[frogoutofwater]

Over on Flyertalk, Daniel W has posted an extraordinary photo diary of his trip to Syria and Northern Iraq. So what if he shoots Canon - it's such a great opportunity to see these places through his eyes.

To The Frontlines Against ISIS - FlyerTalk Forums

[alamo5000]

The guy's website has some seriously interesting stuff.

[RobA_Oz]

You have to give him top marks for having the courage to do that, given what we are continually fed in the mainstream media. Many of us would be envious of the opportunities such a journey would provide, from both a journalistic and a photographic viewpoint. His English writing skills and his photography are far from being at a professional standard, so I wonder what the purpose of the journey was, other than a form of adventure tourism. Mind you, I've seen worse from some of the tabloids that style their work as professional. Thanks for the link - an interesting read, notwithstanding.

[luftfluss]

"Also often when they [YPJ - female Turkish fighters] liberated a village, some women [Daesh sympathizers] would leave their babies behind, but rigged up to an explosive mine. When the YPJ fighters ventured into the houses and went to pick up the abandoned baby, both would be killed. The mothers twisted belief was that her baby would go to heaven for having died a martyr by being killed along with the YPJ fighter."

I can't even...

[RobA_Oz]

"Also often when they [YPJ - female Turkish fighters] liberated a village, some women [Daesh sympathizers] would leave their babies behind, but rigged up to an explosive mine. When the YPJ fighters ventured into the houses and went to pick up the abandoned baby, both would be killed. The mothers twisted belief was that her baby would go to heaven for having died a martyr by being killed along with the YPJ fighter."

I can't even...

Cognitive dissonance at its very worst.

[osv]

really liked that, a first-hand view into a world that we'll never see.

canikon is a good idea in far-flung areas like that, better chance of getting lenses or parts or whatever if you need it.

[alamo5000]

You have to give him top marks for having the courage to do that, given what we are continually fed in the mainstream media. Many of us would be envious of the opportunities such a journey would provide, from both a journalistic and a photographic viewpoint. His English writing skills and his photography are far from being at a professional standard, so I wonder what the purpose of the journey was, other than a form of adventure tourism. Mind you, I've seen worse from some of the tabloids that style their work as professional. Thanks for the link - an interesting read, notwithstanding.

It doesn't take so much courage as it does money and an adventuresome spirit. The guy is a kiwi so he's got a 90% chance to have the second part covered

I agree that his photos are far from professional but in a way--in essay format--that gives them some appeal. To me as I went through his albums on his website it gave me a lot better idea of what it's really like over there in some of those places. That mundane style sort of removes the media slant to everything. I mean when is the last time you saw photos of people standing around smiling and laughing...and those people were in Syria? You don't because that's not what the 'pros' are paid to provide. They want rockets and bombs... but by being so hell bent on those kinds of images it leaves a totally false impression on the world of what it's really like there.

I have done my fair share of travel and people get so misled by 'interesting' images. The African warrior with a loin cloth and an AK47... sure. But then you show up and it's people dressed in nice clothes out ordering Dominoes Pizza or sitting around in a silk suit eating a plate of sushi.

It's one of those things where people create a false narrative... then they show up to Dushanbe and get blown away by it not really being what they expected...

The media as a whole, especially in the US, is guilty as hell of not telling the whole story.

None the less, I think the guy is going just because he wanted to.

[dsmithhfx]

His English writing skills and his photography are far from being at a professional standard,

While I generally agree with your comments, whatever his shortcomings this is an extraordinary document that should be published, perhaps with the help of a professional editor.

[osv]

humans like to see photos of faces, and his work has a lot of that, which makes it appealing.

that photo of the barber trying to get his business back on track, in the first floor of a building that has the second floor blown out, speaks volumes... is it a barbershop with no running water? much left unsaid.

[yucatanPentax]

"Also often when they [YPJ - female Turkish fighters] liberated a village, some women [Daesh sympathizers] would leave their babies behind, but rigged up to an explosive mine. When the YPJ fighters ventured into the houses and went to pick up the abandoned baby, both would be killed. The mothers twisted belief was that her baby would go to heaven for having died a martyr by being killed along with the YPJ fighter."

I can't even...

From what I've read of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), it is likely the men either taking the babies and rigging this or otherwise not having the full participation of the women. In fact, they may be babies stolen from non-Daesh believers, because the cruelty of the Daesh is visited heavily on non-members in their occupied areas. The reports of forced-sex slaves to serve Daesh male fighters are voluminous.
. . . . . . . . . . .
After reading through much of the trip and seeing all his photographs, it really is a remarkable documentation. Sometimes, the "professional" photographs are those taken by the only person issuing photographs from a war region.

I do agree... having seen images of his equipment... that it is surprising the image quality of at least some of the photos is not better. Sometimes, when traveling, you have to shoot from a moving car or be extremely discrete with your photography, but I would have expected some of the posed shots to be a touch more photographically interesting (bokeh, composition, etc), given the expensive gear used (50mm f1.2 etc).