Nearly 166 years of war and broadly capturing what happens before, during and after battle — that’s what a Houston exhibit called War Photography, Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath is about. This exhibit is possible because photographers have recorded their experiences in and around armed conflicts since the 19th century.

The atrocities, the courage, the caring, all of those human emotions and human actions that surround war, they’re all in this exhibition that chronologically spans from 1846 to spring of 2012. It’s most moving photographic documents, path-breaking, award-winning and transcending the news value.

Time to pause and reflect. Here’s war through the lenses of cameras — it’s as much human tragedy as grand photography:

BTW, here’s the transcript of PBS NewsHour.