AJC.com > Iraq coverage > Blog > Archives > 2005 > November > 09 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USPhotographer got an eyeful of Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
During two months in Iraq with Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team, I knew I would get plenty of photographs of soldiers.
What I did not know was how often I would have an opportunity to photograph Iraqi civilians. Wherever I went, I knew it was a distinct possibility that never again would I pass that intersection, that house, that market, that street or that person.
AJC staffer Louie Favorite spent two months with 48th. • SEE PHOTOS
So, whenever I went — from Camp Striker in Baghdad to Camp Taji to isolated forward operating bases named Mahmudiyah, Yusufiyah and Lutafiyah — I snapped away at the average Iraqis caught up in the middle of the war.
I could travel all over the world for months on end and not see anything like I saw in Iraq.
And when I took those photos, I tried to show my subjects their images in my digital camera. The children, who were more than willing to pose, always loved that.
During the voting on the national constitution in mid-October, I took a photo of a rather dour-looking older man after he had voted. When he saw his image in the camera, he nearly broke into a dance. But a woman who saw her image reacted almost the opposite way, shaking her head and walking away with what I could interpret only as a look of disdain.
What I brought back with me in addition to these pictures are lasting memories of the wonderful cooperation of the Georgia soldiers of the 48th, the talcum-like sand that stuck to everything and the abject poverty that is so much a part of everyday life in war-torn Iraq.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Chris
November 11, 2005 07:42 AM | Link to this
Mike,
Have fun when back home, thanks for the Pics and good convo while in St Mike. Make sure you get to try Bendettis and the Thai place there on Clairmont and N Decatur.
Also, take the significant other to that university park and find that waterfall. It’s an amazing place in a sea of the city.
R/
LT Kehl108th AR