“I don’t have a problem risking my life doing what I am doing. But I have to believe in what I’m doing.”

By Paul Rosenfeld

Immediately after the September 11 attacks, the then 24-year-old photographer Kate Brooks set out to document the impact of war on civilians. Since then, she has covered major conflicts throughout the Middle East and Afghanistan, including the American invasion of Iraq, the 2006 Lebanon War, and more recently the Libyan revolution. “When it comes to military force and going into conflicts, people are very short sighted about what it’s actually going to mean,” says Brooks. “Civilians are always the ones who pay the biggest price in any conflict.”

In this short film, producers Leandro Badalotti and Simon Schorno powerfully weave together an interview with the photographer and images from over the course of her career. Brooks discusses the motivation behind her work, the moral dilemmas photojournalists face, and the importance of documenting the non-military lives that are affected by these wars. “One of the things that I love about the greater Middle East is that it’s the birthplace of ancient civilizations and world religions”, says Brooks, “but over the past decade it’s become a region of rubble and broken lives.” While many of the photographs can be difficult to view, the film serves as an ever-important reminder of the consequences of war, and the accompanying cycle of violence that many politicians seem to forget.

Kate Brooks is currently working on a documentary about the poaching of rhinoceroses and elephants. Visit her website to see more of her work.

To see more work from Leandro Badalloti visit http://www.badalotti.com/.

This project was done in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). To find out more about the work of the ICRC visit http://intercrossblog.icrc.org/