Documentary photography

Comm 369

Elisabeth Peters

            By choosing to cover the war from inside Afghanistan and waiting for the American invasion, he was able to really capture a different perspective of the war. A majority of American journalists take the perspective from the American side, which is fine but it doesn’t give us a good view of what the rest of the world sees. It keeps us citizens in an American bubble, which is not representative of the entire world. It seems as though this journalist realized the limitations this could place on Americans and therefore chose to rectify this situation by catching the war from a different angle, from the angle of the ones being attacked. In every story there are two sides and I believe that both sides deserve to be represented. His work accomplished this and showed us how the American soldiers were being viewed by the Afghans. Regardless of ones political opinions on the war, it is helpful and good to learn more about our opposing side. I also think it was great that he got an “insiders perspective” because it humanized those we were fighting against. It demonstrates that emotion is universal, and love for family and friends is also something that extends far beyond our American borders. He painted us a story of these people’s lives so that they were not overlooked, and this is something that he needed to be on the inside for. I think it was a genius move on his part that not only supplied photos that had not surfaced, but also providing photos that really created an emotional connection with his audience. The photos help us see how our actions are perceived by others and show us the human heartache and horror that is going on in the countries of our “enemies”.