They have been to places where none of us will ever dare venture out into; they have seen things each of us should be grateful we have never had to witness; and they have endured loss, pain and suffering in ways we can barely imagine.

Yet, a trio of war photographers – Paul Conroy, Michael Christopher Brown and Afshin Ismael – who have been near-mortally wounded, hunted, captured, and even tortured, said they will take these extraordinary risks all over again at a captivating panel discussion ‘Why Do It?’ held at photography festival XPOSURE 2019 at Expo Centre Sharjah. The discussion was moderated by Sunday Times Picture Editor Ray Wells.

American photographer Brown who grew up in a peaceful farming community in Washington, said, “Since I had lived a very protected life, I was always curious about what was there out beyond.”

Showing images of his documentation of the 2011 Libyan Civil War, he described how he was ambushed several times, and injured by incoming mortar fire while covering the Siege of Misrata. “I took four pieces of shrapnel to my chest, shoulder and arm and I lost nearly half the blood in my body.”

Afshin Ismaeli, on the other hand, is a child born in a conflict zone on the Iran-Iraq border. “My childhood memories are of war and the deadly sounds of bombs. As I watched the reports on TV, I wondered why no one came to get our story. It became my mission then to get to the untold stories of children who are suffering in war zones everywhere,” he said.

Arrested four times over a span of two days by the Turkish government in 2016 on suspicions of being a spy, Ismaeli described how he blacked out following hours of beating and torture. “I woke up in a prison cell where I survived for a week on just plain water,” he said. “I never thought I would get out alive, because I heard them threaten to kill me.”

UK’s Paul Conroy began his career in the military and while in Kosovo on the request of a friend to take images of a UN convoy, found himself getting absorbed in the stories of the refugees at the border. “When people trust you with their stories, you have an obligation to see that it reaches out to the world,” he said, describing his accidental foray into the world of photojournalism.

It was in Syria in early 2012 to report on the atrocities committed there that he lost his colleague in a rocket attack while he was left with a gaping hole in his leg that “was cleaned up with a toothbrush and iodine and stapled up with an office stapler as facilities and supplies were minimal at the hospital.” He underwent 17 surgeries back in the UK and was hopsitalised for four months.

Will they do it again? Yes, they all agreed. “It’s the people and we have a responsibility towards them.”

Organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), the festival closes today. From climate change to fashion, politics to nature and wildlife and human disasters as well as natural calamities, the festival covers the entire range of life on this planet through pictures.