Lynsey Addario
Lynsey Addario
Lynsey Addariois an American photojournalist. Her work often focuses on conflicts and human rights issues, especially the role of women in traditional societies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhotographer
Date of Birth13 November 1973
CountryUnited States of America
areas covering life mean places shot time war
My life isn't always at risk, even if I'm in a war zone. A lot of these places have areas of calm, so covering war doesn't necessarily mean being shot at all the time.
car covering driver injured insurgents kidnapped near occupation taliban
I was kidnapped by Sunni insurgents near Fallujah, in Iraq, ambushed by the Taliban in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, and injured in a car accident that killed my driver while covering the Taliban occupation of the Swat Valley in Pakistan.
became calling covering people realized war zones
I think when I started going to war zones and started covering humanitarian issues, it became a calling because I realized I had a voice, and I can give people without a voice a voice... and now it is something that sits inside of me every day.
attacks basically became bombs car cared covering iraq leave norm realize
I think there were times when I first started out, when I was covering Iraq - I was basically living there in 2003 and 2004 - that car bombs and attacks became so the norm that it was weird for me to leave and realize that no one else actually cared about what was going on there.
assumed case connect consumed covering home troops wars wrongly
I just immediately connect everything to the wars I have been covering overseas, and that's not the case back home. I wrongly assumed all Americans at home were as consumed with our troops in Afghanistan as I was abroad.
aside covering domestic generally relates stories war
I generally don't follow domestic news that much aside from how it relates to the stories I'm covering abroad, like what Americans think of the War in Afghanistan.
books great images learn minute rush seen sit
I've seen so many photographers rush to do books the minute they start shooting, but one great thing about photography is that the images don't go away, so the more I sit with these images, the more I learn which ones have had the most impact.
rarely
I've rarely seen portrayals of photojournalists that seem accurate.
across country implement islamic power raging rose rule stability strict taliban
The Taliban rose to power in 1996, vowing stability and an end to the violence raging across the country between warring mujahedeen factions, and to implement rule by Sharia law, or strict Islamic rule.
felt good photo work
I've always wanted to do a photo book, but I've never done one because I've never felt ready; I just didn't feel my work was good enough.
basically continue directly figure front iraq places rife south sudan war work
I wanted to continue doing my work, but I had to figure out how. And so what I have basically come up with is that I still go to Afghanistan and Iraq and South Sudan and many of these places that are rife with war, but I don't go directly to the front line.
suddenly
Sometimes when I am photographing a major news event, I am suddenly overwhelmed by helplessness.
access aspects entire intimate telling
To me, it's so much about doing your homework, going into a situation, getting to know the subject, making them feel comfortable, getting intimate access, getting access to all different aspects of people's lives, so that I am essentially telling an entire story and not just a single one.
believed convinced danger felt single stories traveling
I was undeterred by the danger of traveling as a single American woman through Taliban-governed land. I believed in the stories I wanted to tell, the stories I felt were underreported, and I was convinced that that belief would keep me alive.