The Stunning Work of Jeremy Lock: 7 Time Military Photographer of the Year

Whenever Air Force Master Sergeant Jeremy Lock raises his camera to his eye, he becomes a man on a mission. “You look for the moment, that brief second,” he says, neatly summing up the objective of photojournalism. Lock’s exceptional work with the US armed forces, shot on 40 countries across 6 continents and spanning 2 decades, have earned him Military Photographer of the Year honors a record 7 times:

In the short feature above, Lock talks about what he looks for when he wants to capture war, the sacrifices that come with the profession, and the things that he appreciates about the job. He points out how a military journalist differs from a civilian journalist — in 2006, he earned a Bronze Star for an incident in Iraq where he put down his cameras to pick up a rifle and provide covering fire while others pulled a wounded soldier to safety — while still essentially having the common goal of trying to tell the story as best as they can. He uses Nikon simply because that is what the military issued him, specifically the D700 and D800.

“Whenever I am on assignment, whether its in war or on a local shoot, I carry two cameras, one with a long lens and the other with a wide. And I will have usually a 50mm lens in my pocket. I pride myself with carrying as little as possible to get the job done.”

Towards the end, he speaks about how it will be tough to hang his cameras when the time comes to leave the military (Via The Washington TimesPetapixel). Still, he says will always be thankful for being given the chance to leave a photographic legacy, his mark on this world.

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“To truly capture war is to capture it on the face of the soldier next to you.”

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“You’re only as good as the last photo you’ve taken.”

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