change for the better. Our images can be the catalyst for change, but we never know until it happens.” Trieb also feels that triggering and creating change are the goals. “I believe that the photojournalism community is doing that, but collectively – breaking down walls, one brick at a time. And my life’s mission is to keep chipping away at that wall. What if there were no visuals coming out of the war in Ukraine? No one would know what it looked like there, no one would be able to see what was happening. Words aren’t enough. People need to see things for it to become a part of their reality.”

As a photographer with a thirty-year career, Haviv has seen his work create change. “I am currently co-directing a documentary with Lauren Walsh, entitled Biography of a Photo, where we examine the lives of two of my images; one from Panama in 1989 and the other from Bosnia in 1992. Both images had an impact on their creation and continue to do so, 30 years later. For instance, the Panama photograph was used as justification by the President of the United States for its invasion of Panama, with the Bosnia photograph being used to indict and convict people of war crimes, among many other things.”

Do it?

Conflict photography may be a niche segment of professional photography but, even with all its warnings and caveats, it has not been immune from the overall surge in the last decade. Dupont feels that it requires especially careful consideration. In fact, he says, “I’d never want to encourage anyone to cover conflict.” He adds, “You need to get experience before you jump into a war zone. Inexperience is a deadly curse when it comes to war. You also need to have a real drive and commitment to cover the story, someone to watch your back, and great people on the ground.” He says that seeking advice from those who’ve done it before is a must, and even travelling with them. “These things will help your safety and that should be the single most important factor. No photograph is worth your life,” he states. For Ut, there is another responsibility that must come first. “Stay true to journalism. Journalistic ethics are paramount,” he says. “Do not fake photos in any way.” He also notes that you don’t have to go far or take huge war zone risks to find stories. “Be inquisitive and be creative,” he adds. “There are many stories to tell right in front of us.”

Future?

Ut also knows that there is a new era in conflict photography. “Cameras have changed. One can send an image across the world in seconds, whereas before it took hours or days. War coverage has also changed. Now, it is more difficult to be out there covering wars by yourself. If one is not embedded with the military, one will be at great risk of injury, but if embedded one can only see what they want us to see. It’s a difficult subject to cover now.”

Trieb finds the industry to be far more nurturing and accountable than it was when she started. “It might be because I’m older and more secure in my profession, but there’s also been a huge push for inclusivity. In the early 2000s when I started, there were, of course, working female photojournalists and women who were industry pioneers, but it was still very much a boy's club. Back then, for every ten male staff photographers, there were maybe one or two females. I remember feeling intimidated and even sometimes unsafe being around so many older men. The industry has a sordid history of sexual harassment, sexism, and power dynamics, where men come out winning.” But things are changing, she adds. “Presently, there are a number of growing movements that spur accountability, better leadership, and higher ethical standards. Nowadays, there are many more opportunities for female photographers to mentor female photographers with an emphasis on creating a nurturing and safe environment. We still have a long way to go, but female photojournalists are shaking up the status quo, and it’s inspiring to be a part of it.”

There will always be a need for visual storytellers,” Haviv adds. “When I started, the question was, ‘Is photojournalism dead?’. Thirty years later, the conversation remains the same. Simply put, it is not dead, and photographers with the passion, desire, and ability to tell stories uniquely will always succeed.”

Contacts

Stephen Dupont – www.stephendupont.com

Ron Haviv – www.ronhaviv.com

Wolfgang Schwan – www.wolfgangschwan.com

Erin Trieb – www.erintrieb.com

Nick Ut – www.instagram.com/utnicky

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