Benjamin Lowy

Benjamin Lowy has been our favorite photographer around here for awhile now.

In part it's because we like to hear people gasp when they see his photos. But more than that, when Benjamin takes you into a conflict situation, he doesn't just stand to the side and take pictures. He takes you down the street, around the corner, into a house or out in a field, and he introduces you to the people involved in the conflict. He asks you to spend just a few seconds in their shoes. Even if it's a little chilling.

We had a disagreement in the office over using the picture of the women in Burkas for our "women" section. Everyone loves the picture. But the picture makes me suffer. I almost feel physical pain when I look at it. And I wasn't sure, when we are talking about the value of women in peace making, and the need to educate and empower them, if it was smart to show women in the worst of the worst, one of the most "unempowered", oppressed situations a woman could experience.

But there's something about that picture. You can almost connect with the women under the burkas. You can almost hear their breath under the fabric.

Enough about Benjamin. See for yourself at his web site. And click below for a gallery of images used here.

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Peter Badge

We have crossed paths a few times with Peter Badge as he traveled the world photographing the Nobel Laureates. He is part of the little "family" we have of people who work around the Nobel Laureates.

A German photographer, Peter was commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of American History and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. to start shooting Nobel Laureates in 2000. He got struck the same way as we got struck, and kept going. It turned into a mission to travel the globe to capture an image of every living Nobel Laureate.

He did it. And you can see the results here -- Nobels, a big, stunning coffee table book that brings portraits and biographies of every living Nobel Laureate -- from all categories -- into your home.

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Wolf Tracks

Wolf Tracks came to us highly recommended by someone who knows what she's talking about. They were everything we heard and more.

Pretty much everything you see here -- the architecture, the page design, the back end, the galleries -- was done by them. On a ridiculous deadline. Half a world away, in Australia.

Incredibly competent. An honestly gifted group.

If their web site looks a bit bare, it's because they're in there giving 150% to what's in front of them.

 

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