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Dying is easy. Putting yourself in harm's way to visually document a brutal conflict in the Middle East is hard.
That's the impression you get, at least, while looking through the work of Lewis & Clark grad Kainoa Little. The freelance photographer spent April and May in Mosul with Iraqi forces as they tried to recapture the city, three years after its capture by the Islamic State.
He returned with a striking collection of photographs depicting the brutality and violence he witnessed. But when he tried to find newspapers and wire services that would buy them, Little came up empty-handed. So he uploaded them to his website and posted a few on PetaPixel.
"The worst uncertainty for me as a freelancer in conflict isn't that I won't be able to pay my rent; it's that no one will see the story," Little said in the post. He noted that the soldiers and refugees he met "very rightly expected that I would tell their story."
The Iraqi Prime Minister declared victory over ISIS yesterday, effectively ending the recapture effort. Uncertainties surrounding the eventual rebuilding effort still remain.
Little is now based in Shoreline, WA. You can see more of his work on his website, or follow him on Instagram.