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Erin Grace Trieb is an American photojournalist. Trieb focuses on international social issues and is currently based in Istanbul, Turkey.
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Trieb was born on July 1, 1982, in Dallas, Texas. Her parents are Michele Pegues and Mark Alan Trieb. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Trieb started her career in photography in Israel and Palestine in 2004. In 2005 she worked as a part time newspaper correspondent for the Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News.
Trieb began her career as a professional photojournalist in 2007. She has worked for numerous magazines and newspapers. She has worked all over the world but is focused on the Middle East and the United States. Some countries Trieb has visited for her photojournalism include Israel, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Bosnia, and Turkey. Director of Photography at NBC News James Collins described Trieb as "a visually creative person but also as a solid journalist." The work of photographs and visual news like Trieb's is starting to change the way certain cultures look at their identity.
Trieb spent six days photographing an all female branch of the Kurdish military, the Women's Protection Units (YPJ). She photographed their daily lives as well as combat situations, and the refugees they protect.
One of Trieb's biggest projects is The Homecoming Project. It was designed to draw attention Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and begin a dialogue about how to help soldiers who struggle with it. Trieb followed members of the United States Army's tenth mountain division in Afghanistan. She notes that the hardest part of this project was not the shootouts, the landmines, or the fact that she was the only woman in sight (a commonality that is starting to be brought to the surface), it was seeing the effect war has on these people. Trieb recounts that most of the soldiers had some psychological problems. The Homecoming Project started a conversation about how to deal with the mental health problems soldiers face. This work has been shown all around the world. Trieb's website describes the Homecoming project displaying "the trauma, loss, courage, and struggle so many service members experience after exiting the battlefield."
Trieb photographed a women's basketball team in Iraqi Kurdistan shortly after the 2014 ISIS conflict between the two. During this time, women's sports were not widely accepted in the area. Trieb photographed the story of women trying to change the way their country sees them.
Roughly 10% of those involved in photojournalism are women. Trieb is part of Women Photograph, an organization that highlights women photographers and photojournalists worldwide and works to reduce the large gender gap in the industry. She was a featured "icon" in Outside magazine's special adventurous women issue. Trieb is an avid advocate for gender and ethnicity diversification in photojournalism, saying "Minorities, especially women and people of color, have a unique perspective and voice that needs to be seen and heard. And it is partly up to our industry’s willingness and invested effort in order for serious changes to be made in that regard."
