I wanna become a War Photographer

Mike_E · Oct 22, 2009

Good luck, but if you want to shake the world- go and photograph slavery. From children sweeping to the sex trade.

I do not wish to make lite of war but at least both sides get to shoot at one another, unlike someone grabbing a child or young woman and forcing them to spend the rest of their lives trapped in a nightmare.

newrmdmike · Oct 22, 2009

. . . mike_E i can't get the taste of your comment out of my mouth. Its one thing to be a journalist and photograph bad things, its quite another to be involved in so called "poverty porn" by making a point of photographing those things in graphic nature for the sake of viewers. (and i'm not saying thats exactly what your saying, but when you go down this road i think its a legitimate concern to have)
Its also not that easy to photograph children suffering, i tried while working for sipa, and couldn't do it, i couldn't benifit from their suffering. i could have closely photographed the sex trade in thailand as well as land mine victims in cambodia and chose not too . . . what good would it do? without a comprehensive story or direction to take the photos in then its just a shock factor, and i'd rather not feed off of societies sick desire for that sort of thing.

newrmdmike · Oct 22, 2009

you can get ahold of Michael Yon or his people at :
How to Contact Us

the number works, just remember to call at an appropriate hour

DReali · Oct 22, 2009

I'm in a special forces unit myself and photography was strictly forbidden for op sec reasons but based on the training i can't imagine war photography is easy at all. Therefore I can't give you any tips or suggestions but if you want any inspiration look into Don McCullin's work. I also informed myself on becoming a military observer for the swiss military but that involves becoming a captain first and participating in various humanitarian missions abroad....a lengthy process i didn't want to go through. See if becoming a military observer is simpler in the U.S. forces.

newrmdmike · Oct 22, 2009

yes it is. . . DReali, aren't you out now? and i can't imagine your an operator if you said you didn't want to go through a lengthy process, the q course here for special forces in the U.S. runs from 1.5 to 3 years. . . . usually not more than 2.5 though. But then again, not everyone in sf units is sf.
and depending on the army there it could take a long time to reach captain.
Join the army with the MOS 25 R or something, also you don't have to join as an officer.

and photography is an integral part of sf missions here, for evidence collection, hvt identification etc, helmet cams are great for review and make for good footage on the deployment dvd.

AND I AM NOT A SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIER.

newrmdmike · Oct 22, 2009

woops, itts not 25r its 46Q, public affairs specialist. its a 12 week ait, and if your actually interested i'll ask my buddy.

Mike_E · Oct 22, 2009

Mike, Sir, I am appalled that I did not make myself clear.

I do not/would not suggest that simply taking photos of poor, suffering, people that some might be filled with righteous indignation and go on with their day would be of any benefit.

Rather, to highlight the people who benefit from slavery I feel is the better way. It seems to me that the only way to curb this activity is to illuminate the guilty. As long as they can operate under darkness or anonymity they have proven their unwillingness to join the human race. To connect a face and a family to the crime and let the world see them for the scum that they are seems to be the only way to get them to stop. They don't seem to care about anyone else but themselves and their egos.

Of course the rest of the world has to care.

It's not exciting I suppose, but is an evil that needs fighting.

newrmdmike · Oct 22, 2009

glad to know it wasn't headed down that ally! I suspected you didn't mean that, but it was something i came across in my very brief journalistic experience, and something my agency spoke of.

DReali · Oct 22, 2009

newrmdmike.....In the Swiss army basic training is usually 4 months, 6 months for sf (grenadiers, panzer grenadiers, paras, grenadier military police, explorers) and 4 week repetion courses each year until the age of 32. you can chose to do your service all at once and that takes about 1 year depending on your incorporation. So technically untill the age of 32 I am expected to defend my country (with the grenadiers) in case of war. The Israeli army has addopted the same system but with a longer service. Almost all Israelis have a rifle in their home and the same applies to switzerland. A us general (i think it was a general) was once quoted as saying "Switzerland doesn't have an army, Switzerland is an army".

Anyway back to the main topic... Although I was trained in photographic techniques intended to be applied to specific mission types this has nothing to do with documenting war. In those situations the army doesn't want pretty pictures, it wants information. As far as becoming a military observer here it doesnt matter if you're infatry, cavalry, logistics or af you do however need to become a proffesional (most of the Swiss forces are militia, including me) and the process of becoming a captain usually takes 2 years AFTER you've already completed basic training. After that candidates who want to be military observers have to spend at least 6 months with Swiss Coy, an organisation which sends swiss soldiers abroad (currently active in Africa and Kosovo) to give humanitarian aid. After that you can apply for a job as an observer but the chances of recieving the position are slim. Like I said, it's a lengthy process and I never had the intention of becoming a pro but seeing as service here is mandatory i thought i might as well do something challenging and get something out of it.

newrmdmike · Oct 22, 2009

thanks for the info, your military is structured very differently.

molested_cow · Oct 22, 2009

Just thought you may be interested in this:

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

Cooler_King · Dec 24, 2009

War Correspondents are not dying at all. Quite the reverse.

More and more Western armed forces see the information battle as the fourth spectrum of warfare and media correspondents are the weapon of choice. The British Army has several twitter accounts, youtube channels and blogspots dedicated solely to Helmand Province.

Anyone can buy a ticket to Kabul, land and just start photographing.

if you want inspiration on how to become a military embed then seek out the resources used by Michael Yon.

He carries with him a portable sat phone/modem so he can update his photo galleries on the fly from within theatre.

Trust me, reporters willing to go out on patrol are a rarity and if you have military experience you will be snapped up.

Contact each nation's Military Media Ops team and explain you are a freelance war reporter and see what they say from there.

Good luck. As far as I can see the industry is very much about making your own way.

Take inspiration from reporters who literally just arrived in Afghanistan and started writing and photographing, sometimes in disguise.

Village Idiot · Dec 24, 2009

Cooler_King said:
War Correspondents are not dying at all. Quite the reverse.

More and more Western armed forces see the information battle as the fourth spectrum of warfare and media correspondents are the weapon of choice. The British Army has several twitter accounts, youtube channels and blogspots dedicated solely to Helmand Province.

Anyone can buy a ticket to Kabul, land and just start photographing.

if you want inspiration on how to become a military embed then seek out the resources used by Michael Yon.

He carries with him a portable sat phone/modem so he can update his photo galleries on the fly from within theatre.

Trust me, reporters willing to go out on patrol are a rarity and if you have military experience you will be snapped up.

Contact each nation's Military Media Ops team and explain you are a freelance war reporter and see what they say from there.

Good luck. As far as I can see the industry is very much about making your own way.

Take inspiration from reporters who literally just arrived in Afghanistan and started writing and photographing, sometimes in disguise.

Reading Mike Yon's blog, I would have thought differently. He said it was incredibly hard for him to get embedded and that the armed forces were making it very difficult for photographers and journalist to get embedded with combat units.

Cooler_King · Dec 25, 2009

Michael Yon has found it hard to get an embed lately because of some controversial posts that he wrote regarding the nature of the threat that UK troops faced out on the ground.

Ethical or not the British Army did not appreciate the tone of the article and cut his time with them short. But up until that point Michael Yon had been the longest ever embed with a British Army infantry unit.

After his tenure was revoked he contacted the US Heliborne Medics (Pedro) and tagged along with them. Good thing to as they are simple amazing and will extract a casualty under the most ardent of enemy fire.

Michael Yon's biggest problem has been funding for the satellite bandwidth he uses to transmit stories and photographs.

However even Michael Yon (who lives for war reporting) has to freelance and make ends meet by covering political, social or commentary peices from around the globe. He often discusses in detail exactly how he sold a particular piece to a print publisher.

TomD · Aug 14, 2010

Hey TheDutchMan,

It's been quite some time since your last post and I was just wondering how you are progressing and if you succeeded in getting where the action is?

I'm also from Holland and planning to go to war next year to do war photography. Unlike you I don't have any military experience.

I will be going to Israel in February, to work for 4-5 months in a Kibbutz to learn the language and the israelian history. Which I think is very important when I want to understand the people. After the Kibbutz I want to try and get military training in Israel, which means I will have to apply for an israelian citizenship. My plan is to try and reside with an israelian border unit for a couple of months, so I can make an objective portrait of that military unit.
I will also try to hook up with some newspapers or press agencies in Tel Aviv, trying to get an internship or a job there.
Im really going to focus on military training after the Kibbutz, because I think thats very important when you want to go to war

After Israel I will be travelling to another war district.

I also don't know how to get at the places I want to be, only thing I know is that i'm just going to Israel and see how far I can get. My opinion is when you want to do something, just do it and go for it. Eventually you'll get there.

I hope to get an update on your progress!

Cheers!

Tom