Read more about the article UNC Chapel Hill Students Launch Interactive Project “After the Shooting”

UNC Chapel Hill Students Launch Interactive Project “After the Shooting”

On February 10th, 2015 the violent murders of three Muslim students in the small university town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina caught the world's attention. Within a day global discourse reached a fever pitch - news crews arrived, vigils were planned across the world and hashtags such as #muslimlivesmatter and #ourthreewinners were trending on social media. How and why could a seemly liberal town be the backdrop for an anti-Muslim hate crime? After the Shooting is UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication students' attempt to understand the complicated issues surrounding the tragedy that occurred in their backyard. In their words, "As students, journalists and members of this community, we felt a responsibility to respond to this event. We created this project as a tool for communication, connection and understanding. We analyzed mainstream coverage and worked to provide an alternative narrative by curating conversations between members of our own community."  

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Read more about the article United in the Fight: Films for World AIDS Day

United in the Fight: Films for World AIDS Day

Thirty years after the first cases of HIV, the World Health Organization estimates 35 million people worldwide are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Of these, 3.2 million are children under the age of 15. Today we commemorate World AIDS Day by remembering those who have succumbed to the virus and supporting our amazing collaborators working to treat and prevent this destructive disease. GAIA takes the medical breakthroughs of the developed world and brings them to The Far End of the Road. Their focus is one district in Malawi where 1 out of 6 adults are HIV-positive and healthcare can be hours away. AIDS and Family is Kristen Ashburn's intimate portrait of African mothers, fathers and children being crushed by AIDS. Ashburn's work connects us to these people deeply; we learn that only through such connection is hope possible.

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Read more about the article Photojournalist Kitra Cahana Defends A Different Kind of Freedom at TED

Photojournalist Kitra Cahana Defends A Different Kind of Freedom at TED

In her recent TED talk, photojournalist Kitra Cahana shares the stories of the nomadic, homeless youth she roamed the United States with for months. Tracing her attraction to vagabonds to a bag she packed to run away as a child, Cahana draws parallels between the alternative lifestyle of nomads and the need we all have to escape the confines of everyday life. "Many of you might be wondering why anyone would choose a life like this," she says. "Under the thumb of discriminatory laws, eating out of trash cans, sleeping under bridges, picking up seasonal jobs here and there. The answer to such a question is as varied as the people that take to the road, but travelers often respond with a single word: freedom." Her five minute talk shares images and arguments for the validity of taking the open road less traveled. Learn more about Kitra's intimate approach to photography that…

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Read more about the article Photojournalist Patrick Brown On a Decade of Documenting Illegal Wildlife Trade
Patrick Brown

Photojournalist Patrick Brown On a Decade of Documenting Illegal Wildlife Trade

In 2007, we followed photojournalist Patrick Brown into the vast, dangerous world of Asia’s wild animal market in Black Market. At the time some 30,000 primates, up to five million birds, and ten million reptile skins were a part of the third-largest smuggling operation in the world. Seven years later, illegal wildlife trading is still a global issue, raking in $19 billion a year from the trafficking of endangered animals.

This month David Cameron will host the highest level global summit to date on combating the illegal wildlife trade in London. Heads of state will discuss quelling wildlife poaching, highlighting the strong links between the illegal industry and international criminal syndicates, terrorism and threats to national security.

Few are familiar with just how high the stakes are as Patrick Brown. He has photographed the illegal trade of endangered animals in Asia for more than a decade, covering its dealers, stockpiles, trafficking routes and markets. The culmination of his work, Trading to Extinction, is fittingly timed with the issue taking the world stage.

source: @PatrickBrownPhoto on Instagram

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Read more about the article Phillip Toledano Is “The Reluctant Father”
Photo: Phillip Toledano

Phillip Toledano Is “The Reluctant Father”

Photo: Phillip Toledano

Phillip Toledano became a father at the age of forty. He fell in love with his daughter about a year and a half later. His latest book, The Reluctant Father, follows Toledano’s journey at the beginning of fatherhood. Grappling with the expectations and reality of being a new father, and the vast differences between them, he produces a surprisingly honest, funny, and moving account that he hopes his daughter won’t hold it against him later.

In many ways it is a sequel to the best-selling Days with My Father, a documentation of the three years Phillip spent taking care of his father, who suffered from dementia, and inspired his MediaStorm collaboration, A Shadow Remains.

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