"Collateral damage has a face," says NPR photographer David Gilkey, who covered the recent conflict in and around the Gaza Strip. Gilkey was on assignment in Israel when fighting re-erupted, and worked alongside NPR's radio reporters, presenting people and situations in Israel and Gaza. Click here to view the video in HD.

Tear gas, air raids, destruction and despair all increased the challenges for Gilkey. While journalists only briefly experienced what the regions' inhabitants routinely endure, the synchronicity between the audio and visual components produced award-winning coverage. NPR video producer John Poole interviewed Gilkey about his experiences and assembled this presentation.

To view more of David Gilkey's photo coverage of the Gaza conflict, be sure to check out these photo galleries.

 

Israeli Official Issues Warning As Airstrikes Continue
Galleries: Israel Attacks Targets In Gaza
The View From An Israeli Town

Gaza Strikes Spur Protests, Vows Of Retaliation
Gallery: Hamas Declares "Day Of Rage"

 

Israel Extends Drive Into Gaza
Gallery: Rage And Rockets Across The Border

NPR Photographer Gets Close-Up Of Conflict
Galleries: A projectile barely missed his face when it tore through his camera lens, and work was nearly impossible on days when tear gas filled the air. Gilkey discusses his experiences with NPR's Corey Flintoff.

 

Return To Gaza Reveals Scenes Of Destruction
Gallery: Surveying A Shattered Gaza

Gazans Skeptical Obama Will Bring Mideast Change
Gallery: The View From Gaza City

Fate Of One Family Illustrates Gaza War's Ferocity
Gallery: Destruction Of A Neighborhood And A Family

Born in Copenhagen in 1971, Joakim Eskildsen is a documentary photographer who has wielded his camera all over the world. From 2000 to 2006, Eskildsen and Swedish writer Cia Rinne undertook a seven-country journey with the intent of exploring the lives of the Roma, a subgroup of the Romani people who live scattered throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The photographic series and corresponding book are called The Roma Journeys.

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The Roma were originally called gypsies when they first arrived in Europe over 500 years ago, as they were mistakenly believed to have come from Egypt. Today, although spread across countries and continents, the Roma share a common biological, cultural and linguistic history that can be connected with certain dialects of northwest India. Although traditionally known as nomads, the Roma largely live in settled communities, but their cultural history is complicated and enigmatic.

The Roma Journeys consists of seven series in different countries, in rough chronological order of the journey. For the selection of color images that comprise this slideshow, Eskilsen used both Pentax and Hasselblad medium-format cameras -- machinery that uses large film negatives and yields beautiful, lurid imagery that is unrivaled, in some ways, by even the best of digital cameras. A second edition of the book will soon be for sale on the artist's Web site. Be sure to have a look at the rest of this wonderful collection.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

Ash Wednesday begins the Lenten season, a 40-day period associated with fasting and piety in preparation for Easter. Many Christians mark the few days leading up to it with "carnival," the last opportunity to consume special foods and drinks lest they go to waste.

Carnival and its various spellings stem from the Milanese carne levale, which means "to remove meat" or "raise flesh"; Christians traditionally abstained from meat during Lent.

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Similar boisterous celebrations predate Christianity: the ancient Roman Saturnalia and Bacchanalia, the Greek Dionysia and Russian Maslenitsa are just a few. Over time, carnival celebrations have spread around the world. Here's a look at some of the revelry that began last weekend.

Since 1921, the White House News Photographers Association has helped facilitate press coverage of political events that traditionally had been restricted. It aims to ensure access and to bring local and international news to a wide audience. In 1941, the WHNPA started an annual contest to showcase the best work in photojournalism. Here's a selection of still photography winners from its 2009 WHNPA "Eyes of History" contest, in which NPR received 18 awards. Check out the WHNPA's Web site to view all contest winners.

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All images courtesy WHNPA

 

NPR is pleased to announce the receipt of 18 awards from the White House News Photographers Association annual "Eyes of History" contest. This organization, one of the oldest and most prestigious visual journalism showcases in the country, recognizes excellence in multimedia, still and motion photography.

NPR, traditionally an audio platform, has recently developed a visual department to enhance our web coverage. The team is comprised of a multimedia director, photo editor, multimedia producer, two video journalists, a database editor and a talented staff of graphic designers. This group works across the organization to bring the best of NPR storytelling to life on the web. Our content takes the form of photo galleries, audio slideshows, video stories, and interactive graphics.

The winning gallery in the Photo and Audio Slideshow (narrated) category is seen on the WHNPA website.

 

A complete list of NPR's 2009 "Eyes of History" awards follows:

MULTIMEDIA
Best Use of Photography and Audio (narration)
1st Place
Crafting China's Future Champions
Produced by: Andrea Rane, Coburn Dukehart and Jessica Wanke/NPR; Audio Produced by Jack Zahora/NPR; Reported by Louisa Lim/NPR; Photographs by Ariana Lindquist for NPR. Supervising producers: Meghan Collins Sullivan and Keith Jenkins/NPR

3rd Place
From The Iraq War, A Troubled Romance In America
Produced by Andrea Rane and Andrew Prince/NPR; Audio produced by Sarah Mobley/NPR; Reported by Ivan Watson/NPR; Photographs by Paxton Winters for NPR

Award of Excellence
A Walk Through Beijing's Vanishing Hutongs
Produced by Coburn Dukehart/NPR, Edited by Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR; Reported, photographed and narrated by Frank Langfitt/NPR

STILL PHOTOGRAPHY
Best Picture Story - Politics
1st Place
A Civil Rights Activist Votes in Birmingham
David Gilkey/NPR

Pictoral
Award of Excellence
Gaza
David Gilkey/NPR

VIDEO
News Special Reports
3rd Place
Afghan Dispatches
David Gilkey/NPR

Feature
Award of Excellence
Dreaming Green in Ukraine
David Gilkey/NPR

Video Documentary
2nd Place
Project Song: Nellie McKay
John Poole and David Gilkey/NPR

Sports Video
3rd Place
A Good Throw
John Poole/NPR

Political Video
2nd Place
New Hampshire Campaign Goes Door To Door
David Gilkey/NPR

Lighting
3rd Place
Lighting Composite
David Gilkey/NPR

Audio
1st Place
A Good Throw
John Poole/NPR

3rd Place
Voices from the Front
David Gilkey/NPR

Editing Short Form
Award of Excellence
Burned in the War
John Poole/NPR

Editing Long Form
1st Place
Project Song: Nellie McKay
John Poole/NPR

Editing - Sports
1st Place
A Good Throw
John Poole/NPR

3rd Place
Afghan Olympian
David Gilkey/NPR

Audio Editing
Award of Excellence
Project Song: Nellie McKay
John Poole/NPR

David Gilkey's winning Political Picture Story included this photo of James Armstrong from Birmingham.

 

The White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) started in the 1920's to promote accurate and responsible coverage of major news events through still and motion photography. Its members are a dedicated group of Washington-based visual journalists from newspapers, television stations and websites who are committed to professional and meaningful storytelling and news coverage. They have recorded some of the world's greatest moments, and are celebrated in the annual "Eyes of History" contest -- which recognizes the best work in multimedia, still and motion photography.

The first issue of Lay Flat, a publication for contemporary, international photography, is now available for online purchase. Titled Remain in Light, this inaugural collection contains not only imagery but also essays, interviews and other writings on the art of photography.

Debora Mittelstaedt -- Sunset Park, NY, 2005

 

Co-editors Shane Lavalette and Karly Wildenhaus have curated 20 unbound fine-art images from various international photographers. To preview the selected images, check out Flak Photo, a contemporary photography blogzine that will be featuring one Lay Flat image per day from February 11 through February 27.

Nicolai Howalt and Trine Sondergaard -- Kromanns Remise II, 2005

 

Posted by Claire O'Neill

After a $159 million, 18-month renovation, Alice Tully Hall will reopen at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday. A two-week opening-nights festival will include opera, poetry, period ensembles, choral works and world music. Here's a look at Lincoln Center's history -- from its construction to its establishment as a hub of performing arts.

Hear the full concert here

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Lincoln Center is one of the world's leading performing arts center. It consists of 12 arts and educational organizations, such as The Juilliard School, The Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic -- all on a 16.3-acre campus on West 65th Street. To unite the center with its surroundings, it underwent a series of renovations designed by the Diller Scofidio + Renfro architectural firm and FXFowle Architects. The goal was to preserve the spirit of the original 1960s architecture while creating more space and light, opening the center both physically and communally.

From nude portraits in the 1960s to monolithic landforms in the 1990s, Lynn Davis has always had an eye for form, geometry and simplicity in the architecture of both nature and of manmade structures. Known for her large-scale black-and-white photographs, she was good friends with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and was an apprentice to the great Berenice Abbott, who trained beneath Man Ray.

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She is also known as a master of the darkroom, using many complicated techniques and meticulous care to arrive at her rich tones. A student of Buddhism, Davis strives to capture the majesty that she sees in nature, to evoke a sense of solemnity and reverence in the face of grandeur. Photographing this series of icebergs has been an ongoing process since the 1980s, when she made her first voyage to the Arctic.

Since 1986, Davis has documented troubling changes. "What was first a mystical and life-changing experience," she says, "has now turned to an awareness that nature as we have known it, and taken for granted, is ... disappearing faster than we had ever imagined." She continues, "It is my hope and prayer that by witnessing and recording such transcendent phenomena that it is not too late to change what now seems like an irreversible fate." Here is a small selection of her ongoing iceberg series, best viewed large

All images (c) Lynn Davis/ Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

Here's a look at some news images we like from the past few days.

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Produced by Claire O'Neill

It's fashion week in New York City. Since last Friday, designers, editors, photographers and fashionistas have been gathered in tents at Bryant Park to preview fall 2009 collections.

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Based on the collections so far, this coming fall will bring thick scarves and big hats, metallics, sheens and creams. But the week is young. Although there has been no shortage of both classic and innovative design, there still remain four more days of fashion-filled surprise. Here's a glimpse of the past few days at Bryant Park.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

Images of conflict and natural disasters, as well as those of quiet contemplation, won this year's prestigious World Press Photo contest. The nonprofit foundation based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, announced winners of the juried competition on Friday.

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The 2008 Photo of the Year award went to American photographer Anthony Suau for his black-and-white image of an evicted home in Cleveland, Ohio. "The strength of the picture is in its opposites," said MaryAnne Golon, who served as chair of the jury and explained its choice. "It's a double entendre. It looks like a classic conflict photograph, but it is simply the eviction of people from a house following foreclosure. Now war in its classic sense is coming into people's houses because they can't pay their mortgages."

Here's a selection of some of the winners in various categories.
All images courtesy World Press Photo.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

It's difficult to conceive that, had our current president been born a mere 100 years ago, he wouldn't have been able to sit at the same table, drink from the same water fountain or attend the same schools as his white counterparts -- to say nothing of the fact he would have only recently gained the right to vote. And yet here he is today in Washington, in the most powerful position our country has to offer.

If that's difficult to conceive, then it's easy to take for granted the fruits of a long and tedious struggle for civil rights. Today the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) celebrates its centennial anniversary, and indeed there is much to celebrate. Here's a look back at its history and the fight for civil rights.

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Produced by Claire O'Neill

Photography has come a long way since 1940. At that time, fine-art photography was entirely black and white -- the content usually either landscape or portrait. But nowadays, when the rules of photography are a lot less stringent, there's something to be said for the classic simplicity of landscapes.

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It may seem strange that these spectacular images were commissioned by the U.S. government. They're from the same Works Progress Administration/Farm Security Administration project that we featured a few weeks ago. But it was with this government funding that some of the most renowned American documentary photographers got their start.

Woody Guthrie's lyrics to "This Land Is Your Land," as well as those to "America the Beautiful" -- really seem to resonate in this collection. From California to the New York islands, here's a view of how America looked around 1940 -- in color. All images courtesy Library of Congress via Flickr Commons.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

"I know it seems crazy," says photographer Paul Graham, "but I'm asking you to trust me and enjoy this quiet journey. Just slow down and look at this ordinary moment of life. See how beautiful it is, see how life flows around us, how everything shimmers with possibility."

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Graham, born in the United Kingdom in 1956, began photographing at a young age. He has the training of a photojournalist, the eye of a fine artist and a fascination with everyday life. That's reflected in a shimmer of possibility, a series of 12 books based on Graham's travels across America. Each book ranges from a single image to multiple frames of a scene as it unfolds over time -- of a man cutting grass, a woman eating fast food, a couple carrying groceries. A selection of the photographs is now on display at New York's Museum of Modern Art through May 18.

Today's gallery, in which many of the images look the same, may initially be difficult to understand. Generally, we look for the "great shot": a striking image and a perfect pose or scene. But Graham is interested in staying truthful to the moment, which is often uninteresting and simple, and almost always lasts more than one second. To him, in fact, the uninteresting is beautiful, too. His art refocuses on the modest beauty that we take for granted every day. In the museum's words, it "is a call for attention to the brief, indefinite intervals of life."
All images (c) 2009 Paul Graham, courtesy Museum of Modern Art.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant swept up five awards, M.I.A. was very pregnant, and Radiohead performed with a marching band. Here's a look at some highlights from last night's Grammy Awards.

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Elliott Erwitt, an associate photographer for the famed Magnum Photo agency, has developed a reputation for both the melancholy and the whimsical humor that infuses his images. Born in France in 1928, he began a long and fruitful career when his family moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s. But he's spent much of his time in New York, and the bulk of his photographs capture the city's scenes and people. It's the focus of a recently published monograph, Elliott Erwitt's New York. To coincide, Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York is now paying homage with an exhibit through March 7.

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The photographer's Web site features an impressive biography, which concludes: "Elliott Erwitt likes children and dogs." This subtle sense of levity is characteristic of his work, which is often serious, and often playful, both light and profound. The exhibit features 25 gelatin silver prints, spanning Erwitt's career.

The gallery notes that at "the center of this project is a city defined by its people, its innovation, and its capacity for human tenderness. Erwitt's New York provides a glimpse of the city's tiny triumphs." A spilled drink, children dancing, a stolen kiss: the perspective behind these gritty black-and-whites will bring a smile to the viewer's face. All images (c) Elliott Erwitt/Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York

Produced by Claire O'Neill

NASA's Earth Observatory has an image of the day feature:

Image courtesy earthobservatory.nasa.gov

 

From the website:

"Around the world, agricultural practices have developed as a function of topography, soil type, crop type, annual rainfall, and tradition. This montage of six images...shows differences in field geometry and size in different parts of the world.

In Minnesota (first), the very regular grid pattern reflects early nineteenth-century surveying; the size of the fields was determined by the need to have a big enough area to make the use of machinery efficient. Dirt roads separate the fields..."

Continue reading.

Posted by Claire O'Neill

Danielle Levitt, a New York-based photographer, is well-known in the world of art and fashion. Traveling the globe for commercial projects with publications such as The New York Times Magazine and GQ, she often pauses to capture the world around her.

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Levitt's first monograph, We Are Experienced, is a curious presentation of American youth from L.A. skate parks to Orlando living rooms. The subjects include "football stars, tanorexics, wiccans, punks, prom dates, snowboarders and baton twirlers." Levitt explores the ways in which teens articulate individuality through style. She asks real kids to model in their own dress, in environments that are staged, but not unrealistic.

The images are provocative and quirky, but also honest. They may appear slightly unnatural, but that's a proper reflection of what fashion editor Mark Jacobs writes in the introduction: "Youth is a stage, and these kids put on spectacular shows." All images from We Are Experienced by Danielle Levitt, A Miss Rosen Edition, published by powerHouse Books.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

In preparation for President's Day on Feb. 16, The Smithsonian is hosting an education online conference series on Abraham Lincoln today and tomorrow. Explore their site for more information on our 16th President. All images courtesy The Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

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Photography was only about 20 years old at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. At that time, there was a type of photograph called a carte de visite, or cdv. It was typically a portrait photograph made with a glass wet-plate negative, allowing unlimited copies and prints.

This collection provided by the Smithsonian Institution is an example of a cdv photo album. It was assembled in the U.S. for a Swiss citizen shortly after the Civil War. Today, the album represents the international interest in the American Civil War that evidently favored the Union Army. It provides an interesting selection of players and is a visual springboard for studying the Civil War.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

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"America is a snapshot culture." These are the introductory words to "Portraiture Now: Feature Photography," an exhibition currently at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.

It's true that many of us have used digital cameras or camera phones -- or at least disposables, Polaroids and Instamatics. We document our lives not necessarily in an artistic endeavor, but so that we can better remember it in years to come. Technology enables those easy, sometimes heedless captures. But, as the exhibition introduction continues, "there are portrait photographers today who create pictures that defy an easy death."

Even in a commercial setting, these fine-art photographers -- commissioned by publications such as the New Yorker, Esquire and The New York Times Magazine -- strive to express their unique voices and to create images that will outlive a magazine's shelf life. To them, the celebrity portrait on the cover is more than just a hook; it's an exploration of the individual, inimitable and infinitely unique.

This exhibition features renowned contemporary photographers Katy Grannan, Jocelyn Lee, Ryan McGinley, Steve Pyke, Martin Schoeller and Alec Soth. Although they are widely varied in aesthetic, voice and perspective, they are all equals in critical acclaim. Here's a sample of the images on display. All images and quotations courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution.

Produced by Claire O'Neill

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You may not know Shephard Fairey's name, but you have probably seen his artwork. The iconic Barack Obama "HOPE" poster now hanging at the Smithsonian is the brainchild of this "street artist" turned graphic designer. And his enormous success raises the question: Can street art be fine art?

The line between "street art" and "graffiti" is a thin one, if it exists at all. In the past few years there has been a rise in alternatives to the traditional spray-paint method such as clean graffiti and guerrilla knitting. Blurring that fine line still further are street artists such as London-based Banksy. His identity is unknown, but his art is recognizable. This anonymous artist often turns existing graffiti into public art, provoking passers-by to interact with his work.

The enduring question of what constitutes as art -- or what distinguishes street art from vandalism -- will find a unique response in every person. Here is a look at how everyday photographers interact with Banksy's street art. All images are courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

Produced by Claire O'Neill