Here's a little shot I took over the pilot's shoulder while I was flying to Mosul on the Iraqi C-130.

 

 

An Iraqi officer performs a vehicle search during an exercise at Besmaya, Iraq.

 

 

Another shot of the Iraqi basic infantry officer's course. Here they're setting up a vehicle check point ... Of course - deadly force is authorized. /// EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCSE ///

 

 

Iraqi Presidential Brigade -- This dude put all his shots (except two) on target. The black target represents a person at 300 meters away. Let's not mess with these guys, k?

 

 

Here we see a member of the Iraqi Army's Presidential Guard with his boxed-up M-16. Before they're issued the rifle, they have to get their picture, fingerprint, retinal scan, voice, and name attached to the serial number on it ... Just to make sure we know who's got it.

 

 

Kurdish soldiers from the Iraqi Army's Presidential Brigade qualify on their new M-16s. They taught me a few words in Kurdish, and I got to realize how big of a difference there is between Kurdish and Arabic.

 

 

When the Iraqi Army soldiers upgrade their weapons to M-16s, they turn in their AK-47s into an armory. I'm holding the fruits of their labor. : )

 

 

Members of the Iraqi Honor Guard march away after greeting the Turkish Army deputy chief of staff. They were really as close to me as the picture looks. I was playing chicken with them to get this photo, and I jumped out of the way just in time.

For those of you not in the military - When marching, it doesn't matter if you're about to fall off a cliff or run someone over, your formation continues to move when ordered.

 

 

Here's another shot of the Iraqi Honor Guard commander inspecting his formation before the airrival of the Turkish distinguished visitor.

 

 

Here's an old photograph I shot while I was flying around New Mexico with the Discovery Channel in one of my base's CV-22s. It's a really fun plane to fly in. Imagine flying 300 MPH (plane mode) and then hitting the brakes (turning into a helicopter) and going to 30 MPH in about 5 seconds...

 

 

Me while I was flying on a CV-22 in New Mexico with the Discovery Channel.

 

 

Mackenzie and Mitchel - the two things I would give up anything and everything for.

 

 

Sitting at the helicopter pad, bored out of my mind, I decided to take out my camera and walk over to some Army guys standing around their Humvees. This soldier was sitting away from the others sitting on the front of the vehicle.

 

 

Two newly commissioned Iraqi lieutenants hug after they graduated from the year-long academy.

It was hard to find a dry Iraqi eye in the whole place after they graduated. Overcome with emotion, most of the lieutenants starting crying - some balling.

Reminds me of when I graduated Survival School. Ninety-nine percent of Americans will never know what certain soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines have gone through for the U.S.

 

 

Leading lines rock. Leading lines that lead to someone who wants to be funny is ... well ... funny - i guess.

I saw a chance to get a decent photo here of the Iraqi flag and a bunch of cadets. What I didn't expect was this joker to make faces at the camera when he saw me.

Part of me wanted to start messing with him, but I had to put my serious face on and be professional in front of everyone. I just smirked and moved on.

Still funny. When I was looking at the pictures on my LCD screen on the way back from taking this picture, I tripped over a step - Iraqi laughter could be heard all around me.

 

 

The head of the Iraqi Air Force is framed by academy graduates. I had a sweet photo of somebody saluting him taken from this same angle - but the general's eyes were out of focus and the guy's back was in focus who was saluting him. Amazing what a difference 6 inches makes in depth of field when you're using a 200mm lens.

The lighting absolutely sucked in here. Imagine a gym with no lighting - but it has a huge window on one side. My ISO was set kind of high, so the picture turned out a little grainy.

 

 

Iraqi tradition: Toss candy during events. Why do they do it? I don't know; I haven't been here long enough to be completely free of ignorance.

Something's wrong with my D2. I'm going to take it out back and use it for target practice. Only my D80 shoots these nice color-rich photos for some reason. My D2 shoots too flat.

 

 

Here's a shot of a lieutenant friend of mine getting some cake for someone. It's a military tradition for leadership to serve younger troops during the holidays. Even though this lieutenant is FAR from high ranking considering the kind of brass I work with here, he still managed to make the cut. Lighting from the case made for a neat affect, and it was almost perfectly exposed. A pleased photographer this picture made.

 

 

I don't know what it is, but I just don't like this picture. There's something here that I didn't do, something that I missed, something I should've done differently - but I can't put my finger on it. A good-looking American holding an Iraqi child. Maybe I should've shot it a little wider and cropped it down, but I actually ended up cropping it a bit tighter than I actually had it. Who the heck knows.

 

 

Even the kids like getting their pictures taken with crazy Americans.

 

 

Me on an Iraqi BMP in Besmaya, Iraq. I love this place!

 

 

It's no wonder that Iraqi soccer teams do so well in the international arena. Their 5 year olds have no problem taking on our soldiers without breaking a sweat. I tried to get a low shot of an American while getting a whole shot of an Iraqi child. I wish I would've gotten lower and gotten more of a combat boot, but I didn't want my D80 getting kicked back into my face by an over-zealous soccer player.

 

 

Most Iraqis I meet love getting their picture taken. This Iraqi airman was no exception. He refused to wear any protective gear while working with the JP-8 aviation gas so that it wouldn't ruin his picture. When he was asked why he wasn't wearing any by the American Airman I was with, he responded in Arabic, "Because I'm getting my picture taken, get the hell out of my space." Humor, it seems, crosses cultures.

 

 

Also taken in Taji, Iraq, like my other one. I just walked a little to the left and shot it. Kind of a low-res photo though. I did something in Photoshop and shrunk it - oops.

 

 

Here, the Iraqis were learning how to aim their new M-16 rifles. I tried a few different things here with a few different lenses and came up with this. Personally, this is my favorite picture that I've taken since I've been in Iraq.

 

 

At the end of the graduation, Iraq's prime minister gave a speech that got this brigade really fired up and excited. The soldiers wanted to rush to the prime minister and celebrate the step the Iraqi Army was taking. Eventually, the prime minister got into the crowd to shake some hands, but right after this picture was taken, I was running from a brigade of Iraqi soldiers who wanted to throw a party with me.

 

 

This was a high profile graduation of an Iraqi Army brigade. Even Iraq's prime minister showed up to this one. Fighting with other photographers for a shot and avoiding the PM's security detachment wasn't an easy task, but I managed to find a good angle here and catch this guy walking across the field with his sword in tow.

 

 

One more tough thing to add to my job is that most Iraqis love to get their pictures taken. The art of taking candid and natural shots is essential, because as soon as they notice you have the lenses aimed near them, they start posing and yelling at you to go over and take pictures of them and their buddies regardless of whether they actually get the photograph. These Iraqis soldiers are in training and were watching a senior class graduate.

 

 

They're actually shooting live rounds out of those rifles. They handed me a "bulletproof" vest that felt like a sweater. Knowing full-well it wasn't going to stop a round from an AK-47, I still ventured up the catwalk to lean over the railing to snap this photograph. A little bit of the catwalk is visible on the left side, but I think the motion and the casings laying on the ground add enough to the photograph. This made a great lead photograph in a layout for my magazine.

 

 

I was running around like crazy trying to find an interesting angle to take a photograph of Iraqi soldiers running into an improvised building. I lined up behind one of the guys and shot this one over his shoulder to get the AK and a few of his buds. At first I was disappointed that the focus wasn't on the weapon, but when you see the professional stare that the guy in the middle is giving with the weapon pointed at him, it adds emotion (or lack of) to a photo that otherwise may have been dull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the comments on this page above this point were the words of Christopher Frost.

 

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