Direct positive Portraits of Marines in Afghanistan

[Kav]

I was sent to Afghanistan unexpectedly and was able to take my camera gear with me. One of the cameras I brought with me was a Sinar F2 large format film camera. So I shot a slew of these little 4x5" photos. About half of them came out with a useable photo, and the Marines loved getting to see them when they were done. They all also came out looking like they were made on copper plates. I'm not sure why, but I like how that worked out.

I also shot normal film portraits, but have not had the time to develop them yet.

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-sqVQ2gN/0/L/i-sqVQ2gN-L.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-MS2kRnV/0/X2/i-MS2kRnV-X2.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-RWg2mQd/0/X2/i-RWg2mQd-X2.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-wKT9T2G/0/X2/i-wKT9T2G-X2.jpg

[Kav]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-XZM6w8k/0/X2/i-XZM6w8k-X2.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-tgnXrQW/0/X2/i-tgnXrQW-X2.jpg
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http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-mvnS9fX/0/X2/i-mvnS9fX-X2.jpg

[Kav]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-kJQzHcT/0/X2/i-kJQzHcT-X2.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-MNXhsxX/0/X2/i-MNXhsxX-X2.jpg
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http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-xkJ4mV3/0/X2/i-xkJ4mV3-X2.jpg

[Kav]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-cBhDC4n/0/X2/i-cBhDC4n-X2.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-GNXTRGz/0/X2/i-GNXTRGz-X2.jpg
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http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-hTDts4h/0/X2/i-hTDts4h-X2.jpg

[Kav]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-4q76fzx/0/X2/i-4q76fzx-X2.jpg
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http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-GFnkmnn/0/X2/i-GFnkmnn-X2.jpg

[snay1345]

I will be taking my speed graphic the next time I go over there. My biggest regret was leaving my speed graphic at home when I went to Iwo Jima. They look good.

[Kav]

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-KZvK6pk/0/X2/i-KZvK6pk-X2.jpg
http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-t8QLjxL/0/X2/i-t8QLjxL-X2.jpg

[Kav]

I will be taking my speed graphic the next time I go over there. My biggest regret was leaving my speed graphic at home when I went to Iwo Jima. They look good.

Go for it! I took one of mine with me too. I only got to take it on one flight with me over there, but I think the photos will be worth it.

[jcoldslabs]

Featured on PetaPixel - nice!

http://petapixel.com/2013/09/24/taking-large-format-portraits-marines-afghanistan/

J.

[Kav]

Featured on PetaPixel - nice!

http://petapixel.com/2013/09/24/taking-large-format-portraits-marines-afghanistan/

J.

Thanks J!

They surprised me when they contacted me and asked me to write a guest post. I tried to keep is short and too the point. I'm not much of a typer...

[Winger]

I really like these. As the wife of a soldier, I'd LOVE to have a shot like this of my husband over there (he's back and says he's done with deploying - we'll see). I love that you take it everywhere and do shots like this. Thanks for sharing them!

[MDR]

Great Pictures absolutely love them.

[Steve M Hostetter]

Very good stuff Kav!:)

[Struan Gray]

I think these are great, both the look of them and the way they present the marines as people, not symbols. They make it clear just how slick and formulaic most journalism about the military is.

[AtlantaTerry]

I will be taking my speed graphic the next time I go over there. My biggest regret was leaving my speed graphic at home when I went to Iwo Jima. They look good.

I have been to Iwo Jima as a photojournalist for the US Air Force. I had a couple Nikon F cameras when I went there with a contingent of aging Japanese civilians along with Shinto and Buddhist priests in 1967.

I wish I had taken a couple Nikonos cameras, instead. My Nikons got so badly soaked with pouring rain that my bulk-loaded Tri-X glued itself to the pressure plates of my cameras. A total mess.

If any publication is interested, I still have the negatives that survived.

[Kav]

Thanks everyone, I'm glad you all have enjoined them. I really need to develop the rest of the large format photos from this trip.


I think these are great, both the look of them and the way they present the marines as people, not symbols. They make it clear just how slick and formulaic most journalism about the military is.

This was kind of a big deal for me. Letting the Marines just do what they wanted for their photos made it much more fun and relaxing for them. Photojournalism overall feels forced and over processed to me nowadays. Like every photo needs to look like a movie poster. Because of that I think we have lost some of the essence photojournalism.

[Struan Gray]

... every photo needs to look like a movie poster.

That's a nice way of putting it.

Photos are used in different ways these days; often as icons, reinforcing an existing idea rather than showing something specific. I think it's great that you've resisted the urge to make photographs which look like other photographs of the same subject.

I don't know if you know of Robert Wilson's Helmand project (http://www.robertjwilson.com/). The images have a much more commercial look and feel (he's a fashion photographer), but still manage to retain the sense of showing a particular person or situation. His portraits of soldiers who have just come off patrol are an interesting mix of heroic presentation, and genuinely tired and careworn subjects.

Kudos to you for making the (considerable) effort to lug LF around on deployment. Thanks for letting us see the result.

[jp]

Kav, it seems you're providing more photos of the war there than our media! This sort of photo experimenting is good for you and at the same time, meaningful to everyone else.