Technical challenges when providing coverage in a conflict zone

Mauricio Morales, photographer and videojournalist specialized in covering events in locations such as Syria, Turkey, Gaza, Libya, Lebanon or Iraq, reviews the main technological challenges when offering coverage from a conflict zone.

Creating content from a conflict zone involves a special operational and technological effort. Other criteria that could be more common in standard coverage, such as the visual quality, large resolutions or using a wide selection of lenses, blurs when chasing agility that these types of contexts require.

He first challenge technique that one faces or must take into account in a conflict zone is the energy theme. It is essential correctly manage camera charge levels, as well as having answers, since in many cases it is difficult to predict when there will be energy to recharge them.

On the other hand, get a stable internet connection is essential to be able to contribute with the pieces, which generally They are not usually live connections. Recent developments in understanding help this work, although 4G infrastructures and 5G, which could be helpful in normal environments, are often not as developed and implemented in conflict zones.

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Bet on mirrorless

Compared to large capture equipment, more purely broadcast, which were a standard a few decades ago, I prefer to opt for a camera mirrorless, since I consider it to be the most functional equipment for a conflict zone.

I usually work with a 35mm fixed lens and with another of 24-70mm. On both occasions, we talked about luminous optics capable of adapting to an uptake that is based on natural light, since in conflict zones They do not allow you to record for a long time in a single location or make lighting schemes.

Delivering the material

Finally, at time to deliver the audiovisual material, todo dependerá del encargo. Por general, se envía editada la pieza en el formato que la conexión a internet te permita entregar. Si es un proyecto a largo aliento, lo mejor es almacenar el material crudo en discos duros externos y luego procesarlo. Siempre es importante tener un ordenador, pero solo uno, ya que es importante viajar ligero.

Además, hay que tener en cuenta que en este tipo de localizaciones siempre tendrás restricciones de movimiento y podrás encontrarte censura en tu cobertura. Por tanto, la adaptabilidad y la velocidad a la hora de realizar este tipo de captación se configura como fundamental.

Mauricio Morales

Nacido en 1982, Mauricio Morales Duarte es un fotovideoperiodista y productor colombiano, licenciado en Medios Audiovisuales por la Universidad Politécnica de Bogotá. (Foto: Muzaffar Salman)

Su trabajo ha aparecido en medios como The New York Times, Time Lightbox, TV5Monde, LA Times, France 24 y The Guardian, entre otros. Colabora con Al Jazeera English, Univisión, NBC News, Der Spiegel, Vice News, Rolling Stones Colombia, Caracol Noticias, Semana y El Espectador.