pogo88 'Carry A Lot Of Luck': Manpreet Romana On Photojournalism In The Battlefield

Sketch by Vikas Thakur. Sketch by Vikas Thakur.

Manpreet Romana is the Creative Head of Outlook India and a photographer. In 2009pogo88, while he was working with the AFP, he was embedded with the US Marines in Afghanistan. One of his photographs—capturing a US Marine fleeing for his life during an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion—is believed to be the first time an IED explosion has been caught on camera. In an interview with Rani Jana, he talks about the moment he clicked the photograph, about being in the midst of gunfights and mine clearance drives, losing friends and colleagues and his experiences of being a photographer in a war-torn region. Excerpts:

Click here to find Outlook's 11 January 2025 issue 'War and Peace.'

Q

In 2008-09, you were in Afghanistan embedded with the US Marine Corps platoon and also documenting the lives of ordinary Afghans who were trapped in the war zone. Could you share a bit about how that opportunity came about? 

A

I used to work for the AFP then. In 2008, I went as a replacement for an Afghan photographer who was on leave. I would go around Kabul, wherever the assignments took me.  A year later, I was offered to go for an embed with the US, or the NATO forces. At that point in time, you did not know who you were going to get embedded with. I think it was June of 2009 when the US was launching its biggest push into the Taliban-controlled territories and they had planned a big operation. I, coincidentally, ended up being a part of Operation Khanjar.  

Q

You were in a war zone. What was going through your mind?  

A

I think, every photographer, if given an opportunity, would do something like this. Initially, when I reached Kabul, I would interact a lot with the local people. They were wonderful and very hospitable. That made things easy. Luckily for me, I looked like them, so I didn't stand out. This helped me at least move around locally. At times, they would start talking to me in Dari or Pashto, but I did not know these languages then. But initially, even when I was not interacting with the locals because of the language barrier, I could walk around the whole day without getting noticed.  

Q

Were you afraid for your own safety knowing that you could be a victim too?  

A

It's difficult to explain, but you become complacent. As a photographer, if you are going to cover floods or any breaking news situation, you assume that nothing will happen to you and that you will go there and do your job of capturing the situation in your camera. It was my first embed. I remember it was kind of a launch of an operation. It was like a secret. Everyone knew something was going to happen, but we didn’t know when. My colleague and I were embedded with the route-clearing platoons of the Marines. Their job was to detect mines on the way. 

On the first day, we were supposed to go from point A to point B and there was an explosion. One of the vehicles went over a mine. The explosion was very loud. I thought it was our truck, but we were safe. The vehicle got completely damaged but fortunately, no one got injured. The funny thing about human nature is that you adapt very quickly. If you are in stuck in an adverse situation for long, your mind automatically starts normalising that situation. But I was always very cautious; I was always wishing that we didn't come under fire. 

online casino slots real money Q

In your time in Afghanistan, you have captured army vehicles burning, women and children begging on the streets and people at the Red Cross Centre waiting to be treated. A lot of pictures also captured persons with disabilities and refugee camps. You had to witness a lot of devastation at length and photograph all of it. Did you have a process to work through that? 

A

When you go to places like this, you know what to expect. You prepare yourself psychologically. When I went to Afghanistan from India, it was not a complete deviation from reality. For instance, there are poor people in India as well so your senses are already adapted and numb to it. Of course, the challenges were far greater in Afghanistan. I remember I did a photo story on rehabilitation. There was a Red Cross centre where prosthetics were made and fitted for people who had lost their limbs. They had to undergo physiotherapy training to learn how to function with them. It did get overwhelming. You have to detach yourself. I remember very vividly we did a story on this one woman who used to live with her children, but she didn't have limbs. Her children had to feed her and they did not have income. It was heart breaking. It was very overwhelming.   

Q

What was the one thing that stuck with you from being in a war zone? 

A

Self-preservation. You will be able to take the next picture only if you survive. After I left Afghanistan, we lost a couple of colleagues who I knew well. One of the photographers we lost was the one I went to replace during his holidays. A couple of times, I was very close to getting unlucky. You have to carry a lot of luck and you also have to have a very high sense of preservation. You make sure that you do not take any risks because anyway, you're in a place where things are going to happen. Gunfights can happen at any time or explosions can happen anywhere, anytime. So, there's no point taking extra risks.  

Q

At any point, did you think you had just narrowly escaped death? 

A

One evening, it was late. We came under attack. It was the first time I was experiencing a gunfight. It looked like fireworks were going off. It was quite a surreal experience.  

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Once, when we were moving along with the mine-clearing platoon, the lead vehicle got damaged and we were stuck for four-five days. In the meantime, Marines suspected that the mud track we crossed may have been dug up and IEDs may have been planted there. It was only after the damaged part of the vehicle was airdropped and a support team was sent, we could act. Those four-five days were tough. It was the beginning of July and it was very hot. We were wearing bulletproof vests and heavy helmets and carrying the camera equipment. It was tiring. The support team started clearing from the other end and we started clearing backwards.  

We had been walking for a while so I suggested to my colleague to stay back for a bit. It was a matter of 20-30 metres. The team that I was embedded with took a break, had a smoke and started walking again. As they moved forward, we heard some loud conversations. They were talking to the team on the other side. One of the marines stepped on the mine and it went off. There was a huge blast. In that picture that I clicked, you only see one soldier. There were, I think, five or six people and two of them lost their lives. 

Q

The photograph that you've mentioned, you are the first photographer to capture an IED detonation in wartime. Can you elaborate a little bit on how you took that photograph considering how loud and also how sudden the explosion must have been?  

A

It was just very instinctive. I picked up the camera, I started photographing and I started running towards it. But then they directed us to stop wherever we were because there could be other mines around. Sometimes, when these mines go off, it could also be an ambush. That particular photograph was very instinctive. I had no control over that moment. It happened so quickly that I just had the picture. I do not know if it was the first one or not, but that's what one of the newspapers claimed. 

Q

While achieving something like this is a significant milestone, it is also tied to immense destruction. How did that make you feel? 

A

I think, because you know these people, you hang out with them, you eat with them, you're a part of that team—it does affect you because suddenly you're talking to someone and that person is no more just five minutes later or three minutes later. I think, you carry that grief with you. But over time, I learnt to detach myself from such situations and that helped me a lot. 

Q

Documenting war through photography is a challenging task. How did this experience impact you as a person? 

A

It’s your job, yes, but it does impact you. Once we were on patrol and we were shot at. The bullets were shot close to my head or face because I could hear them. You see these Hindi films and for the longest time, you think it's a joke—a flashback of your life passing by. But I experienced it in that moment. I jumped, and I was lying on the ground and constant firing was going on. We were directed to run towards cover. There were some buildings ahead of us, through the fields. But while lying on the ground, everything that was important in my life flashed before my eyes. My family, my friends, also some very vivid experiences that I had but had become a blur in my life—they suddenly flashed before me as if there was a movie going on. It was a very powerful experience. 

Q

Did you feel that something profoundly changed within you because of this experience?  

A

No, I don't think so. I knew what I was getting into. I was prepared for it. I was aware about what was at stake and that things could go terribly wrong. How it does affect you is that these experiences stay with you. Sometimes, say, you're in a market and suddenly you see something unidentified lying there, you immediately get nervous. That happens to me sometimes. I think these experiences just become a part of you. But if you ask me if I would do it again, I would say yes. Because it wasn’t something that was forced on me. Sometimes I wish I could have stayed on longer. 

Q

Did your experience alter how you view life?  

A

You know, everyone knows that anything can happen at any time. But you start to really understand the fickleness of life when you experience a situation where someone was just there with you two minutes ago and then they are no more. It does make you feel sad and it stays with you. You realise how fickle life is. We can be gone any moment and I think we shouldn't be taking ourselves too seriously. For me, going there was part of my job. In my viewpogo88, it wasn’t an achievement. I was a photographer and I just did my job. Given an opportunity, I would do it again.  

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