In some ways, Joey Lawrence’s photograph of Sarya, a Kurdish militant, is an example of classic studio portraiture: the lighting cast against the subject’s posed figure illuminates her features, conveying a heightened sense of dignity. What sets the portrait apart is the rocket-propelled grenade launcher in Sarya’s hands.

The portrait is just one of many striking photographs collected in Lawrence’s recently released book, We Came from Fire, which spans his three trips to Iraq and Syria to document the Kurdish people’s war against ISIS. The portraits and battlefield landscapes focus on the YPG and YPJ militias — mixed-gender and all-women units, respectively — which the Kurds formed as self-defense forces during the early Syrian Civil War.