The Need to Bear Witness

This past week the photography world suffered a grave loss when AP photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus lost her life covering preparations for elections in war-torn Afghanistan. Niedringhaus’ story is a compelling one. A Pulitzer Prize winning photographer known for her work in equally volatile Iraq, Niedringhaus is remembered by her colleagues as a brave, compassionate photographer and photojournalist who took incredible photos with an empathetic eye for the subject, humanizing war in order to “bear witness” so the world could better understand the incomprehensible.

Yesterday, as I drove the back roads of Alberta on my weekly photo junket, I thought often about Niedringhaus and her purpose for taking photos. While we cannot all throw ourselves into war-torn countries capturing stories that hopefully compel action, it strikes me that photography is a means of capturing a moment in time. A means to show “I was here.” The need to document certainly drives my desire to take photos, even if it is a simple shot of a prairie farm that reminds me of the home I miss.

If you would like to learn more about Anja Niedringhaus, please visit these two stories commemorating her life’s work here and here. If you would like to see more photos from my drive up The Cowboy Trail, you can find them here.

As always, thanks for visiting!