The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders

A photography book of a different kind

It's not what you think. That's the thing that came to my mind when I began reading this photography book. It's not really a photography book, it's an essay, it's a comic, it's contemporary, it's graphics, it's an illustrated adventure from 1986 and it's a true story.

Photojournalist Didier Lefèvre joined a team of Doctors Without Borders in 1986 and followed them into Afghanistan to illustrate their efforts to help ease the suffering of the people by providing medical services. The country was literally torn apart by the war between the Soviet Union who invaded Afghanistan and the Afghan Resistance supported by America and other Western Countries.

Once the Soviets retreated there was no peace but extremists took over and created even more war and conflict amongst the people. The American people were presented with a steep price ticket for getting involved on September 11, 2003.

This is the backdrop of the story. A mess that I cannot really understand enough because I don't know enough about it, really. So I begin reading. The book is illustrated much like a comic book and it is Didier's photographs that fill in the story. I find myself reading and looking at the image thinking, this is not just a story, this happened. And I read, and read and read.

"You know, for example, if you have an aperture of 11 with a shutter speed of 1/60th, and you decide to close the diaphragm down to 5-6 for a shallower depth of field, you'll automatically have to increase shutter speed by two stops". "Hm". "That becomes second nature. But of course being able to produce a technically good picture doesn't mean you'll make great pictures. For great pictures you really have to tear your eyes out. I want to pour all my energy into improving my photography. I want to take good pictures." "And what is a good picture?" "I don't know."

It is a story so well told that it draws you in- completely. A documentary as good as as it gets. Photojournalism as it is intended to be - an eye witness account shown to us image by image. Told by a naive and at first innocent photographer who is in way over his head but somehow manages. Illustrated with humor and pictures so simplistic and gripping. Each a testament to how incredibly lucky we are to live in peace and in a democratic environment. A journey serving as a dark reminder that even idealistic and well meaning people can die or get very ill.

What Emmanuel Guibert has done with the book is for lack of a better word amazing. Was it not for his graphics and the way he has put it together - we wouldn't be able to read it. Emmanuel makes us watch and observe the story. His illustrations give us a much needed rest during the heartbreak we see. Doubtful that it could have been told in a more suitable way. This holds true especially for our society that doesn't like to be confronted with the realities of what war really looks like for those who are in it.

To sum it up, it is not an easy book. It will make you think, ponder and perhaps you may get angry on why war is still tolerated. But you read it anyway and you think about it some more.

The beauty is, this is what Didier Lefèvre had set out to do. To tell a story as a photojournalist and he has done it masterfully and with heart. I am with him through the journey, I know when he is happy that he can capture through the lens of the camera what he can't bare to watch with his eyes open.

And I cry when he cries.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Lefevre: The Photographer

A quick read that will stay with you. The real treasure here is the photography. I had read a bit on Afghanistan - mostly Ahmed Rashid - before picking this up. This book helped me develop an emotional connection to the crisis that prose alone isn't always conducive to. Sufficient illustrations and a good story supplement Didier's photographs.

You feel like you have been there

This was such a suprising book. I found myself completely rapt to see how well the execution of the book worked--the interleaving actual photographs with graphic depictions of the travel and work of Doctors Without Borders in the northeast corner of Afghanistan. Didier Lefevre, the photographer of the title, and his collaborators on this book, had personality enough to keep the tone moving constantly through interesting, awestruck, serious, funny, fearful. While the beauty of Afghanistan was constantly remarked upon, it was only at the end that I could see beauty there, in that stony and stark environment. There is something about the quality of the light and the air that is absolutely unique, and unforgettable. This book gives us something very special. It is a great gift shared.

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