<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>What makes a photo stand out when so many of us have become desensitised to images of war and suffering?</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Emotion, according to Gold Walkley Award-winning photojournalist and </span><em><span>Sydney Morning Herald</span></em><span> chief photographer Kate Geraghty.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It creates a conversation," she told nine.com.au in an interview to mark the paper's 195th anniversary.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/singer-d4vd-arrested-over-death-of-girl-found-in-his-car/3d7e1978-f7ee-4b1e-ab06-70e104db6810" target="_blank"><strong><span>US singer D4vd arrested over death of girl whose body was found in his car</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"In the sense that someone walking past sees the newspaper and the image will stop them in their tracks," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They want to know more. They want to know what's happening.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That is what makes a good photograph."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-morning-herald-kate-geraghty-195-years-most-important-photos/cfe5d192-7c8f-4c62-92d4-bce3f6f75c47" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She should know.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Geraghty has been photographing war zones and disasters, both natural and man-made, for 25 years at the </span><em><span>Herald</span></em><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her first assignment was the 2002 Bali bombings.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/china-warns-against-travelling-to-the-us/0f57d310-2854-465c-9fae-71dcbf191bb4" target="_blank"><strong><span>China warns against travelling to US after scholars accosted</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The following year she went to Iraq and became the first woman at the </span><em><span>Herald</span></em><span> to photograph war.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the decades since, she's taken the Australian public inside the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and conflicts across the Middle East and Europe through the lens of her camera.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her job often involves months of careful planning and coordination, which can go out the window in a split-second when missiles start firing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The nature of war is so fluid that you just have to roll with the punches, and just document what's happening," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But really, at the end of the day, none of these challenges is anything compared to the civilian population and what they're going through."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/europe-has-six-weeks-of-jet-fuel-left/732ad6e2-c4a9-4ed5-b4ec-5e995496cc7a" target="_blank"><strong><span>Europe has 'six weeks of jet fuel left,' energy boss warns</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Geraghty has seen the aftermath of some of the worst natural disasters of this century.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She has seen war and executions.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In those moments, she feels the responsibility to document what she's witnessing exactly as it happens.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some might think it a burden.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>To Geraghty, it's a privilege.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Because while journalists in war zones are protected under international humanitarian law (at least, they're supposed to be), civilians are not.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some even risk their own safety and the safety of their loved ones just to speak with members of the press.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/measles-alert-sydney-traveller-from-singapore-coffee-shop-supermarket/a35ab629-0576-4063-89f3-d297581cce01" target="_blank"><strong><span>Traveller from Singapore infected with measles visited Sydney coffee shop, supermarket</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And when they do speak, it's not about global politics or academic opinions – it's to ask the same questions anyone would in the face of such horror.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Has my house been bombed? Have my family members been killed? How do I protect my child? Am I going to die?</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We have been in situations where, in the absence of a justice system, you know that you're documenting war crimes," Geraghty said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And people will tell you the most horrific things that have happened to them and show you evidence of that, because they want to tell the world what's happened."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She considers it an honour to document those stories and get them out to the world.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/sydney-man-arrested-alleged-weapons-cash-in-suburban-home/9dad21af-c6b5-4024-bbc4-1e383f20766f" target="_blank"><strong><span>Bizarre firearm led police to suburban Sydney 'weapons cache'</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Though sometimes just getting them out of the room is the biggest battle.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2010, Geraghty was covering the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and captured the moment when it was raided by Israeli soldiers in international waters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At least nine people were killed and Geraghty was attacked with a stun gun, then detained by Israel before being deported.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Getting her photos out was no easy task.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Hiding the the images while you were in a prison, and then smuggling them out ... that was hard," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-jessica-tarlov-least-attractive-reporter-fox-the-five-usa-news/caa7a980-abb3-4c7f-a907-844a967b6ecc" target="_blank"><strong><span>Trump calls presenter 'least attractive', demands she be taken off TV</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As is being on assignment in war zones like Afghanistan or Ukraine,</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Just last month Geraghty was in Lebanon, capturing the destruction as Israel attacked.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Four words guided her through that assignment.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's the first rule of journalism: it's not about us," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"What I focus on is the people that we're meeting or documenting, telling their stories. That's what matters."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's the same ethos that has has guided Geraghty through every assignment for the last 25 years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/fuel-crisis-petrol-theft-ai-camera-prevents-stealing-at-the-bowser/1ab5e9fb-0a4b-4abb-b14a-3468092f6531" target="_blank"><strong><span>Could this simple tool be the solution to rise in servo fuel thefts?</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's what guides every </span><em><span>Herald</span></em><span> photographer, from the publication's very first photojournalist George Bell, to current staff like Nick Moir and Edwina Pickles.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And it's why they have produced so many iconic images over the last 195 years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Just look at Stuart MacGladrie's Vietnam war snaps, or Russell McPhedran's photos from the Munich Massacre.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jacky Ghossein's pictures from inside Dadaab refugee camp, Moir's photos from Black Summer, or Pickles' Bondi Shooting coverage.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The general public will drive away from bushfires, will do anything to get away from danger," Geraghty said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But photojournalists at the </span><em><span>Herald</span></em><span>, we've always gone towards it."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/geelong-viva-refinery-fire-expert-warns-prices-could-go-up-at-pump/394dad42-a038-41a6-bbee-1e3dc0b31867" target="_blank"><strong><span>Victoria facing potential fuel jump of 8c/litre after refinery fire</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hundreds of photographers have worked at the paper in the 195 years since its first issue was published and one trait links them all over nearly two centuries.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We all embody the same thing: passion and dedication to telling the story," Geraghty said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That's a legacy that everyone should be proud of."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><strong><em><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>ticking this box here</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Sign up to</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></em></strong></a></li></ul></div></div>