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- Saiyna Bashir: If you capture a portrait of someone,
their expression,
it just tells you a lot about them,
who they are, and their eyes just kind of speak to you.
My name is Saiyna Bashir
and I'm a staff photographer at Capital Times .
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I grew up in smaller towns in Pakistan.
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My father was in the military, so we moved around a lot.
He was, you know, well-educated
and very liberal-minded for his generation.
And that's how he raised his children.
I always was told that I can study whatever I want.
I can pick whatever field I would like.
My dad's sister had a camera
and she used to be really into photography
at one point in her life.
So I took that camera and I just started playing with it.
Initially it was just a hobby.
I was just taking pictures of whatever I felt like.
I just posted those photos on Facebook.
There was a--
There was an editor at the time for The News .
The News is a local newspaper in Pakistan.
And so she saw those photos and contacted me and said,
"Can we print a photo essay with your photos?"
And I said, "Of course!"
Like, yeah, that was really exciting.
That's when I realized that this is what I want to do.
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When I was in Chicago and I was in graduate school,
a group of them were going to Ferguson
to cover the protests in November.
I decided to go with them.
It was dangerous, but at the same time,
it was a big story.
I do remember people that I was taking pictures of
and just generally, the environment was very hostile.
I heard protesters saying,
"This has been happening to us all our lives.
"This is not the first time."
And these were women who were there with kids and children.
I could hear gun shots in parking lots.
People were torching trash cans.
I took this photo of the head of a mannequin
lying on the street.
And that photo really struck to me
because it was just a way of, like,
showing how people were protesting.
Sometimes when I look at the Ferguson photos,
I am quite surprised.
I was just like, this is-- This looks crazy.
Like I was just in the zone at that moment
that I didn't realize how insane it was until later on.
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I had to find a journalism-related job.
So I was just applying everywhere
and then The Cap Times got back to me.
And they were very excited
to have me on the staff.
I did a series of portraits on Muslims in Madison.
And I took portraits of Muslims
and talked to them about what their feelings are today.
How do they feel about the way they're being portrayed?
And so they talked to me and I took portraits of them
and I chatted with them and I talked to them, interviewed them.
And they just basically told me
that they feel like they're being treated very unfairly.
Those portraits I really enjoyed taking.
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I'm very passionate about this work
because I feel like I have a great deal of responsibility
to tell stories of people
who are either in misery
or something unjust is happening to them,
but they are unable to tell their story themselves.
And I just feel like it is my responsibility
as a photojournalist to tell their story.
And let as many people as possible to see that
and to know their story.
It is a big part of my life and it's just--
It is very satisfying in a way
that I am able to tell someone else's story
the way they are not able to tell.
It's just really great
that you can be this neutral person who--
who is hearing all of this
and who understands what is going on,
but at the same time, you want to show
both sides of the story.
And in my case, I do it with my lens.
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