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<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nLike the rest of the world, Adam was occupied by a more introspective mindset at the onset of the pandemic. It was the quietness of the early phases that allowed him to properly ponder his career, and ultimately decide to share his photographs with the world. \u201cWhen Covid-19 hit, I started reflecting upon all the wars I\u2019ve been involved in over the years. I was fortunate enough to visit these places; I literally saw history unfold before my eyes. Initially, I had no intention of showcasing any of this material. But then lockdown happened, and my friends encouraged me to exhibit. If I can educate with the images I\u2019ve captured, why wouldn\u2019t I? I felt it was necessary to get the public to engage with these wars without the rhetoric of news.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto 2021 \u00a9 Adam Dobby | FUJIFILM X100S camera, Baghdad, Iraq. One of the many UNHCR camps, providing support to children with mental and psychological trauma.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Foregrounding a more humanist direction, Adam turned his FUJIFILM X100S to the faces of those caught in the clutches of unimaginable struggles. \u201cI think using portraiture lends the images more gravitas. You have to think about the emotions of those presented in the frame.\u201d Layered and complex, it\u2019s perhaps Adam\u2019s focus on youth and childhood that reinforces this message, instilling his photos with an innocence that counterpoints the devastation of surrounding environs. The results are poignant and absorbing. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a thread that runs through all my images. They are, for the most part, centred around children. They\u2019re born into these worlds, in such disastrous situations, and I wanted to leave them with a memory they weren\u2019t accustomed to. All they know is war. I built up a sense of rapport, which would in turn break down barriers and aid communication,\u201d Adam outlines. Delineating these bonds as an essential part of the process, he continues by describing a kind of domino effect \u2013 one that emerges from this place of solidarity, and grows outward. \u201cOnce you\u2019ve established a sense of trust, it expands. But beginning with the children was paramount. That was how I wanted to approach these stories. Of course, it was often very hard, because some of these kids are so badly affected by what they\u2019ve been through. Certain photographs were taken of children who were completely mute. They couldn\u2019t communicate\u2026 even their eyes were glazed over.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto 2021 \u00a9 Adam Dobby | FUJIFILM X100S camera, Fallujah District, Iraq. Two young girls play in a tented refugee camp, following the battle of Fallujah. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Battered and beaten, Adam\u2019s X100S has been his trusted tool throughout exceptional circumstances. Affectionately dubbed his \u2018little beauty\u2019, he speaks to the camera\u2019s versatility and longevity. \u201cA good friend of mine introduced me to Fujifilm about 10 years ago. He recommended I invest in this.\u201d Adam lifts his dog-eared rig to the webcam for inspection. \u201cIt\u2019s small, but more importantly, it\u2019s inconspicuous. If you put a DSLR in the faces of these kids, they\u2019re fearful of it. This camera has the opposite effect. It doesn\u2019t draw attention to itself. It\u2019s also massively robust.\u201d For eight years, he\u2019s formed something of an attachment to his equipment. \u201cThis thing has been in various close shaves with me, and still operates like a dream. Even if I was offered the most sophisticated camera on the market, I\u2019d be reluctant to part with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPhoto 2021 \u00a9 Adam Dobby | FUJIFILM X100S camera, Idlib Governate, Syria. A young man who lost his parents in the battle for Aleppo. An estimated 31,000 are thought to have perished. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
For Adam, opting for a gritty, uncomplicated approach was born out of necessity, as opposed to choice. \u201cIn conflict zones, you need something straightforward. The best thing about this camera is how simple it is to use. It\u2019s strong and does exactly what it says on the can. It\u2019s a fixed lens, so if my subject is too far away, I just get closer. If I want to communicate, I have to be proximal.\u201d Mindful of the pretension that can accompany aesthetic decisions in photography, Adam does not intellectualise his set-ups. Instead, he adopts an appropriately ethical outlook. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s all about the rawness of the image, and what these people have experienced. There\u2019s no reason to embellish or change that.\u201d This perspective has informed his preoccupation with black & white imagery \u2013 a simplified means of embodying both the harshness and immediacy of what he witnessed. \u201cWar is very bleak, and black & white photography lends itself to that reality. I wanted it to be pure, not for people to look at images of war and be drowned in a kaleidoscope of colour. I needed to maintain the brutality of what it felt like for me in those moments, operating in some of the most inhospitable places on the planet. I wasn\u2019t there to capture news. I didn\u2019t want my work to be perceived as journalistic, which is often shot in colour.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, being informative remains the principal aim of Adam\u2019s work. \u201cIf I can sell my photographs and raise money for the charities I support, great. But education is what matters most,\u201d he insists. A means of creating compassion, he speaks to the humility garnered from viewing images like these. \u201cThis generation is so preoccupied with the latest iPhone or video game, and here you have a child who was born into ISIS, lost her home and her parents, and all she has left is her sister, held in her arms. She was only five or six. Photos like those have a huge impact on us: the exceptionally lucky people. It demonstrates how fortunate we all are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n