Beijing, China, 1964, © René Burri/Magnum Photos, from the book Impossible Reminiscences (Phaidon, 2013). “In Tiananmen Square, in front of the Forbidden City, there were mass demonstrations against the Americans in Vietnam.”

Born in Switzerland in 1933, René Burri first picked up a Leica during his military service. Through and introduction from Werner Bischof, Burri joined Magnum Photos in 1959 and went on to publish reportage in Life, Look, Stern and Paris Match among countless other publications. One of the remarkable things about Burri’s career, was that from the mid-1950s he worked with both black and white and color. Often, Hans-Michael Koetzle writes in his essay that accompanies Burri’s new book, Impossible Reminiscences, released this week by Phaidon, photographers are great at one or the other, or move on from black and white to color and seldom look back professionally. “[Burri] did the one without abandoning the other,” Koetzle writes. “….Burri has consistently pursued two goals, photographed in black and white and color, as a journalist and as an artist, which—precisely reckoned—would mean that he has lived four lives in photography.”

Impossible Reminiscences features more than 170 of Burri’s lesser-known color images, drawn and edited by Burri from his archive over the course of eight years, and accompanied by his personal reminiscences.
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© David Goldman. Migrant worker, Bangladesh, 2012.

During the months of November and December 2012, photographer David Goldman traveled to India and Bangladesh to photograph on assignment for the United Nations Trust Fund To End Violence Against Women annual report. These images, taken from the series, convey the lives of  those he met while visiting four beneficiaries of the fund: the Lawyer’s Collective in Delhi, which works to protect women’s rights; the Karnataka Health Promotion Trust in Bangalore that works to help women report abuse and educates about HIV and who took him to photograph some of the women with whom they work, sex workers known as Devadasi; the Adavasi (an aboriginal Indian population) in Ranchi who have struggled with issues of acceptance and equality; and the migrant workers of Dhaka, Bangladesh who have been leaving the country in droves because of poor working conditions.

–Lindsay Comstock

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Tahani, 8, and her husband, Majed, 27, standing outside their home in Hajjah, Yemen, along with Tahani’s former classmate Ghada, 8, and her husband. © Stephanie Sinclair/VII

According to a recent report by the Ford Foundation and the non-profit organization Girls Not Brides, nearly ten million girls under the age of 18 are married each year, often to men who are ten to 20 years their senior. Photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair has been documenting child brides for the last decade in countries like Nepal, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. Her images explore the many issues surrounding the cultural practice including poor reproductive health, social isolation, lack of education and domestic violence. Sinclair’s photos along with multimedia presentations by Jessica Dimmock will be on view at “Too Young to Wed,” an exhibition that opens today to mark the inaugural International Day of the Girl Child. The United Nations Population Fund and VII Photo are using the exhibit, on display in the Vistor’s Lobby at the United Nations in New York City, to launch a campaign to “raise awareness about child marriage, help girls who are already married and ultimately, to end the practice forever.” To learn more about child marriage and the exhibition, which ends November 29, 2012, visit tooyoungtowed.org.

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On March 30, 2012, President Obama enters the South Portico of the White House after arriving on Marine One. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.

In January 2009, photojournalist Pete Souza became the chief official White House photographer for President Barack Obama as well as the director of the White House photography office. Souza, who was also the official White House photographer for President Reagan, began photographing Obama during his first year as a senator and in 2008 published The Rise of Barack Obama. He considers it his primary duty as the official White House photographer to “visually document” Obama’s presidency for the historical record. To that end, he photographs the president in a variety of situations including at meetings, on Air Force One, interacting with his staff and spending time with his family. Tonight the Leica Gallery in New York City will host “The Obama White House,” an exhibition featuring select images of President Obama by Souza. More behind-the-scenes photos from the White House can be seen at www.flickr.com/whitehouse.

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All photos © Hiroki Kobayashi

When the tsunami and earthquake struck Japan last March, Japanese photographer Hiroki Kobayashi was living in New York City. During the months that followed, he relied on news and media outlets to stay up to date on his home country. Yet he still found himself confused about what was happening on the ground, so when an assignment came along that would take him to Japan, he hoped traveling to the northeastern coast would help him better understand the situation. What he saw both surprised and inspired him.

In the town of Minami-Sanriku he met a group of fisherman who had banded together in order to help one another survive. They were all still living in temporary shelters. Yet they were sharing the two remaining fishing boats that were still sea-worthy, and dividing their earnings amongst one another. “Even though these fishermen lost their homes and so much of their livelihood, they look to the future with a positive and inspirational resolve,” Kobayashi says, adding that this optimism is often missing in the news reported by the mainstream media.

The resulting work, “Altered Land,” was recently exhibited at FiveMyles gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Kobayashi’s series “Slave Theater,” which documents a Brooklyn building with a storied history, will be exhibited in Japan next month and the BRIC Rotunda Gallery in 2013.

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