Sandra Balsells, photographer and journalist

I was reading cafebabel.com just now and discovered this interesting interview with Sandra Balsells, photographer and journalist.

How do you go about photographing scenes of pain and death? The answer flows from her mouth without a second's hesitation. "You can do it if you believe in the meaning of your work, if you are convinced that it has personal significance. And it is also crucial to be quite tough emotionally." It is not the desire to change the world that motivates her work, but the conviction that she is doing what she loves and is emotionally connected to.

Working in a war is tough, but "it has its rewarding moments", she confesses. "You can have some very intense experiences with people." Perhaps what proves so addictive about war is the special bond that a photographer can forge with the person on the other side of the lens. "It is a very odd kind of communication. You can't even talk to the person you are photographing. You are immortalising them and you know nothing about them", she explains