Lynsey Addario- War Photographer

Born on the 13^th of November 1973 in Connecticut, USA, Lynsey Addario grew up with a passion towards photography. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1995 with a B.A degree in International Relations. However, Addario is currently based in London, England where she pursues a career of a photojournalist, photographing for three major organisations  ‘The New York Times’, ‘National Geographic’, and ‘Time Magazine’. In 1996 she moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina to commence her photojournalistic career with the Buenos Aires Herald. It was only a year later when Addario decided to return to New York, USA. Keeping in mind Addario had no previous experience in photojournalism during her work period in Argentina; she solely focused on conflict and humanitarian issues. A year later, 1997, the photojournalist worked as a freelancer for Associated Press, and this lasted for three years. During this time period, she went to Havana, Cuba where she began a project to show “influence of capitalism on young Cubans.”

 With the start of a new decade (2000), the young photojournalist decided to cross all the way to the other side of the world; a completely different environment where she can experience a new life style in the diverse New Delhi, India. Throughout her eight-month experience there, she visited Afghanistan to “document life and oppression under the Taliban.” In addition to this, Addario travelled to Pakistan and Nepal to cover general press photographs. In 2001, she moved to Mexico City for a short time frame, where she worked for New York Times, however shortly after September 11^th events, the photographer moved back to South Asia to deepen her Afghan coverage. This time though, Addario went to Afghanistan with a new objective, she was more interested in “women’s education issues there.” After settling in Southern Asia for two years, it was time for the American photojournalist to move to Istanbul. Her duty however was to cover the Iraqi war; a zone she settled in for seven months. And in 2004, she settled in Darfur, Sudan and focused on refugee camps around the country. Sudan being a great central location, gave Addario the opportunity to aim her focus on issues such as women rights in neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia, in addition to other primary issues in Turkey, Libya, South Africa and Lebanon.

 Addario’s projects included the ‘Veiled Rebellion’, which is a photo essay that investigated the daily routine life of women in Afghanistan. Another project was called ‘Maternal Mortality’ which took place in Sierra Leone. A third project was named ‘Talibanistan’ which as the name refers to; the Taliban in Afghanistan. ‘Battle Company is Out There’ which documented two different sides of the war in Afghanistan and the Taliban in Pakistan. And finally a project that was devoted to the tragedy that took place during the Iraqi war. Her dedication and passion to the field of photojournalism lead her to winning many awards over the years. The ICP Infinity Award in 2002, Fuji Award in 2005, MacArthur Fellowship Award in 2009 in addition to Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad in Magazines and Books. During the same year she also obtained an award while being part of the New York Times team; Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. A year later, in 2010, Addario made it onto Oprah Winfrey’s list called: Power of Bearing Witness. She was also entitled to Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography, and finally attained several awards in the Pictures of the Year International Contest.

I am personally very impressed with Lynsey Addario’s photograph selection. To begin with, I am very fond of the diversity of her images, whether in the far East or the far West; Addario manages to portray her thoughts clearly through the use of her photographic talents. I realised she manages to follow a certain pathway when capturing the images; they tend to be close ups of her target, whether it’s a person, place or even an object. The young photojournalist focuses on including children in her images, which of course strengthens the definition of the photograph instantly. In addition, I am intrigued with Addario’s methodology of focusing on two main issues: conflict and humanitarian matters. For instance, she visited Iraq and Afghanistan to visually inform the rest of the world about the catastrophic wars that took place there. In contrast she went to Sudan to cover refugee stories, Africa to exhibit sexual abuses towards women, and Saudi Arabia to illustrate abandoned women’s rights. This multiplicity of photographs that the young American photographer has captured through her life span have without doubt influenced my view on the world; now I believe that a picture tells a thousand words.

Citations:

·      "Lynsey Addario." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-lynsey-addario/>.

·       "Lynsey Addario, Photographer." Lynsey Addario, Photographer. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. <http://www.lynseyaddario.com/>.