I’ve seen some of his work, and, if you ask me, Gerben van Es is a great photographer.
My personal favorite is a picture of soldiers out on patrol in Afghanistan. To the left is a high mud wall; the soldiers walk towards the camera in the center of the photograph. They are serious and watchful. To the right is lush green grass and, overhead, a perfect blue sky almost completely covered by thousands of soft pink almond blossoms. It’s beautiful… and sad.
Not every photographer has access to scenes like that. But, as an army photographer, Gerben does.
He told me about his job - what it’s like photographing fallen soldiers, what it’s like having to put down the camera to to pick up his gun and start shooting, and how he feels about being a soldier in this war.
Listen to the interview here.
Look at a few of his photos below (click to see a larger version) and watch a video of a battle where the platoon he was traveling with was attacked by Taliban.
-
- Soldiers during a Taliban ambush in the Chora Valley, about a kilometer away from the "White Compound".
-
- One of the 6 American soldiers in the patrol group stands by, exhausted, during a short break in the gunfire.
-
- The 6 Americans with the patrol group take a quick break for water during a break in the firefight. The Taliban lost 4 men in this fight and 6 were wounded. No coalition troops were injured or killed.
-
- Major Stephan of the OMLT (middle) directs his troops during an ambush in the Chora Valley.
-
- A convoy on its way to find and confiscate forbidden weapons and munitions.
-
- Troops on their way to find illegal weapons. In the end, 2 AK-47s and 3 handgrenades were confiscated.
-
- A patrol in the green zone of the Baluchi Valley. The patrol is meant to "win the hearts and minds" of the local population by finding out what they want/need and porviding it for them if possible.
-
- Military post being delivered, under the protection of a cougar helicopter.
-
- Bags of military mail.
Last 5 posts by
- A fake in the Rijksmuseum?!?! - August 28th, 2009
- And another update - August 28th, 2009
- This week on the show... - August 26th, 2009
- Hot hot HOT! - August 26th, 2009
- Update on the 13-year-old world sailor - August 26th, 2009
on May 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
[...] The army photographer [...]
on May 19th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
[...] We couldn’t imagine ourselves in this situation and relentlessly questioned any soldier who’d had a life-or-death experience. [...]