How to survive a war zone
An explosion in the distance! Screaming quickly follows. A group of photojournalists runs towards the source of the noise to find a minefield with multiple casualties in the middle of it. We quickly assess the situation, establish contact with the injured and start making our way towards them. Clearing out a minefield is a slow and tedious process where one wrong move could increase the number of casualties in a second. Slow is fast. We take a while, the injured person loses consciousness which is understandable. When you lose a limb you lose a pint of blood every minute. Finally, we reach the first one. Catastrophic bleeding, missing right arm above the elbow, blood coming out of his ears and nose. I rip open my first aid fit, stretch the tourniquet, place it around the casualties arm, and tighten it as much as possible. Time to take my field dressing and protect the wound itself. It's still bleeding, my trousers and gloves are bright red and soaking more and more. The arm needs a second tourniquet above the first one for a tighter seal. As I apply it I jump a bit to the left to get a better grip. "BOOM!" That's what the instructor said as I have stepped on a mine effectively injuring myself, the casualty and another colleague helping me. We've cleared the path to the injured, but not the immediate area around him. A rookie mistake that can cost a life.
Luckily this was just an exercise to point out our mistakes and to have us prepare for a life or death situations. One of many intense scenarios other 12 photographers and I have just gone through last week attending The Conflict Photography Workshop led by Jason P. Howe, Eric Bouvet, J.B.Russell and an active military adviser. The course took place in the gorgeous mountain range of Sierra Crestellina in the southern Andalusia. In a span of seven days we would undergo a tightly packed schedule of lessons, trainings and well crafted realistic scenarios that included trauma treatment of an injured person on a battlefield, basic first aid, ability to carry wounded people, safe conflict zone behaviour, improvised explosive device (IED) awareness, the ability to safely navigate a minefield, nighttime light and noise discipline, preparing a shelter under pressure, response to indirect fire (IDF) or navigating military checkpoints. But that was just the military and survival half of the workshop. The photography side taught us plenty of crucial new information as well.
Jason, Eric and J.B. started with a portfolio critique, pointed out necessary improvements for each of the students and then moved onto a brief history of photojournalism, lessons on what makes the difference between a good and a great photograph, how to be a good and efficient editor, how to correctly plan an assignment in a foreign and possibly dangerous country. Then we moved onto the more complicated questions of ethics in photojournalism which sometimes caught us by surprise and sometimes showed us that there is not a black and white answer to what is right and what is wrong to photograph and what not to. We've seen that photographers in a conflict do hold power to save lives, to stop unnecessary killing or to lift spirits. But they can also provoke the exact opposite just by their presence. A photojournalist with no ethics or boundaries can easily and unknowingly be a propaganda tool.
Six out of seven nights spent on the workshop were in the field. We slept in bivvy bags under the stars living only with what we had in our backpacks. This was to prepare us or to show us that in a war zone a good photojournalist has to be completely self-sufficient and able to fully count on only him or herself. Only that way you can be sure to stay alive, relevant, and able to do your job regardless of the circumstances. The days were hot and the nights were cold. Food was calculated and rationed. We were always kept on alert from having to quickly pack and run, to jump for the safest cover from enemy fire and to always have our body armour and helmet within reach at night to be able to protect ourselves from IDF. All of that goes hand in hand with having to be physically on one's edge. There are no exceptions. If anyone wants to cover a conflict successfully they have to be perfectly fit. All 13 of us have learned that lesson fast.
I've been looking forward to this week since I've first found out about the workshop and signed up. Counting the days down I was more and more excited but also a little concerned whether or not I would be mentally and physically capable of finishing it. Now that it is all over I can honestly say it was one of the best things I've done with my life. I've met an incredible group of people from all over the world with many different backgrounds and goals but all with the same drive to be better and with the will to go for it and work hard. I've had amazing conversations and got many important lessons from experts on photojournalism whose experiences are truly a joy to listen to. I've been taught how to effectively save lives in situations in which I would be absolutely lost a week ago. And most importantly I've made friends that I know I can count on when I'll need to if we ever work on an assignment or a story together anywhere in the world. All of that in a span of seven days whilst enjoying the gorgeous Andalusian nature.
Big thanks to Adam, Adam, Andres, Alex, Diego, Doug, Emma, Ian, Maria, Preston, Rees, and Sam for being a great team. I'm looking forward to your next successes and big breaks in photojournalism. Massive thanks to Eric and Jeff for countless advice and lessons as well as our anonymous military adviser. And of course, this thing wouldn't be possible if Jason wouldn't bring it all together so thank you, good sir, thank you!
P.S.: One more thanks goes to Kevin for losing so many limbs and lives just so we could learn how to patch him up. You're the real MVP!
