LENS OF COURAGE

Photojournalism, especially in war and documentary photography, demands not just technical skill but deep empathy and courage. This genre captures history’s rawest moments, influencing public perception and policy by bringing distant conflicts into sharp focus. In this issue, we interview Claire Thomas, a renowned photojournalist whose work spans global political and military conflicts. Claire discusses her journey, the evolution of her work, and the challenges of capturing powerful imagery while respecting her subjects’ dignity. Her photography highlights the resilience of people in adversity, making her a compelling voice in contemporary photojournalism.

- Claire Thomas

What drew you to photography as a medium for storytelling, especially in the context of political and military conflicts?
It was my lifelong love of horses that inadvertently sparked my interest in photography, and subsequently led to my career in photojournalism. While I was at university, I seized the opportunity to put my passion for horses to use by spending the summers working as a wrangler on a horse ranch in the US state of Wyoming. I was so inspired by the sight of the horses against the dramatic backdrop of the beautiful mountains that I was compelled to try and capture it with my camera.

As a twenty-something graduate, I travelled to West Africa to work with a community-based organisation that supports people living with HIV/AIDS in rural communities in Ghana. During the project, I took pictures of some of the women who are supported by the organisation. It was then that I began to appreciate the potential of my own photographs to draw attention to an issue. The pictures also helped raise money for a fundraising campaign I’d set up to provide beds for the women.

Following my volunteer work in Ghana, I knew I wanted to focus more on taking pictures of people and to use photography as a way of telling stories and drawing attention to issues such as health, humanitarian crises and conflicts.

At university in England, I’d studied Politics, focussing on global policy-making and international relations. Since then, I’d always felt drawn to try and see for myself the realities on the ground for the people impacted by the policies and conflicts I’d studied; people who are often far removed from the echelons of power and decision-making.

My motivation was - and is - to capture images that contribute an insight into the human cost of political and military conflicts and humanitarian and environmental crises, as well as to tell stories about the everyday lives and challenges of people from diverse backgrounds.