Photojournalist Ben Lowy was in Libya on assignment for 3 weeks in March, traveling between the Rebel stronghold of Bengazi to various front line towns like Ajdabiya, Brega, Ras Lanuf, and Bin Jawad. In between photographing with DSLR’s he made images on his iPhone and brought the news directly to an audience by immediately posting them to his blog. Since featuring this new work, people’s interest has grown exponentially and, he says, “reaffirmed my belief in this new paradigm in journalism. My work these days, like Iraq from Humvee windows and Night Vision Goggles, abstracts of the BP oil spill, Holga panoramics and now this iPhone series, is about creating a visual narrative that looks different from the norm. I’m hoping to capture the audience through the aesthetics, to get them to move closer to the image, and most importantly engage the viewer to examine the content.”

WARNING: THIS GALLERY CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT.

Destroyed Gaddafi-loyalist tank. On the road between Bengazi and Ajdabiya.

Onlookers watch as relatives drive away with the body of their kin after visiting the Jala Hospital morgue on March 20 2011 in Bengazi, Libya. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

Libyan rebels stand amidst the rubble of destroyed pro-Gaddafi army vehicles and weapons following NATO airstrikes on March 20 2011 in an open field near Bengazi, Libya. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

Libyan rebels fire their weapons from behind the cover of a sand berm as pro-Gaddafi forces shell their position on March 25 2011 on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, Libya.© Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

A Libyan rebel takes cover behind a sand berm as pro-Gaddafi forces shell their position on March 25 2011 on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, Libya. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

Libyan rebels pray in the desert sand near the front line on March 29 2011 near Bin Jawad, Libya. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

Rebel soldiers try to rally their comrades with a cry of “Allah Akbar,” following a massive retreat in the face of relentless mortar attacks on March 29 2011 in Bin Jawad, Libya.  © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

Libyan civilians flee an anticipated Gaddafi Loyalist attack on March 30, 2011 in Ajdabiya, Libya. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

7 year-old shot by Gaddafi forces in Bengazi. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

Gaddafi loyalist killed by french bombing outside of Bengazi. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

Bomb blast, Bengazi. © Benjamin Lowy/Reportage by Getty Images.

All images © Benjamin Lowy / VII Network

Tendrils and plumes of oil have covered the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, leaving a viscous mess in the open sea. The environmental disaster that was caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is horrible and will no doubt have a long lasting impact on the Gulf. While on assignment for GQ magazine covering the disaster, I was struck by how beautiful the congealed pockets of crude were. Floating on the sea, swirling with the seawater, they looked strangely like abstract paintings. These are close up images of the pools of oil that stagnate on the surface of the Gulf.

—Benjamin Lowy

All photos © Benjamin Lowy/VII Network

Here are 14 photographs from Benjamin Lowy’s ongoing Iraq | Perspectives project which he began in 2005. Shot from the confines of a Humvee, Lowy creates a tableau vivant of life in Iraq offering a glimpse into the bleakness and desolation of a country ravaged by war.

“In July 2005 I was being driven from an assignment—an endeavor that took two cars and 4 heavily armed Iraqi guards—when my mother called. She asked me if I had the chance to go to a shopping mall with Iraqis. Mouth agape, I told her that something like that is impossible, dangerous for someone like me—tall, white, and bald. I told her that I couldn’t go anywhere without guards, or without US soldiers—that Iraq was a land of blast walls and barbed wire fences. She replied that she had no idea, that she never saw any photographs or news reports illustrating what I had described. That was when I made my first image of a concrete blast wall through the window of my armored car.

“Iraq | Perspectives grew immediately out of that conversation, and as a response to what I felt was the general apathy and inability of people in the US to comprehend what Iraq is like. Confronted by a level of violence so high that walking on the streets to photograph is tantamount  to suicidal behavior, I found myself confined to working with American soldiers, spending most of my time going on various missions in armored Humvees. My only view of Iraq was through the inches-thick bulletproof window.

“I wonder if Iraqis see me through these windows? I don’t know. But they do see the monstrous convoys of Humvees coming down the roads of their neighborhoods. Some stop to stare, some jeer, some cheer (rare), some just go about their business, oblivious to the tons of destructive force driving by. This view of the Iraqi street is one so rarely seen by the American public, but it is the most common sight for US soldiers. Do these soldiers see the Iraqis as they speed by? I’m not sure.

“I strive to create images that will hopefully overcome the public’s apathy to news pictures from Iraq. Metaphorically speaking, these windows represent a barrier that impedes dialogue. These pictures show a fragment of Iraqi daily life taken by a transient passenger in a Humvee. The images are not intimate—they often show a distant and detached perspective of a country so empty, so desolate and of a situation so dire.”

—Benjamin Lowy