“In a war the normal codes of civilised behaviour are suspended. It would be unthinkable in so called normal life to go into someone’s home where the family is grieving over the death of a loved one spend long moments photographing them. It simply wouldn’t be done. Those pictures could not have been made unless I was accepted by the people I’m photographing. It’s simply impossible to photograph moments such as those, without the complicity of the people I’m photographing, without the fact that they welcomed me, that they accepted me, that they wanted me to be there. They understand that a stranger who’s come there with a camera to show the rest of the world what is happening to them gives them a voice in the outside world that they otherwise wouldn’t have. They realise that they are the victims of some kind of injustice, of some kind of unnecessary violence and by allowing me there to photograph it, they are making their own appeal to the outside world, and to everyone’s sense of right and wrong. I try my best to approach people with the utmost respect, I want them to see that I have respect from them and the situation they are in. I don’t like to move to fast, I don’t like to speak to loudly. I want to be very open in my approach, I want to feel open in my own heart towards them and I want them to be aware of that. People do sense it, with very few words, sometimes with no words at all.”
- War Photographer 2001 (by Christian Frei)
Posted 2 years ago
