Marcus Yam: From Aspiring Astronaut to a Pulitzer Prize in Photography
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LA Times Photographer Documents Last Months of US in Afghanistan
Foreign correspondent and photographer for the Los Angeles Times , Marcus Yam, has covered events in Afghanistan since 2017, including the political disruption of the last few months when the Taliban took control of the country.
Following the withdrawal of the U.S. troops and subsequent Taliban takeover of the city of Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan, many journalists have fled or attempted to. Those who have remained are faced with danger every time they go out to do their job.
Yam is no stranger to the risks posed by his career choice, having left a career in aerospace engineering to become a photographer. His goal is to "take viewers to the frontlines of conflict, struggle, and intimacy," according to Los Angeles Times.
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He has documented deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip, covered the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attacks in 2015, the deadly landslide in Oso, Washington, and many other critical events for which he has received numerous awards.
Although Yam has covered Afghanistan since 2017, it's his most recent work that has brought the Middle Eastern crisis up-close and personal to viewers. Yam covered the events as they unfolded -- from the U.S. troops exiting Afghanistan and leaving behind a vast amount of military gear and equipment, to the Taliban establishing its order, often through violent means inflicted upon those who remain in the country. In the video below, Yam shares his experience.
Los Angeles Times photographer and foreign correspondent @yamphoto has reported from Afghanistan since 2017, including his current assignment documenting the last months of the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Discover Marcus's work: https://t.co/pODoAFa0TF pic.twitter.com/rWBnXhOGb7
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) September 17, 2021
Not shying away from direct danger to his life, Yam has covered bombings, exchange of fire, and the tragic consequences of the conflict that have resulted in numerous casualties and injuries, filling up the beds of local hospitals. Although the country has been war-torn for years and people there have accepted that their lives will be short, it doesn't take away the fact that "these are everyday people like you and me," says Yam.
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As a foreign correspondent, Yam has successfully reported from Afghanistan but he also couldn't avoid aggression inflicted upon him. Although it didn't leave him with a permanent injury, he was beaten and momentarily detained by Taliban fighters.
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After more than a month of Taliban rule, it is clear that it still remains a place that poses many risks to locals and to those who document and report the current events to the rest of the world, despite the Taliban's promises to the contrary.
More of Yam's work can be found on his Instagram and Twitter. His photography stories from Afghanistan's takeover by the Taliban can be found on his Los Angeles Times profile page.
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LA Times Photographer Punched by Taliban, Then Offered Energy Drink
Los Angeles Times photojournalist Marcus Yam was documenting the events in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday when he had the crazy experience of being beaten by the Taliban, detained, and then offered an energy drink.
Yam is a "roving Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent and staff photographer" who's no stranger to danger: he bravely captures stories of tragedy and humanity both in the United States and abroad, putting himself in the middle of everything from conflicts to raging wildfires.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Yam was working to photograph anti-Taliban protests when Taliban fighters appeared and sucker-punched Yam in the side of the head.
Armed Taliban fighters surrounded and disperse the crowd, but not before pushing & shoving and firing a round from their weapons. Chaos ensued. After that, the TB's 'Badri 313' units came to help with crowd control. From what little I could see, nobody was hit or wounded. pic.twitter.com/mCqazstTXP
-- Marcus Yam 文火 (@yamphoto) August 19, 2021
"At some point I moved to take a picture of a scuffle," Yam writes in his account of the incident at the Times. "Someone tugged on my camera strap, and I felt the kinetic-energy connection of a fist to the side of my head. A Taliban fighter had sucker-punched me. He was a tall burly man who started screaming in Dari, the local language, pointing at our cameras."
Two Taliban fighters then proceeded to beat Yam and his journalist companion, and the attack continued despite Yam's efforts to identify himself as a foreign journalist.
"Please do not hurt us. We’re journalists, we’re foreigners." Yam told his attacker, who was gripping a Kalashnikov assault rifle. "We’re media. We’re allowed to work."
The second Taliban attacker, who could speak English, detained the journalists and demanded that Yam delete photos from his camera. When the fighters finally understood that Yam and his companion were protected journalists, their attitudes took a 180-degree turn.
"He apologized profusely for our troubles, but not for beating us," Yam writes. "They became solicitous: We were each brought a bottle of cold water and a can of Monster Energy drink, a favorite of the U.S. soldiers who controlled the city until a few days ago.
"[The second fighter] asked us: 'Please, could you tell me who hit you? We will capture him, and punish him.' I looked at my colleague in disbelief. It was a surreal scene."
Yam was then permitted to call a driver and leave the scene, which he did quickly.
Photographer Marcus Yam, still in Kabul, is one of the hardest-working journalists I know. And I know a lot of very hard-working journalists. Follow him. https://t.co/CBV1HDgQ4Q
-- Craig Welch (@CraigAWelch) August 19, 2021
After swiftly retaking Afghanistan this month, the Taliban has held press conferences in which it has promised everything from greater rights for women, to amnesty for former Afghan soldiers, to freedom of the press. What journalists are seeing and reporting from the ground, however, has often painted a starkly different picture.
Image credits: Header photograph by AFP via Getty Images
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