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Ian Willms February 13, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Canada.
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Jimmy’s Lunch Diner, Kitchener, Ontario 2010

Ian Willms (b. 1985, Canada) is a founding member of the Boreal Collective and part of the Reportage by Getty Images Emerging Talent roster. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Village Voice, Foto8, Applied Arts Magazine, PDN, Maclean’s and The Walrus. Ian has also worked with the NGOs Greenpeace and Oxfam. In recent years, Ian’s documentary photography has been supported and honored by the Magnum Expression Photography Award, the Magenta Foundation, the Burn Emerging Photographer Fund and the National Magazine Awards and shown in exhibitions at Pikto Gallery, Bau-Xi Photo, O’Born Contemporary and Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography.

About the Photograph:

“Jimmy’s Lunch is a diner that was established in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1948 by Jimmy George. In 1955, Jimmy died of a brain tumor and his son Jerry took the business over. Jerry has been there everyday since then. For a long time, Jimmy’s was the only 24-hour diner in the city, so they regularly saw a fairly diverse array of clientele. It wasn’t uncommon to see judges sitting at the same bar as homeless people. Rumor has it that even Chuck Berry ate there once. Today, the only patrons consist of the regulars who have been coming there since they were kids. Like the diner, none of them are getting any younger. Every year there are a few more empty bar stools as people pass on.

“I wanted to document Jimmy’s Lunch because I see it as a place that represents the blue-collar culture that used to make Kitchener what it was. Everything today is so sterile and devoid of character. I like the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality that Jerry takes with his diner. It’s a simple place, where nothing has really changed over the years. Even the food is still made the same as it always has been. It feels a lot like a time warp, but not in a cheesy, contrived nostalgia way. Jimmy’s embodies decades past in a very raw and unvarnished way. Ironically, it’s even difficult to get cell phone reception when you’re there. The photo is of Jerry at the grill and one of his long-time regulars sitting at the bar. The man on the left passed away a few months after this photo was taken.

Marco Gualazzini February 11, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Italy.
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Feast day of Our Lady of Polsi, Calabria, Italy 2011

Marco Gualazzini (b.1976, Italy) began his career as a photographer in 2004, with his hometown’s local daily, La Gazzetta di Parma. His recent works include reportage photography on microfinance in India, on the media in Laos, as well as on the discrimination of Christians in Pakistan. He devised and took part in the creation of a documentary for the Italian national TV network RAI on the caste system in India. His photographs have been published in national and international publications including Internazionale, Io Donna, L’Espresso, M (Le Monde), Newsweek Japan, Sette (Corriere della Sera), The New York Times and Vanity Fair among  others. Marco is represented by LUZ photo Agency.

About the Photograph:

“This picture was taken last year in Calabria  during the solemn feast day of Our Lady of Polsi while I was developing a reportage about 12 journalists that were threatened by the Ndrangheta between 2010 and 2011. In Italy the so-called Mafia has different names in each region. In Sicily it is called Cosa Nostra. In Campania: Camorra, in Puglia: Sacra Corona Unita, and in Calabria: Ndrangheta. The Ndrangheta is considered the most dangerous criminal organization in Italy, but it is also among the most powerful in the world.”

“Last year when I read about the 12th journalist threatened by the Ndrangheta, I decided to take the portraits of these 12 colleagues of mine who were risking their lives to do their job. Soon I realized that I had to contextualize those portraits. It wasn’t enough to tell the story. So the idea was to show not only the faces of the journalists but also the newsrooms where they worked. To complete my report I decided to add some Ndrangheta landscapes that might be familiar for Italians, to remind us of the lands where these journalists are used to working. It was important to photograph the annual meetings, called Crimini, at the sanctuary of Polsi, so on the 2nd of September I went to the solemn feast day of Our Lady of Polsi. I was photographing in the rectory just before the Mass, when I saw this bolt of light reflected on the priests. I couldn’t not have taken this picture.”

How Hwee Young February 8, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in China, Mongolia.
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Shaman brothers, Ulan Bator, Mongolia 2012

How Hwee Young (b. 1978, Singapore) joined The Straits Times in 2001 as one of the few female photojournalists. In 2004 she joined the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) to cover Singapore and Southeast Asia until relocating to Beijing in 2010. She is primarily drawn to covering events involving the human condition like the 2004 Asian Tsunami or the 2009 Indonesian Padang Earthquake. She earned an Award of Excellence by Communication Arts 46th Annual photography exhibition in 2005 for her work on the Asian Tsunami. Her photographs have been published in: The International Herald Tribune, LA Times, The Sydney Herald, The Telegraph, New York Times, TIME magazine, Der Spiegel, and GEO Magazine among others. Young is based in Beijing.

About the Photograph:

“This photo is part of a series about a pair of Shaman brothers in Ulan Bator, Mongolia as they prepare to talk to me about their Shamanistic lives. Shamans are priests or mediums that act as vessels for spirits, gods and demons to communicate with the human world. In Mongolia, they adhere to the ancient beliefs of Tengrism, where spirits live in all of nature, in the sun, moon, lakes, rivers, mountains, and trees. This ancient faith predominated the land in the 13th century during the time of Genghis Khan or Chinggis Khan but was brutally suppressed under decades of communist rule from 1924 to 1990. Lately, this ancestor worship has seen a resurgence, as many sought to fill a spiritual void in a fast-urbanized landscape dominated by the burgeoning mining industry.”

 “Gankhuyag and his brother Batgerel became Shamans only two years ago where before they were only ordinary construction workers. Illnesses and misfortunes plague them and their family members, causing them to seek the advice of a Shaman. It was revealed then that they had been chosen by spirits to serve as Shamans. Only by doing so will their lives improve and avoid further miseries. Batgerel said ‘When I first heard that I have been chosen to receive the spirits, I did not believe it and was angry and ignored the calling. But my life became worse and I began to believe. After receiving the spirits, my life and health became better and now I live in happiness. I am very thankful to the spirits and this way of life’. The two brothers do not charge a specific amount for their Shamanic services which range from channeling advice from spirits to ‘curing’ diseases. Worshippers are asked to donate any amount they please. However, they warned that not all Shamans are genuine and many fake it for the money. For Gankhuyag and Batgerel, living with the spirits and their rituals, celebrating a connection to nature unique to their culture, is a way of life in the vast changing grasslands of Mongolia.”

Andrew Quilty February 6, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Australia.
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Maxwelton Races. Central Queensland, Australia 2007

Andrew Quilty (b. 1981, Sydney, Australia) completed studies in photography at TAFE in Sydney in 2004. He worked as a staff photographer for The Australian Financial Review from 2004 – 2006 until he was given the position of staff photographer for The AFR Magazine where he remained until 2010 when he left Fairfax to pursue a freelance career. It was his personal work that resulted in his invitation to join Australia’s photographic collective, Oculi in 2007 and accolades including a World Press Photo Award and the inaugural Walkely Young Australian Photojournalist of the Year Award. His work has been published in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Le Monde and The Guardian Weekend Magazine. He currently lives in New York.

About the Photograph:

“Everyone remembers where they were at the moment they heard of the attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11 2001. For me, it was in a town of one street, one pub, a roadhouse and 11 residents called McKinlay in central Queensland, Australia. McKinlay was most well known for hosting a couple of the pubs scenes in The Crocodile Dundee movies and provided my two friends and I the reason for stopping in on our way around Australia that year. Since then I’d always wanted to return to that strange little place. In the winter of 2007 I drove the 2000+ km to McKinlay and went about photographing the people and the atmosphere of the tired little town whose numbers were dwindling as the elderly passed and the young moved away to greater prosperity.”

“On a Saturday I followed the Fegan family to the nearby (160km) and even smaller town of Maxwelton (pop. 2) for the annual Maxwelton Races. This photograph was taken as the horses ran the final straight on the last race of the day. The children had tired themselves out during the day and sat peacefully on hay bales as the small crowd of adults cheered on from the finish line and then thought about the long road home to wherever it was from where they’d come. This photograph was awarded 1st prize in the Sports Feature Single category in the 2008 World Press photo Awards.”

Massimo Mastrorillo February 4, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Turkey.
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Early morning commuters. Istanbul, Turkey 2011

Massimo Mastrorillo (b. 1961, Italy) studied at the University of Perugia, in Italy, and is a graduate of the European Institute of Design in Rome.  He works mainly on long term documentary projects, devoting himself to the deep consequences of war and natural disasters and their aftermaths on society. His  awards include: World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International (POYi), Best of Photojournalism (Magazine Photographer of the Year), the PDN Photo Annual, the International Photographer of the Year at the 5th Annual Lucie Awards and an Aftermath Grant (finalist, 2011). His work has been published in: Espresso, Newsweek, Internazionale, Vanity Fair, Vrij Nederland, Le Monde and Wired. Massimo recently founded the collective MASTODON.

About the Photograph:

“For years, the number of city dwellers has surpassed that of rural areas. New suburbs emerge to meet the growing demand for housing. A jumble of concrete covers the earth with no apparent interruption.  Between them, like a jigsaw puzzle interlocking recreational areas and shopping malls—the new places of socialization. Turkey is a country with a rapidly developing economy. Here the suburbs expand even more at dizzying rhythms. I wanted to photograph them in two large cities. One on European ground, Istanbul and the other on Asian ground, Gaziantep, in a sort of ideal transcontinental trip to point out the similarities. This work was the result of an assignment from Zaman, a Turkish newspaper celebrating its 25th anniversary. They called 25 photographers from all over the world to document different daily life stories in Turkey.”

Andri Tambunan February 1, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Indonesia, Papua.
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Demonstration of condom usage at a public market in Jayapura, capital of Papua, 2009

Andri Tambunan (b. 1981, Indonesia) moved to the United States at age 10. He received his degree in Photography from Sacramento State University with an emphasis in Fine Art. After years of working in the corporate world he quit his job and decided to travel the world. In November 2008 he was in Mumbai during the terrorist attacks. His first instinct was “to grab my cameras and document the series of events that unfolded around me.” His photographs have received recognition from Pictures of the Year International (POYi) Emerging Vision Incentive, Reminders Project Asian Photographers Grant, and the International Photography Awards (IPA). In 2012,  Against All Odds was exhibited at the Angkor Photo Festival and was a Magnum Emergency Fund nomination. Andri is based in Jakarta.

About the Photograph:

“This photo is from my long-term project Against All Odds which I investigated the HIV/AIDS epidemic among indigenous Papuans. Currently Papua has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in Indonesia (15 times the national average) and outside of Africa. Although they say that HIV/AIDS does not discriminate, in Papua the epidemic follows along the fault lines of race: about three-quarters of those infected are indigenous Papuans. Ultimately, indigenous Papuans are living and dying in the midst of the fastest growing epidemic in Asia. Against All Odds uses images and text to explore some of the reasons why indigenous Papuans are contracting HIV, including limited economic opportunities, lack of HIV/AIDS education and awareness, insufficient access to health services, inadequate support, discrimination, and stigma.”

“In Papua, it is assumed almost all transmission of HIV occurs through sexual encounters. Thus, the consistent use of condoms is understood as one of the most effective ways to reduce or prevent infection.. Condom usage is often opposed or disregarded by religious and community leaders and is considered taboo. As a result, the use of condoms is low and condoms are frequently associated with sin, misconduct, and shame. Most people are embarrassed to buy condoms even when they are available. It is still very difficult to obtain a condom in most locations. Because of low condom education and awareness, many people in Papua don’t know how to use condoms or where to go to obtain them. Most importantly they don’t understand the benefit of condom usage in reducing or preventing STDs and HIV infection.”

Elijah Hurwitz January 30, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.
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The Amish shooting hoops in Goshen, Indiana 2012

Elijah Hurwitz (b. 1979, United States) is a New York City based documentary photographer, but has only been calling himself that since 2012. Previously he worked in tech marketing for ten years but left to pursue photography more seriously. He has traveled in over 40 countries and is currently couch surfing his way across the United States working on different stories. He keeps a running photo journals on both Tumblr and Instagram and is represented by Zuma Press.

About the Photograph:

“This photo was made on the last day of shooting for my project about basketball’s imprint across Indiana which Mother Jones published. I sought a broad range of locations to illustrate the game’s far-reaching influence; especially places where I felt the sport offered an escape from the confines of everyday life. I’d visited the state prison, inner cities, trailer parks, expensive high school gyms, college season openers, and abandoned farms, but realized I’d overlooked the Amish communities. I didn’t know if basketball was allowed in most Amish households, but decided to spend a day exploring around Goshen where I found this hoop behind a horseshoe blacksmith. The woman of the house kindly invited me to take pictures, and when a few of her nine children overheard our conversation they ran outside to shoot around. I found the framing I wanted with the laundry hanging, then watched Justin, Suzanne and James play a game of horse while speaking a mix of English and Pennsylvania Dutch.”

Elie Gardner January 28, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Peru.
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Puno, Peru 2011

Elie Gardner (b. 1984, United States) received her Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri and currently freelances with INTI Media, a multimedia collective that she co-founded with Oscar Durand in Lima, Peru. Prior to that she worked as a multimedia editor and photographer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Elie has also taught for National Geographic Student Expeditions in Bar Harbor, London and Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands. She was awarded scholarships to participate in the Summer Fellows Program at the Poynter Institute in 2006, the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Buenos Aires in 2011 and the Missouri Photo Workshop in 2012. She now produces multimedia stories for NGOs and  magazines  related to health, the environment and social inequality.

About the Photograph:

“In January 2011 I was still adjusting to the food, language and culture in my new home, Lima, Peru, when INTI Media landed a gig in Puno – 3,800 meters above sea level – to tell a story for a North American NGO. I boarded the plane with nerves, flu-like symptoms and hoped the altitude wouldn’t make things worse. It was my first freelance job in Peru. Just as the sun was coming up our first day in the field we stopped along the side of the road for breakfast. On one side of the road I could see the shores of Lake Titicaca. On the other side I noticed this young shepherd with her alpaca. We exchanged a few glances, and I lifted my camera to make a few frames. We both smiled and there was something about her that reminded me of myself as a little girl on the North Dakotan prairie where I grew up. Everything foreign slowly became more familiar. My nerves, headache and butterflies in my stomach were gone.”

Jesse Neider January 25, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Morocco.
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From a project about Autism. Rabat, Morocco 2012

Jesse Neider (b. 1981, USA) holds a Master’s in Photojournalism from Syracuse University. He has collaborated with various domestic non-profit organizations as well as NGO’s in South Africa and Haiti. In 2012, Jesse partnered with an anthropologist from Columbia University and was awarded a grant to begin a documentary about autism in Morocco. A frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, his clients have also included NPR, The New York Times, Inc. Magazine, The Weather Channel, ESPN, and Bloomberg Magazine. Jesse previously ran international workshops for Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Turnley. He was selected for Eddie Adams XXII in 2009, and was named a 2010 Artist Fellow by the Connecticut Board of Culture and Tourism. He is based in Connecticut.

About the Photograph:

“In 2010, a medical anthropologist conducting research on autism in Morocco contacted me to see if I would be interested in documenting his work. Having personal experience with an autistic aunt, and a firm belief that autism is one of the new millennium’s most significant global public health issues; I was excited to pursue such an important project. Morocco is the site of an important experiment in global autism activism. Since 1999, there have been increasing efforts in raising public awareness, training of experts, and creating an infrastructure for detecting, diagnosing and educating children as autistic.”

“I made this picture of Yehya, a beautifully spirited nine year-old boy with autism, as he used his fingers to “dance” with the beam of sunlight streaming into his bedroom window in the capital city of Rabat. Despite his inability to form cohesive sentences and days filled with extreme mood swings, I was always touched when I witnessed the moments it seemed Yehya felt a sense of inner peace or joy. I am looking forward to returning to Morocco this year to continue documenting this complex and personal story.”

Juan Herrero January 23, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Yemen.
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Huthi wedding in Old Sanaa Yemen, 2012

Juan Herrero (b. 1984, Spain) received his BA in International Economics and Development from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2010. After a two month course in documentary photography at the CEV School of Image in Madrid he started working on development projects in Cuba and Indonesia, while also contributing to the Cordon Press agency. In the summer of 2012 he relocated to Sanaa, Yemen. He covered the ongoing hunger crisis in the west and Yemeni daily life after the Arab Spring which nearly became a civil war. His work has been published in Paris Match and Der Spiegel, among others.

About the Photograph:

“In the days after the US embassy riots in Sanaa, Yemen, which arose in reaction to the American-made Islamic video that swept the Muslim world in September 2012, a friend invited me to a Huthi wedding in Old Sanaa. The Huthis are a Zaidi Shi’ite insurgent group based in northern Saada, where they have fought six wars with the government since 2006. They are considered a violent opposition to  western policies. I was a bit unsure how my presence was going to be received, as anti-western sentiment had become more than noticeable in Sanaa since the embassy attack. I received several threats to my face walking around the streets during those few days. As always, at Yemeni weddings there are lots of guns and khat (leafy plant chewed as a drug). In the end, it all turned into a warm welcome. Everyone was happy, and so was I.”

Darron R. Silva January 21, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in United States.
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Double B Rodeo in Granite Falls, North Carolina 2010

Darron R. Silva (b. 1974, USA) studied photojournalism and Latin American studies at Western Kentucky University. He has worked as a staff photographer most recently at The Naples Daily News, but also at The News-Press in Fort Myers, FL, and the Tribune-Star in Terre Haute, Indiana. While in college he interned at The Palm Beach Post, The Ann Arbor News, The Grand Forks Herald, and his hometown paper, The Tallahassee Democrat. He currently works as a freelance photographer, teaches photography at Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton, North Carolina and is a member of Aurora Select.

About the Photograph:

“This is a photograph of Doug Brinkley as he carries the flag down to the arena to give to a cowgirl, who parades it about on horseback while the national anthem is played. I shot this at the rodeo he puts on at his farm in Granite Falls, North Carolina. Doug’s son started rodeo when he was in high school, so Doug built a small rodeo arena on his farm for his son to practice. That was many years ago, and these days his son has taken over most of the work of the rodeo, but Doug still helps out. It’s from a personal project about local cowboys and cowgirls. I was surprised to discover that the rodeo is quite popular in the foothills of North Carolina when I moved here five years ago. I have always been fascinated with cowboys, so I go to the rodeo a few times each summer and shoot photos for myself. The rodeos here are very small, and usually family run. It’s just local folks that enjoy riding and getting together on a summer evening. The whole thing is very old-school Americana.”

Jennifer Osborne January 18, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Colombia.
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Beauty Queen. Cartagena, Colombia 2009

Jennifer Osborne (1984, Canada) was raised on Vancouver Island in small-town Courtenay. Her career as a photographer started with a  year long work contract at Fabrica, the United COLORS of Benetton Research Center in 2008.  She has exhibited in group shows at various venues including: Arles 2010, Aperture Gallery, The Museum de l’Elysée, Studio La Città, Azzedine Alaïa, Art Basel Miami, Catalog Gallery and CarréRotondes. She was named one of Canada’s top emerging photographers in both 2010 and 2011 by the Magenta Foundation. Jennifer is also a part of the ReGeneration2 book publication and traveling exhibition. In 2012, she shot a worldwide campaign for Nikon cameras and was the recipient of the Pride Photo Award under the “Chameleons” category for her work in Vancouver, Canada.

About the Photograph:

“At the annual Reina de la Independencia beauty pageant in Colombia, young women from Cartagena’s poorest neighborhoods vie not just for a glittering crown but also for the chance to win money, scholarships, rich men, and even jump-start a career. Beauty, for Colombia, is a natural resource. During my time in the barrios of Cartagena, I was living in the small house of the candidate from Blas de Lezo. I paid her family to rent a room there, and was also able to attend all of the smaller pageants she competed in as well. We would take public transport everywhere we went and in this case were on one of the famously decorated South American buses. The candidate sat towards the back and I asked her to go farther towards the religious decal on the window of the bus. It’s interesting to see how these girls are often parading themselves around like pieces of meat, in bikinis, on catwalks, yet they are often deeply religious. It’s an interesting combination of beliefs to me.”

Matilde Gattoni January 16, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Lebanon.
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From the project “The Swallows of Syria,” Lebanon 2012

Matilde Gattoni (b.1974, Italy) decided to follow her passion for the visual arts becoming a photographer. Her work has been featured in TIME, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, The Observer, Die Zeit, Foreign Policy, Neon Magazine, Geo, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Vanity Fair and Elle magazine Her book Uzbekistan, ten years after independence; published in 2002 was made in collaboration with the Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, one of the major experts of Central Asia and Afghanistan. Matilde is based in the Middle East.

About the Photograph:

“This photo is from a project about Syrian women who escaped to Lebanon hiding in small villages a few kilometers from the border. They are at the mercy of the Hezbollah and secret service agents allied with the Assad regime. Here Syrian women live in constant fear of being kidnapped or killed, hiding all day long in filthy basements and makeshift tents, consuming their last, meager savings to barely survive in a country that doesn’t want them. This has been one of the most difficult stories I’ve worked on, none of the women wanted to be photographed for fear of repression. They were shaking so much during the shoot that I wanted to be as quick as possible in order not to traumatize them.”

“Faqaa, 56 years old, comes from Talbiseh, a small town on the outskirts of Homs. Seven months ago, her 31-year-old son Ali was arrested by masked soldiers during a raid on her home. Three days later, his severely tortured body was found in a nearby sewage ditch. He had a huge wound in the stomach, one of his arms was broken and both kneecaps had been removed. She now lives in Lebanon with two of her sons, who work as laborers in the nearby fields to raise money.”

New Geoffrey Hiller Website January 14, 2013

Posted by Geoffrey Hiller in Cambodia.
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New World “construction site, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2011

Editors’ Note: Are websites for photojournalists relevant any more? Yes, I strongly believe they are. In this world of social media we can lose sight of the importance of editing our work. Making photographs seems all too easy these days but an image gains its value from the time spent considering and presenting it as well. This is why I have always required that photographers have a solid website before they are featured on Verve Photo. Facebook snapshots and disposable instagram feeds just don’t cut it. I’d personally like to see photographers put more effort into editing their work and presenting it in the best possible form.

I’m pleased to announce the launch of my redesigned website – 40 years behind the camera. I’ve recently been scanning in prints and transparencies from projects in Harlem, San Francisco, and Eastern Europe, among other places. It’s been a valuable couple months reflecting on my life’s work.

Bio

The photography of Geoffrey Hiller has been published in magazines in the USA, Europe, and Japan including Geo, Newsweek, Mother Jones and the New York Times Magazine. He has completed dozens of photo essays in Asia, Latin America, Europe and West Africa and was on the staff of the Brazilian edition of National Geographic for two years. His award-winning multimedia projects about Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Ghana, Burma, and Brazil have earned recognition from Apple Computer, The Christian Science Monitor and USA Today. He has received grants from the Paul Allen Foundation, the California Arts Council, Regional Arts and Culture Council in Portland, Oregon, among others. Hiller was a Fulbright recipient in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2008-2009. Most recently he has been working as an international media trainer in India, Burma (Myanmar), and Cambodia.

About the Photograph

“This photo was shot at the New World construction site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh last year as part of a story about new housing development in Cambodia’s capital city. A worker from the countryside rests after a ten-hour shift. Most live on site nearby in what look like squatter camps. After illegal evictions and land grabs, developers go on to build suburban-style housing for the growing upper middle class. I was struck by dramatic changes to this once pristine landscape. Most of these plots were recently farm land and rice fields. Now they are beginning to resemble suburban tracts in southern California, complete with Lexus SUVs parked in their garages.”

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