A Soldier’s Heart: Jacob David George
Photographs
2013

In 2013, I created some images for a friend of mine, Jacob David George. Jacob, a 3-tour veteran of Afghanistan, came home and did his best to heal from the wounds of what he called “moral injury.” After completing every PTSD program offered by the VA, he still suffered from what he called “Soldier’s Heart,” the civil war era term for the same ailment. He eventually turned to music as a part of his healing process, and produced an album here in Fayetteville. Jacob ended up taking his own life in 2014. The images I created of him in the recording studio, for his album art, and of him performing at his album release party, became invaluable to his family, his community, and to myself after his passing. It was my first glimpse of storytelling through a lens and how powerful the images can suddenly become, and they’re some of the images I’m most glad to have ever taken. You can see more images and learn more about him and listen to his music at www.jacobdavidgeorge.org.

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A musician with long hair and tattoos playing an acoustic guitar in a cluttered music studio with shelves of books and equipment.
A person with colorful tattoos playing an acoustic guitar in a recording studio.
A man with long dark hair and tattoos on his arms playing a guitar while sitting on a large tree root with sunlight filtering through the branches in the background.
Close-up of a person's hand with tattoos and a flashlight, resting on tree logs with a firearm nearby.
A woman with tattoos sitting on a large tree branch in a forest at sunset, holding a colorful drum in her lap and leaning against the tree, with an electric guitar propped against the tree behind her.
A male musician with long hair and tattoos, singing with eyes closed while playing an acoustic guitar and standing in front of a microphone, illuminated by stage lights.