a documentary film by Claire Darby

Download a 1 page synopsis here.

How I Came to the Project

Last fall, I sat at lunch one day with a new co-worker, playing “getting to know you.” I mentioned how I needed to come up with an idea for a new film project to work on. There was a lull in the conversation, and then she said, “You know, my younger brother was a soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was killed in Afghanistan a few months ago.”

Needless to say, I was shocked and told her how sorry I was for her loss. Then she said to me: “He had a video camera that he attached to his helmet and he took videos and pictures of everything he saw and did while he was there. I can’t bear the thought of his footage just sitting on some hard drive somewhere, where no one ever sees it. Do you want to use it?”

After some thought, I told her yes, I thought I did want to see what I could do with the footage. I was intrigued by the description of the footage: a gritty inside look at the real lives of American soldiers, as seen through the eyes of her brother. Surely I could make something of that.

I started looking through the footage. Yes, it was a gritty inside look at the lives of soldiers--that was true. But what really struck me was the way you could see the photographs and videos change over time. The images from Jason's first tour in Iraq are snapshots--photos of a place that's different and strange, but they didn't get below the surface. But the images from his later tours in Afghanistan are different. There is a depth of feeling and understanding to them--a beauty--that is missing from the earlier images. I wondered about the change I saw in the photos. Was it a coincidence? Or was there something more to it?

I asked my friend to tell me her brother's story—what he’d been like, how he’d gotten into film and photography, why he’d decided to enlist as a soldier. I asked her to tell me about the pictures and videos. She talked for maybe an hour, and I listened--asking a question here and there, but mostly just listening.

Jason's Story

Snapshots of a Solider is the story she--and, later, Jason's parents and sister and friends--told me about who he was and how he became that man. It's the story of a wild, exuberant boy--a talented artist and an athlete--who never wanted to stay within the limitations of polite society. He struggled in school, got in trouble, and never quite fit in anywhere until he found the military. In the military he found the structure he needed and the adventure he was looking for, and he excelled. He brought a video camera and a digital camera with him on his three tours, and through the lens of his camera, his whole view of the world shifted. He fell in love with photography, fell in love with what he could see through the lens. He started talking about going to art school.  In short, he grew up.

And two weeks before the end of his last tour in Afghanistan, two weeks before he was set to come home and start the rest of his life, he and 8 others were killed trying to defend their military outpost from an attack by the Taliban. He died a hero. Jason will never get to be the professional filmmaker or photographer that he talked about being. He'll never get to tell the story behind his pictures and his videos. But using his images, and using the stories of those who knew him and loved him best, I hope that Snapshots of a Soldier can at least make an effort to tell the story of who this fascinating, complex man was and how he got to be that person.