The face of war

Photojournalist Nina Berman discusses her award-winning portrait of disfigured Iraq vet Ty Ziegel and his fiancée, Renee, on their wedding day -- and what was really going on behind the lens.

Editor's note: Nina Berman's wedding portrait of wounded vet Ty Ziegel won the prestigious World Press Photo competition earlier this year. To see Berman's entire series chronicling Ziegel's recovery and wedding day, click here.

By Lindsay Beyerstein

Read more: Veterans, Photojournalism, Iraq War, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Life

March 10, 2007 | One of the most iconic images of the Iraq war was taken by Nina Berman in a commercial portrait studio in small-town Illinois. You've probably seen the photograph. A young couple stands side by side facing the camera. There are all the usual accouterments: the frosted, school-photo backdrop, the red bouquet precisely matched to the red trim on the bride's white gown. The groom wears a decorated dress uniform. It could be any couple in any town -- except that the groom's features have literally been melted off. He has no nose, no chin, no ears and no hair. His head appears to attach directly to his shoulders, and his face is so badly burned that it's a struggle to decipher his expression.

The bride's expression is equally opaque. Some people think she looks stunned. Others describe her expression as anxious, or even fearful. Her mouth turns down slightly at the edges, but her wide brown eyes gaze straight ahead and something about the set of her jaw suggests resolve. Some viewers strenuously deny that there's anything unusual about the young woman's countenance at all.

The portrait is just one of a much larger series Berman shot on assignment for People magazine showing Marine Sgt. Ty Ziegel's recovery, homecoming and wedding day. Berman was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas to meet Ty, and his fiancée, Renee Kline. At the time, Ty was 24 and Renee wasn't quite 21. The two had been high school sweethearts and were engaged before Ty's second tour in Iraq. But in 2004, Ty's tour was cut short when a suicide bomber blew up near his truck during a routine patrol. The searing heat melted most of the skin off Ty's body and left him blind in one eye. His skull was so badly shattered that doctors had to replace it with plastic. Ty was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, where he underwent 19 surgeries. Berman completed the series over the course of three separate visits, first chronicling Ty's convalescence, and then, following his release, the couple's marriage in late 2006.

Four weeks ago, Berman's wedding portrait, "Wounded U.S. Marine Returns Home From Iraq to Marry," won the World Press Photo competition for portraiture in 2006. The World Press Photo competition is the most prestigious international award for photojournalism. Since then, the image has been viewed online hundreds of thousands of times, sparked countless blog posts and endless comment threads. Everyone sees something different.

Salon reached Nina Berman by phone to talk about the story behind her haunting image.

Can you describe the circumstances under which the prizewinning photo was taken?

It was their wedding day. Before they went to the high school where they were married, they went to a commercial portrait studio. I normally don't find those commercial studio pictures very interesting. They seem fake. People just put on a happy face. But then I thought, this is a different wedding picture, isn't it? So I kind of stepped back. I thought, it's the same as having someone with their body blasted off in a high school yearbook.

Rituals like this, young people getting married, if this doesn't say that this war is having an impact, I don't know what does. It just cries out to people -- hey, this war is real. There's a very palpable reality to this war in certain communities. It's right there, not in the cities or on the coasts. Most people in the media and the cultural elite don't know anyone in the military. My whole goal is to say, hey, this war is not some kind of abstract thing.

How would you describe the photo?

It's a very static picture. It's a moment stopped in time. That picture said to me that this was a moment of reflection and quiet. A break from the wedding day craziness.

In the portrait, Renee has a kind of haunted or overwhelmed look. And she seems to have that same haunted expression in several of the photos in the series, like the shot of the two of them on the porch. Did you see that same expression on her face at different times when you were shooting the series?

I did. I was looking for a way into her soul. To see into her eyes, if she was thinking about something else than what was happening right in front of her. But I never asked her about it. I felt like she could have offered it up. Sometimes I feel free to ask probing questions, but not this time.

How would you describe the expression on Renee's face?

I don't know. That's what's so interesting about it. It suggests something different for everyone. For me, it seemed like this one brief moment to take stock.

Some people have asked whether the expression was just some kind of fluke, whether it might have been unrelated to the wedding or Ty's disability --

Yes, you can say, "She was exhausted," or "They were hung over" -- they were -- or "They just wanted to get this over with and get out of there so they could have fun." That's part of it too. But that's not what makes pictures interesting. What makes pictures interesting is that they provide the space for the viewers to contemplate.

What's the public response been to the picture?

I've published photos that generated a lot of response before. But this time, there was this crazy cyber-response. A hundred thousand people saw it through Fark in one day.

Has the reaction been generally positive?

What other people bring to the picture is extraordinary. I got linked to by everyone from pro-war sites to antiwar sites to sites dedicated to love and Valentine's Day. Then there were other people who were interested in the picture as photographers.

No one's said that it was a cheap shot. Most people are heartbroken. That's what sort of shocked me. They'll say, "I cried for days," or "I've never seen anything like this." Personally, I didn't feel any of those things.

How many frames did you shoot of the couple in that pose?

Just one frame of that pose. I also shot some from the side. I thought those were a little more artful, a little softer. Then I came around to the front. I liked the flatness to it. I like that it had almost a snapshot feel. It didn't require a lot of technique to take that picture. It's a standard wedding photograph, but something's different. The war is affecting our rituals, our daily rituals. Look around.

When did you first meet Ty?

I met Ty at Brooke Army in Texas. He was near the end of what was a 19-month recovery there. Renee, his fiancée, was down there and his mom, Becky, was there with him as well.

Was Renee living with Ty at the hospital?

They were all camped out at this place called Fisher House, which is a nonprofit group that provides housing for military families whose loved ones are receiving medical care. One of the issues in this war is that many of the wounded are really, really badly wounded -- they don't need one surgery, they need 30 surgeries that can go on for over a year. So in order for a family to be with a wounded loved one that whole time, they might have to quit their jobs and move -- and the government doesn't pay for that. Maybe it'll pay for a week, and that's it. Fisher House helps them stay longer.

Next page: Getting to know Ty and Renee