Book Report

     My favorite story in It's What I Do by Lynsey Addario would have to be when she is in Istanbul during chapter five and a bomb goes off for the first time very near to her. The bomb ended up killing one of the reporters there, whom she knew and talked to. This was a huge reality check for her; it showed her there was real danger in what she did, and the experience made her so deeply upset, she had to excuse herself do the back of the building to cry. All she wanted in the moment was to call her mom, but she soon realized someone had stolen her phone. To me, this really shows not only what she was experiencing, but it showed Addario what was truly important to her--her mom. Not just this though, because although this experience was traumatic for her, and many others, she still wanted to go to war zones and photograph the atrocities; so in many ways, this was also the beginning of her love with war.

     Addario has some notable photographing techniques. For starters, she uses her gender to her advantage, which I have found, can be very hard to do. Addario uses her gender as a woman in the middle east to get close to the women and families under the Taliban. She is able to go into homes, meet with the women, and go where she wants and show emotion alongside the women who are forced to stay in their homes. This is shown early on in the book. On page 51, Addario says, "Because there were young women inside, Mohammed was prohibited from entering,  but the father led me through three rooms where young female teachers held classes in cavelike spaces for swarms of colorfully swaddled girls--in greens and purples and oranges--from the surrounding villages." Here, Addario is using her gender to her advantage to get places male photographers cannot. She also has this opportunity to use another strategy: network and make your subjects comfortable with your presence. These techniques really make her work stand out. In her pictures, the subjects are showing raw emotion, something which is hard to do--especially under the circumstances in which she is photographing. The picture on page 222. This woman is obviously showing real emotion, something she would be doing with or without Addario there. In other photos, such as the ones where she is in New York with transgender prostitutes, Addario's subjects are so comfortable with her, they don't even look at the camera; it's as if Addario is just one of their friends.

     I definitely understand Addario's need to go to war zones and report what is going on, and that is news which people need to see and understand. However, I definitely do not feel the same way. I wish I had the stomach for it, but I just don't. There is no way I would be able to stand by and watch people die, get close to people who may be dangerous, and photograph war scenes. It's not just this, but the anxiety of never knowing when a bomb could hit or where I was staying could be raided would drive me up a wall: I would never sleep, I would be wary toward everyone I met, and I honestly think I would drive myself insane with the level of anxiety and stress that environment would cause me.

     I tried many times to think of myself as Addario, but rarely do I think I actually was able to encompass her strategies. I struggle with anxiety disorder, and it is very hard for me to communicate with strangers under pressure. I have to embody a different identity to interview and photograph. I guess that does make me a little bit like Addario. She had to conform to certain views and societal standards to be good at what she does, and that is what I do when I am interviewing. This became a prominent way for me to cope and just get in there for assignments such as Humans of LBCC where I had to go up to students who might be busy doing homework and ask for a little bit of their time; something Addario had to do during her travels as well.

     One of my favorite photos is of a man who looks like he was hit by a car bomb in Afghanistan, 2014. This photo really drew my attention and emotion after scrolling through dozens of her pictures online. This photo really displays the reality of war and the reality of what happens to soldiers. Addario has many beautiful, though provoking, and controversial images which I love. However, my other favorite photos are the one mentioned above on page 222, because it shows a lot of raw emotion; my other is on page 226 because it shows a soldier helping his fellow soldier who has been obviously very seriously injured. It breaks my heart, but also shows the camaraderie they have for one another.

     There are two quotes in this book that really struck emotion out of me, one of which I mentioned before; it is during the moment her friend and comrade was killed in a bombing: "And then, suddenly, I desperately wanted to call my mother. I reached into my camera bag in search of my cell. It was gone. Someone had stolen my phone amid this death and horror. While bodies lay bleeding on the cement." This quote really evoked some emotion from me, as I think it would anyone else. Not had Addario just been in a horribly unfortunate situation, someone, amongst the death and blood and unruly scene, had the heart to take her phone. For me this is just unimaginable. I can only think about how Addario must have felt: helpless, lonely, scared. This quote really got me thinking about how situations like that put into perspective the people who mean the most to you. Another quote that really hit me is while Addario is explaining Chris's, a friend and colleague's, death: "Two days later we went to Chris's funeral in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, at the church he was supposed to have married that summer. Instead of walking down the aisle with his beautiful Christina, he was carried down the aisle in a casket, his mother and his bride-to-be walking a few steps behind." This hit me similar to the one I quoted before this. The comparison to him being carried down the aisle instead of walking down it for his wedding day just struck my heart. It is absolutely devastating to think about how his friends and family feel, but I cannot even fathom how his bride-to-be must be feeling in that moment.

     This book is heart-breaking, exciting, and all-in-all very well written. Addario has made something people of many ages would enjoy--teenagers, adults, and elderly. It's What I Do A Photographer's Life of Love and War is a book I will definitely be recommending to my family and friends, and to you as well.