Coverage of conflicts

Debate moderated by Claire Baudéan with Stanley Greene, Yuri Kozyrev, Lucas Menget and Patrick Robert. Stanley Greene and Yuri Kozyrev focus on the long term, whereas Lucas Menget and Patrick Robert opt for repeat trips. For Yuri, Bagdad is his home and his family. For Patrick, it’s a question of knowing when to come and go.

When something happens in Chechnya, Stanley cannot not go. Lucas builds relationships with the people he meets there "You're not respected if you don't share their daily lives...you need to have a direct link with people. Live television from a hotel room doesn't make sense."

Referring to a photo taken in Georgia of a bleeding woman in the rubble, Stanley wondered about the attitude of young photographers today who "are after award-winning shots" without any concern for the victims. He regretted that the younger generation was losing the ability to empathize, that they no longer feel they have a responsibility and are not interested in the experience of their more experienced colleagues. Patrick Robert did not necessarily agree with him; he felt that too many young people produce "substandard, pseudo Cartier-Bresson" shots and that you need to "be green, inexperienced and know at times when to set aside what you already know."

They all agreed that sharing and passing on what you know is essential. Lucas remembered one of his first assignments in Jerusalem when he was only 22. He was nervous and did not know what he was supposed to do. Gilles Peress spotted him and took him along in his car for three days. That was how Lucas learned the ropes as a war reporter, starting with how to avoid getting blown up.

Then Claire asked: "How do you cope?"

Stanley said that some things stay with you for a long time. "I have seen too many things. It's always very difficult to really come back."

Patrick Robert prefers to keep a certain distance: "I never forget who I am and where I come from. In the field, I concentrate on what I see through the viewfinder."

Question from the floor: "How do you avoid becoming cynical?"

Stanley's answer: "I have to believe in it. I must believe that my pictures contribute to changing the world".