Conflict Photographers risk their lives and their living just for taking right photographs at right times under right situations. It is so hard to live in a place of conflicts. Photographers Michael Kamber and Loule Palu have spent most of their life span taking photos in Iran and Afghanistan conflicts.
People have crazy interests, while the normal photographers mostly want to take macros, or landscapes or portraits, conflict photography is totally a different kind of photography. You don't know what's going to happen and even if you are going to survive or not, but conflict photographers focus just on whether they will get the best shots or not.
People say the best way to capture photos when your subject isn't already known that you are taking their photo. It gives the exposure of real emotions and expressions automatically while you can miss these if you already tell the subject that you are taking their photos. Conflict photography is based on this only, you get to capture different expressions, war battlefields and arms.
The works of Michael Kamber and Loule Palu are showcased in Corcoran Gallery of Art.
"We were supposed to go into Iraq, hold elections, turn over the keys, and get out,” says Michael Kamber.
They lost their friends, Kamber almost lost his life in the Conflicts. He also have a book "PhotoJournalists on War : The Untold Stories from Iraq" which showcases 39 photos of his friends, none of them are alive to see the book.
“Those of us who are lucky enough to survive, we get to come here and be at this museum and do this opening,” says Kamber.
This kind of work deserves a spotlight as we don't get to see Conflict Photographs more often. The above video is one of the works on Kamber and Palu in the Warfield.
"We have responsibility to keep telling the story" - Kamber.