It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War. A Comprehensive Review
Lidnsey Addario, a conflict photographer who went headfirst into one of the most dangerous places in the world in order to educate the very world that told her no. A journalist diving headfirst into a culture that belittles women in order to know about and document the very women who struggle to exist. Addario, an amazing photographer, journalist, and author of “It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War”. While reading this book, I was awestruck at just how intense the entire book was. From kidnappings, to bombings, divorces, tragities, and countless other events, this book is an enthralling piece of work. Written by Addario herself, the book details her own journey of becoming a photojournalist and being thrust into combat in
The middle east while also attempting to maintain a life at home in the americas. Eventually, after a failed marriage, and much determination Addario dedicates her whole career into being a conflict photographer in order to educate the world of a hostile environment that is rarely seen up close.
If I were to be asked what part of Addario’s story really stuck with me I would say events before the bombing from chapter 5 as well as the aftermath. While this was earlier in the book, this scene was one of the first times that it truly hit Addario that she was in a war zone. In 2003, while Addario was in Iraq, two important events took place. The first was of when Addario was covering a scene in which a US soldier had been killed in combat due to a planted bomb, several US soldiers, seeing that she was a photographer and while knowing she was American, screamed at her to “YOU FUCKING BITCH. [...] Get the fuck out of here you fucking bitch.” (pg. 108) The American government did not want the world to see what they were doing due to the fact that, at baseline, was unethical and the war in Iraq was already a debated topic. The second event that took place during this chapter was when a British Consulate was bombed with dozens of civilians inside. Addario describes the scene to be catastrophic. With bodies littering the streets, flames and rubble everywhere, and the surviving people running for their lives. It was at this moment that all of the compartmentalized trauma that Addario had gone through as a new war photographer hit her and she broke. In the book, she described how, unable to stop crying, locked herself in a phone booth and sobbed for an undetermined amount of time. This stood out to me because as a person, one can only take so much strain and stress and at this point, Addario had been handling everything extremely well, a little too well. It was only a matter of time until she finally felt that wave of fear, grief, and frustration hit her.
Describing Addario’s work is difficult to do within only a few sentences, yet a word that immediately comes to mind is; real. Her journalism skills capture real and intense moments that portray a story no matter how simple they might seem. This is what sets Addario’s work apart from other journalists. While most photographers capture the drama and the action of a scenario, Addario captures the people behind the massacre and how it affects them. Her work always has an authentic feel while staying true to her quality of work. It's a refined skill and Addario is incredible at it. For example, take the photo of a group of children playing around a burning vehicle in eastern Libya. At first glance, one can obviously tell that there is a larger narrative at play. Why is the vehicle on fire? Why are children anywhere close to it? Yet, what really stands out is how raw this image feels. The children depicted in this photo are obviously desensitized to the destruction around them due to the momentum of the 2011 uprising. Not only does this image tell a story but it also depicts that there are people who are directly affected by the chaos surrounding them. Most of the modern world is oblivious to this fact and the fact that she captured this is why Addario’s work stands out as phenomenal.
With the skill of educating the world through her work mastered, Addario describes in her book her sense of duty surrounding her job. She is willing to spend countless months across seas documenting the people directly affected by conflict. Leaving her family, husband, and children to pursue her career. Personally, I do not relate to this immense duty surrounding her work. While I believe that Addario has immense skill and that educating the world on matters across the seas is incredibly important, the idea of leaving everything you know and traveling to one of the most dangerous places in the world, without knowing the language, is terrifying to me. I would never have the strength to do so. And so, in short, I do not relate to her sense of duty.
While Addario’s drive to capture the unseen may be an idea I cannot relate to, her strategies in photojournalism have been an inspiration to me as an amateur photographer. The way that she is actually at the scenes of some of the most tragic events in my lifetime. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the California wildfires of 2021. While the pandemic was a much more significant event than the wildfires, the photo that truly stuck out to me and made me pause, was an image of a home completely engulfed in flames. The idea that Addario was that close to the flames in order to photograph the destruction is fascinating to me. The same is true for all of her work; Addario is front and center capturing the action. It's a lesson that I often try to employ when shooting for my own assignments and it is most likely something I will use for the rest of my life.
Overall, this book is fascinating and gives incredible insight into what sacrifices those around the world give in order to fight for what they believe in. Whether that be in a war zone, a hospital room, no man’s land between countries, or even a military camp, Addario captures what it means to fight, lose, sacrifice, and succeed. Recommending this book is something I have already done previously but would do again in a heartbeat. A fantastic read and an inspirational story of a journalist who risked life and limb to pursue her career and to educate the world through her photography.
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