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Foreign Policy: Female Engagement In Hipstamatic

Lance Cpl. Kristi Baker, 21, a member of Female Engagement Team (FET) 12 from Battalion 1/8 at the Shir Ghazay Patrol Base in Landay Nawah County, Afghanistan, on Jan. 31.
Rita Leistner
Lance Cpl. Kristi Baker, 21, a member of Female Engagement Team (FET) 12 from Battalion 1/8 at the Shir Ghazay Patrol Base in Landay Nawah County, Afghanistan, on Jan. 31.

Rita Leistner is a photojournalist based in Toronto. A selection of her Basetrack photos are now featured in a digital book. Basetrackis supported by a 2010 News Challengegrantfrom the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Foreign Policy is pleased to present this unique and remarkable collection of photographs, largely taken on iPhones (using an app called Hipstamatic that allows users to digitally manipulate "lenses," "flashes," and "film"), of the lives of U.S. Marines in Helmand province in 2010 and 2011 and of the Afghans they interacted with. It is by no means a comprehensive look at 10 years of war, but rather an evocative and profound slice of life — at the beginning of the end of the longest conflict in U.S. history. This is part three of a five-part series.

To view the rest of the photos in this collection visit Foreign Policy.

Copyright 2021 Foreign Policy. To see more, visit Foreign Policy.

Rita Leistner