Afghanistan Desert Patrol

This was an 'embed' assignment with I.S.A.F. forces in Afghanistan in 2007. Despite the restrictions imposed I feel that during the 11 days and nights I spent with the 4/73 Special Observation Battery and the Brigade Reconnaisance Force I was able to covey the visual essence of my time spent with them during their operations. I felt that the sheer scale of the landscapes that we traveled through became a metaphor for the whole I.S.A.F. campaign. It would be 'hearts and minds' one minute and then over a ridge there would be the 'enemy'. Helmand province is probably one of the most heavily land mined sections of earth on the planet due to the Russian military campaign in the 1980's and also with the ever present I.E.D. threat from the Taliban. It is with this in mind that I felt that my images should show the scale of the relatively sparse British soldiers presence in such a hostile and bleak landscape both from a contemporary and historical viewpoint.