Photographer Addario

Last night nationally acclaimed photographer Lynsey Addario captivated the audience at the OEC Auditorium on the St Paul campus of St. Thomas University. She was the International Women's Day speaker at the Luann Dummer Center for Women and spent an hour showing her many remarkable photographs, answering questions and signing copies of her book. When her memoir, It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War, was first published in 2015, I immediately read it, and was delighted when she was scheduled as the speaker for the annual program sponsored by the Women's Center this year. She has travelled to many countries, using her photographs that reveal the human costs of war and social conflicts. Not just a bystander, Lynsey captured images in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Darfur -- sometimes embedded with US troops, even being captured twice and held as a prisoner by opposing forces. My photographs show her warmth and expressive presence while signing books at the closing reception.