Interview with Thomas Sjoerup about
Working in war zones
By Lasse Havndrup
Having a pistol pressed against
your forehead does put things into perspective, says Thomas Sjoerup,
War photographer with several visits to the former Yugoslavia
behind him.
He explains:
There is nothing like the high you get when you get away from
that someone pointing a gun at you.
On the other hand returning home becomes frustrating listening
to silly complaints about the local super marked having run out
of banana flavoured yoghurt is to much crap to take when you just
returned from a refugee camp where people are starving to death.
For Thomas the big picture
matters
having a job that makes sense.
Photographers must be where things happen there are no shortcuts
to this work.
If the Photographer is not there , you don't get to see the pictures
if you don't see the pictures you don't know what is happening.
Risks are a part of his job , and he is very aware of them.
In the beginning i didn't want to give presents, out of fear of
losing my neutrality, but I do that now. The suffering during
a war is simply too grotesque, and it does become to much for
me to handle, Thomas says.
One example is a small girl he met in Kosovo before the Nato intervention
and then again several months later in a refugee camp in Kukes
,Albania.
In kosovo he visited her family on a photo expedition, and he
was invited to stay for dinner. They asked him to stay for the
night too , as they felt more safe when he was there. Thomas politely
refused the last offer.
In Albania he was photoshooting in a refugee camp, when a child
took his hand and started speaking to him in Albanian. Thomas
called his interpreter.
The girl said that I had dined in her parents' house, and then
I remembered.
I followed her to the open horse carriage, which was now her home.
Her father had disappered just after they entered Albania,
And the family was struggling to stay alive.
I took the girl down to the shop for journalists
And bought them huge bags of food. I had to, he explains.
Thomas' first assignment
Was with the Danish UN peace
keeping force to Croatia in 1990 coming from peaceful Northern
Europe, the scale of the destruction shocked him.
Back then I made every mistake I possibly could.
For me war photography has really been a learning by doing experience,
he says and lines up a couple of the mistakes :
First of all, we were three people in a car with only two doors.
never do that in a war zone. And if you do make sure that you
are not in the back seat.
Secondly, several times I stepped out of a car and stepped into
the bushes to take a leak.
I didn't even consider the danger until the day someone calmly
asked me ,what if you had stepped on a land mine in there?.
As a third mistake I didn't try to think as the soldiers from
the warring factions.
Once we had taken the wrong turn on a road we found out when we
approached a military control post close to the frontline we stopped
100 meters from the soldiers and reversed the car.
That day today I feel lucky they didn't just shoot us they could
easily have thought we were trying to get away from them, he explains.
Not surprising,
Thomas main advice to new photographers
is to be prepared.
I know it is a cliché, but there really is no picture worth
dying for.
I would always take cover instead of going for the award winning
photo.
Whenever you turn up somewhere, always ask at the first military
checkpoint for the officer in charge.
Find him and get permission to take photos, he says.
After a short pause he adds:
Also, learn to say hello and thank you in the local language,
and bring a short wave radio to stay informed. When you are in
a combat zone , you know nothing .BBC knows about things happening
less than 50 kilometers away before you do.
There is a lot of equipment you need to bring along to do the
job; camera dark chamber computer satelite phone and a bullitproof
vest being the most prominent.
Thomas doesn't use his bullitproof vest much, though.
I don't wear it as much as I tell my parents and my girlfriend
I do.
I always keep it near me but I would never use it all the time
.
I keep it for emergencies .
Emergencies are when Thomas has a "bad feeling"
About the area he is about to enter Burning houses , for
example, would trigger that immediately.
Most of the time he just relies on his sixth sense.
It is exiting to be there
When the things are happening
around you,
but sometimes it can get pretty scary.
I remember once I was forced into a police car and taken to a
police station on the other side of town, Thomas recalls.
At first I didn't want to come along- I kept saying "nema
nema" for no, but then he pulled his gun out, and I went
along.
they questioned me and then they let me go.
On the other side of a ghost town I knew was full of snipers.I
ran from corner to corner- my heart pounding- in the direction
I thought would be the right one .
Luckily it was.
Thomas arrived safely back at the press camp one experience richer.
Never walk around alone you might disappear and no one will ever
know what happened to you.
Since then I have always worked in groups of 2 or 3 people.
By now I am pretty experienced for a Danish war photographer,
but when possible I stick with the experienced lot , like the
Reuters or AP people.
All they do is war photography, and they know how to avoid unnecessary
trouble, he says, before finishing:
I have survived so far, which probably means I have learned to
do it the right way round, but you never know. Especially not
when you're in the middle of a war. I might not get home the next
time.
Story by Lasse Havndrup