Whir, zoom, click, and the flash shutters quickly. Cameras allow us to capture pivotal moments in time, and if Lynsey Addario teaches us nothing else through It’s What I Do, it’s this idea. Lynsey’s images take captive of powerful scenes that have the authority to change the way people perceive the world and its inhabitants. Two images in particular strike me in a meaningful manner.

In the image above, Lynsey has captured a busy scene of Pakistani women in their natural, everday life. This photograph intrigues me, because it features the face covering, the niqab particularly well. Niqabs cloak a woman’s head and face in a veil-like fashion entirely…except for her eyes. Some refer to the eyes as the portals to one’s inner thoughts. It is interesting that we choose to hide a feature such as the mouth, which many would imagine to be the most important. After all, it does allow us to communicate, smile, and laugh. However, a woman’s eyes are powerful. They convey emotions like fear, joy, weariness, intriguement, and tranquility.

The photograph featured below moves me in an inspirational way. Pictured is Kahindo, a mother of two children that rapists bestowed upon her. She lives her life to raise her children and teach them to be better people than the ones who held her captive for multiple years. The image catches Kahindo sitting up with a straight spine. Regardless of the horrendous past that she has lived through, Kahindo recognizes her worth. As she illuminates even the darkest of situations, Kahindo serves as an inspiration to many women.

In my blog posts, I try to incorporate only photographs that I take myself. I know that I am no Lynsey Addario, but I think that there is something special about being able to embody my thoughts not only through English phrasing and syntax, but also through images, which are a universal language. I try to convey my messages as adequately as possible using words, but my pictures aid my audience in comprehending thoughts that are a bit more complex.