It’s been 66 years now since Holland was liberated of nazi Germany. Less and less people are alive to tell firsthand stories of the horrific war. While we’ve all seen the heroic movies (although they’re rather black-and-white; they always portray German soldiers as the bad guys, while a lot of them were forced to fight), war is still really abstract for a lot of people. Especially kids.

That’s why I like the concept of Bussum Bridgehead, a gathering of WW2 related vehicles, weapons and clothing. Although it’s just as black-and-white as the films (no nazi costumes and vehicles are allowed), it does give a better and more tangible view of the 1940-1945 era.

About the last photograph. Yes, I know it does not really fit in. Or rather; it really does not fit in. But I think it’s too amusing to exclude :p

World War 2 re-enactment is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

[EDIT] 25/02/2011
Unfortunately, I had to take these offline for a while. I won’t bother you with the specific reasons, so I’ll just say I’m glad that I can post them properly now. (Originally posted on November 23th of 2010.)

Exercises like this happen twice a year in this region, and are normally restricted for photographers and journalists. But I could come along. Yay!

Scenario

The Media Park in Hilversum is one of the few high-risk areas in this region. Most of the national TV shows get recorded at this place. Hence the nickname Hillywood. There’s a lot of electrical equipment and a lot of people in a fairly small area, so it’s important to have -and practice- disaster scenarios that could be needed some day.

In this particular scenario, an office caught fire during demolition work. The entire building was filled with thick black smoke (I could barely see what was going on even one metre in front of me), and there were 14 people trapped inside.

These people were specially trained actors; LOTUS victims. No dummies were used in this exercise.

It was really spooky to walk inside the building, seeing firemen with respirators, flashlights and fire hoses through thick black smoke, and hearing people calling for help in rooms beyond my sight.

The smoke was the kind of smoke you see in clubs and at concerts. That’s why I was able to breathe relatively normal inside the building.

The firemen had to evacuate the people trapped inside and extinguish the fictive fire. Once out of the building, the victims got medical treatment from one of the several ambulance teams and inside of the inflatable field hospital-like tent.

There were around 50 people involved in this exercise, including firemen and -women, ambulance teams, the police and several other healthcare and safety organizations.

Geartalk

I used my Canon 5D mark II to take the photographs above. Most of the times in combination with my Canon 35L f1.4 lens. It’s my favourite combination, and it worked surprisingly well in this situation. I didn’t use flash in a single of these shots. I did use my Speedlite’s AF-assist function though, and I was really surprised of the results.

I’ve bitched a lot on the 5D2′s autofocus-system. And I still hate it. But with the AF-assist beam I was able to focus nearly instantly in a subject a metre of five away, even through thick smoke.

Since I didn’t use flash, my ISO had to go way up. It was on ISO 6400 most of the times, but I even cranked it up to 12800 for a few shots. I was pleasantly surprised about the quality of the shots.

It was a really interesting and fun experience, and I even got some photos I like. Hooray!

Preparing for disaster is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

I don’t have one particular favourite, so the order in which I list them is random.

War Photographer

A good place to start, since it’s probably the most known one of its kind. Director Christian Frei made this award-winning documentary about James Nachtwey. You’ll likely know who Nachtwey is, but just to be sure: he’s probably the most famous war photographer still alive. Some even consider them the best war photographer ever, but I’m always reluctant to compare one photographer to another.

It’s a very interesting report about Nachtwey’s work, and war photography in general. It’s very intimate and, at times, very shocking. The footage that touched me the most is filmed in Indonesia. Nachtwey photographs an Indonesian family living in a slum next to a railroad. The man in the family got drunk and got run over by a train that night. He lost an arm and a leg, but he’s still doing his best to support his family.

Frei placed a video camera on the (analog) SLR Nachtwey is using. That way, you’ll see exactly what he’s seeing when taking photographs. This really adds an interesting new perspective to the documentary.

The only downside for me is that Nachtwey doesn’t really open up about personal stuff. I’m personally very interested what this amount of misery does to a human being. But I’ve never seen an interview where Nachtwey opens up about that.

War Photographer is nonetheless a must-see, and a good place to get started if you’re interested in documentaries about photojournalism in particular.
IMDb – Dedicated Website

Born Into Brothels

This one is very intriguing. Photographer Zana Briski teaches photography to children living in Calcutta’s red light district. It’s amazing to see what those kids can do with their tiny point-and-shoot cameras. They have no fear, no shame, and their vision isn’t polluted by being exposed to the thousands of photographs we’re used to in the Western world.

On top of that, Briski acts like some sort of a social worker for those kids. She tries to get them into school so that they won’t go into prostitution like their mothers or become drug addicts like their fathers.

It’s astonishing to see how those parents handle their kids. If they have any love for their offspring, it’s very well concealed…

The documentary is a hard one. It places most of ‘our’ problems in perspective again. It gives great insight in a world we rarely get to see this close.
IMDb

Shooting Robert King / Blood Trail

Last but not least is Shooting Robert King (or Blood Trail, it’s the same thing). To be honest, I never heard of Robert King since a couple of weeks ago. I had seen some of his photos, I just didn’t know they were his. King is a war/conflict photographer, that started his career in his early twenties.

If I had to summarize this documentary in one word, it would be ‘frustration’. It shows that being a war photographer, or a photojournalist in general, is really frustrating work. In his early years he mainly struggled with getting his work published. He spends all his savings to go to his first war, in Bosnia. He works his ass off, without getting any publications in the first months.

This film also shows the dark side of war photography. King gets very depressed after his first wars, and develops an addiction to drugs, booze and sex. He shares a lot more information about his personal life and his personal struggles than Nachtwey does. War Photographer and Shooting Robert King complement each other on this level.
IMDb – Dedicated Website

Well, this are my first three recommendations. Feel free to discuss any of the films in the comment section. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Recommended documentaries involving photography – part 1 is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

This is my fourth school assignment. The theme of this assignment is ‘fear’.

Rather than capturing facial expressions of fear, I chose a more poetic, more consequential approach. I decided to photograph our annual Remembrance Day.

Most wars are based on an underlying sense of fear. As a consequence of Hitlers fears about 70 years ago, we’re still honouring our fallen on the 4th of may.

I hope you like it. Any feedback is, as usual, much appreciated!

School assignment no. 4 – Remember the Fallen is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

(c) AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

In my short life, I’ve seen thousands of truly horrific photos. Lots of deaths, wounds, tears and blood. I’ve seen countless of suffering people and bodies ripped apart by explosives.

I don’t get shocked easily any more when watching photos or video footage of these horrors. Don’t think that I don’t care about these people, on the contrary, but most of the images just don’t send those cold shivers down my spine any more. Well, those shivers came back last night, after seeing one of the most shocking photo essays ever.

I just came home from babysitting my nephew when I saw a tweet by Israel based photographer Ilan Bresler. Ilan referred to a blogpost on Tampabay.com. I was really shocked when I saw them.

The essay consists of twelve portraits of young Pakistani women attacked by men throwing acid. Most of the women had several plastic surgeries, but their faces are still horribly mutilated. You can see the images for yourself over here. But be warned, the one I’ve posted above is probably the least horrific.

Thanks Ilan, for tweeting this link, and making the world a little bit better because of it. Even though it’s awful to see, people ought to know what’s happening in this world. And that is the power of (photo)journalism.

The less known side of terrorism is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog

The London-based photographer witnessed horrible moments in Afghanistan while being embedded for three weeks with the US Marines. He filmed several encounters with the Taliban. The quality of the footage is of an amazing quality, and a lot of scenes could easily be from another Hollywood blockbuster.

Unfortunately, this footage is real and happening right now.

Check this 24 minute lasting trailer (the documentary will be released on the 13th of october) and see for yourself. The resolution is fairly low though, too bad they don’t offer a full HD version.

To find out more about this documentary, check out FRONTLINE: Obama’s War.

First usage of the 5D Mark II in a warzone is a post from: Jeroen Berkenbosch - Blog