Former AP President and CEO from 2003 to 2012 Tom Curley writes about the life of photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus. Anja was killed April 4 in Afghanistan while on assignment for the AP. She was reporting with OPC member Kathy Gannon who was injured critically in the attack.
In September 2010, AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus was embedded with the Canadian military in Afghanistan when she suffered shrapnel wounds in the backside. The doctor who treated her found leftover shrapnel and scars from other wounds and previous wars. He asked about them, and Anja patiently recounted times and places.
The doctor returned the next day and asked whether Anja needed counseling. She asked why. He explained that his six-month tour of duty was up in a couple weeks and he couldn’t imagine returning to a war zone.
Anja laughed and declined the counseling. “This is what I do,” she declared. “I go to difficult places and make pictures for you and everyone to know.”
Anja said friends and relatives never trusted her to take pictures at family events. She enjoyed the fun times as much as anyone but couldn’t get interested in taking pictures of routine birthdays and anniversaries.
In conflict zones and at world-class sporting events, Anja was intense – alert to the angles, the lighting, the range of possibilities, and, especially, the people she connected with in her lens.
Anja covered conflict for 25 years. She knew close-calls and harrowing escapes. And she returned time and again. She wanted the world to feel for the people who couldn’t escape these dramas.
“This is what I do.”
Anja and Kathy have been an enduring and spectacular team. Kathy has devoted decades to providing perspective from areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan that few have experienced. She has given voice to people largely cut off from the world the rest of us know. She meticulously built sources and trust that got access and safe passage. Her writing sometimes seemed to transport us to different times and places. Respect for her flowed across cultures, hierarchies and geographies.
Those of us who supported Anja and her friend, AP reporter Kathy Gannon, on those assignments keep repeating Anja’s words. We know the depth of their commitment and the magnitude of their achievement. As much as we understand, our grief is not eased.
We know precisely why Anja and Kathy kept returning. These are the stories that must be told…even at a terrible price.
“This is what I do.”
This is what we do.