The 10 Best Photo Essays of the Month

2 minute read

This month’s Photojournalism Links collection highlights 10 excellent photo essays from across the world, including Stephanie Sinclair’s compelling National Geographic photo essay on young Newari girls in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley who are worshipped as living goddesses.

Stephanie Sinclair: Living Goddesses of Nepal (National Geographic)

Daniel Berehulak: Caught in Nepal’s Earthquakes (The New York Times Lens blog) Powerful images by a photographer who just received a Pulitzer Prize for his Ebola coverage.

James Nachtwey: Nepal Pt1. | Pt. 2 (TIME LightBox) Two sets of pictures and text by the TIME contract photographer, who spent two weeks covering the quake’s aftermath.

Carolyn Drake: Sins of the Aral Sea (National Geographic) Photo essay highlights the current state of the vast inland sea that is now 90 percent gone.

Kirsten Luce: The Corridor of Death: Along America’s Second Border (TIME LightBox) Luce continues her strong documentation of the US-Mexico border.

Lynn Johnson: High Science (National Geographic) The magazine’s veteran documents the issues surrounding marijuana’s potential benefits and drawbacks.

Bryan Denton: Disabled and Facing More Challenges in Afghanistan (The New York Times) These pictures capture the struggles of injured Afghan soldiers and policemen.

Adam Ferguson: Cambodia’s Child Grooms (Al Jazeera America) Early marriage is on the increase in the country’s highlands.

Jerome Delay: Mob Attacks Suspected Militia Member in Burundi (NBC News) Dramatic sequence from Burundi’s capital by AP’s Africa chief photographer. Delay was also interviewed on TIME LightBox.

Alessio Romenzi: Gambling for a better life across the Mediterranean (Al Jazeera English) These pictures document the crowded conditions faced by migrants held in Libya’s detention centers.

Living Goddesses of Nepal
From the June issue of National Geographic magazine: Living Goddesses of Nepal The Kumari of Tokha, nine-year-old Dangol, became a living goddess as an infant. A kumari’s eyes are believed to draw the beholder into direct contact with the divine. For religious festivals her forehead is painted red, a sign of creative energy.Stephanie Sinclair—National Geographic
Residents recover personal belongings in the rubble of their destroyed home in Bhaktapur.
The New York Times Lens blog: Caught in Nepal’s EarthquakesResidents recover personal belongings in the rubble of their destroyed home in Bhaktapur, Nepal, April 29, 2015.Daniel Berehulak—The New York Times/Redux
Nepal earthquake
TIME LightBox: NepalBishnu Gurung sobs after her 3-year-old daughter, Rejina Gurung, was found buried in the rubble in the village of Gumda in Gorkha district, near the epicenter of last month's Nepal earthquake, on May 8, 2015. The baby’s father is a guest worker in Malaysia.James Nachtwey for TIME
Aral Sea
From the June issue of National Geographic magazine: Sins of the Aral Sea Each of these boats used to haul in tons of fish every year. The fleet has been rusting near the former Uzbek port of Muynoq since the Aral dried up here in the 1980s.Carolyn Drake—National Geographic
TIME LightBox: ‘The Corridor of Death': Along America’s Second BorderMigrants hide on the edge of sand dunes as they are surrounded by Border Patrol Agents. These migrants were avoiding the interior checkpoint located in Sarita, Texas, on Rt. 77 North to San Antonio, Feb. 2015.Kirsten Luce for TIME
High Science
From the June issue of National Geographic magazine: High Science Lily Rowland receives a dose of an oil derived mainly from cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive substance in marijuana. She used to suffer hundreds of seizures with violent convulsions every day. Her family moved to Colorado, which voted to legalize marijuana in 2012, so that she could begin a daily regimen.Lynn Johnson—National Geographic
Rahimullah, Hamza and Islamudding, Afghan National Army soldiers who had injuries and amputations, adjust their prosthetics between physiotherapy sessions.
The New York Times: Disabled and Facing More Challenges in Afghanistan Rahimullah, Hamza and Islamudding, Afghan National Army soldiers who had injuries and amputations, adjust their prosthetics between physiotherapy sessions at the International Committee of the Red Cross?s orthopedic center in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov. 22, 2014. Bryan Denton—The New York Times/Redux
Cambodia_Jarai_2015_01669.JPG
Al Jazeera America: Cambodia’s Child GroomsKhien, 17, left, and her husband Kleng, 19, at their home in Nhang Commune. They are technically not married but live together with the consent of the community. They plan to wed when they can afford the ceremony. Adam Ferguson for Al Jazeera America
Burundi Political Tensions
NBC News: Mob Attacks Suspected Militia Member in BurundiJean Claude Niyonzima, a suspected member of the ruling party's Imbonerakure youth militia, pleads with soldiers to protect him from a mob of demonstrators after he emerged from hiding in a sewer in the Cibitoke district of Bujumbura, Burundi on May 7, 2015. Jerome Delay—AP
Libya, Zawiya District: migrants captured at the sea as they were attempting to reach Italy are seen inside an overcrowded cell at Zawiya detention center on May 13, 2015. Alessio Romenzi/CESURA
Al Jazeera English: Gambling for a better life across the MediterraneanMigrants captured at the sea as they were attempting to reach Italy are seen inside an overcrowded cell at Zawiya detention center in Libya on May 13, 2015.Alessio Romenzi—Cesura

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