documentation

Photographer Documents the Rapidly Disappearing Paddy Fields of Yunnan, China

Yunnan, China is home to some of the most beautiful rice paddy fields in the world. The traditional agriculture fields are sprawling in size and are often found built into slopes, creating mesmerizing patterns in the landscape. These fields are also rapidly disappearing due to urbanization.

With the risk of their extinction looming on the horizon, photographer Samuel Peck visited the region and captured a series of beautiful images to preserve their memory.

3 Month Time-Lapse Shows Pigeons Going From Eggs to Adults

Back in June of 2014, YouTube user AvWuff noticed two pigeons and two eggs sitting in the flower box outside their window. Seeing an opportunity for an interesting project, AvWuff decided to set up a camera and capture the birth and growth of the baby pigeons.

Chasing 5 Pointz

I first heard about 5 Pointz in a Wall Street Journal article in the summer of 2011. The article detailed the recent attempts by the owner to knock what had become an internationally-reknown street art mecca down, and build high-rise condominiums.

The Idealized Landscape Paintings Found in Prison Visiting Rooms

Prison visiting rooms are often home to large-scale paintings that are enjoyed by only a few. Often created by the inmates themselves, the artworks serve as the photographic backdrops of a portrait studio as inmates pose in front of them for pictures that are given to loved ones as mementos.

Since these intricate drawings are generally only seen by inmates, visitors, and employees, photographer Alyse Emdur decided that she wanted to document them for a wider audience. She spent years creating a project titled Prison Landscapes, featuring photos of these idealized backdrops that, for a moment, transport the inmates to faraway places.

One Second of Video Every Day in 2012

We've been seeing more and more of this concept lately, but this one is still nicely done: Springfield, Missouri-based photographer Kent Frost created this 6.5-minute recap of his life in 2012 using one second of footage recorded each day. It's titled, "Just a Second."

Portraits of Classrooms Around the World

Starting in 2004, British photographer Julian Germain began a photo project shooting portraits of classrooms in North East England. The next year, he began doing the same thing for schools across the UK. It soon turned into an international project, as he began traveling to schools across the globe to document the environments young people are learning in. He calls the series Classroom Portraits. The photograph above shows a 4th grade math class in Cusco, Peru.

Ten Magnum Photographers Working on Portrait of Rochester

Some might say that the city of Rochester, New York is struggling; others might say that it's evolving. One thing's for sure though: Rochester -- nicknamed The World's Image Centre -- is changing. Because of this, and because of the city's rich photographical history (think Kodak), ten of Magnum Photos' photographers have chosen Rochester as one of three locations currently being documented across the United States.

Albert Kahn’s Documentation of Humanity Through Early Color Photography

Albert Kahn was a wealthy French banker who launched a project in the early 1909 that aimed to create a photographic record of the world. The first commercially successful color photography process, Autochrome Lumière, had just arrived two years earlier, and Kahn decided to use the medium to both document human life and to promote peace. He sent out an army of photographers to 50 different countries, amassing 72,000 photos and 100 hours (183,000 meters) of film that became one of the most important collections of images in human history.