Biography:
Graduating with a BA (Hons) in Photography from Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham, England in the Late 80′s, Craig went on to win The David Hodge Memorial Award Young Photojournalist of the Year with a story he had covered in Thailand. He...
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Focus:Photographer, Photojournalist, Journalist
Covering:Europe,
Skills:Black & White Printing
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The Iron Harvest, Belgium.
craig stennett
Jan 13, 2019
The Ypres salient on the fields of Flanders in Belgium is the biggest mass grave yard of the British Army anywhere in the world. The carnage of WW1 and its most intensive fighting on the British sector of the Western Front left millions killed and wounded. It also left a legacy of some 300 million unexploded shells still littering the battlefield. Around 250 tonnes of UXB are unearthed each year The Belgium bomb disposal unit known as DOVO is based in Poelkapelle near Ypres. The proposal in to link up with DOVO in October which is the most intense time of UXB discovery and is known as the ‘Iron Harvest’. A time when farmers plough their fields disturbing the resting shells and raising them to the surface. The piece could coincide with the 2018 Armistice in November showing that WW1 is far from over. It’s is still claiming lives. The last being 2 deaths in 2014 with a strange incident in 2008 when a pensioner blew himself up in his garage while tinkering with a shell he had brought home from the battlefield! The Ypres salient is still an ‘active’ battle zone and at present rates of recovery DOVO estimate it will take a further 500 years to clear away and collect all the unexploded shells.