documentary

Photographing Paradise, California, After the Camp Fire

Paradise, California lies just 90 minutes north of Sacramento, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Home to 26,000 people, Paradise includes several mobile home parks and is known as a retirement haven.

How Peter Jackson Colorized 100-Year-Old WWI Footage

Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is out with a new highly-acclaimed World War I documentary titled They Shall Not Grow Old. Here's a 5-minute look at how Jackson colorized 100-year-old footage to give the world a fresh look at the Great War.

BBC Wildlife Film Crew Intervenes to Save Trapped Penguins

One of the cardinal rules of documentary wildlife photography and filmmaking is to not interfere with the natural course of events in the scenes and situations you're trying to capture on camera. A BBC wildlife film crew decided to break that rule by coming to the rescue of trapped penguins.

The Story Behind That IKEA Photo of Amsterdam

VILSHULT is an IKEA ready-to-hang photo of Amsterdam that has been sold over 427,000 times. After many of my friends asked me why I bought such a "mediocre" photo for my living room, I decided to find out how this photo was made and how it ended up on IKEA's shelves and in almost half a million households. What I learned was fascinating.

What if He Falls? Shooting the First Free Solo of El Capitan

How do you go about shooting a subject when you know they could die in a split second while your camera is pointed at them? That's the reality filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi faced while creating their documentary Free Solo. The duo followed climber Alex Honnold during his attempt to be the first human to ever climb the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite without safety equipment.

Rare Photos Inside the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus

In September 2018, I was asked to travel to Cyprus and photograph the Buffer Zone (or Green Line) in Nicosia. It was an exclusive opportunity since this area is not accessible for civilians -- it's a demilitarised zone (DMZ), patrolled by the United Nations.

Beyond Freedom: Photos Inside Russia’s Prison System

As of October 1, 2018, there were 575,686 people in the institutions of Russia's penitentiary system. For each of these people, the reality of being in one of the penitentiary institutions is simultaneously a problem, a conflict, and a compromise. But probably to the greatest extent, it's a compromise.

Portraits of the Konyak ‘Headhunter’ Tribe in India

When we think of tribes, the first thing that comes to our mind is, “what did those tribesmen and women believe in?” “What were their customs and beliefs?” That’s what I asked about the Konyak tribe that was nestled in Nagaland, India, in regard to the famous headhunters.

Photos Inside the Ruins of Luxurious Soviet Spas and Sanatoria

The Soviet Utopia: sending your hard-working state citizens on a health holiday to one of the empire's many sanatoria. Originally conceived in the 1920s, these USSR sanatoria offered a combination of health and medical benefits alongside thermal baths and spas. These institutions were once among the most innovative buildings of that era.

Film Photography at 70,000 Feet in the U-2 Spy Plane

The United States' U-2 spy plane first took to the skies back in 1955 during the heyday of film photography. But even as cameras these days have largely shifted to digital, the U-2 continues to shoot its spy photos on film. The Wall Street Journal made this 19-minute documentary on the U-2 that offers a closer look at the U-2's photography.

Photos of Dutch Tulips from the Ground and Sky

As a travel and landscape photographer, being on the road for a lot of time is nice, but I always try to be home during the tulip season. This isn’t always easy as the exact timing of the blooming is always quite random.

Photos of the Tsukiji Fish Market

With an area of about 230,000 square meters, Tsukiji fish market is one of the largest fish markets in the world. Inside there are also many restaurants that serve the freshest fish sold, but the peculiarity of this place is the sale of tuna, which in Japan is so popular to the point that real auctions are held to win the most valuable pieces.

Photos of Cattle Branding in Argentina

20 years ago, photographer Marcos Furer decided to move away from his life as a newspaper and magazine journalist in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and to the slower lifestyle of the inner country. His personal work has since focused on the people and lifestyle Furer sees on a daily basis around him.

I Shoot Instax Photos That Document Victims of Violence in Chicago

In 2016, there were 762 murders in Chicago, the most by far anywhere in the United States -- more than the total of New York and Los Angeles combined. This year there have already been over 600 homicides. I was born and raised in Canada, where there are fewer murders in the entire country than Chicago has in one year.

Photos of the Cuban National Circus

Some people run away to Cuba for the sunshine. Some people run away to Cuba for the rum. And some just run away with the circus.

Tombo’s Wound: Portraits of a Sierra Leone Village Without Clean Water

Unity over adversity. It’s a running theme in the story of Tombohuaun, translation “Tombo’s Wound,” a remote village tucked into the jungle of Sierra Leone’s Eastern Province. The community’s founding legend states that a villager named Tombo cut his foot on a catfish in the river, and the then chief ordered the fish to be caught and killed. Back then, as now, the community came together to put things right: they caught the fish, ate it, and went on to name the town after this symbolic triumph.

Revisiting ‘The Americans’, Robert Frank’s Influential Photo Book

In this post, we're going to revisit The Americans by Robert Frank. This influential photography book, first published in France in 1958, appears highly relevant today with the United States divided in so many ways. However, the odds are that these honest, and often sad images, have always been relevant.