PRIDE REMEMBRANCE AND GUILT
You know I really am a very lucky and fortunate person indeed. Not only have I a fantastic wife and two daughters but I'm also a photographer. Once in a while we all tend to just stop and think about our lives and take stock of not only who we are but also our achievements. As a photographer I'm doubly proud to have spent 22 years in the Army and to now be part of a major permanent exhibition in the CONFLICT OF INTEREST gallery at the National Army Museum in Chelsea in London. Well to be strictly honest it is my pictures and not me that are part of the exhibition but I'm sure you get my meaning.
A selection of my images from the madness of Bosnia and Iraq together with some verbal testimony form a part of this incredible exhibition which opened to the public on Saturday and was officially opened by the new Chief of the General Staff Sir David Richards KCB, CBE, DSO last Wednesday night. The National Army Museum very kindly not only invited me as a guest but also employed me to record the event and produce a series of images of the exhibition for them. I have an enormous amount of gratitude and respect for the NAM who have always been so supportive of my photography as a serving Army Photographer and now as a freelance commercial photographer.
Putting my ego to one side for the moment it really is a massive privilege and an honor to be part of this exhibition. I have been given a very small voice through my images and testimony to tell part of what I need to say and not many people get that privilege. I gave an interview to BBC Radio 4's World at One which aired on Friday the 11th Sept and again was humbled at the opportunity to have my voice heard. This has all been about pride, my pride in what I have achieved as a soldier and more importantly a photographer.
The problem with pride though is that it comes at a cost and one which is very difficult to articulate. Its like a voice that never forgets to remind you of the consequences of the actions that allowed you to be where you are. Sadly these consequences, causes and effects are all too often forgotten as I merrily plough on with my hectic and busy lifestyle; but then suddenly like a hammer blow I'm reminded again. This for me is what Remembrance is all about, remember the lives I have seen and touched and the images I have created with my camera. Remember the shattered, the dispossessed, the dead. Remember the people no longer alive to make their own voices heard or those living with the consequences of other less enlightened decisions. Remember the fear, the smell, the grotesque obscenity that is war. Remember how lucky you were to survive and how unlucky those who didn't. Remember and never never forget the price that you owe for what you did and why you survived. Of course the YOU is me.
I had a conversation with an old and dear friend of mine tonight about how tough it is for the current Army Photographers out in Afghanistan. In all the years I served I was never really under any sustained or constant threat, these guys like the soldiers they are recording are living and working in what must be impossible conditions. My heart and respect goes out to the current Soldiers of the Army Combat Camera Teams, not since the Second Word War and the AFPU (Army Film and Photographic Unit) has so much work been done in direct combat, my efforts pale in comparison and I applaud their bravery.
A selection of my images from the madness of Bosnia and Iraq together with some verbal testimony form a part of this incredible exhibition which opened to the public on Saturday and was officially opened by the new Chief of the General Staff Sir David Richards KCB, CBE, DSO last Wednesday night. The National Army Museum very kindly not only invited me as a guest but also employed me to record the event and produce a series of images of the exhibition for them. I have an enormous amount of gratitude and respect for the NAM who have always been so supportive of my photography as a serving Army Photographer and now as a freelance commercial photographer.
Putting my ego to one side for the moment it really is a massive privilege and an honor to be part of this exhibition. I have been given a very small voice through my images and testimony to tell part of what I need to say and not many people get that privilege. I gave an interview to BBC Radio 4's World at One which aired on Friday the 11th Sept and again was humbled at the opportunity to have my voice heard. This has all been about pride, my pride in what I have achieved as a soldier and more importantly a photographer.
The problem with pride though is that it comes at a cost and one which is very difficult to articulate. Its like a voice that never forgets to remind you of the consequences of the actions that allowed you to be where you are. Sadly these consequences, causes and effects are all too often forgotten as I merrily plough on with my hectic and busy lifestyle; but then suddenly like a hammer blow I'm reminded again. This for me is what Remembrance is all about, remember the lives I have seen and touched and the images I have created with my camera. Remember the shattered, the dispossessed, the dead. Remember the people no longer alive to make their own voices heard or those living with the consequences of other less enlightened decisions. Remember the fear, the smell, the grotesque obscenity that is war. Remember how lucky you were to survive and how unlucky those who didn't. Remember and never never forget the price that you owe for what you did and why you survived. Of course the YOU is me.
I had a conversation with an old and dear friend of mine tonight about how tough it is for the current Army Photographers out in Afghanistan. In all the years I served I was never really under any sustained or constant threat, these guys like the soldiers they are recording are living and working in what must be impossible conditions. My heart and respect goes out to the current Soldiers of the Army Combat Camera Teams, not since the Second Word War and the AFPU (Army Film and Photographic Unit) has so much work been done in direct combat, my efforts pale in comparison and I applaud their bravery.
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