Pink Eye

From the Boston Globe: Boston-based documentary photographer Lisa Kessler jumped down this rabbit hole when a friend asked if she ever worked in color. She immediately thought of pink because of her lifelong aversion to it — she says she gravitates toward subjects that make her uncomfortable — and for three years, she traveled the country in search of the ways Americans use the color.

Swimming in Oil

From PetaPixel, photographer Jane Fulton Alt comments on the BP oil disaster. She previously documented the aftermath of Katrina.

Why Photography Is Important

Looking at this photo, would you guess this was taken in Afghanistan?

This photo is from a photo essay of Afghanistan in the 1950s and 60s from Foreign Policy magazine. It has haunted me since I looked at it. There was industry, higher education, a transportation system and infrastructure. People, including women, went to movie theaters, record stores, and parks. There were radio stations and a national defense force. In short, there was a civil society.

This essay loudly begs the question, "What the hell happened to this country?" That history is worth knowing. Super-power influence (American and Soviet) is worth understanding. And the question, "how does American presence there now affect what the photos look like 50 years from now?"