Finding Surprising Images From The Past
Addario notes in the book that she has
captured perhaps millions of photos in
her lifetime, starting as a photojournal-
ist 23 years ago. What’s interesting to
note, though, is that during that time,
photography itself went from a film-
based system to a digital-based one. For
Addario, that has meant she had some
older projects in an analog format and
needed them to be digitized. To help
out, she hired an archivist.
“When I started doing the book,”
Addario says, “I had a room full of nega-
tives from when I first started shooting
from the ’90s.” Addario says her archivist
was scanning all of her negatives, many
of which the photographer had forgot-
ten about. But just as Addario and her
team were closing the book, the archivist
sent in a scanned image of men standing
outside the governor’s house in Afghani-
stan after the fall of the Taliban. “She
sent me this panoramic, and I thought,
‘Oh my God, I have to include it.’ It went
perfectly with the text. It described what
I was feeling, and so we were able to get
it in.”Connecting With Subjects
One common element in most of
Addario’s photos is her ability to have
subjects agree to be photographed. Some
of them have endured unimaginable
traumas, such as the parents of soldiers
killed in battle or victims who have suf-
fered rape in war. To do so, Addario says
it has meant she has had to form strong
relationships with them, and they have
had to build a sense of trust together...
which in some cases may mean deciding
not to photograph them.
But building relationships is cen-
tral to her work. “For me, photog-
raphy is all about connecting with
my subjects,” says Addario. “And so
I think for me, it's really important
to have those relationships that you
establish that have some sort of con-
nection. Otherwise, how would I be asensitive photographer who can accu-
rately convey a situation. I have to
understand what's going on. I have to
really have a good sense of the subject
and sort of what they're feeling and
what they're trying to say. So for me,
it's really about communicating.”
Yet in a book comprising war photos,
one thing puzzled me: I asked Addario
why she chose to include the word
“Love” in the title Of Love & War.
“It could mean many different
things for me,” says Addario. “People
always associate war with the most
horrific things, because, of course, it
brings out the worst in humanity. But
it also brings out the best in many. I
see generosity, I see kindness, I see
love and inspiration.
“I also sort of fall in love with the
people I photograph. I think that in
these relationships, they have opened
themselves up, and I open myself up...
So there are many reasons for including
‘love’ in the title.” DPPKahindo, 20, sits in her home with her two
children born out of rape in North Kivu
Province, eastern Congo, April 2008.
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