Global Lens Reflections on life, the universe, and everything

Archive for August, 2011
Casting a big shadow
Casting a big shadow

I love this photo. The technique was simple: I stood on my toes. I often look for a different angle, and love getting high. (yea, yea…) But "high" can often mean just a couple more inches. In this case, it allowed me to isolate the boy against the dirt, without any distractions from people or […]

Tortilla fingers
Tortilla fingers

The rule of thumb in photography is that light is your friend if it's behind you or to the side, but if it's shining at you from behind the subject you want to photograph, then you've got issues. But sometimes it works to your advantage. In 2009, I was photographing Petronila Escalante as she prepared […]

Horn of Africa: Deadly drought
Horn of Africa: Deadly drought

Fatima Mohammed walked 32 days from her drought-ravaged farm in Somalia to the relative safety of the sprawling Dadaab refugee settlement in northeastern Kenya. There were days, she told me, when they were so thirsty that her children couldn’t walk, and the adults would ferry them ahead, returning to carry two more children at a […]

Beauty comes to those who wait
Beauty comes to those who wait

This image is a testament to hanging on til the last minute. I was in Zalingei, in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2005. I was sitting with some Sudanese men, and these women came by carrying pots on their heads. (So far there's nothing unusual here: men sitting around talking while women work.) The […]