Lewis Whyld

Afghanistan is the name of a country, not a war…

Afghanistan portrait

This week I’ll be posting photographs, video and multimedia projects I’ve made whilst covering events in Afghanistan. We all associate Afghanistan with war, and we’ll get to the heavy stuff eventually, but I want to start out with a simple portrait.

This man is a village elder, waiting to speak to ISAF Forces at Check Point 1 near Bamba Serai Patrol Base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. I stumbled into the room where he is sat, carrying too many cameras and too many bags, like an overloaded sherpa. I went in there to photograph members of the Afghan police, but I was immediately gripped by his gaze.

I’ve no idea why he wanted to speak to the ISAF forces, I didn’t have time to find out. Often they come to claim compensation for losses incurred due to ISAF actions, sadly I can’t say.

I raised my camera and took a couple of photographs, exactly as I found him, then had to leave in a hurry to go on an operation with ISAF.

The people of Afghanistan have a certain beauty that I’ve yet to see anywhere else. Often ten years younger than they look, as the harsh climate and conditions take their toll, they have a certain elegant yet windswept appearance that is easier to show in a photograph than it is to describe. To launch Afghanistan week here is a portrait that I think captures their beauty.

Click here for part 2, Afghan Police, Friend or Foe? http://www.lewiswhyld.com/afghanistan-week-pt2/

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2013 at 2:20 pm. It is filed under Photography and tagged with afghanistan, Photography, photojournalism, portrait, war. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.