2016-01-28
Colorful light bulbs festooned above one of the many maze-like residential alleyways in Islamic Cairo, the medieval district of the Egyptian capital. These congested streets are typically quiet during the hot daylight, but come alive at night as Egyptians come out to drink tea, smoke shisha, watch football (soccer), and socialize once the temperature have dropped. Photo taken in April 2011.

2016-01-24
Grachtenpand are the row houses commonly seen along the canals in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Many of the city's row houses were built during the Dutch Golden Age, when the country was the world's foremost economic and maritime power throughout the 1600s. Photo taken in July 2011.

2016-01-23
A waterfall in the Mau Mau Cave, located within Mt. Kenya National Park near Nanyuki, Kenya. During the Mau Mau Rebellion in the early 1950's, the cave was used by Kikuyu fighters as a hideout in their guerrilla campaign against British colonial rule. In order to prevent its use, the RAF bombed the cave in 1959, killing approx. 200 fighters; much of the cave's former structure was reduced to rubble. Photo taken in April 2015.

2015-07-07
The gilded Shwedagon Pagoda glistens in the night light, in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma). A forest of dozens of smaller pagodas surround the main stupa at Shwedagon, which towers 99 meters (325 feet) into the sky. Originally constructed in the 6th Century, Shwedagon's current structure was built in 1372, with its height extended several times in successive centuries. The structure itself is constructed of brick, gilded with layers of gold donated from Burmese monarchs since the 1400s. In addition, the crown of the pagoda contains more than 5400 diamonds, 2300 rubies, and is topped with a bud of a 76-carat diamond, weighing 15 grams (more than half an ounce). Photo taken in May 2013.

2015-07-06
Two men working in their fields in Paghman District, Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo taken in April 2015.

2014-08-25
A street in the Grund quarter of Luxembourg City, located in the gorge below the fortified city center, along the banks of the Alzette River. Photo taken in July 2011.

2014-08-24
Laundry Day. Photo taken in Valletta, Malta in March 2011.

2014-08-23
A southern Sudanese woman displaying her stained finger after voting in the Southern Sudan Referendum for independence on 9 January 2011, in Juba, southern Sudan. In many countries, voters are required to dip their fingers in purple-colored silver nitrate in order to stain their fingers for several days, in an attempt to prevent electoral fraud by voting more than once. Seven months later, southern Sudan formally separated from Sudan to become the Republic of South Sudan, the 193rd country in the world.

2014-01-29
The remnants of St. Ursula's Church atop a mountainside overlooking the Adriatic Sea and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Constructed in 1348, the church was dedicated to St. Ursula, the patron saint of maltreated women, as this was a common site for women to end their misery by jumping into the sea. The church was destroyed during the Russian-Serbian-Montenegrin siege of Dubrovnik in 1806, in a futile attempt to stop Napoleon's forces from advancing toward the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. This structure was buried for roughly 200 years until it was discovered in an archaeological dig. Photo taken in March, 2011.

2014-01-28
The courtyard mosque inside the mausoleum for Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif, in Meknes, Morocco. Moulay Ismail ruled the Sultanate of Morocco between 1672-1727, moving the capital from Fes to Meknes. Moulay Ismail is best remembered for reigning in Morocco's golden age, defeating the Ottoman Turks to preserve Moroccan independence and halt their expansion across northern Africa, as well as defeating the Spanish and English empires to reclaim the port of Tangier. He was also very brutal, murdering his 82 brothers and displaying the 400 heads of Berber tribal chieftains on the day of his coronation. Another 10,000 heads of enemies were adorned atop the Meknes city walls. He is also reputed to have fathered the most children of any man in history, with somewhere between 888 and 1000 children, taking advantage of a harem of more than 500 women. Following his death in 1727, there was a notable succession battle for the throne among his more than 700 sons. His successor, Abdallah bin Ismail as-Samin, ascended to become Sultan of Morocco on six separate occasions after fighting off numerous brothers. Photo taken in February 2009.

2014-01-26
A guide in the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia. The park assigns mandatory guides for all hikers, in order to shoot any threatening leopards. Photo taken in April 2013.

2014-01-25
Bled is a medieval town situated along an alpine lake at the edge of the Alps in Slovenia. At the far end of the lake is an island with the Church of the Assumption of Mary, which was built in the late 1600s. The crystal clear lake, which is bright turquoise in color, is a well-known training site for rowers. Rising above the lake on a nearby hill is Bled Castle, a Romanesque medieval castle built in the late 900s. Photo taken from the castle in a pouring rainstorm, July 2009.

2014-01-25
An outdoor Catholic mass at the Chapel in the Gate of Dawn (known as Aušros Vartai in Lithuanian or Ostra Brama in Polish) in Vilnius, Lithuania. In the waning years of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Vilnius city walls were constructed between 1505-1522, of which there were nine gates that led into and out of the city, including the gate in the photo, the Gate of Dawn. The city was later incorporated into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for almost two hundred years, before the commonwealth was partitioned by Prussia, the Habsburg Empire, and the Russian Empire, with the Russians taking possession of Vilnius and Lithuania in the 1790s. The Russians destroyed the city walls and removed all but one of the gates, leaving the Gate of Dawn at the southern entrance to the city, perhaps because of its Chapel which was built to bless travelers and to channel divine assistance to help guard the city. The particular mass in the photo above was given in the Polish language due to the large number of Poles that have lived in the city. In fact, less than 10% of Vilnius' residents were ethnic Lithuanians for hundreds of years until after the Second World War, with the vast majority of residents being either Jews or Poles. Close to 95% of the city's 300,000 Jews were killed during the Second World War, and the city's share of Lithuanians and Russians has since grown. Despite all of the political changes, many ethnic Poles have remained in Vilnius (called Wilno in Polish), constituting roughly 15% of the city's population today. Photo taken in November, 2008.

2014-01-24
Afghanistan National Army (ANA) soldiers securing an area following an IED detonation that targeted multiple supply and fuel trucks in Darunta, a strategic pass just outside of Jalalabad City in Nangarhar Province, situated on the main highway to Kabul. IED detonations are not an uncommon occurrence in this area, especially given that the road is an arterial supply route where a significant portion of NATO-ISAF supplies enter the country's interior from the border with Pakistan at Torkham (along with another crucial border crossing further south at Spin Boldak in Kandahar Province). IED detonations targeting supply or fuel trucks often take the form of magnetic IEDs, where the explosive device is attached to the truck's undercarriage using a magnet before being remotely detonated. Many trucks are often parked closely together while resting between long journeys, and it's not uncommon for one IED detonation to destroy multiple trucks as the subsequent fire can ravage for hours before being contained. The majority of these IED detonations are perpetrated by members of the armed opposition, though IEDs can also be used as an effective tactic to settle business or personal disputes. Because of the threat of attacks on their supply trucks, ISAF-contracted trucking companies are known to pay large sums of money to the armed opposition or organized criminal groups. In fact, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan's Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars was given as handouts to the armed opposition by US-contracted trucking companies as part of this protection racket. Photo taken in May 2013, with my iPhone.

2014-01-24
a residence in Siena, Italy. Photo taken in December, 2013.

2013-12-13
windows. Copenhagen, Denmark. photo taken in July 2011.

2013-08-14
a fountain in nuremberg, bavaria, germany. photo taken in july, 2009.

2013-08-13
an exhibit at the vienna airport, austria. photo taken in september, 2012.

2013-08-11
auschwitz I camp. photo taken in september, 2012 in oświęcim, poland.

2013-08-10
passing over the neretva river in the bosnian countryside, on the road to sarajevo. photo taken from a moving bus in may, 2009.

2013-08-09
a window in yangon, myanmar...formerly known as rangoon, burma. following the military coup in 1988, the military junta ruling the country changed the english transliteration of the country from burma to myanmar, and the city of rangoon to its former burmese name yangon. many burmese opposed to military rule, as well as many western countries and media outlets, continue to use the former names in defiance of the junta's rule. photo taken in may, 2013.

2013-08-08
stopping for naan and pomegranates on an early morning drive in khulm, balkh province, afghanistan, we were conducting a security assessment of the highway from mazar-i sharif to kabul, and khulm is a great place to stop for food, prior to crossing the mountains into samangan province. photo taken in november, 2012.

2013-07-14
a painting of mary and jesus, inside of biete golgotha mikael, one of several rock-hewn ethiopian orthodox tewahedo churches in lalibela, ethiopia, built in the 12th and 13th centuries. the ethiopian orthodox tewahedo church is one of the few pre-colonial christian churches in africa. photo taken in april, 2013.

2013-07-10
pauza, one of my favorite bars in kraków, poland. photo taken in december 2008, with my old camera.

2013-07-09
two years ago, i was privileged to be invited to south sudan's independence ceremony. this photo was taken at the transfer of authority, just before sudan's flag is lowered for the last time, and south sudan's flag is officially raised for the first time. 9 july 2011 in juba, south sudan.

2013-03-31
a rooster adorned as a weather vane atop a building in tallinn, estonia, near the edge of the old town. roosters are one of the most common symbols depicted as weather vanes, especially on medieval european churches. this stems from pope nicholas I, who in the mid-ninth century decreed that all churches should be adorned with a cockerel, as a reminder of peter's betrayal, thrice before the rooster cried on the morning after the last supper. photo taken in november, 2008.

2013-03-30
vehicles traverse the elisabeth bridge, spanning over the danube river, connecting buda to pest, in central budapest, hungary. all of the city's bridges were destroyed by the nazis as they fled the advancing red army, however this was the only bridge that was rebuilt in a different style than the original. photo taken in march, 2009.

2013-03-27
a man painting an image of the sagrada família. photo taken in barcelona, spain in february 2009.

2013-03-26
inside a crypt, in the old coptic christian cemetery in the coptic section of cairo. copts are the small part of the population whose ancestors were among the first christians, and contend with every appearance of justification that they are egypt's native stock, unaltered by subsequent arab and turkish invasions. starting in the second century, egypt became one of the great centers of christianity in the ancient world, a place far more important, in terms of developing theology, than rome itself. with the conversion of constantine in 300, the copts embarked on their great era. it lasted just 300 years, during which the church prospered, along with the culture that was centered on it. then, early in the seventh century, came the arab invasions, and the copts, after many massacres, shrank into the small, allogeneous community that has remained to this day. photo taken in august 2011.

2013-03-25
a ship transiting through the bosphorus strait, separating europe from asia. photo taken in istanbul, turkey in november, 2011.

2013-03-24
the sun sets over israel, casting an orange glow over the dead sea. this is the lowest spot on earth, with an elevation of 1,388 feet below sea level. photo taken from the jordanian side of the sea, december 2011.

2013-03-23
the old town of kotor, montenegro, photographed from about half-way up the mountain fortress that domineers above it, has been occupied by the illyrians, romans, bulgars, slavs, normans, saracens (early muslims), serbs, venetians, albanians, ottoman turks, french, austrians, italians, yugoslavs, and serbs again, before the country gained its independence in 2006. owing to its heritage of mediterranean rivalries, the old town displays fortifications of venetian, turkish, and spanish design. photo taken in march 2011.

2013-03-22
inside the basilica di san nicola, or the basilica of saint nicholas...yes, santa claus (also known as father christmas to europeans). saint nicholas' relics were brought here to bari, (in modern-day italy) from lyca (in modern-day turkey) in 1087 when the area fell under saracen (muslim) control, though this was just an excuse. in reality, noble families in bari had long wanted his relics, which were stolen from his original tomb inside of a greek church. pope urban II presided over the consecration of his new crypt in 1089 and the building of a church around it, which was finally completed in 1197. photo taken in bari, italy in march, 2011.

2013-03-21
laborers painting the fire escape stairwell of a new building. photo taken in beirut, lebanon in december 2011.

2013-03-20
a window in kraków , poland. photo taken in july, 2009.

2013-03-19
a cemetery in kabul, afghanistan. photo taken while i was hiking in the mountains above kabul (just before i was detained by police for 9 hours). photo taken in november, 2012.

2013-03-18
an abandoned greek cypriot fighting position, inside the "green line" buffer zone in nicosia, the last divided capital in europe--separating the republic of cyprus and the turkish republic of northern cyprus. the mediterranean island has been divided along ethnic lines since 1964, when fighting between the majority greek cypriots and the minority turkish cypriots prompted the UN to create a buffer zone, called the "green line" because a low-level UN desk officer used a green crayon to draw the border on a map. in 1974, athens, then run by a military dictatorship, engineered a failed coup that was supposed to unite the island with greece. turkey reacted by invading the northern one-third of the island, which it has occupied ever since. many of the fighting positions in nicosia have been abandoned, and i was able to walk past a sleeping soldier at one of the few remaining manned posts to explore the front line that has been frozen in time. photo taken in march, 2011.

2013-03-14
for a little place (999 square miles, smaller than rhode island) luxembourg carries a lot of history on its shoulders. it was once much bigger and more powerful, with domains extending from the meuse river in what is now belgium to the rhine in what is now germany. several of its medieval leaders were elected holy roman emperor. over the centuries that followed, luxembourg became the plaything of conquerors, falling under the sway of burgundy, then austria, spain, france and holland. they wanted its great citadel, perched on and dug into sheer stone cliffs above an oxbow in the alzette river -- perhaps the finest, and certainly the most picturesque, natural stronghold on the long border between france and germany. ravaged by 400 years of strife, luxembourg shrank and shrank until 1839, when it was established as an independent state within its present borders. by then it was a geopolitical curiosity. today, as the only grand duchy in the world, ruled by the grand duke henri, it still is. but in international political and economic affairs it punches well above its weight. having been flattened by the germans in two world wars, luxembourg abandoned its neutrality to become a founder of NATO and the common market (precursor to the EU). today it is one of three obviously redundant and supposedly temporary capitals of the EU (with brussels and strasbourg). photo taken in july, 2011.

2013-03-13
self-portrait. photo taken in brussels, belgium in july, 2011.

2013-03-12
a number of windows open on a hot summer day. photo taken in copenhagen, denmark in july, 2011.

2013-03-06
a windowsill in the village of krems, situated along the danube river at the eastern edge of the wachau valley in austria. the lush fields surrounding the village produce apricots, which are then refined into marillenschnaps, a type of apricot brandy produced in krems. photo taken in august 2009.

2013-03-05
with many of my friends currently in nairobi, covering the kenyan national elections (at the time of writing/posting), it has brought back a lot of memories of the south sudanese referendum more than two years earlier, which i was fortunate to witness. in the photo above, a south sudanese man casts his ballot during the referendum on 9 january 2011. culminating from a peace agreement that ended five decades of conflict, south sudanese earned their right to vote for independence. during three days of voting, 98% of south sudanese affirmed their aspiration to separate from sudan and form a sovereign state.

2013-03-03
an alley in gamla stan, stockholm, sweden. photo taken in september, 2012.

2013-02-28
the coat of arms for the principality of liechtenstein. the arms are a history of the princely house, showing five other coats of arms which have been involved with liechtenstein, either through conquest or marriage. clockwise from top right is the arms of the kuenring family, then the duchy of troppau, followed by the arms for the east frisian family of cirksena, and finally the arms of silesia in the upper left. the horn at the base is the arms for the duchy of jägerndorf, while the shield in the center and the crown at the top represent the princely house itself. the same royal family has owned liechtenstein since 1140, but it didn't become a sovereign principality until 1806. the prince lived in austria, however, and no ruling member stepped foot in liechtenstein for its first 123 years. liechtenstein is the 6th smallest country by area (smaller than washington dc), and the 4th smallest by population (35,000). photo taken in february, 2009.

2013-02-26
a statue of buddha surrounded by bright led lights, inside the seema malakaya temple situated on beira lake in central colombo, sri lanka. photo taken in april, 2012.

2013-02-25
st. peter's church towering over residences in riga, latvia. the church was first constructed in the 12th century, however it has been destroyed and reconstructed many times since. as such, the church contains elements of the gothic, romanesque, and baroque styles. photo taken in november, 2008.

2013-02-19
a stretch of the kabul-jalalabad road, in a narrow pass that winds back and forth for the 2000 foot descent down into the kabul river gorge. the 40-mile stretch, a breathtaking chasm of mountains and cliffs between kabul and jalalabad, claims so many lives so regularly that most people stopped counting long ago, and many polls (including CNN) claim that it's the most dangerous road in the world. cars flip and flatten. trucks soar to the valley floor. buses play chicken; buses collide. not to mention the threat posed by the taliban, who detonate remote-controlled IEDs as Afghan military and high-profile vehicles pass by, or open fire at Afghan military posts scattered along the road with RPGs and small arms. just the day before this photo was taken, sections of this road were affected by an IED detonation and two attacks on Afghan military posts. photo taken february, 2013.

2013-02-18
an out of focus view of a bridge. singapore. photo taken in april 2012.

2013-02-17
a rainy night in belgrade, serbia. photo taken in october 2008.

2013-02-14
a street lamp and a bay window. photo taken in valletta, malta, march 2011.

2013-02-13
spires towering above the duomo, the fourth largest church in the world. when milanese think something is taking too long, they refer to it as "la fabbrica del duomo" --or "the making of the duomo," a reference to the five centuries it took to complete the magnificent gothic cathedral that rises from the center of the city (construction began in 1386). photo taken in milan, italy in february, 2009.

2013-02-12
the malostranska metro station in central prague, czech republic. photo taken in february 2009.

2013-02-11
a blueish hue begins to appear across the sand dunes following sunset in the ramlat al-wahiba (wahiba sands) desert in oman. as part of an extended holiday, my friends and i rented a car and did a 5-day roadtrip through oman, including a night at a desert camp. in the photo, other campers are seen on top of dunes, where they had walked to catch a good glimpse of the sunset. photo taken on 30 december 2011, somewhere in the desert south of bidiyah, oman.

2013-02-10
a group of rowers train on lake bled, a glacial lake on the southeastern edge of the alps in slovenia. this photograph was taken from bled castle, a 10th century castle that sits on a mountainside several hundred feet above the lake. photo taken in july, 2009 during a pouring rain.

2013-02-09
buzkashi players battle for control of the game, in herat, afghanistan in december 2012. buzkashi, meaning "goat pulling," is like a rougher version of polo, and has been played in afghanistan since the days of genghis khan. on the field, 15 horsemen, many of them wearing traditional uzbek hats and robes, beat and savaged one another for control of the beheaded goat--the object of the game. men whipped their horses. men whipped other men’s horses. men whipped one another. horses trampled spectators (and nearly myself on two occasions), all while the crowd--men, warlords, boys--looked on.

2013-02-08
two men wait while the day's batch of animal hides dry on a fez rooftop in the north african sun, after being soaked in limestone, emulsified oils from animal brains, and pigeon shit--delivered each day from pigeon coops nestled throughout the ancient medina, the "old city." this last ingredient is an important element in the tanning process, essential for softening the leather. once these hides are dry, they will be soaked in natural pigments to add color: red from poppy, orange from henna, brown from cedar wood, and white from mint. at the end of each day, many of the rooftops above the labyrinthine medina are covered with animal hides, just as they likely were ten centuries ago. faded but stately, crumbling but proud, the walled city of fez might well be the largest and most enduring medieval islamic settlement in the world. photo taken in fez, morocco in february 2009.

2013-01-31
turkish fishermen crowd the along the galata bridge, casting their lines into golden horn below. the golden horn is a historic inlet off of the bosphorus strait, dividing the city of istanbul and forming a natural harbor that has sheltered greek, roman, byzantine, otoman, and other ships for thousands of years. hundreds of fishermen gather each day to secure a coveted spot along this bridge. photo taken in istanbul, turkey in november 2011.

2013-01-30
a platform of journalists propped above the crowd of thousands of south sudanese citizens on the day of their independence, 9 july 2011. photo taken from my seat in the VIP grandstand. juba, south sudan.

2013-01-29
part of a complicated traffic interchange along sheikh zayed road in dubai, uae. photo taken in march 2011, from 1,483 feet above on the observation deck of the burj khalifa.

2013-01-20
fireworks over canandaigua lake, in new york state. photo taken august 2009.

2013-01-02
a painting in the eastside gallery, an open air gallery on the east side of the berlin wall. the paintings first appeared in 1990, but fell into disrepair over the next 15-20 years due to erosion, vandalism, and graffiti. a restoration program began in 2000, and to date, many of the paintings have been restored (such as the painting in this photo). photo taken in berlin, germany in may, 2009.

2013-01-01
street art in zagreb, croatia. photo taken in april, 2009.

2012-12-31
a lantern inside the Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qala'un Mosque, an early-14th centrury mosque inside cairo's citadel. the mosque was built in 1318, but fell into disrepair following the ottoman conquest. it wasn't fully restored until the arrival of the british in the late 19th century. photo taken in april, 2011.

2012-12-30
chimneys in bern, switzerland. photo taken february 2009.

2012-12-20
an NGO DC-3 airplane is unloaded by refugees in yida, south sudan on 29 november 2011. yida lies just a few miles south of the sudanese border, where the government of sudan has been fighting southern-allied rebels from the nuba mountains since clashes erupted following fraudulent elections in sudan’s south kordofan state in may 2011. a cornerstone of the sudanese armed forces (SAF) strategy is indiscriminate bombing, including villages and other civilian targets, in an effort to clear the area of its native population by terrifyingly inaccurate aerial bombardment from Antonov transport aircraft, crudely converted into primitive bombers. as a result, tens of thousands of nuban refugees fled to a sparsely-populated area in south sudan called yida, which had about 20,000 refugees at the time of this photo but later swelled to more than 65,000 refugees by the end of 2012 as the conflict intensified. the area has limited road access, especially during wet season, and aerial resupply from aid organizations becomes the sole lifeline to the refugees—providing food, medicine, and essential supplies such as blankets and tarps. as the refugee camp itself was also a rebel sanctuary (at the time), the NGO supply aircraft must land, unload, and take off in less than 15 minutes due to the threat of aerial attack from SAF bombers—which happened a week before and just three days after this photo was taken.

2012-11-27
this picture was taken while hiking in the mountains above kabul, afghanistan. even before snapping the picture with a 200mm zoom lens, it was hard to miss this house...painted bright pink and towering above the other residences. if i had to guess, i'd say it belongs to a drug smuggler or some other kingpin. photo taken in november 2012.

2012-11-25
the oslo metro, called t-bane. oslo, norway. april, 2009.

2012-11-24
barbed wire perimeter for the women's section of the camp. auschwitz-birkenau-ii extermination camp. photo taken in april 2009.

2012-11-19
looking out over the persian gulf at dusk. photo taken on the observation deck in the world's tallest building, the burj khalifa, in dubai, uae in march 2011.

2012-11-18
projectors. photo taken in budapest, hungary in november 2008.

2012-11-15
a public bench in boston. photo taken november 2010.

2012-11-14
a woman looks out from cairo's citadel toward the al-rifa'i mosque. this mosque--built relatively recently in the 19th century--is a blend of architectural styles but mainly draws upon the mameluke-inspired design common to that era. it is the resting place of several prominent figures, including several members of the egyptian royal family and, most interestingly, three deposed rulers. first is isma'il pasha, the khedive (ruler) of egypt and sudan under the turkish ottoman empire during the late 1800s until he was removed by the british during their earliest periods of interference in egypt. also entombed here is king farouk, the last ruling king of egypt until he was overthrown by gamal abdel nasser during the "free officers coup" in 1952. this overthrow was supported by the cia with "project ff" (fat fucker), led by cia operative kermit roosevelt, jr. (grandson of us president teddy roosevelt). just a year later, roosevelt would lead operation ajax, a cia-organized coup in iran to secure oil interests by removing nationalist leader mosaddegh from power and re-installing the shah, mohammad reza pahlavi--who happens to be the third deposed ruler buried in this mosque. mohammad reza pahlavi was the last shah of iran, who fled during the 1979 islamic revolution. egyptian president anwar sadat granted asylum to the ailing shah, who died a year later and is entombed here. photo taken in april 2011.

2012-11-13
a man gazes out from a terrace in mostar, bosnia. it is easy to understand why mostar, the ancient capital of herzegovina built on both sides of the neretva river, was a favorite summer resort of the muslim beys. once part of tiberius's roman empire, it was ruled by the turks for more than 400 years, until the austro-hungarian occupation in 1878. ottoman power was essentially empire building, not proselytizing; serbian, not turkish, was the diplomatic language in herzegovina. the essential difference between the conquerors and the conquered was religion, and vanquished nobles had no great aversion to being converted to islam. it would save their position and property, merely altering their unofficial title from feudal lord to muslim bey. mostar remained a thriving multi-ethnic city until its utter destruction in 1992-1993. although its famous bridge has been rebuilt, much of the rest of the city lay in bullet-riddled shambles, and everything from schools, hospitals, and even bus stations are divided among bosniaks and croats. photo taken in april 2009.

2012-11-12
electric power lines. l'viv, ukraine. photo taken in march, 2009.

2012-11-10
a statue at the hilltop bom jesus monastery overlooks the city of braga, portugal. photo taken february 2009.

2012-11-09
el luchadore enjoying a tasty beverage. photo taken in kraków, poland in january 2009.

2012-11-08
a young boy in yida, south sudan displays bomb shrapnel that landed near him the day before. At the time, Yida was a burgeoning refugee camp just a few miles south of the (northern) sudanese border in south sudan. at the time of this picture, there were about 20,000 nuban refugees fleeing the conflict in south kordofan, sudan. six months later, the camp swelled to more than 60,000 people. what had attracted sudanese air force bombers, though, was the presence of rebel fighters in the camp--the SPLA-N--who use it as a rear base and staging area. with the exception of a few rare attacks from sudanese MiG-29 fighter aircraft, most aerial bombardments involve crude antonov transport aircraft that have been rigged to manually drop bombs. this can dramatically affect their accuracy, as bombs routinely miss their targets and frequently land in populated areas. during this attack, one bomb landed within 50 meters of a school packed with hundreds of children, but luckily malfunctioned and did not detonate. photo taken in november 2011.

2012-11-06
fireworks ignite at the northern end of conesus lake in the finger lakes region of new york state. photo taken 4 july 2012.

2012-08-02
old buda columns high above the danube river. budpest, hungary. photo taken march 2009.

2012-07-30
two crosses and a golden dome atop an eastern orthodox church in kiev, ukraine. photo taken in march, 2009.

2012-07-27
martyr's square in beirut, lebanon. the statue was erected in 1960 to commemorate six lebanese nationalists who were executed in 1916 during the struggle for liberation from the ottoman empire. the statue itself became a martyr during the lebanese civil war between 1975-1990. the entire square and its buildings were destroyed, leaving only the statue--which was riddled with bullet holes and lost an arm. the statue has become a symbol for all that was lost during the war. despite a brief setback during the 2006 lebanon war, much of beirut has been rebuilt. photo taken in december 2011.

2012-07-26
a man and his wife enjoy a day at the giza pyramids, outside of cairo. this photo was taken less than a month after egyptian president hosni mubarak was deposed in the arab spring. the violence and protests disrupted tourism in egypt, which is a major source of revenue. ancient sites, such as the pyramids, generally attracted thousands of tourists each day. on this particular day in march 2011, there were less than 50 people in the entire pyramid complex--most of whom were police and a few desperate vendors and guides. the lack of people allowed a certain freedom to roam around and climb the pyramids, as well as take some really good pictures.

2012-07-24
three men, from the shilluk tribe, sit in the shade outside of the MSF compound in malakal, south sudan. the shilluk kingdom covers three counties in upper nile state, west of the nile river, including much of malakal town. despite this, they are a minority within the country and have limited political representation at the town, state, or national levels, and are greatly under-represented in the security forces (SPLA or SSPS). two of the strongest rebel militias challenging the SPLM's control of the government are shilluk. while rebel militias in other parts of south sudan are led by strongmen seeking personal gain, many argue that the shilluk militias are the only groups fighting for legitimate political grievances. despite this, shilluk militias have been used as proxy forces for northern sudan--seeking to destabilize the south. unfortunately malakal has been the scene of many attacks in recent years. photo taken while on a security assessment to design an evacuation plan for the humanitarian workers in the town, march 2012.

2012-07-18
ring of fire on conesus lake. every 3rd of july, friends and family gather at cottages and lake houses along this glacial lake nestled in the finger lakes region of upstate new york to celebrate the ring of fire. flares are lit along the shores of this lake, which is about 8 miles long yet 1 mile wide, producing a hazy red glow in the night. simultaneously, several of the lake's residents launch their own fireworks show, erupting this tiny lake into an explosive caldera. unfortunately it was rainy this year, causing many people to light their flares and fireworks earlier than the designated time of 10pm. photo taken 3 july 2012, conesus lake, ny.

2012-07-11
spring flowers in zagreb, croatia. taken in april 2009.

2012-06-07
kermit the frog. photo taken at 13th and N, NW. washington, dc. august 2010.

2012-05-31
holocaust memorial, berlin, germany in the pouring rain. taken in may 2009.

2012-05-27
a building in stockholm, sweden. taken in april 2009.

2012-05-22
a woman walks through a destroyed neighborhood as the sun sets in juba, south sudan. the government has razed several of juba's neighborhoods and markets in recent months, displacing hundreds of people at a time. it's alleged that government officials are profiting from the sale of land for future development, and benefit from taking land away from people who may not understand the concept of titles or land ownership. this plot of land located adjacent to the john garang memorial (seen in the background) used to be the home of hundreds of internally-displaced persons (IDPs) from elsewhere in south sudan. this land was later cleared to become "freedom square" in preparation for independence celebrations. photo taken from the roof of my residential compound, juba, south sudan, may 2011.

2012-05-20
construction adjacent to the opera house in oslo, norway. taken in april, 2009.

2012-05-19
graffiti on the green line in nicosia, cyprus. the green line, formally called the "united nations buffer zone in cyprus," is the 180km long border that partitions the southern area (controlled by the republic of cyprus) and the northern area (controlled by the turkish republic of northern cyprus, a "country" recognized only by turkey and other non-recognized states). the line was created for the cease-fire of 1964, and is so named because a green crayon was used to draw it on a map. turkish and greek cypriot troops have faced off along the line since the turkish invasion in 1974, though pedestrian traffic has been allowed to cross the line at certain points since 2003. taken in nicosia, cyprus (greek side) march 2011.

2012-05-13
a new road in dubai, UAE separating undeveloped desert from a new park. growth and urbanization in dubai has been enormous, however not without consequences. dubai's biggest challenge is water, which must be desalinated before use. however the desalination of water produces a significant amount of carbon dioxide--giving dubai and the other emirates one of the world's largest carbon footprints. and they struggle to keep up with demand...although the UAE desalinates the equivalent of four million bottles of water per day, this is enough for only a four-day supply of fresh water at any time. photo taken atop the world's tallest building, burj khalifa, dubai. april 2011.

2012-05-07
a man soaking animal hides in urine and emulsified oils from animal brains during the leather tanning process. the stench was epic. taken in fez, morocco in february 2009.

2012-05-05
botanical gardens. singapore. april 2012.

2012-04-30
fisherman's bastion, budapest. monument to the fishermen of budapest, who defended this section of the city walls during the ottoman invasion. taken in budapest, hungary in april 2009.

2012-04-26
Buddha at the Dambulla Cave temple, in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. The buddhist cave monastery dates to the 1st century BCE, and was last restored in the 18th century. Photo taken in Dambulla, Sri Lanka in April 2012.

2012-04-18
Neighborhood gossip. Ulica Juliusza Lea, Kraków, Poland. Photo taken in July 2009.

2012-04-09
A Bedouin man in the Giza desert, at the edge of Cairo, Egypt. Photo was taken in April 2011, just two months after Hosni Mubarak was deposed in the Arab Spring. Many Bedouin took advantage of the vacuum of power in post-Mubarak Egypt to bring attention to their plight. Customary laws in Egypt were replaced by a new system of land ownership, with large areas of previously Bedouin-controlled coastal territory sold to private investors under the auspices of the state, which led to allegations that the Bedouin were being cheated out of their property. In the months after the revolution, Bedouin groups occupied a nuclear power plant, occupied a peacekeeping observation post in the Sinai, occupied tourist resorts, abducted tourists, and may be responsible for several bombings.

2012-04-07
On approach to the newly-cleared airstrip in Yida, South Sudan. Yida is just 20km south of the disputed Sudan-South Sudan border, and border clashes between the two armies frequently occurred in Jau, about 20km north of here. Yida was a newly-formed refugee camp, home to about 20,000 Nuban refugees (at the time of this photo, later swelling to 100,000 people about the time I left a year later) fleeing the conflict in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, Sudan. Sudanese Air Force aircraft bombed this airstrip just three days after this photo was taken in November 2011. The mission was to conduct a security assessment of the camp for dozens of aid workers and UN personnel. In this photo, an NGO DC-3 aircraft is seen taking off prior to our landing, after it delivered several thousand pounds of food for the refugees. Such aerial supply missions had to be conducted quickly in order to prevent Sudanese Air Force bombings; each aircraft would land, be unloaded of its cargo, and take off within 15 minutes.

2012-04-02
Auschwitz I camp, the first of the three main Auschwitz camps. About 70,000 Poles and Soviet prisoners of war were killed here before the extermination camp, Birkenau, was constructed about a mile away. Photo taken April, 2009 in Oświęcim, Poland.

2012-04-02
Spiral stairs. Photo taken in Passau, Germany in July, 2009.

2012-04-01
Jesus at Sagrada Família. Photo taken 4 February 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.

2012-04-01
A couple in Oslo, Norway. Photo taken in April, 2009.

2012-04-01
SPLM posters advertising "Separation" ahead of the 9 January 2011 Referendum for South Sudan's independence. After 50 years of conflict that cost the lives of 2.5 million people, South Sudan earned the right to vote to become a sovereign nation. Photo taken on 8 January 2011 in Rumbek, South Sudan.