So when I got out of the armored vehicle,
they were all waiting in different outfits.
Some were a little bit sort of like almost naked
because they thought it was a man turning up.
Because in their heads an army photographer
is not a woman.
They were like, “Surprise!”
And I took my helmet off and they were like, “Oh my God, it’s a woman.”
And ran off screaming.
[Developing News]
My name is Ali Baskerville.
I’m a documentary photographer- cum-artist-cum-photo journalist.
And most of my work focuses on themes around conflict
and also around gender and representation.
This image is called Ross and Sharpie.
It was taken in a checkpoint in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
And it was taken when I was an army photographer,
around about September 2011.
There was this kind of 19-year-old boy, really,
who was doing this dangerous job,
but also had this sensitivity and was fussing this little dog,
and looking after it and caring for and nurturing it.
It just automatically was a portrait for me.
But it’s not a set-up portrait either.
I was sat with them, and he had just got in from a patrol
and he sat down and started fussing the dog.
And just as I lifted my camera,
they both looked at me at exactly the same moment.
That’s why I chose this picture,
because they’ve both suddenly got eye contact.
And what I liked about it is that all of this machinery of war,
this weapon, the sort of... this bit here,
which is the kind of metal detector device for IEDs,
kind of seems to disappear, really,
and we’re just really more focused on this facial expression
and this sort of moment of kind of softness.
This particular photograph was
something I’d had in mind for quite a long time
about seeing something alternative from
the often warrior-like images of soldiers
and this kind of perceived masculine image of strength
and almost a showing off the weapon.
You know, you get these pictures that are like silhouette shots of
a guy standing on a tank.
I always found those images really difficult.
And when I was an army photographer,
I really, really didn’t like photographing like that
because I felt it was this glorification of something that
was about war and it was about people’s lives being broken,
not just the soldiers, but the people in Helmand.
So I had such a lot of conflict,
personal conflict from working as an army photographer
and trying to establish something of a story
without being sucked into making very PR-heavy images.
This particular photo, again was taken in Afghanistan.
Different time, this was later on in 2011.
I was no longer an army photographer at this point,
and I returned to Afghanistan as a photojournalist.
I shot this photo of a young female army officer.
Her name is Jess, and it was taken on a patrol
to deliver some veterinary posters to the local village.
I was looking at the female experience of the military.
It was a defining moment, where I realized I’d spent
quite a long time looking at the experiences of being in the military,
but always photographing the male experience
because they were always the most dominant representation.
There was a point where I recognized that...
whilst you were wearing uniform,
the moment you were identified as being female,
there was a particular reaction.
And these young boys,
as soon as they worked out that Jess was a woman,
they found it completely amusing and hilarious.
I think on first look, it does look like quite a PR image,
like, “Join the army, it’s great.”
But actually, when you see it with the rest of the images
and the caption that comes with it, it isn’t about that.
It’s a photo of her being almost teased and laughed at.
And they were never aggressive.
Occasionally we used to get rocks thrown at us,
but then I used to get back to the patrol base and think,
“Well, what would I do if I was a young kid
and some people that look like they come from outer space carrying guns
are walking through my village?”
I’d probably throw rocks at them as well.
And what’s amazing about Jess is she speaks Pashto and, you know,
she learnt for 18 months how to speak the language.
So she probably is talking about things with these lads.
And because she's able to answer those questions,
even in that little conversation that she had with them,
she was probably able to dispel a few myths about who she really was.
The other layer to this is identity as well,
and her identity as a woman.
There is a perception that they have based on how they see women.
And I think this also reminds me that
the sort of patriarchal view of women is universal.
Technically, the lighting’s a bit off.
Especially around this area here.
But what I love about it is the motion,
particularly this young boy here.
There’s something about the way he’s kind of...
worked his scarf around his head.
And I didn’t notice until recently that he’s carrying a pair of pliers,
so I'm not sure what he was off to do.
I like images where I can see more than just the foreground.
And when I looked at this other day,
I noticed that all the tents of the patrol base are here as well.
So you’ve got this kind of a view of where the military are based
and the types of vehicles they use,
the Hesco bastion that's been built.
I think in a lot of the work I was doing,
where lots of photographers were sort of...
making a big effort to prioritize the machinery, the helicopters,
the guns, the armored vehicles,
I always wanted to prioritize the people
because they've always been more important in my work.
So if they’re carrying any weapon or there’s something military,
it always tends to go into the background with me.
There's something I really enjoy about doing what might be perceived
as a candid image or sort of street photography
but actually still having a relationship with
the person in the picture.
So it appears that it was very much
taken in a single moment without ever knowing them.
But because it’s all eye level,
you do feel like you’re actually in this picture,
and I like that element of it.