Preeminent Photojournalist and War Photographer, James Nachtwey's Powerful Lifetime Achievement Award Speech.

" I'm only one among many journalists who've committed themselves to covering conflicts and revealing social injustices, that have been hidden or ignored, but that are crying out to be corrected." 
~ James Nachtwey

Here is an overview of some of Nachtwey's work:
Please see my posts on my favourite photojournalist by clicking on links here
and here

Stunning Images of the World’s Last Indigenous Cultures ~ By Jimmy Nelson

Jimmy Nelson's work has taken him from war-torn Afghanistan, Pakistan and the former Yugoslavia to the remotest corners of China and Tibet. But in 2009, the British photographer outdid even himself when he embarked upon a four-year trek around the world—cutting through Amazonian jungles, braving freezing temperatures in Siberia and even surviving a case of meningitis in Ethiopia—to photograph some of the world’s last indigenous tribes. [via Ralph Lauren]

Nelson documented 55 cultures and tribes, many of which are at risk of disappearing forever, often in remote parts of the world, using a 50-year-old 4x5 camera. His book, Before They Pass Away,is a collection of the images he made on his epic journey.

Jimmy Nelson

Jimmy Nelson

A Maasai warrior. "To be a Maasai is to be born into one of the world’s last great warrior cultures," Nelson's website reads. The Maasai people, who live in Tanzania and Kenya, are said to have migrated to the region from Sudan in the 15th century. ~Jimmy Nelson

"In 2009, I planned to become a guest of 31 secluded and visually unique tribes. I wanted to witness their time-honoured traditions, join in their rituals and discover how the rest of the world is threatening to change their way of life forever. Most importantly, I wanted to create an ambitious aesthetic photographic document that would stand the test of time. A body of work that would be an irreplaceable ethnographic record of a fast disappearing world." 
~ Jimmy Nelson

Click on images for a larger view*

Kazakh tribespeople. Descendants of Turkic, Mongolic and Indo-Iranian tribes, as well as the Huns, the Kazakhs are a "semi-nomadic people that have roamed the mountains and valleys of western Mongolia with their herds since the 19th century,"  ~Jimmy Nelson

Members of Namibia's Himba tribe. The Himba are "an ancient tribe of tall, slender and statuesque herders," according to Nelson's website. "Since the 16th century they have lived in scattered settlements, leading a life that has remained unchanged, surviving war and droughts...in one of the most extreme environments on earth." ~ Jimmy Nelson

"I love travelling across the globe and was often sent to far-off countries as a photojournalist and for advertising assignments. I always took the opportunity to capture the local culture and people during those trips. For me, Before They Pass Away was essential because although these tribes will always exist, what is happening is that they are abandoning their culture. Affluence is taking over the undeveloped world, and, in my opinion, there should be a balance somewhere in between. I want to show these tribes that they are already rich, that they have something money can’t buy. What I hope to achieve is bringing attention to these people by showing that they are beautiful."~ Jimmy Nelson

Jimmy Nelson

Jimmy Nelson

Samburu tribespeople. The Samburu tribe lives in northern Kenya. Nelson told HuffPost that Samburu men are so powerful and at one with nature that they've been known to use their bare hands to kill lions that attack their camels.~ Jimmy Nelson

 Māori ~Jimmy Nelson

The Huli warriors in Papua New Guinea. According to Nelson, the Huli tribe has shrunk by 90 percent in the last few decades, largely due to a mass migration to towns and cities. ~ Jimmy Nelson

Jimmy Nelson

“What’s interesting about all these people—despite the differences in geography, customs and history—is that they live in balance with the environment and have achieved the perfect harmony that everyone in the West dreams of.” ~ Jimmy Nelson

The Himba ~ Jimmy Nelson

Southwest Ethiopia ~ Jimmy Nelson

Jimmy Nelson

A Nenet tribesman. The Nenets are reindeer herders who live in the Yamal peninsula of northwest Siberia. The Nenets have thrived in Siberia for more than a millennium, living in temperatures that range from minus 50 degrees Celcius in winter to 35 degrees Celcius in summer, per Nelson's website. Every year, the Nenets undertake a migration of over a 1,000 km, a distance that includes a 48 km crossing of the frozen Ob River.

A Mursi tribesman. The nomadic Mursi tribe lives in southwestern Ethiopia.~Jimmy Nelson

Jimmy Nelson using his 50-year-old large format camera ( Linhof?) film camera in Papua New Guinea.

To purchase Jimmy Nelson’s book, Before They Pass Away, see link below: 
Before They Pass Away

  

For more information about Jimmy Nelson and the Before They Pass Away project, please visitwww.beforethey.com.

High Himalaya by Photographer Eric Valli

French photographer Eric Valli has spent over twenty years documenting the peoples of the Himalayas, including the Dolpo, seen below, who live between Tibet and Nepal in one of the highest inhabitable regions in the world.

 "They work hard, but want for nothing," Valli says of the Dolpo people "They are happy and alive."

 Eschewing digital cameras, Valli continues to shoot film with his Leicas. “I might take an okay picture, but what i’m looking for is an ethnographic testimony of the human adventure; a complete existence in one picture,” he says. “You can never just observe. because my work is all about interaction. …I have lived years and years with these people. I have nothing to teach them and they have everything to teach me.”

Eric Valli
Himalaya Trailer from Eric Valli on Vimeo.

 

“For 20 years I trekked this unforgiving region, always with a Leica in my hand. I remain captivated by the stunning landscapes and the kindness of the people.” ~ Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

 

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

“For centuries, atop on of the highest plateaus in the world, in the heart of the Himalaya the Dolpo-pa have traversed the highest pass between Tibet and Nepal in a cycle of trade essential to life in this harsh environment.“ ~ Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

Eric Valli

The Sartorialist Sits Down with Legendary Photographer Steve McCurry

Scott Schuman, known better as street fashion photographer “The Sartorialist,” conducts this fascinating interview with legendary Magnum photographer Steve McCurry.


(c) Steve McCurry

World Press Photo of the Year 2012 ~ Paul Hansen

World Press Photo of the Year 2012's winning image by Swedish photographer Paul Hansen. Two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her big brother Muhammad, who soon was to be four years old, were killed when their house was destroyed by an Israeli missile strike on Monday evening.
Their father, Fouad, was also killed. Their mother is in intensive care at Al-Shifa Hospital.

 In accordance with their religion, the dead are buried quickly. The badly mangled body of Fouad is put on a stretcher and his brothers carry his dead children to the mosque for the burial ceremony. When darkness fell over Gaza on this day, at least 26 new victims were to be buried. That makes the total more than 140 dead so far since the beginning of the bombardment. Approximately half of the dead are women and children. The picture was taken on 20 November 2012 in Gaza City, Palestinian Territories.

The jury announced the winner of the press prize on Friday in Amsterdam . "The power of the picture lies in the way it is the anger and the grief of adults contrasts with the innocence of children," said juror Mayu Mohanna in a statement. "It is a picture that I will not forget."

A Nomadic Life: By Photographer Hamid Sardar-Afkhami

Hamid Sardar-Afkhami is a professional photographer as well as a scholar of Tibetan and Mongol languages who received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. After moving to Nepal in the late 1980’s and exploring Tibet and the Himalayas for more than a decade, he traveled to Outer Mongolia. Seeing the opportunity to create a single important collection concentrating on the last country where the majority of the population are still nomads, Sardar-Afkhami set up a mobile studio camp. With his arsenal of cameras of different formats, he mounts yearly expeditions into the Mongolian outback to document her nomadic traditions.













Tracking the white reinder from hamid sardar on Vimeo.

Crossing the Line: Chronicling Mexico's Drug War ~ by Photographer Louie Palu

Canadian photojournalist Louie Palu discusses his work along the U.S.-Mexico border. He shares how he became interested in the area, the difficulties that came with reporting there, and what surprised him most. His project, “Drawing the Line: The U.S.-Mexico Border” examines security and immigration issues along the border.

Luis Avila Archulata, 40, who crossed the border into Arizona with his mother at age 2. He became a drug addict and was jailed multiple times before being deported. He is pictured in a shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012.

A woman who was found beating herself in Ciudad Juárez, seen here in another shelter in the city. Due to a lack of state resources, the privately run shelter provides a refuge for mentally ill homeless people. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012.

Deported men of Mexican and Central American origin pray before a meal at a shelter for migrants who have been deported from the United States or are preparing to attempt to illegally cross into the United States from Mexico. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012

Marisol Espinoza, a 20-year-old from Chiapas, Mexico, in a migrant shelter the night after she was deported from the United States. Espinoza walked through the Arizona desert for six days before she was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol. Image by © Louie Palu  Mexico, 2012.

During a March operation to find El Fantasma, the head assassin of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, the Mexican military shot and killed this heavily armed man in Quila, Mexico, in the state of Sinaloa. El Fantasma remains at large. Image by © Louie Palu. Mexico, 2012.

A heroin addict shoots up along the Tijuana River in Mexico. Image by 

© Louie Palu Mexico, 2012.

Girls praying at a crime scene in Ciudad Juárez in December 2011, just hours after a teenager was assassinated by a rival drug cartel. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012

A U.S. drug enforcement agent peering into a 55-foot-deep drug-smuggling tunnel found nearuma, Arizona, in July. The tunnel, possibly tied to the Sinaloa cartel, runs some 750 feet under the border and is estimated to have cost more than $1 million. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012. 

An agent aims a flashlight down the tunnel, which is 240 yards long. The tunnel was cut through a floor of a small industrial unit and is estimated to have taken a year to build. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012.

At the western end of the line for the border fence, in the Pacific Ocean near Tijuana. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012.

A migrant who walked for days through the Arizona desert lies down in a migrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico after being deported by U.S. authorities. One of the top injuries migrants sustain is severe blistering on their feet from walking in the desert in the heat. Image by © Louie Palu Mexico, 2012