For photojournalist Louie Palu, his five years covering the Afghanistan conflict have marked him for life. While the Toronto native was taking hundreds of pictures for news outlets, he was keeping a journal that detailed his feelings and revealed his psychological state. Out of all of that has come a new film called Kandahar Journals directed by Palu and Devin Gallagher that follows Palu’s transformation in the field of battle. He talks to Peter Robb about the work and the result.

Enter: Louie Palu. By Louie’s count, he’s had seven tours of duty…in Afghanistan alone. He estimates his combat time has been about 18 months over the last 5 years with 3 to 6 month embeds not being uncommon. And in between those embeds, he’s covered wars of a different kind like prisoners at Guantanamo Bay or the violence caused by drug cartels in Mexico