Afghan Surgical Team

"I have been deployed to Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine Combat Photographer/Videographer with Regional Command (Southwest) since February. I get to work with not only Marines, but with coalition forces such as British, Georgians, and Afghan Security Force personnel like the Afghan National Army and Afghan Uniformed Police. This photo of the ANA 215th Corp's Surgical Team was mostly luck and good timing - my Marine and I had gone to the 215th Corp's surgical area to shoot some routine footage for an unrelated project and they just happened to bring a patient in. The ANA solider had been wounded in an IED blast.

This photo was taken with the Canon 5d MKiii. I shot it with a Canon 70-200mm lens because of the depth and background compression it would give me and also because I did not want to be completely in their faces while they were prepping the patient. They were letting me into their world and even though I'm focused on getting "the shot" I can't take advantage of their generosity and hinder their procedure. Successful photography is as much talent and a good eye as it is working with the people who are letting you be there. I also have to consider that I'm not there to photograph cool blood and gore shots. I was photographing someone in a very sensitive and personal situation and I have to be respectful of that. I'm there to communicate photographically the hard work that these soldiers do on a daily basis.

No additional lighting from myself was used. The surgical tent was already set up with their own lights and equipment, I was just fortunate in this scenario that the lighting was dramatic and added to the scene. Regardless of that, I would not have chosen to use flash in this situation anyway."- Sgt. Tammy K. Hineline

EXIF:
f/2.8 @ 1/200
ISO: 320
Focal Length: 160mm

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