Photography Students in Battle!
Trainee photographers in thick of it
"Adding another dimension to the training" was how Captain Cory
Neal of the New Zealand Army's 4th Otago Southland Battalion Group
in Dunedin pitched the idea of asking 10 photography students from
Aoraki Polytechnic's Dunedin campus to join him at last weekend's
NZ Reserve Force exercise in Tapanui, taking the role of
international media.
The battalion was holding its first major exercise of the
training year, a year interrupted by earthquake relief operations
in Christchurch. Its focus is back on core skills training and
Captain Neal was exercise controller for a SASO (Security And
Stabilisation Operation) held within the more than 50ha grounds of
the Tapanui Agriculture Centre (TAC) in West Otago.
The exercise back story was simple - the small autonomous region
at the TAC wanted to hold a peace conference between two opposing
local factions and its leader had asked the New Zealand Government
for help to successfully facilitate it, so Bravo Company was
dispatched there as part of a wider security operation in the
Otago/Southland region.
Nearly 100 soldiers from the battalion's sub-units, hailing from
Oamaru, Dunedin, Cromwell and Invercargill, descended on Tapanui
late on Friday for 48 hours of continuous operations. These
included reconnaissance duties, securing locations, securing the
release of hostages, patrolling back roads, averting possible
conflicts between the warring factions, searching for arms caches,
handing out food aid and protecting the leaders of the opposing
parties before the summit proper started.
Add into the exercise scenario more than 20 NZCF army cadets
from Dunedin and Invercargill and 10 medics from 3 HSC, Dunedin's
NZ Army medical unit acting as the often vocal and rowdy opposing
factions, 15 firemen from the Tapanui district using the
opportunity to practise their firefighting skills and the 10 Aoraki
Polytechnic students acting as media and it produced a very
interesting and multi-layered learning experience for all
participants.
The role of the Aoraki students was to add another layer of
complexity to the situations faced by the soldiers by acting as
foreign media documenting the activities there.
Riley Baker, of Oamaru, a Certificate of Digital Photo student,
found it "exciting, as it was 48 hours of almost nonstop action -
there was always something to shoot. It was also the first time I
had ever photographed a fire, when the local fire brigade came
along to fight some car fires that were part of the exercise."
Throughout the long weekend, the students learned how to operate
as photojournalists alongside civil and military authorities while
providing the soldiers with the experience of working more closely
with the media.
The Battalion's Commanding Officer, Lt Col Roger McElwain, is a
firm advocate of maintaining a positive relationship with the
media.
"Our roles are always changing and working closely with the
media is one of our most important tasks, especially as the
soldiers will always meet and work alongside media in many of the
areas they may be deployed to."
Exercise controller Captain Cory Neal, of Balclutha, kept
everyone on their toes, maximising the short time they had at the
large storage facility with a series of realistic and creative
exercise scenarios.
Often the many large build ings at the TAC echoed to the loud,
concussive booms of thunderflashes, were enveloped in swirling
mists of dense yellow smoke from smoke grenades and rattled to the
sounds of rifle and machinegun fire as the soldiers coped with the
escalating activities of the insurgents trying to derail the peace
summit in the area.
The photography students chased down leads and stories, found
usable and interesting photo opportunities at the many random or
sometimes slowly evolving events and then learned ways to survive,
and shoot saleable news photos, all while under the stress of
possible conflict.
Certificate of Digital Photography student Sam Gold, of
Balclutha, said he found it "awesome".
"We had all sorts of different things to shoot - firefights,
smoke grenades in the warehouse; at night, the high ISO's
[equivalent film speeds] I had to use were a challenge, as I was
not always able to use flash due to the soldiers nearby using night
vision goggles."
Angelique Toschi, a Diploma of Digital Photo student, discovered
what it takes to be a good photojournalist.
"You have to be out there, be up front and know what to look
for. A highlight was the warehouse, when everyone was shooting
around us and we had to learn to duck down and get out of the way
safely but still get the photo."