Photographer Lee Craker spent three years in Baghdad as the lead photographer for The United States Forces - Iraq Public Affairs Office. Lee was the official photographer for such historic events as President Barack Obama's surprise visit to the troops, Vice President Biden's timely visits, the transition to Operation New Dawn and many others. His lens captured rock stars, ordinary American soldiers, television icons and average citizens, with insight and passion, giving us a unique look at the Iraq experience. - The Warrior Project began on May 20th, 2009 at 9:38 PM. A single light from doorway illuminated the side of a soldiers face creating a dramatic profile. From that one photograph the project was born. The intention of these photographs was to give them as gifts to the soldiers and to create a personal project, a visual record of some of the men and woman who served in Iraq. Hundreds of images were made. In 2013 I was asked by the Imperial War Museum in London to display a selection of these images, and in doing so became the first American photographer to have work displayed in the IWM. I offer these images not as a record of war, but rather as individual portraits of soldiers that reveal how the soldiers saw themselves, as Warriors.
About the Author: What I try to do more than anything is to capture life, documenting the lives of those around me. I feel this is important on many levels, and can be deeply satisfying. In my mind that is what image making is all about, photographing what you love to photograph. Your heart has a story to tell, and camera is the voice through which you communicate. My photography is a celebration of life, for even in the saddest of times, the hardest of conditions, there is a beauty and resiliency in the human spirit that always shines through. ----- From 1983 to 2005 Lee was based in his home town of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 2005 Lee left Colorado and spent 3 years as a journalist in the central pacific, living on the Kwajalein Atoll and documenting the human condition on the islands of the atoll and Bali, Indonesia. In 2008 Lee went to Iraq to serve for 3 years as the command photographer for The United States Forces Iraq Public Affairs Office. As lead photographer, his assignments covered a multitude of mission critical projects including Presidential, and Vice Presidential visits, and numerous celebrities including Operation Iraqi Stephen (Colbert). His images have graced hundreds of front pages of newspapers, and featured in magazines both nationally and internationally. Today Lee lives in rural Thailand with his beautiful wife and daughter. Lee's current projects include the fight to save the endangered elephants of Thailand, documenting the lives of rural Thais and the plight of income inequity, and will shortly begin a project on human rights abuse in Southeast Asia.