Interview: BEN LOWY

Benjamin Lowy received a BA from Washington University in St. Louis in 2002 and began his career covering the Iraq War in 2003. Since then he has covered major stories in Afghanistan, Darfur, Haiti, Indonesia, and Libya among others. In 2004 Lowy attended the World Press Joop Swart Masterclass and was nominated for the ICP Infinity Award. He was named in Photo District News 30 and his images of Iraq were chosen by PDN as some of the most iconic of the 21st century. Lowy has received awards from World Press Photo, POYi, PDN, Communication Arts, American Photography, and the Society for Publication Design. Benjamin's work from Iraq and Darfur have been collected into several gallery and museum shows, and his work from Darfur appeared in the SAVE DARFUR media campaign. In 2008 Benjamin joined the VII Network.

Benjamin lives in New York City with his wife, photographer Marvi Lacar and their two dogs.

You went to Washington University, a school not known for their photo program? How did you learn photography?

Well Wash U does have an art school with a photo program. It's not SVA, or Yale, or the Art Institute - but I did learn the in and outs, and technical aspects of photography. And I learned how to sit around and talk about the conceptuality of art, what questions each photograph asks, what each artist was trying to say. As much as we photojournalist tend to scoff at conceptual photography and the thinking behind it - it does influence our work and our visual education.

As for learning photoj - that just came from having my boots on the ground. Learning through experience. Putting myself in situations and seeing what I could do.

Tell me about Starbucks and your start in photojournalism.

HAHAHA.... Before my appointment at Corbis back in 2003 - my last stop and last hope for a career in the industry - I stopped in a Starbucks on Broadway and 17th St. in NYC. And not having much optimism with a future at Corbis or anywhere else for that matter, I applied for a barista job. Brian Storm at Corbis called me back a few days later asking me if I wanted to go to Iraq, and Starbucks never even asked me for an interview. When I came back from Iraq in Feb of 04, I had one night in New York before heading to Haiti to cover the civil war brewing there. I ended up going to the same Starbucks on 17th St. to have an informal date with this girl I had met online during a mass APAD ichat discussion (back in the day when there were only a hundred of us). Marvi and I ended up moving in with each other a few months later and now we are married.

What's it like being married to another photographer?

Marvi is my muse, my editor, my partner, and my inspiration. Though sometimes she can be my competition and a general pain in the ass.

I think I just ended up describing every marriage.

I have a wife that understands my work and travel schedule, but that doesn't help her or I miss each other less. We push each other's vision, and adapt each other's strengths.
On many occasions we get to work together. And we never come away with the same images. We sit up awake at all hours of the night, TIVO playing hours upon hours of "Law and Order" on our TV and edit our pictures, and brainstorm for new ideas.

I don't know what its like to be married to a doctor or an accountant - but I wouldn't trade what I have for anything...

You've been to iraq about a dozen times, what keeps drawing you back?
I cant escape Iraq. So much of my life is wrapped up in the legacy of my experiences there. My marriage, my friends, my insecurities, my PTSD. My career started there. I've spent a large part of my life there for the last few years. I've almost died there. Im too emotionally attached to the story and to the place. And its not necessarily a positive attachment, nor a healthy one. But Iraq and its legacy will live on. It will impact the lives of our children and the psyche of our country. It is an honor and a privilege to be trusted enough to record that history for posterity.

When do you feel fear? before? during? or after?

Fear is relative. Its is an important reaction to the unexpected. It is a survival mechanism in the most basic form. If I wasn't scared, fearful, or tentative every time I go out in a war zone - It would be time to retire.

I recently was asked to describe my reaction to a suicide bombing that I was present for this summer. I was in Kirkuk in northern Iraq covering a Kurdish protest, part of a larger project on Kurdistan for GQ. I was shooting in the center of the protest - Kurdish men dressed in traditional tribal clothing dancing to drums and trumpets, when a teenager detonated a bomb vest about 50 meters from me. Initially the crowd jumped, ducked, and then stampeded as militia members, and Kurdish police unleashed a volley of gunfire above our heads. As the crowd stampeded away from the explosion and gunfire, I struggled to stay standing. I pointed my camera in front of me, and began to run forward towards the explosion site. I didnt focus, I didnt check my exposure. I just ran with my camera in front of my face and my finger holding down the shutter the entire time. Adrenaline just poured into me. My hands started shaking and my heart was beating at a ridiculous rate. And I just made pictures on reflex. Everything I did, running, shooting (photos), was a reflex. A few moments later my translator was dragged into the street by a mob and beaten senseless. At the time I didn't know why, I thought it was because he had a camera. I put mine away, waited for an opening and some help from an Iraqi police officer and dragged him into a crowded ambulance covered in blood and body parts. When we got to the hospital, I realized there was no way out of the city of Kirkuk. My translator was beaten and unconscious, we had no car, there we ethnic riots and running gun battles in the street, and I was pretty much the only Westerner around. That realization - that was fucking scary. But fear, if you can control the emotion, will help clear your mind - and I and my translator, Yahya, managed to get out of the city safely.

How do you decompress after covering conflict? How do you process emotional and psychological residue from what you've covered?

The first thing I do when I come back to the States from Iraq - I call it the 5 "S's".

1 Shower (No one has water pressure like the US, and nothing is like your own shower)
2 Shave (I grow a beard when Im away in the Middle East, and the act of shaving is a welcome home moment)
3 Starbucks (Cliche, but reminds me of NYC)
4 Sushi (Same as above)
5.... You'll have to guess this one.

I don't know that you can ever fully process everything you see. The memories and their psychological impact stay with you forever. Ive never been diagnosed with PTSD, but I know that my reaction to mundane moments back in the US are indicative of a problem. ie - Don't cut in front of me at the post office. Ever.

My wife tells me I haven't cried in 2 years. I have less patience than I used to.

But one finds outlets. I work out, I fight. In fact it was my fighting that led me to my current project on MMA cage fighting in America. I was just so angry that I wanted to hit things/people/memories.

But mostly I started doing work in Iraq and other places, because I knew I could. I knew that mentally I could handle it on some level. Yes I'm scarred by it, but I'm aware of the damage.

How do you balance giving the editors what they want and giving yourself what you want?

Conveniently the work I produce is what editors want to see. I supposed that's the reason they hire me. Besides from the obvious safety shot, i just aim to make graphic images that appeal to me and to the story.

Is it easy to compartmentalize going from a war zone to a fashion zone?

No. Not really. I couldn't believe that one minute I was on patrol with US soldiers and the next with models walking down the runway in $1000 pants.

But part of our job deals with experiencing all aspects of the world we live in. While its hard to reconcile jumping from one extreme subject to another, I wouldn't trade the lifestyle for anything.

Who are your photo heroes?

Hmmm. Well there are the usual inspiring names like Nachtwey, and Richards, McCurry and Webb. Wintereise was an amazing book by Delahaye. Those guys really inspired me to become what I am. Lately I've been looking at Alex Soth's work from Columbia, Jens Olof Lasthein's White Sea Black Sea, and Chris Morris's My America. I've also been looking at more art oriented photo reportage and landscape work for inspiration. But to be honest its the work of my wife Marvi Lacar and my friends Holloway, Croslin, Lyttle, Ritchie, Pomerantz, Brown, excetra, that inspire me the most.

What's next for Ben Lowy?

The recession. And a job at Starbucks.

9 February 2009 by Melissa Lyttle

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