Afghanistan: Two Sides of the Story / Antonio Olmos

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These images were taken between 2008 and 2011 over the course of three trips made by Antonio to Afghanistan.

The trips had two purposes. One was to photograph the civilian side of the conflict and how it affected non-combatants caught in the middle. In a war that mostly focuses on the security needs of the United States and Europe, the needs of Afghan civilians are often overlooked.

The aim was to photograph people not involved in the conflict, but whose daily life had changed little through the various incarnations of the war in Afghanistan. The other was to embed with American and British troops as they conducted daily operations in Kandahar and Helmand Province. Western troops on the ground seemed at a loss as to what the purpose of the war was. Their main goal was to get through their deployment without being injured or killed.

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About Antonio

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Antonio arrived in London in 1994, by way of Mexico and California. He has worked extensively in the Americas, the Middle East and Africa; for newspapers and magazines around the world as well as leading NGOs and corporates.

“I try to make photographs that will engage the viewer and if that means using what many call beauty so be it. If you want people to listen through photography, you must engage the viewer, to get them to notice, to look, to pay attention.”

(To read more about Antonio Olmos, see Who we are)

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