Hot Stuff in Baghdad

My return to Iraq took me this time to the capital city – a place of significant recent history and trouble.  The troubles there remain, and security is a big part of life.  I couldn’t count the amount of check-points encountered just between the airport and the Green Zone.

I was shooting for a Private Security Company; one of the biggest around and was very well administered by them, doing their best to try to facilitate circumstances to allow my concept of the shoot to take place.  It was, however, extremely difficult to get out and about – not just because of the ongoing threat of injury or kidnap, but also because of the innate suspicion of people carrying cameras.  There were numerous tricks by my hosts to ensure that my camera bag was not in a vehicle subject to search by the Iraqi authorities, and we cross-decked people and kit from time-to-time when the situation looked tricky.  They were exceptionally good at this; a very professional company, doing things properly.

So with the restrictions, I was greatly surprised when I got a call on my last evening, just before sunset to say that if I had my gear ready we could head out to the famous Cross-swords in the middle of the city (Saddam’s memorial to the Iran-Iraq war) and the tomb of the unknown soldier – this was an opportunity not to be missed, and although my escort team were still unsure we could even leave the vehicles when we arrived, the Iraqi army guard took us around – seemingly quite proud of his role!  He didn’t leave us alone though, and artistic vibes can be tricky in those circumstances.

In all, the shoot achieved the aims.  I was fortunate to visit the media firm, employed by the Security company, in London a few days before, so I knew exactly the sort of images they wanted to work with.  That was very handy, because it allowed me to produce a very tight yet flexible “shot list” – an essential pre-shoot walk-through of the sort of images needed in certain locations.

I took my Nikon D4 with me (D3s as back-up) and the 24-70 and 70-200.  1 x SB900 and radio triggers.  I am starting to be far less needy with gear; useful when you are wearing body armour in 40+ degrees!  For my efforts, the company gets roughly 100 separate commercial images.