From the April 9, 2007 issue of TIME. "During the height of the Sunni insurgency, the only way to safely access that story was to embed, as Yuri Kozyrev did with Charlie Company in Diyala province."Yuri Kozyrev for TIME
Last month, TIME was excited to welcome Alice Gabriner as our new International Photo Editor. No stranger to the publication, Gabriner photo edited TIME’s National section from 2000 to 2003 and then International from 2003 to 2009, including during the Iraq war.
Below, Gabriner writes about the evolving landscape of photo editing and talks us through how a photo editor and a photographer work together to overcome visual challenges.
“Even my eyes are tired of the Palestinian drama sometimes. And, that is why I get caught by the details. Conflict and pain has become ordinary.”
These reflective words expressed by Photojournalist Alexandra Boulat back in 2006 capture the challenges photographers face covering news stories in the modern age of repetitive imagery. Alex was living in Ramallah covering the ongoing violence, though she feared her pictures would no longer have impact. As a result, she began to point her camera in a different direction by photographing the mundane – a flower pot in a hospital room, toothbrushes in a Gaza bathroom, and a refrigerator without electricity.
The frustrations of taking and looking at pictures of scenes we’ve seen too many times, makes us seek out new ways of seeing and presenting work.
On my first day of work, last month, the U.S. launched airstrikes against extremist fighters from ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria) in Syria. I’d just returned to TIME as the International Photo Editor, a job I once held between 2003 and 2009 when Iraq was at the center of the U.S.’s news agenda and when I talked to photographers covering the war more than to friends in New York City.
After a five-year hiatus – as Deputy Director of Photography at the White House, and as a Senior Photo Editor at National Geographic – I am back at TIME as the International Photo Editor. There is so much here at TIME that has remained the same, yet almost everything is different.
Photography as a common global language has become more vital than ever – it has the ability to reach audiences on a massive scale. Web based templates offer more vibrant opportunities for storytelling. Where many of our favorite pictures used to end up on the cutting room floor — because they didn’t fit the story of the week, a top editor didn’t like it, or there was limited space, now LightBox enables longer and more visual edits. Plus, as a photo editor I have a greater voice in crafting that edit. With social media we can spread those stories and see immediate reaction.
But, the most concerning of challenges facing photographers and those who support them in the field – fixers, translators and drivers – is the looming lack of security. Being responsible for photographers working in such dangerous places has always been a stressful part of the job, but in today’s world the stakes are higher. The gruesome videos depicting the beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as aid worker David Haines and Alan Henning, are painful reminders of the unpredictable risks photographers and journalists take when they go off to do their job. These foreign tragedies have become personal, affecting too many friends and colleagues.
Technology continues to transform how we take pictures, as well as the speed with which they are edited and delivered to the pubic. And though the number of photographs created on a daily basis grows exponentially, they often lack context or thoughtful presentation, due, in no small part, to the streaming nature of today’s news industry where virality is favored.
Photographs have the ability to shape our understanding of events, yet an over saturation of imagery can have the opposite effect, by making people tune out and turn away. In this climate of visual overload, I believe it is important to show a different perspective, to present a unique voice, to offer a new entry into a world we wouldn’t see otherwise.
I’ve learned early on that the rules of yesterday don’t necessarily apply today. But change does bring the ability to try a different way, to find a new path, to think in a creative way, and to innovate.
Alice Gabriner is TIME’s International Photo Editor.
From the Nov. 6, 2000 issue of TIME."I started working with renowned war photographer Christopher Morris in the summer of 2000 – during the last big push by both the Bush and Gore campaigns – when Chris began experimenting with medium format film cameras. As his photo editor until the beginning of the Bush administration in 2003, I was excited to see a political campaign photographed in a new way. I also knew the constraints of being a political beat photographer: limited access, scripted events, with hours of waiting for brief photo ops. By supporting this work, it was my hope that Chris would continue to stay creative and engaged despite these limitations." Christopher Morris—VII For TIMEA supporter listens to U.S. President George W. Bush at an event in Pennsylvania, Feb. 2004.Christopher Morris—VII For TIMEA cake decorated with American flags at the annual Knights of Columbus meeting in Dallas, August 2004.Christopher Morris—VII For TIMEA young girl listens to U.S. President George W. Bush at an event in Pennsylvania, Feb. 2004.Christopher Morris—VII For TIMEHigh school students listen to U.S. President George W. Bush speak about his Administration's push for better jobs through education, while at the Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Feb. 12, 2004.
Christopher Morris—VII For TIMEFrom the April 9, 2007 issue of TIME. "During the height of the Sunni insurgency, the only way to safely access that story was to embed, as Yuri Kozyrev did with Charlie Company in Diyala province."Yuri Kozyrev for TIMEFrom the May 29, 2006 issue of TIME. "I believe over six years, Yuri Kozyrev spent more time in Iraq than any photographer working for the magazine. He built a unique body of work shooting scenes of war, while also photographing military personnel and civilians with a sensitive and nuanced eye. Much like politics, there is tedium in war with hours and days of waiting. Increasingly, after 2005, it became too dangerous to work on the streets, which motivated Kozyrev to explore a different approach. He began shooting with varied formats and with film. This spread of his work shows smoke and dust after a rocket was fired by Marines from the roof of a government complex in Ramadi. Kozyrev and TIME writer Michael Ware were embedded with Kilo Company reporting on Iraq’s most dangerous city and the center of the Sunni insurgency."Yuri Kozyrev for TIMEFrom the April 9, 2007 issue of TIME. "Troops shield a wounded solder by a cloud of debris kicked up by a waiting rescue helicopter. He and his fellow soldiers were fired on during a predawn house –to-house search for guerrilla fighters in Qubah." Yuri Kozyrev for TIME"In this unpublished double exposure photo, a Sunni woman stands for a portrait in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq on Jan. 22, 2007." Franco Pagetti for TIME"In this unpublished double exposure photo, a Sunni man, stands for a portrait in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq on Jan. 22, 2007."Franco Pagetti for TIMEFrom they March 5, 2007 issue of TIME."At the height of a civil war, Franco Pagetti embedded with U.S. forces to photograph the sectarian divide in Iraq. To underscore that a distinguishing feature between Sunnis and Shia are their names, Franco took black and white portraits, some as double exposure, of people holding their ID cards. As a foreign photographer working for an American magazine, this was the only way to photograph inside Iraqi homes."Franco Pagetti for TIME"This is part of a black and white film portrait series taken in 2006 during some of the worst violence in Baghdad. At a time when it was too dangerous to work the streets, Yuri Kozyrev set up a studio in the backyard at TIME’s bureau and photographed everyone who passed by."Yuri Kozyrev for TIME"Another photograph from the portrait series taken in 2006, during some of the worst violence in Baghdad."Yuri Kozyrev for TIME"Southern Baghdad in 2008. Kozyrev was shooting with different cameras and film."
Yuri Kozyrev for TIME From the 2006 Best Photos of the Year issue of TIME."Yuri Kozyrev had embedded with the 73rd Cavalry and photographed this woman pleading for the release of men suspected of being insurgents outside of Baqubah."Yuri Kozyrev for TIME From the April 9, 2007 issue of TIME. "Several suspected enemy fighters, awaiting questioning were captured in the assault on Qubah, but some 50 men managed to slip away from the village into nearby palm groves."Yuri Kozyrev for TIME"In this unpublished double exposure photo, a Shiite woman sits for a portrait in Baghdad, Iraq on Feb. 6, 2007. Al-Kaibee's house was destroyed by a car bomb in Dec. 2006."Franco Pagetti for TIMEFrom the Oct. 16, 2006 issue of TIME.
"Alexandra Boulat had documented wars since the 1990’s. In 2006, she was living in Ramallah covering the in-fighting between Palestinians which preceded an Israeli incursion into Gaza. She was frustrated by photographing endless scenes of violence in the same way she had for years, fearing that these pictures had lost their impact. As a result, she began taking different kinds of pictures, focusing on the ordinary and details of normal life – like this refrigerator without electricity in a Gaza home that appeared in the Oct. 16, 2006, issue."From the Oct. 16, 2006 issue of TIME."We published these two pictures juxtaposing frightened children crying at the funeral of their father, a Fatah militant killed in an Israeli air strike – and the ordinary – a toothbrush in a Gaza bathroom."nexus01The Oct. 4, 2004 cover of TIME."This cover on Darfur by James Nachtwey is perhaps the most visually powerful story I have ever worked on. In 2005, it won a U.S. National Magazine Award for photo portfolio. This iconic cover image and the multiple spreads that ran inside underscore how a master photographer’s work can raise attention to an issue in profound way. This story also represented what can be achieved when a team pulls together to support a photographer’s vision. That team included Jim Kelly, TIME’s former Managing Editor, former Director of Photography Michele Stephenson, the former Picture Editor MaryAnne Golon and former art director Cynthia Hoffman. Even one of Nachtwey’s former assistants, Giovanni Del Brenna, left a dinner party he was hosting as soon as I called – to help look over proofs throughout the night."From the March 9, 2009 issue of TIME."We took a different approach in 2008 and 2009, after James Nachtwey came back from a trip documenting the war in eastern Congo. It was a year where the news cycle was dominated by two main stories: the Presidential election and the economic crisis, leaving us with fewer pages to tell long stories in depth photographically. Nachtwey overcame that hurdle by creating these montages, which he presented to the magazine. We agreed to publish them immediately on first look." "Another montage from the magazine, Here, the center image shows a young girl watching a guerrilla fighter."
