Last week I spent some time with Shooting War, Anthony Feinstein's recently published profiles of eighteen war photographers. Feinstein, a neuropsychiatrist who studies PTSD, interviewed each photographer or, in the case of the deceased, their closest family or friends to build these searching, raw profiles of men and women grappling with the emotional and sometimes physical trauma of war. There is a unique moral hurt to this profession; war photographers often choose to capture the most difficult images imaginable rather than putting down the camera and applying a tourniquet. Many are embedded with soldiers they become close to; Ashley Gilbertson blames himself for the casualties troops protecting him in Iraq suffered as he ascended a tower to get a better camera angle.
Anthony's idea to begin each interview with a single powerful photograph, to evoke the emotions these images elicit in the men and women responsible for capturing them, works extraordinarily well. I'm proud to have represented Shooting War, and I hope you'll consider purchasing this important book if you are interested in better understanding the men and women who complete some of the most dangerous journalistic assignments imaginable.