Essays and Features

The aftermath of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal and adjoining areas on Saturday will be felt for a long time. As the death toll crossed 4,000 — and is likely to even hit 10,000, according to the country’s Prime Minister — there are tens of thousands left behind who need to build their lives back slowly, painfully.

A group of 10 photographers in and around Kathmandu have started the ‚NepalPhotoProject‘, capturing visuals as the rescue operations are underway. The group has also invited submissions from others through their Facebook page and Instagram profile, and believe that these images can help disseminate information amongst aid agencies and those tracking their loved ones in Nepal.

http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/04/28/nepal-photo-project_n_7158980.html

A growing sense of despair spread through Katmandu on Sunday as the devastated Nepali capital was convulsed by aftershocks that sent residents screaming into the streets, where they were pelted by heavy rain.

A day after an earthquake killed more than 2,400 people and injured about 5,900, residents grew frantic and the government, entirely overwhelmed by the enormousness of the challenge facing the country, struggled to provide relief, or much hope. (By Thomas Fuller and Gardiner Harris)

Multimedia by Rajneesh Bhandari and Colin Archdeacon

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/world/asia/nepal-earthquake-katmandu.html?_r=0

Published in The New York Times

Papua New Guinea is the second largest island in the world. It is inhabited by diverse tribes that depend on nature to provide them with food and medicine. In ecological terms, the island has a rich array of botanical and animal species. Yet, as in the other parts of the world, global industry has started to penetrate remote areas of Papua New Guinea. Many critics believe deforestation, industrial agriculture, mining and other mineral exploitation are major threats to the rich biodiversity in Papua New Guinea.

Photojournalist Michael Eko Hardianto traveled to the island in late 2014 and early 2015 to conduct research along the Bird’s Head Peninsula, specifically the South Sorong Regency in the West Papua province of Indonesia. There, much of the natural biodiversity remains. (By Nicole Crowder)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2015/04/08/deforestation-amid-papuas-fragile-ecosystem/

Michael Eko is a documentary photographer from Jakarta, Indonesia who studied Journalism at Atma Jaya University, Yogyakarta. His work was shown in magazines such as National Geographic Traveler Indonesia, Asian Geographic and South East Asia Globe and he is a founding member of Cephas Photo Forum, a discussion forum about photography in Yogyakarta. 

As April 30 approaches, marking 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War, people in Vietnam with severe mental and physical disabilities still feel the lingering effects of Agent Orange.

Respiratory cancer and birth defects amongst both Vietnamese and U.S. veterans have been linked to exposure to the defoliant. The U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange onto Vietnam’s jungles during the conflict to expose northern communist troops.

Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj travelled through Vietnam to meet the people affected, four decades on.

http://widerimage.reuters.com/story/legacy-of-agent-orange

Published on The Wider Image Reuters – This immersive app for iPad reimagines news photography to bring images and information to life.

Damir Sagolj is a Bangkok-based award-winning photographer who is the senior Reuters staff photographer covering Asia – and anywhere else where news is breaking. He spent ten years covering the Middle East including the intifada, and the Iran/Iraq conflict along with the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and also documented the conflict in the Balkans. His work has been widely published and exhibited including at the presigious photo-journalism festival, Visa pour L’image in Perpignan.