Z-HOURAT TEA TIME
Went out in Raqqah, Syria with a Civil Affairs team this day. Spotted a guy serving tea on the bank of the Euphrates and traded a crisp 100 dollar bill for a few cups and information. He tried to sell us his motorcycle, too. Very tempting.
Canon 5D Mark III / 24-105MM / A Free 9 Month Vacation
RANGE(R)
For a time, I had the privilege of deploying with The U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. This guy was one of the nicest, most genuine guys I have ever met. He taught me how to shoot, well. It was a range day so I thought I’d hook him up with some cool guy pics to return the favor.
Canon 5D Mark III / 24-105MM / Short Barrel M4 w/EOTech
BOOM
Probably one of the scariest moments of my life, caught in a photo. We were training local nationals on mortar operations and this guy had already dropped three mortars and two of them had the safety pin pulled. I thought for sure I was going to meet my maker when I took this.
Canon 5D Mark III / What lens? Who cares, I’m Getting Out Of Here
ZOOM ZOOM
A bunch of kids in the back of this tiny pick-up heading to the soccer arena. We followed them there so EOD could clear some of the areas for them to play in. That truck probably hasn’t had an oil change since the day it was built.
Canon 5D Mark III / 35MM? / Toyota 80 Series (Not Pictured)
SMOKE ‘EM IF YA GOT ‘EM
Shot this during a 10 minute break during a mortar operations class. This guy just refused to stop working. One of the best mortar-man to do it, in my opinion.
Canon 5D Mark III / 50MM / A gang of Brits smoking cigarettes behind me
FUTBOL ALLEY
Wild times in a wild place. This was taken right after the wall on the left exploded and blew out any windows that were still intact in the area. Kids were out and about almost immediately after like nothing happened. We gave them some soccer balls and candy after everything was clear.
Canon 5D Mark III / 24-105MM / 4x Soccer Balls
GREEN EYED DEVILS
Most of my deployments were spent being nocturnal. I had to greatly adapt to shooting with little to no light almost all of the time. Sometimes, in between the gun smoke, brown dust and sand, the pieces would come together and magic would happen. Taken somewhere on a mountain range in Afghanistan. We were the things that go bump in the night.
Canon 5D Mark II? / 24-105MM / “That lens that makes night look like day”