# FIBUA training, British Army. C&C



## v4forlife (May 2, 2014)

Hey all. I am in the British Army, as the title says, but not a photographer by trade. I was recently(last week) on a FIBUA(Fighting In Built Up Areas) training exercise and managed to snap these in between house clearance drills.




Section attack training by Wil Collins, on Flickr




Section attack training by Wil Collins, on Flickr




Section attack training by Wil Collins, on Flickr




5 FS BN FIBUA training by Wil Collins, on Flickr


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## mmaria (May 2, 2014)

1 and 4 for me... good snapping


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## spang1mw (May 2, 2014)

Nice shots really enjoyed these!


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## WardQ (May 2, 2014)

If you don't mind, could you explain how you captured #4? It's really striking.


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## BrickHouse (May 2, 2014)

I'm a US Naval Officer so I will have to temper my normal "sailor mouth", but these are EFFIN AWESOME! I love everything about them. Thank you for your service to your country and its parternship with ours.


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## minicoop1985 (May 3, 2014)

Holy crap, that's very, very impressive. #1 and 4 are just jaw dropping. Excellent work.


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## 412 Burgh (May 3, 2014)

As others have said 1 and 4 are amazing!!! Well done. Keep shooting


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## v4forlife (May 3, 2014)

WardQ said:


> If you don't mind, could you explain how you captured #4? It's really striking.


No problem, but I will start from set up.
It is shot with a Nikon D800 and a 70-200 2.8, so I can get nice close shots, but stay out of the way, so I don't impact on the training. I know I would get pissed if I had to deal with a 'civi' as I was trying to take a building. 
Anyway, this was on house 3 of a 3 house platoon level attack. One after another, enemy forces fall back, some get 'killed' as they sweep the houses. It is to test communication in what is a very hectic situation. Blank rounds are very loud, and when put indoors, deafening. The skills of 'urban combat' are,by now, second nature, so this tests the ability for people to let their boss know what is happening, and for the boss to calmly, but with aggression, control the situation.
So I was playing enemy for this serial, survived and dropped back from the initial contact, but died in the second. Once I have died, I drop my rifle and, staying out of the way, pick up my camera which is left in a backpack and make my way outside. 
this shot was taken at a slight angle from the entry point of the third house. one section had taken the first floor, and this is the 'runner' who communicated the state of the houses rooms, any enemy, any casualties back to the second house, where the platoon commander is, so he can dictate the flow of the situation. I shot it in manual, in RAW, and metered for the shadows. The original image has most of the door frame in the frame, and the shadows are bright enough to see a person moving in the hallway. 

These kind of things, like most subject based photography, is a lot about knowing the situation. I knew this guy would be there. I knew he would look back towards myself at some point. I knew the shot I wanted, I knew how to set up the camera to bring that image from my brain to the memory card.

After that, it was about 40 mins in Lightroom cropping it down a little so that I had no unnecessary distractions, gal;anded the highlights and shadows to bring more focus on the eye, and there is the shot. Over a week long course, I only managed to take maybe 70 shots, which for someone who does a lot of motorsport and has managed as much as 3-4,000 in a weekend, it was a nice change of pace.

Thanks for all the kind words guys, and Brickhouse, I know where you are doing from.


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## Warhorse (May 3, 2014)

Excellent work!

Looks to me like you could be a "photographer by trade" if you so desired.


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## v4forlife (May 3, 2014)

@warhorse, I have tried that route, but the time it would take, and my dislike for my current job role, I am not willing to wait that long merely surviving in a job I hate. I decided to leave the forces and will be out t
later this year, but as a swan song, I am entering the Army Photographic Competition in all the amateur categories, Portrait, soldiering, sport/adventures training and portfolio, which consists of one of each of the above and a black and white image. 

Looking at previous entries, winners and runners up, I do think I am a strong contender.


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## jenko (May 3, 2014)

#1 nominated for May Photo of the Month.


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## v4forlife (May 3, 2014)

Wow, thanks Jenko.


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## nzmacro (May 3, 2014)

Yep way out of my league these shots, but I know what I really like. That first shot is SUPERB !!. The atmosphere is remarkable, outstanding in fact. Thank's to Jenko for the heads up in the POM.

All the best Wil, a great set.

Danny.


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## manaheim (May 4, 2014)

Very nice, though on #1 I keep feeling like it needs some cropping on top, and possibly a little on the left.


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## v4forlife (May 4, 2014)

Like this? It takes away a bit of the context and surrounding but does make it a bit more personal..


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## manaheim (May 4, 2014)

I would go even more.  I'd show you what I have but your thing says you don't want people editing your pictures.

The way I did it, I cropped in so there is about 3/4 of his helmet height above his head.  I cropped in from the left so you can see the trunk of the tree on the left there and just a LITTLE bit of the lefthand branches.  I also, actually, cropped in from the right, which cuts off a bit of his backside, but it works well for the composition and his butt doesn't add much anyway.

I see what you're saying about context, but my OPINION is that you only need a small amount of the subject's surroundings to give us a sense of what we're dealing with.  Anything more than a hint is too much and distracts from the real impact of the image.  I personally think that this is a bad trend with photographers as of late... wedding shots with GIANT panoramic scenes where you cannot even begin to tell who the bride and groom are because they take up 1/10000th of the image. That kind of thing.  (This is not an example like that by any means, but it flirts with that general trend)

The crop I have of this on my screen- IMO- is much more powerful.


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## v4forlife (May 5, 2014)

Like...?


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## mmaria (May 5, 2014)

don't hate me.... but... I like the original crop


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## manaheim (May 5, 2014)

v4forlife said:


> Like...?



Yup. Damn close.

BTW, if you feel strongly about the way you had it before, by all means leave it.  This is just my opinion. I think the image is stronger cropped.



mmaria said:


> don't hate me.... but... I like the original crop



That's it. I SO hate you now.


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## mmaria (May 5, 2014)

manaheim said:


> mmaria said:
> 
> 
> > don't hate me.... but... I like the original crop
> ...



huh.....hm.......then... ..huh....well.... I hate you more! 
(the whole this time I thought you're a woman until I clicked on your google+ :blushing:... please don't hate me even more!)


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## manaheim (May 5, 2014)

Really? Funny.


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## mmaria (May 5, 2014)

manaheim said:


> Really? Funny.


it's something about the way you write ...  and even though I hate you from now on I really like the way you write critique and other posts


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## manaheim (May 5, 2014)

You should read my book! It'll make you hate me even more!


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