Obituary: Anja Niedringhaus

An Afghan boy holds a toy gun as he enjoys a ride with others on a merry-go-round to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009

AUS Marine on his way to pick up food supplies after they were dropped off by small parachutes from a plane outside Forward Operating Base Edi in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, Thursday, June 9, 2011.

Jamaica's Usain Bolt crosses the finish line to win the gold in the men's 200-meter final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Palestinians enjoy a ride at an amusement park outside Gaza City. Sunday, March 26, 2006

Injured United States Marine Cpl. Burness Britt reacts after seeing pictures of his evacuation laid out on his bed in the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, Vaginia Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011

Afghan National Police officer mans a checkpoint in the outskirts of Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan. Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Hundreds of US. Marines gather at Camp Commando in the Kuwait desert during a Christmas eve visit by Santa Claus. Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2002.

Pakistani Army soldier with the 20th Lancers Armored Regiment stands atop the 8000-foot mountain during a patrol near his outpost, Kalpani Base, in Pakistan's Dir province on the Pakistan-Afghan border. Friday, Feb. 17, 2012

An Afghan boy on a donkey reacts as Canadian soldiers with the 1st RCR Battle Group, The Royal Canadian Regiment, patrol in Salavat, south-west of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Minutes later the soldiers were attacked by grenades while leaving the village. Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010

A woman reacts while sitting in a New York taxi as different television networks call the presidential race for Barack Obama, in New York. Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008

Switzerland's Roger Federer walks across the court as a shaft of late afternoon light illuminates the Centre Court during his second round match against Sweden's Robin Soderling at Wimbledon, England. Wednesday, June 25, 2008

An Afghan boy flies his kite on a hill overlooking Kabul, Afghanistan, May 13, 2013

Pakistani bank notes covered in blood are displayed on the body of a dead suicide bomber after police found them in his pocket after an attack on the former Afghan intelligence headquarters, in the centre of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Wednesday, March 12, 2014

US. President George W Bush carries a platter of turkey and fixings as he visits US troops for Thanksgiving in Baghdad. Thursday, Nov. 27, 2003

Anja Niedringhaus faced down some of the world’s greatest dangers and had one of the world’s loudest laughs. She photographed dying and death and embraced humanity and life. She gave herself to the subjects of her lens and gave her talents to the world with images of wars’ unwitting victims in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and beyond.

Shot and killed by an Afghan policeman Friday, Niedringhaus leaves behind a body of work that won awards and broke hearts. She trained her camera on children caught between the front lines, yet who still find a place to play. She singled out soldiers from their armies as they were confronted by death, injuries and enemies’ attacks.

Two days before her death, she made potatoes and sausage in Kabul for correspondent Kathy Gannon, who was wounded in the attack that killed Niedringhaus, and photographer Muhammed Muheisen.

“I was so concerned about her safety. And she was like, ‘Momo, this is what I’m meant to do. I’m happy to go,”’ Muheisen recalled. And then they talked, and argued, and mostly they laughed.

Niedringhaus began working as a photographer while still at university for various newspapers and magazines. Her coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall led to a staff position with the European Press Photo Agency in 1990. Based in Frankfurt, Sarajevo and Moscow, she spent much of her time covering the brutal conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

She joined the Associated Press in 2002, and while based in Geneva worked throughout the Middle East as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. She was part of the AP team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of Iraq. She also covered nine Olympic Games and other sports events around the world.

“I don’t believe conflicts have changed since September 11 other than to become more frequent and protracted,” she told The New York Times in a 2011 email exchange. “But the essence of the conflict is the same — two sides fighting for territory, for power, for ideologies. And in the middle is the population who is suffering.”

At an exhibit of her work in Berlin in 2012, she said: “Sometimes I feel bad because I can always leave the conflict, go back home to my family where there’s no war.”

She leaves behind leaves behind her mother and an extended family in Germany and Switzerland.

Niedringhaus, 48, is the 32nd AP staffer to give their life in pursuit of the news since AP was founded in 1846.

* Angela Charlton / AP