Take Its What I Do: A Photographers Life Of Love And War Executed By Lynsey Addario Expressed As E-Text

always admired journalists who cover wars, After reading It's What I Do, I have a better appreciation for just how difficult it is for writers and photographers to report in areas of conflict.


Lynsey Addario has had an amazing career as a photojournalist, She's covered conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Darfur, and dozens of other places, She's been kidnapped twice. She's been hunkered down with soldiers during battle, She's had tea with members of the Taliban, The girl gets around.

"While covering war, there were days when I had boundless courage and there were days, like these in Libya, when I was terrified from the moment I woke up.
"

In this memoir, which is filled with her amazing photographs and stories, we learn about Addario's childhood in Connecticut and see how she got her start taking pictures.
We also discover how difficult it is for journalists who report in war zones to maintain relationships Addario had her heart broken repeatedly before she found her future husband.
And when she learns she's pregnant, she has to face her fears about falling behind in her career,

"I couldn't just have a baby and go back to Afghanistan, If I took a month off, I was likely to be replaced by one of the other, say, two hundred freelancers vying to get my assignments.
If I took six months off to have a baby, I believed I would be written off by my editors, I was in a man's profession, I couldn't think of a single female photojournalist who was married or had a child, "

She did have a child, and she still has her career, One of Addario's passions is covering women's issues, such as maternity care, rape and genderbased violence, She shares heartbreaking stories of meeting women around the world who have suffered unbelievable trauma,

"So many women were casualties of their birthplace, They had nothing when they were born and would have nothing when they died they survived off the land and through their dedication to their families, their children.
I interviewed dozens and dozens of African women who had endured more hardship and trauma than most Westerners even read about, and they plowed on.
I often openly cried during interviews, unable to process this violence and hatred toward women I was witnessing, "

Recently I had the chance to hear Addario speak at a National Geographic event, and she said one of the reasons she decided to write this book was for her son, to help him understand the importance of her work.
After reading it, I also have a new appreciation for the importance of photojournalists when pictures of war and conflict are published in a powerful forum like The New York Times, those photographs can show the world what's really going on, and could even change the course of events.


"I was now a photojournalist willing to die for stories that had the potential to educate people, I wanted to make people think, to open their minds, to give them a full picture of what was happening, . . "

This is a really powerful book, I would highly recommend Addario's book to anyone interested in international politics or journalism memoirs,

Favorite Quotes
"I had no idea that I would become a conflict photographer, I wanted to travel, to learn about the world beyond the United States, I found that the camera was a comforting companion, It opened up new worlds, and gave me access to people's most intimate moments, I discovered the privilege of seeing life in all its complexity, the thrill of learning something new every day, When I was behind a camera, it was the only place in the world I wanted to be, "

"Until you get injured or shot or kidnapped, you believe you are invincible, "

"Journalists can sound grandiose when they talk about their profession, Some of us are adrenaline junkies some of us are escapists some of us do wreck our personal lives and hurt those who love us most.
This work can destroy people, I have seen so many friends and colleagues become unrecognizable from trauma: shorttempered, sleepless, and alienated from friends, But after years of witnesses so much suffering in the world, we find it hard to acknowledge that lucky, free, prosperous people like us might be suffering, too.
We feel more comfortable in the darkest places than we do back home, where life seems too simple and too easy, We don't listen to that inner voice that says it is time to take a break from documenting other people's lives and start building our own.
" my own prelude I borrowed this book from my public library, It was purchased with gift funds from our First Selectwoman, Carmen Vance, Carmen started this fund when I worked at Saxton B, Little Free Library, Columbia, CT, I am thankful to see that it continues to add books by, and about womens issues,

The Hook Memoir allows me to see other peoples worlds, their lives, their hopes, their dreams, These moments of their lives shared in the pages of a book inspire and amaze me, enhancing my own,

The Line ”I was now a photojournalist willing to die for stories that had the potential to educate people.
”

The Sinker With an interest in photography and a curiosity to understand what compels a woman to become a conflict photographer, I picked up It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War.
After reading this Im still sorting out the why of Lynsey Addario life choice, Its not that she doesnt explain how she got there its just hard to understand why someone would put herself in harms way repeatedly.
For Lynsey Addario there is no choice, Its What I Do plain and simple,

Addario begins her story with her growing up years in Westport, CT, I truly enjoyed hearing about her home life, a house filled with people, food, laughter and love, Her parents, Phillip and Camilla are hair dresses with a somewhat bohemian lifestyle that attract all kinds of people with their open door policy.
Bruce is just one of these, Addario describes Bruce as ”charismatic, talented, and very flamboyant, ” He becomes a friend to both parents, They eventually finance his schooling to become a colorist, After four years, Phillip and Bruce find themselves in love, They move out. Some years later they gift Addario with her first camera, a Nikon FG, This is the beginning. Addario steps early on into a career mostly inhabited by men, She studies, she watches, she learns, she stretches her reach to work for the finest of news sources,

Each reader will take something different from Addarios story, Lynsey Addario has my deep admiration for her determination and dedication to capture a world many of us cannot imagine, She shows us this world with her tools, the lens of a camera, Shes been doing it in war torn countries for years, It is not all about the war and the military, the governments, and the religion, though much circles back to that, Her photographs bring to life the people, those affected by countries where poverty, hunger, brutal treatment of women, children and even men are a way of life.
We will never meet them but we will never forget them either, She has a story to tell us and she does so with the imagery of her trade,

I know so little of the world, Addarios memoir and her photographs nudge me to think, question, read and look past my life here in the states, This is the perfect book for Womens History Month, Highly recommended. There is much I have not told you, I hope you take the time to read It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War,
Journalism is a selfish profession but I still believe in power of its purpose and hoped my family too



Three months after I was born, a war began between Iran and Iraq which lasted foryears.
I still remember most of those years, I was young and I didnt live in the cities close to border but still there were bombings, I remember horror of loud sound of red alarm broadcasted through streets by loudspeakers and then calmness brought by hearing green alarm.
Still this book showed me much more about war



Lynsey Addario shows a raw picture of what is really behind of all headlines we glance over in our everyday commute to work or listen to on radioso clock news after watching a pleasant SciFi TV series.
She does it incredibly powerful and amazing,

She tells her own journey, Started as a young photo journalist, leaving in two different worlds, tried to mix these worlds so she wouldnt miss a typical girlfriend/woman life but to be on the front line of war zones.
Down in the road understood which one is more important and adopt the other with her job, Her work would come before anything else because that was the nature of her work and it was what she wanted,


She tells hardships a female journalist faces and should endure and not let these hardships affect her work, her decision about going to war zone, undeveloped countries.
How to handle facing many assaults by hungry men of low education from countries which open relationship with women are banned from them and they see any working woman crossing men worlds as an easy target for sexual assaults.

She was abducted two times There are a lot more to read in this book which cannot sum into a single review, highly recommended.


Addario has written a pageturner of a memoir describing her war coverage and why and how she fell intoand stayed insuch a dangerous job.
Booklist I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads Giveaways,

This book is about a woman photographer who captured war and its consequences for civilians in many contriesIraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya, ans so on.


It is not an easy reading, It is disturbing in many ways, But it is one of the books that must be written and must be read, Because on the very same planet we live, people DO keep killing each other in meaningless wars, and people DO keep suffering from famine, lack of clean water and diseases that doesn't exist any more in civilized word.


Unless we know about this, we can't help, Unless we are reminded about it constantly, we might stop looking for solutions,

I took time with this wonderful, strong autobiography, reading a few pages/day trying to fully immerse myself in her story and her pictures.
I am usually a fast reader and I tend to forget a lot from what I am reading and I did not want it to be the case with this one.
As a consequence the review is also quite long, probably the longest I have ever written,



Lynsey Addario is and American photojournalist, one of the best at her job, She was member of a team that won the Pulizer prize for a story on Talibans and a receiver of the MacArthur Award.
She does freelance work and collaborates mainly with the New York Times and National Geographic, She mainly covers conflict and disadvantaged zones, Moreover, she is one of the few women to succeed in this difficult and rewarding job,

When I was looking at conflict photographs in the news websites, I sometimes wondered about the person behind the lens and what it takes to get that perfect shot Why do they do it Is it adrenaline or a higher purpose What do they sacrifice Are they afraid Are they mad How hard is it to live and work in a conflict zone All these questions and more are answered in Lynsey Addarios autobiography.
It is a story of incredible courage, passion, love but also suffering and loss,

“The truth is that few of us are born into this work, It is something we discover accidentally, something that happens gradually, We get a glimpse of this unusual life and this extraordinary profession, and we want to keep doing it, no matter how exhausting, stressful, or dangerous it becomes.
It is the way we make a living, but it feels more like a responsibility, or a calling, It makes us happy, because it gives us a sense of purpose, We bear witness to history, and influence policy, ”
 
I have to admit that I knew absolutely nothing about her before reading two reviews of this book on Goodreads and decided I want to learn more about this fascinating woman and her passion.
I am also not a photographer, I like to take pictures, I own a DSLR and some lenses but I am not a fanatic on the subject, Finally, I do not read much nonfiction, something that I want to fix in the future, I am saying all this because I want to point out that I am not the standard target audience for this book.
However, I loved it and learned valuable lessons about life,

Addario is a great woman and an inspiration, Reading her memoir encourages me to leave my fears at the door and to pursuit what I want/need without constant worry.


Her work touches many sensitive subjects such as the justice of war, the innocent victims, the misery of women all around the world, poverty, famine, love and death.




She is an American photographer but does not necessary follow the American agenda in Afghanistan or Iraq, On the contrary, she tried to capture the cost of the war, either for Americans or Arabs, Her work was censored more than once, She discusses those instances at length, She also tried to pinpoint the mistakes the American soldiers did when dealing with the Arab culture, which negatively influenced the Arabs opinion on Americans.


“The Americans didnt understand the value of honor and respect in an Arab culture, Young American soldiers, many of whom had never traveled abroad before, much less to a Muslim country, didnt realize that a basic familiarity with Arab culture might help their cause.
During night patrols, freshfaced Americans in their late teens and early twenties would stop cars jampacked with Iraqi family membersmen, women, and childrenshine their flashlights into the cars, and scream, “Get the fuck out of the car!” Armed to the teeth, they busted into private homes late in the night, pushing the men to the floor, screaming in their faces in English, and ziptying their wrists while questioning themoften without interpreters and while the children stood, terrified, in the doorway.
They would shine their flashlights on women in nightgowns, unveiled, track their dirty boots through peoples homes, soil their carpets and their dignity.
For an Arab man, foreigners seeing his wife uncovered brought shame and dishonor to the family, and it merited revenge, ” 

One of the subjects that impressed me the most was womens sufferance and, in many countries, their lack of rights.
This is a subject that deeply concerns and enrages me




One recent example from her work struck me.
I saw the following picture on the website that accompanies the book, The person in the pink dress is ayears old Syrian refuge at her engagement party with anyears old man, According to the photo caption: “more and more Syrian girls are marrying at a younger age because of the insecurity of the war, because many families feel the girls in their family may be sexually harassed if they are not under the care of a husband, and because of prospect of alleviating the financial burden of one more mouth to feed” I saw this picture a few days before reading a story on sitelinkBBC Website where it said that there are a lot of cases of underage marriages in Germany and other countries among Syrian refuges.
Although the cited reasons are the same as the ones put forward by Addario this practice is unacceptable, They might call it marriage but I call it rape,



Throughout the book, Addario, tries to balance the story and talks about her love live which was as tumultuous as her job.
She explains how hard it is for a person, especially a woman, who travels so much, to have a stable relationship and balance family with work.
She is lucky to have found a man to support her in her carrier and who doesn't want to change her which is what she deserves, what all women do.


“Photography has shaped the way I look at the world it has taught me to look beyond myself and capture the world outside.
Its also taught me to cherish the life I return to when I put the camera down, My work makes me better able to love my family and laugh with my friends, ” 

I recommend everyone to read this autobiography, I also want to encourage everyone to buy the hardcover as the pictures and the quality of the paper are worth the investment.


  “I choose to live in peace and witness warto experience the worst in people but to remember the beauty.
”  

Further resources:

An interview about her work and book: sitelinklink
Her website: sitelinklink



Lynsey's thoughts after she was censored by the Life magazine which gave up publishing a story on

injured American soldiers as it could change the public's opinion on war in Iraq:

"Almost five months after I shot the story , they finally did run in the New York Times Magazine, but something in me had changed after months in Iraq.
i was now a photojournalist willing to die or stories that had the potential to educate people, I wanted to make people think, to open their minds, to give them a full picture of what was happening in Iraq so they could decide whether they supported our presence there.
When I risked my life to ultimately be censored by someone sitting in a cushy office in New York, who was deciding on behalf of regular Americans what was too hard for their eyes, depriving them of their right to see where their own children were fighting, I was furious.
Every time I photographed a story like the injured soldiers coming out of Fallujah, I ended up in tears and emotionally fragile.
Every time I returned home, I felt more strongly about the need to continue going back"

This was one of the moments she goes really personal and she explains what drives her.


This is one of the few stories of censorship in America that I read this week, It is worrying that they should exist in country that prides itself with free speech, .