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thedrifter
11-02-07, 06:55 AM
Portraits of War from Hometown Marine
FOX 40 Binghamton - Nov 01

They're not the usual snapshots travelers bring back from overseas.

"When I got to Iraq I started looking around and I said wow this place is different. How many other times in my life am I going to get here?" said Sergeant Andrew Bourne of the U.S. Marines and Photographer.

And they aren't your normal tourist attractions. "Street kids: I took this photo because the kids --these guys would be fearless they would be running around the street no matter what was going on" added Bourne. "They would find IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and come find us and bring us to them even when we told them to stay away. They just carried on."

The Vestal native is a sergeant for the US Marines, and this is his photo journal of the war in Iraq. The 28 pictures --all with their own unique stories document Bourne's 7 month tour of Iraq.

Bourne also says, "We stopped and talked to him and he told us he didn't mind us being here. He thought we were the lesser of the three evils. He didn't mind us because it let him sleep at night because it was nice and quiet now."

One photograph is called Hula girl. She was placed on the explosive disposal teams' vehicles for good luck. And this is a picture of a marker. It's purpose is to warn insurgents of IEDs in the area. IEDs are improvised explosive devices used by insurgents against collision forces.

Bourne says after he returned home he knew he couldn't let these photos go unseen. He contacted the manager of the Fine Arts gallery in Binghamton.

"In the images he had an innate ability to capture design in his photographs which I was blown away by, especially after he told me he was an amateur photographer," said John Brunelli, the gallery manager.

The photographs were quickly put on display with a warm reception. Bourne says,"A lot of people have come up and said thank you for showing something they don't normally see."

Bourne says all 28 pictures have one thing in common. They display an unbiased portrait of a war --a side that he says most may never see.

***FOX 40's KENA VERNON REPORTING***

Ellie