Black and white photojournalism by award winning photographer David Lee Longstreath
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tales from the trail

Lost and Alone

8/5/2021

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She sat motionless on what once was the front door of her home in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. The structure along with most of the city had been destroyed a few days earlier by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake.  I don’t know if the woman lost any family in the earthquake but she looked lost and alone in a sea of broken concrete and steel reinforcement rods.

Most westerners have no sense of what a real tragedy is. The morning earthquake killed more than 80,000 people. That's as many people who attend a major college football game in the United States.

I ventured into and out of a number of places destroyed by the Pakistani earthquake while shooting for The Associated Press. It was torture to travel anywhere by road and there were virtually no accommodations other than in the front seat of an Islamabad taxi.  How could I transmit photos from the earthquake?  I did it with digital cameras and a laptop computer.  When I could get a hotel the first question asked was “are your phone lines working?”

I spent two weeks in the earthquake zone before returning to Thailand and onto a beach and a bottle of Tequila to wash away the memories.
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    Tales from the Trail
    Stories and thoughts from a 40 year veteran shooter.

David Lee Longstreath is a retired wire service photographer with more than 40 years experience on assignments around the world. He currently lives in upcountry Thailand.


​Contact me at dlongstreath@mac.com

Prints available at
Fine Art America.com


  • Tales from the Trail (blog)
  • Fine Art for Sale
  • Afghanistan Diary
  • Pakistan Diary
  • Tattoo Madness
  • Brother No. 1
  • Brother No. 2
  • Earthquake
  • Body Snatchers
  • Ladyboy
  • East Timor
  • Gulf War 1
  • Pakistan border camps
  • Forgotten War
  • One Survivor
  • My World in B&W
  • 10,000 Dead
  • Thaipusam In Malaysia
  • mondo bizzaro
  • About
  • Contact
  • Tales from the Trail (blog)
  • Fine Art for Sale
  • Afghanistan Diary
  • Pakistan Diary
  • Tattoo Madness
  • Brother No. 1
  • Brother No. 2
  • Earthquake
  • Body Snatchers
  • Ladyboy
  • East Timor
  • Gulf War 1
  • Pakistan border camps
  • Forgotten War
  • One Survivor
  • My World in B&W
  • 10,000 Dead
  • Thaipusam In Malaysia
  • mondo bizzaro
  • About
  • Contact