TIME: Soldiers' Tattoos In Afghanistan

Photo © Mauricio Lima /AFP/Getty Images-All Rights Reserved
It's really time to leave Afghanistan when magazines start publishing inconsequential and silly photo essays as the one just featured by TIME's website. It's titled Soldiers' Tattoos in Marjah, and is by Mauricio Lima.

The photo essay shows about 10 images of US soldiers showing off tattoos of various illustrations, religious messages and excerpts from the Bible amongst others. The one above is of Lance Corporal Daniel Weber, and the caption reads as follows: "The Arabic inscription on Weber's bicep translates to "unfortunate soldier."

No, it doesn't. It reads "Al Nafs Al Mahzouza", which means "the fortunate soul" in English. So quite different in its intent. If Weber wanted the tattoo to read "unfortunate soldier", he may want to go back to the parlor that did this, and ask for his money back. Although Arabic is not one of Afghanistan's languages, the script is nicely done.

This captioning error is made either by some clueless soul (a summer intern?) at TIME Magazine, or through careless translation in Marjah. In this particular case, it's an irrelevant mistake....but I shudder to think how much important information is misunderstood or even lost through careless translation by American or Afghanistan individuals.

Why did I bother to mention it here? Well, a photo essay about soldiers' tattoos appears in a national and international magazine, and we still wonder why photojournalism is where it is today? Aren't there more interesting stories in Marjah?

Update: My thanks to Ciara Leeming who just messaged me saying that the caption was changed a few moments ago to this: The Arabic inscription on Weber's bicep translates to "lucky self."

It's still inaccurate, but much closer than the original. Do the TIME staffers read my blog?

Matthieu Paley: The Pamir Mountains

Here's a 6 minutes trailer from a multimedia documentary "Forgotten on the Roof of the World" by photographer Matthieu Paley and anthropologist Ted Callahan that tells the story of a little-known tribe of Kirghiz nomads in one of earth’s most remote regions - Afghanistan’s High Pamirs mountains.

The full documentary will be screened by Matthieu at the Royal Geographical Society (Hong Kong) on Tuesday 22nd of June.

Matthieu Paley is an Asia-based (currently based in Hong Kong) photographer specializing in editorial and documentary photography. His work appeared in Geo, National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Outside, Discovery and various others.

NYT's LENS: A.K. Kimoto

Photo © A.K. Kimoto-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times' LENS blog features a poignant photo essay on opium addiction in Afghanistan by the late A.K. Kimoto. The photo essay is in black & white; dark and brooding as befits such a subject matter. See it...I highly recommend it, along with its accompanying article.

Kimoto was a 32-year-old Japanese photographer based in Bangkok, who died in March while traveling to Australia.

He spent years photographing families in the remote northeastern mountains of Afghanistan, controlled by the Taliban. He roamed remote settlements in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, to find out why so many of the inhabitants (even the young) had become addicted to opium. As Emily Anne Epstein explains in the piece: "The poverty in this region is so harsh that parents blow opium smoke into their children’s noses to soothe the pangs of hunger."

A.K. Kimoto wrote:

“I offer to transport the mother and child to a clinic. One of the elders cuts me off before I can finish my thought. He smiles gently as he tells me that the child would never survive such a journey in the cold rain, and anyway, this way of life and death have been repeated for centuries in these mountains.”

Coincidentally, the New York Times reported yesterday that the United States has discovered nearly "$1 trillion" in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, which translates into approximately $35,000 for every inhabitant of the country. Naturally, massive investments will be required to mine these deposits, but in any event there's little chance that the poor of Badakhshan will see their lives improve from this eventual wealth. Cronyism, and venal corruption are endemic to the region...and only those with the power and connections will reap the benefits.

NPR: Sebastian Junger On 'War'

The arm-chair warriors amongst us will like this post on NPR:

"Five times between June 2007 and June 2008 the writer Sebastian Junger traveled to a remote Army outpost in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. Junger, a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, made the trip to embed with a company of soldiers from the Army's 173rd Airborne brigade as they fought to keep the Taliban from controlling a small, treacherous plot of land."

I have yet to read all of the article and listen to the excerpts, but I can easily predict that a book such as this one, and its supporting hoopla, glorifies war.

On my flight back to NYC, I tried to watch "The Hurt Locker"...5 minutes into the movie, I turned it off. Is it eyeball fatigue from all the war coverage since 2001 or is it moral disgust...or is it both?

One Shot: Kate Holt

Photograph © Kate Holt-All Rights Reserved
I'm severely pressed for time, so this post will unfortunately be short in prose but hopefully not in substance.

I just thought to showcase this magnificent photograph by Kate Holt of an Afghan woman holding a malnourished infant at a therapeutic feeding center in Kandahar.

Kate is a news and features photographer, covering events throughout Africa and Afghanistan.

PS. Being tall, I'm quite fond of environmental photographs of that type, which tell a story from "above". Many photojournalists/photographers seem to prefer frontal views for obvious reasons, but in this case where faces are covered, Kate's choice of vantage point is just perfect.

Frontline: Dancing Boys of Afghanistan

On Tuesday night, I watched the harrowing Frontline: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan which exposed an ancient practice know as as "bacha bazi" which, literally translated, means 'boys' play'.

This illegal practice exploits orphans and street boys, and has been revived by powerful warlords, businessmen and military commanders in Afghanistan. These men dress the boys in women's clothes, who are trained to sing and dance for their enjoyment. The dancing boys are also used sexually by these men.

This is outstanding journalism by Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi, and my hat's off to PBS and to the Frontline producers for doing such an admirable job. I was particularly impressed by Quraishi and his producers' attempts to arrange the rescue of one of the dancing boys profiled in the film, an 11-year-old boy bought from an impoverished rural family.

In contrast with other productions (see my post of yesterday, for instance) the 11-year boy's face was blurred throughout the film to preserve his anonymity and self-respect.

Homosexuality is forbidden in Islam, and yet pederasty and boy concubinage has had a long history in the Persian cultural world which includes much of Afghanistan.

Julie Jacobson: Afghans' Opium Addiction

Photo © Julie Jacobson/AP-All Rights Reserved
It is estimated that Afghanistan supplies nearly all the world's opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin, and while most of the deadly crop is exported, enough remains in it to feed a cycle of addiction among its population. It's also estimated there are at least 200,000 opium and heroin addicts in Afghanistan.

It's a fact of life that many rural areas in Afghanistan have no access to basic medicine such as aspirin, so whenever a villager needs a painkiller for a minor ailment, they are given opium instead.

Julie Jacobson is an Associated Press Writer and Photojournalist, who produced a video on opium addiction amongst a family in Afghanistan. In many of Afghanistan's remote mountain villages, opium addiction has infected toddlers to old men.

Julie has also written an interesting article published by Nieman Reports titled Crossing The Line: From Still To Video, which includes these four main guidelines:

"Some moments should be captured in photographs only. With those, be true to your photography and don’t worry about video."

"Remain as true to your photography while capturing video imagery. Make good “pictures” in your video".

"Some moments and events clearly call for video. But it isn’t possible to be everywhere and to get everything, so don’t try".

"When shooting stills and video, anticipate moments carefully. If they’re not there or time doesn’t permit, then make sure to be complete in shooting only one or both will suffer."

A worthwhile read to photographers and photojournalists facing this transition.

Ashley Gilbertson: Bedrooms of the Fallen

The New York Times Sunday Magazine has featured The Shrine Down The Hall: Bedrooms of America's Young War Dead, a powerful photo essay in slideshow format by photographer Ashey Gilbertson (VII Network), which looks at some of the empty bedrooms of the over 5000 U.S. military personnel killed in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dexter Filkins starts his accompanying article with the words "Just kids". The ages of these military fallen range from 19 to 25...indeed, just kids.

George McGovern in 1969 speaking about Vietnam said:

"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in".

Now of course, it's also women who die in combat, as indeed Karina Lau did. Her bedroom still has a stuffed teddy bear and floppy-eared rabbit on top of her floral bedspread. She was killed seven years ago when insurgents shot down her helicopter in Falluja, Iraq. She was 20 years old.

In my view, this slideshow should be mandatory viewing by every politician who supported our senseless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I just read that George W. Bush is visiting Haiti. How about visiting these bedrooms first?

Foreign Policy Magazine: Photo Essays

Photo © Antonin Kratochvil/VII -All Rights Reserved
I didn't realize that the website of the venerable Foreign Policy Magazine was following in the footsteps of other media by featuring large sized photographs. These photo essays generally follow FP's international focus, such as The Shooting War, an exclusive collection of work by well-known conflict photographers who explain how they captured the photographs.

While I'm getting tired of repetitive and predictable war photographs, whether from Iraq or Afghanistan, I thought this collection did a good job in featuring a handful of photographers who've been published in various publications over the past few years. The captions add some meat to the bones...inasmuch as they give some insight into what was in the photographer's mind at the time.

The Shooting War

Massimo Berutti: Afghan Vaccination

Photo © Massimo Berutti-All Rights Reserved
The Wall Street Photo Journal has featured a photojournalistic gem on its Photo Journal titled Vaccination Diplomacy of black & white photographs by Massimo Berutti.

In my view, it's a singular gem because it's not an Afghanistan reportage of foaming-at-the-mouth wild-eyed hirsute mujahideen aka jihadists aka Taliban (or whatever the mainstream media's stereotype flavor of the day is), isn't about a bloody military offensive or counter-offensive, and isn't about showing dead and maimed people we don't identify with and frequently demonize. No, it's about how the Taliban, Karzai's central government (corrupt as it it may be), Unicef and the World Health Organization are partnering in trying to eradicate polio through a wide ranging campaign.

This uneasy arrangement recognizes the Taliban stranglehold over large areas of Afghanistan, and the anti-polio campaigners are only welcomed in the villages if and when they show a letter signed by Mullah Mohammad Omar, the leader of the Taliban, which requests the people to cooperate. It seems that Mullah Omar promptly issues a new letter for every vaccination round, and the World Health Organization staff print thousands of copies, distributing them to the anti-polio volunteers.

So the power of reason and dialogue works, and the trite cliche of winning hearts and minds is effective after all!

NYT/Adam Ferguson: The Hazaras

Photo © Adam Ferguson /NYTimes-All Rights Reserved
Today's The New York Times features a photo essay of Adam Ferguson's photographs titled The Resurgence of the Hazaras. Those who have seen the movie The Kite Runner (and/or read the book) will remember that the Hazara (Shi'a) minority of Afghanistan were historically dominated and discriminated against by the Pashtun (Sunni) majority. It's the same old and sad story of religious discrimination and divisiveness that has (and continues to) plague our world.

However, it appears that after the US invasion in 2001, the Hazaras have swiftly remade their circumstances, and in some provinces are overtaking the Pashtuns in many areas. The resurgence is largely built on education, as the Hazaras emphasize educating girls as much as boys, and adopt a stronger belief in gender equality.

I chose the above photograph because it shows a Hazara classroom where a poster of Immanuel Kant, the 18th century influential German philosopher, is displayed on its wall. Among other thoughts, Kant criticized the practices of Christianity and its rituals, as well as its hierarchical church order. I wonder what these young students know of him, and what is taught about his philosophies.

Adam Ferguson is an Australian photographer who trained with Gary Knight of VII, and is now based in Delhi. He has been recognized as a PDN's 30 Emerging Photographers To Watch 2009.

Previous posts on Adam Ferguson's work appeared on TTP here.

Rafaela Persson: Afghan Women

Rafaela Persson graduated from the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism program at the International Center of Photography in New York in 2008. She holds an MA in sociology with studies in human rights, international migration and ethnic relations from university of Lund, Sweden.

Her photographs were exhibited in Copenhagen, the International Center of Photography in New York, the Pingyao Festival in China, and are featured in the ICIMOD traveling exhibition: Nepal 2008, Germany, Switzerland, US and Japan in 2009. Her work was published in The New York Times, Sydasien, People Sweden, the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and the Canadian Film Board.

Rafaela was recently chosen to participate in the Asia-Europe Emerging Photographers Forum 2009 in Kuala Lumpur.

Have a look at Rafaela's work with drug-addicted women in Afghanistan. The Afghan women say they have taken to drugs as a way to comfort themselves and their children when they go hungry or cold.

Tyler Hicks: Kandahar

The New York Times features Tyler Hicks' photography on its LENS blog with a gallery titled Under The Radar In Kandahar.

While I've seen much better from Tyler Hicks, these black & white photographs are nevertheless gritty and raw, and certainly worth a look. More interesting to me is the article which accompanies these images, in which Mr. Hicks speaks (or writes) of the dangers he faces during his assignment in Afghanistan.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the city — there’s always a possibility that you’re moments away from being killed,” said Mr. Hicks, 40, who has been working in Afghanistan for The New York Times since 2001. “So you shave off risk anywhere you can. It’s that bad.”

I found it also remarkable that he admits often photographing from the relative safety of his car, driven by his local driver. I wouldn't have guess it from viewing these photographs. He also works early in the morning when there are fewer people on the street, dressed in traditional clothing.

The Globe & Mail: Behind The Veil

Canada's The Globe and Mail provides a rare insight into the lives of Afghan women through a week-long multi-media series, Behind the Veil.

In these series, 10 representative Afghan women in the Kandahar area speak about key issues in their lives. Aided by an interpreter, specific questions were asked from each of the women. The Globe & Mail is well-known for its edgy multimedia, having featured equally interesting and extremely well produced multimedia pieces before.

I haven't got the time to view this except for a few minutes, but I intend to return to it once I'm back from Bhutan.

WIRED: Kanepari & Ferguson

Photos © Adam Ferguson (L)/Zackary Canepari (R)-Courtesy WIRED

"The photojournalist has long been known as the lone wolf, traveling solo to the far-flung corners of the world to document experiences few are capable of seeing. By function, it’s often a solitary quest, lonely and alienating; rarely as romantic as the photographs make it appear."

What a great start for the Raw File article written for WIRED by Bryan Derballa!

The article deals with the friendship and healthy competition between Adam Ferguson and Zackary Canepari, two immensely gifted photojournalists working in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. It appears that they helped each other, and edited one another’s work, always hoping to improve its quality.

WIRED's Raw File's article is in essence two interviews: Ferguson giving his views on Canepari's work, and vice-versa. Quite an interesting read...naturally, they pat each other on the back, but that's what friends do, especially those whose camaraderie withstood difficult circumstances.

Both photojournalists are content to be doing what they want to do at this time. Canepari is back in California pursuing personal projects, while Ferguson is still shooting in Afghanistan.

Zackary Canepari was featured on TTP a few times, and Adam Ferguson's work in Orissa was featured here.

Carolyn Cole: Afghan Women

Photo © Carolyn Cole/LATimes-All Rights Reserved
The Los Angeles Times has featured an audio slideshow on Afghan Women, photographed and narrated by Carolyn Cole, and produced by Bryan Chan.

The premise of the audio slideshow is that while Afghan women live in a freer environment than what it was under the Taleban, when they were forbidden to leave their homes without a male relative, beaten for trivial infractions, and deprived of schooling and employment, they are still disillusioned by the meager gains achieved despite billions of dollars in international aid, and a sustained military campaign.

The abhorrent constraints of age-old traditions over the treatment of women still remain, and these are reinforced by poverty, illiteracy and ignorance. It is heart-breaking to realize that treatment of women in Afghanistan will not improve as quickly as we all hope, as these traditions are deeply woven in the country's very psyche and fabric, and that it will take decades upon decades of consistent educational efforts coupled with financial assistance to inculcate new attitudes. Forcible change will not work and cannot be practically sustained, but sensible persuasion supported by health and educational programs might.

Carolyn Cole's images in the audio slideshow are well chosen; some are even powerful...however she ought to have worked on her narration a little more. As it stands, she's intoning from a script rather than narrating. I know, photographers are now expected and required to be storytellers, narrators, videographers and lots of other things in between...but that's the new order of things, and we'd better get on with it.

Teru Kuwayama: How To Not Get Shot

Photo © Teru Kuwayama-All Rights Reserved
A veteran documentary photographer, Teru Kuwayama has made more than 15 trips to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir, traveling both independently, and as an embedded reporter with US and NATO military forces, as well as Afghan, Pakistani, and Indian armed forces. In 2009 he received the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor award for his work in Pakistan, and a fellowship from the South Asian Journalists Association.

He is a 2009-2010 Knight Fellow at Stanford University, a contributor to Time, Newsweek and Outside magazines, and a contract photographer for Central Asia Institute, a non-profit organization that builds schools for children in remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

GIZMODO has featured Teru's Ask a Pro: How to Shoot (and Not Get Shot) In a War Zone, which is certainly a must-read for every inexperienced photographer with romantic notions on war photography.

Whilst all of his suggestions are extremely valid, I liked these:

Avoid the faux-commando stuff. Learn How To Say "Hello" and "Thank You" and To Count To Ten. Don't Follow the Pack.

Moise Saman: Lost Boys of Afghanistan

Photo © Moise Saman/NYTimes-All Rights Reserved

“Afghanistan is hemorrhaging its youth into Europe” said Pierre Henry, director of France Terre d’Asile, an organization that works with the European Union, the United Nations refugee agency and the French government on asylum affairs.

As per The New York Times' The Lost Boys of Afghanistan, one of the consequences of the war in Afghanistan are the young (some as young as 12) refugees who seek an education and a safe future currently impossible in their own country. It appears that the European nations where these youngsters seek refuge are obliged under national and international law to provide for them; adding a few thousands to the many more of illegal migrants.

The photographs are by Moise Saman, and the accompanying article is by Caroline Brothers.

I'm mildly encouraged in reading that Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has recently written a critique "of government efforts at “strategic communication” with the Muslim world, saying that no amount of public relations will establish credibility if American behavior overseas is perceived as arrogant, uncaring or insulting."

Perhaps similar and concerted efforts by our current administration will slowly redress the blight caused by the previous administration's actions on the Muslim world....it will take a lot of time and effort, but it's a step in the right direction.

At War: Tyler Hicks

Photo © Tyler Hicks-All Rights Reserved
Well, the headlines this morning on Afghanistan are not encouraging, what with the rigged elections and with American military commanders in the country telling Richard Holbrooke (President Obama’s chief envoy to the region) that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by "Taliban" rebels who operate across borders.

The usage of "Taliban" for every single insurgent (whatever his connection) in Afghanistan is really getting way past its expiration date...or the other one that is really getting so stale that one can almost smell it, is Al-Qaida...or even better, "Al-Qaida-affiliated"....as if the people living in the badlands and caves of Pakistan northern regions have an organization chart, showing affiliates or subsidiaries.

The New York Times (sensing that the war in Afghanistan will not be over in a while) is featuring a new blog called At War. The latest entry is by Tyler Hicks, the noted photojournalist and conflict photographer, who's reporting from the Korengal Valley using night vision photography and audio. I think it's quite clever of The New York Times to do this, as it adds a multi-dimensional aspect to Tyler's reporting.

And to end my tirade, here's this in Tyler Hicks' own words:

"The enemy fighters in this area are mostly local Korengalis. Accustomed to the mountains they can move stealthily in small groups, wearing running shoes or plastic sandals while carrying little more than Kaloshnikov (sic) rifles."

Three things jumped at me: the first is that the fighters have been identified as local Korengalis, not Taleban...and the second is that they're wearing plastic sandals. Those of us who remember the Viet Nam War, also remember what the Viet Cong wore on their feet...sandals. And the third is that the Koregalis, like the Viet Cong, also use Kalashnikovs.

Make of this what you will, but it doesn't augur well for us.

Afghanistan: Choices

Photo © Raheb Homavandi/Reuters-Courtesy WSJ Photo Journal
Our media is publishing reams of articles on the elections in Afghanistan, so I thought I'd highlight excerpts of articles written by a US commentator and another from the UK.

In his In Afghanistan, the Choice Is Ours in The New York Times, Richard N. Haass writes this:

Making this assessment in Afghanistan is difficult. The Taliban are resourceful and patient and can use Pakistan as a sanctuary. It is not obvious that Afghans can overcome ethnic and tribal loyalties, corruption and personal rivalries. No matter who is declared the winner, yesterday’s election is almost certain to leave the country even more divided.

There needs to be a limit to what the United States does in Afghanistan and how long it is prepared to do it, lest we find ourselves unable to contend with other wars, of choice or of necessity, if and when they arise.

The incomparable Robert Fisk in his Democracy will not bring freedom in The Independent writes this:

We still think we can offer Afghans the fruits of our all-so-perfect Western society. We still believe in the Age of Enlightenment and that all we have to do is fiddle with Afghan laws and leave behind us a democratic, gender-equal, human rights-filled society. In the meantime, NATO soldiers go on dying for the pitiful illusion that we can clean the place up. We can't. We are not going to.

That's right. We can't and won't.