Doors "only splash of color" in Afghanistan's Helmand province

By Jim Seida

Reuters photographer Finbarr O'Reilly has been doing embeds in Afghanistan since 2007. On this one, he says, "I really wanted to find something gentle and quiet to photograph. The news has been so flooded with violent images of unrest over the last few months that I wanted to offer something less news-driven and more reflective even though I was working in a conflict zone."

Finbarr O'Reilly / Reuters

A door made from recycled oil drums marks the entrance to a mud compound at the village of Kunkak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, February 23. Village doors in Helmand are made from a variety of scavenged material -- oil drums, shipping containers, bits of cloth, rice sacks or tins -- and are often the only splash of individuality and colour in a drab, beige landscape where one compound looks almost identical to the next.

Finbarr O'Reilly / Reuters

A door made from metal is seen on a compound at the village of Kunkak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, February 26.

Finbarr O'Reilly / Reuters

A door made from a shipping container marks the entrance to a compound at the village of Kunkak in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, February 26.

The New York Times has more images from this series here.