An Army photographer in Afghanistan

For those of you (few) who may read this, I am doing my time in Afghanistan at the moment and thought it may be a good opportunity to tell you about what it is like out here, hopefully away from the pretence and ego centric bluff that you may have heard before.

Let me start by saying I do NOT consider myself a ‘WAR’ photographer, but rather a Military photographer that from time to time may be expected to go and photograph or film in places some may call a war zone.  While this is in no way meant as a disrespectful piece on those that are ‘WAR’ photographers, I just think I should differentiate between us and them and I certainly don’t wish to belittle what I do either.

Let me start by explaining our role as I see it.  I am currently serving as part of a three man team that includes a stills photographer (Steve), and Team Leader (Mark) and myself the ENG (Electronic News Gathering) Camera operator, or Video guy, we are the ‘Combat Camera Team’.  We will spend six months of our lives out here based in Afghanistan as part of a larger organisation, ‘Media Operations’ gathering and distributing images, footage and stories to the UK, and international press.

These happy people are Mark and Steve.

Now six months can be a long time to be away from family and friends but there is also the fact that we are all in the same boat, so we just have to get on with it.  We are consenting adults who signed the contract so have to accept the possibility of these tours and take it on the chin.  For those of you that know the British Army, this does not mean that we cannot moan and whine about things.  That’s the way we role baby!  Don’t take it seriously.

Now then life out here is at times not all about bombs and bullets, at times it can get very boring, very very boring, very very very boring.  Am I making my point?

At other times the tempo can be the complete opposite and we can be zipping all over the place shooting this and that (usually with a camera).  Now I believe that we always try to be subjective in our coverage, but we do work for the Ministry of Defence, so we are limited with what we can and can’t release.  We are after all a public relations asset and as such you would not expect a PR department of any corporation to volunteer to focus on the things that maybe unpopular.

I should add that sometimes we can get bored, have I mentioned that yet?

So why don’t I consider myself a ‘WAR’ photographer then?  Do I make a living from photographing ‘WAR’?  No!  Am I an impartial observer? No!  Do I have the freedom to photograph and film what I want to?  No.  Do not read that as a negative point.  Do I wish to don a dish dash, leave the security provided by my comrades armed with only a camera and a few US dollars, to track down a local ‘Taliban’ commander and ask him how his day is?  No!  It is this point that I believe means I am not a ‘WAR’ photographer.  I have operational limitations (which are as much for my personal safety than anything else), which limit what I can and can’t do.

You cannot compare what we do, to what a ‘WAR’ photographer does.  Look at the work of Don McCullin, James Nachtwey, Tim Hetherington, Robert Cappa and the many others who fit the role, look at their pictures, look at where they have been, imagine what conditions they have been working in.  I am a soldier, I carry a weapon (or two), I would like to think I am surrounded by other armed soldiers (and they should be friendly).  Yes I can be and have been found in some unpleasant places and conditions (by my own standards), but in the big scheme of things I remain in relative comfort.

To conclude, please don’t imagine me sitting at a computer in the baking hot sun getting depressed about my lot in life, as I am actually sat in an air conditioned port-a-cabin (although dusty), sat in a real chair, drinking a real coffee (non of that instant rubbish for me).  I am happy with my job, I like what I do, even if I don’t enjoy every little aspect. If that was not the case, what would I have to whine about?

By the way, did I tell you I was a bit bored?

Tune in next time while I tell you more about what we do.

Any opinions and views expressed in this article are the opinions and views of Mark Nesbit and should not be considered those of the Ministry of Defence.