On assignment documenting Guantánamo Bay for this week’s issue of
TIME, photographer Eugene Richards spent several days at the infamous
detention facility. Here, Richards writes for LightBox about how he
approached the assignment and the distinct challenges he faced working
under the tight restrictions imposed on the media by the U.S. military.
When TIME asked me to go to Guantánamo, I immediately thought back to
9/11 — to the smoke and ruin of that fatal day, to Bush’s declaration
of the war on terror, then to the first images from the prison: of men
in orange jumpsuits shackled, blindfolded, handcuffed, sensory-deprived.
These men, often viewed in silhouette and on their knees in prayer,
were often picked up on the battlefield in Afghanistan by military
units, although some were captured after bounties of as much as $5000
per head were paid. My first thoughts were to 9/11, of interrogations,
secrecy, torture and military might.
And then there was the series of military-issued disclaimers I would
have to agree to. I wouldn’t be permitted to photograph, or even see,
the detainees. I couldn’t show the guards’ faces, and I would only be
able to photograph the pre-ordained locations within the camp. And
finally, I had to agree to having my work edited — to turn over my cards
so that images could be deleted or cropped as per the opinion of the
public information staff accompanying me the entire assignment. ‘Can you
make pictures out of nothing?’ I asked myself, then prepared for the
trip.
For the rest of the story: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/05/30/inside-guantanamo-bay-photographs-by-eugene-richards/#1
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