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According to Warren Zinn, sometimes risking your life is the necessary price to pay in order to be a part of world history.
On Thursday night, renowned international photojournalist Warren Zinn spoke at the Donald P. Corbett Business Building, providing first-hand accounts of his news-breaking experiences that took him from ground zero of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, to the front lines during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sponsored by Student Government, 28-year-old Zinn’s slideshow presentation chronologically detailed his six-year coverage of The Boston Globe’s headline stories, signifying his early motives in pursuing photojournalism.
“I wanted to be able to watch world history in the making,” said Zinn. “In less than two years, I was able to witness the collapse of two regimes. It’s cool to open a world almanac and know that I was a part of history.”
Working as a photographer for the independent Army Times Publishing Co. in 2001, Zinn started his career by being one of the few people who photographed the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Subsequently, the U.S. found itself at war in the Middle East, and Zinn was afforded the opportunity to showcase his talents.
A native of Miami, after graduating from the University of Michigan in 1999, Zinn completed internships at both the Miami Herald and Fort Lauderdale’s Sun-Sentinel, despite having never taken a photography class in college. At 22, Zinn began working for the Army Times after reading an advertisement seeking a photojournalist to travel globally and face “arduous conditions.”
“International travel was something I always wanted to do,” said Zinn. “After reading the job description, I said to myself, ‘This is for me.’”
In March 2002, Zinn embarked on a three-month stint in Afghanistan with U.S. Army soldiers from the 101st Airborne. Thrust immediately into the action, Zinn covered Operation Anaconda, an 18-day mission designed to destroy a Taliban and al-Qaeda stronghold dug deep into the Shai-i-Kot Mountains of eastern Afghanistan. There he witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting during the U.S. invasion.
Using his photos as a backdrop, Zinn gave vivid accounts of mortar attacks and B-52 bombings, as well as the rural desert landscape that appeared to be a “cross between the moon and Mars.”
Less than a year later, Zinn returned to the Middle East in 2003 to cover the war in Iraq, with the seventh cavalry regiment of the U.S. Army. Zinn accounted his daily routine in a combat zone consisting of night raids, fire fights, and episodes that invoked his faith and according to Zinn, “put his life in perspective.”
“There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole,” said Zinn. “During an ambush, you’re praying for everything and anything you can think of.”
Despite travels in Iraq extending from Falluja to Baghdad, it was a long stretch of Iraq’s rural farmland in Mishkab where Zinn received international recognition for his iconic photo which covered the front pages of major newspapers all over the world.
Zinn described the night of March 27, 2003, as he witnessed an all-night ambush from the back of a Bradley armored vehicle. Just after sunrise, with the battle raging, Zinn was able to photograph an Army medic’s rescue of a wounded Iraqi child.
“It was surreal,” said Zinn. “I watched it unfold before my eyes, and I said to myself, ‘This is it. This is the picture.”
Although the majority of Zinn’s acclaim derives from his embedded journalism work in Iraq and Afghanistan, his portfolio contains a variety of projects, including the coverage of coastal hurricanes, political functions and a photo story featuring sex-slave trafficking in South Korea. Zinn provoked audience laughter when he recounted having to divulge to his editor the costs of an “impulsive” and “costly” plane trip from South Korea to the Philippines, where he attempted to report the return home of liberated female prostitutes. Despite only being able to snap off two photos because of security reasons, he and his editor agreed that the trip was “well worth the story.”
During his presentation, Zinn touched on numerous topics, including media ethics and the struggles of objective journalism, along with the safety concerns for journalists covering Iraq. Journalist safety has remained a mounting concern in Iraq, as 61 fatalities have occurred since 2003. This figure, along with the escalating number of journalist kidnappings, most recently the abduction of American freelance journalist Jill Carroll, caused Zinn and his parents repeated concern.
“I’m completely done at this point,” said Zinn. “It came to a point where I said to myself, ‘Why I am doing this?’ I’ve seen and heard of too many deaths, especially those in my profession.”
Zinn’s future plans will include a few “lighter projects,” and may also include an extended trip back home, to attend law school at the University of Miami. Zinn concluded his presentation with advice to “aspiring journalists and everyone else.”
“I suggest that if any of you get the chance,” said Zinn, “buy an around-the-world plane ticket and just go.”
Bangor Daily News