Marcus Bleasdale is in many ways an inspiration. Not only because of his photographs that brought him multiple awards and a membership in the famous VII agency, but also because of the way he made in life. Marcus started as a banker, an investment banker to be precise. He was paid half a million pound a year to sit at a desk with a bunch of computers and even more phones around him. He owned houses and a Porsche. Nowadays his life couldn’t be different. He is a photojournalist, covering conflicts like DR Congo or Darfur since years. He left the safety of his office into an enviroment everything but safe. He travelled with armed rebel groups for weeks, saw some of the most brutal breaks of human rights. How does someone change his life so rapidly?

It was a slow process as it seems. Slowly changing the life situation and saving money for a re-education. At that time he also found is passion in the just moved out ex-girlfriends wardrobe – a camera. He started taking classes in the evening.

At one point he came to the office in the morning, it was the time of the Balkans conflict, and with the reactions of his collegues on what was going on there it became clear to him that he didn’t wanted to be a banker anymore. He went to the Balkans without a real idea, but he loved it. ‚Just waking up, jumping in a car to go and take pictures in a refugee camp – I loved the freedom, the energy, the rawness of it.’ From there he made his way into photojournalism. He also thinks that is former career as a banker helped him to develop important qualities that are needed as a photojournalist. Being the best photographer means nothing if no one is seeing your pictures and you are not selling them. Being a businessman before might have helped him a lot for his job.

One of the interesting ideas he is thinking about is the backgrounds of war. I once heardt a speech of Bleasdale, where said that every conflict has economic reasons. That this is the most important reason behind every conflict he knows. And i think he is right with that. Darfur – conflict about land, DR Congo – conflict about resources, and so on. There are many more to name, and even when it is seldom that easy, the economic interests are often the most powerful reason.

Here is a short take from Congo. For more you can watch his speech at the University of California here and his speech about Congo at the Frontline Club here. And for his latest story, check out ‘Love in times of TB’.