The most INCREDIBLE photos of 2012

[basanti<<<]

"For a long time I had been thinking of a way to illustrate the rising cost of gasoline in Italy. But I was looking for something different than the usual shot of the filling station with its list of prices above the pump.

After a long period of no luck and many miles travelled on my scooter, I came across this scene in the Roman countryside. My first instinct was to help the woman push her classic Fiat 500 but after a few seconds I instead grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots. I then helped the woman push her car but it was almost as if I was walking on air because I felt inside of me that the ingredients of the picture were perfect."

[basanti<<<]

"This was part of a 10-day press tour to North Korea on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late leader Kim Il-sung. A tour to the facilities of this university was arranged for a small group of journalists. I saw young women leave the pool and was intrigued by their old-fashioned swimwear. I decided to wait for someone to come out of the water again. Luckily, I also got an attendant in the frame. She had taken us there and stood by herself at that moment."

[basanti<<<]

"I arrived in Italy to cover the Costa Concordia story not even knowing for sure if I would go to Giglio Island and shoot or if I was needed to stay in Rome and help with the editing. After landing, I learned that I would be heading straight to the Tuscan coastal city Porto Santo Stefano to catch a ferry to Giglio Island to help out with the coverage of the bizarre shipwreck tragedy which claimed over 20 lives.

After spending several days and nights photographing the cruise liner and rescue efforts from different places and different times in the company of several other photographers and television cameramen, I decided to wait for the right moment so that I could trek out alone across a rugged section of rocky coastline where I had not yet ventured. To my surprise I saw a lone television cameraman in the distance filming what appeared to be items that had washed ashore. I waited until he finished filming to go any closer, not wanting to disturb his image or audio of the scene.
Not until I got closer, after traversing a very steep rocky section and down to the water level, did I see the COSTA CONCORDIA inscription on the bench which must have washed ashore during the night with the tide. I was carrying only minimal equipment due to the difficulty of the trek to the location, and the lighting was harsh mid-day sunlight so I decided to shoot in RAW and hope that it would help me be able to maintain detail in the highlights and the shadows which were several f-stops different from each other."

[basanti<<<]

"The house of the Rose family in an alley of the Brasilandia favela didn't appear on my taxi's GPS, and we got lost in the dark maze. I had to wait for a more decent hour closer to 5am before phoning them for help. With their directions, I finally reached the top of a steep alley, and found myself practically inside a "boca de fumo," best described as an open air crack den. It wasn't until the father, Ivo, quickly rushed to meet me and spoke to one of the addicts, that I heard the words, "Taxi free to pass." I was relieved.

We hiked downhill through two steep alleys to reach their house. In the living room, their three mute children, Samille, 9, Dhones, 7, and Izabely, 6, were sitting in a row on a red felt-covered sofa, in front of a wall covered with green and brown mold. The scene struck me as both sad and beautiful."

[basanti<<<]

"It was a quieter evening than in hectic Dhaka. The gentle breeze of spring surrounded the cold atmosphere of the small town of Tangail, a town in the north east of Bangladesh. A small walk through a calm neighborhood took me to a place which looked similar to any of the country's slums.

The bright tungsten lights of grocery shops and the high volume of Bangladeshi pop music from the tea stalls mesmerize the whole area. Between those stalls, the alleyways on the other side of wide drains are dark. Following my fixer I suddenly found myself inside one of those narrow lanes, where young girls with heavy makeup and colorful clothes were lined up. The girls of different ages, though mostly teenagers, try to draw the attention of men by laughing, chuckling and pulling their hands.

The neighborhood of around one hundred buildings with more than 800 small rooms is one of the 14 official brothels of Bangladesh but is in essence a prison for around 900 sex workers. The young sex workers of this brothel must serve at least 10-15 customers each day. Being a "Chukri' or bonded girl, they are bound to follow the orders of their Sardarni (House owners, who were once prostitutes, purchase girls to run their business).

"When I first took a customer, I didn't realize what was going to happen. He raped me again and again. It was bleeding severely and I was crying. I didn't have any idea what sex is," said Hashi, who has been working as a prostitute since she was 10.

"I used to serve customers one after another during the whole day. I don't know how many, but I guess I had to serve around 20-25 customers in a day. I found at least four to five customers waiting in front of my room after waking up in the morning," said Hashi inside the brothel.

[basanti<<<]

"Magnitogorsk, a city in the Chelyabinsk Oblast of Russia, is one of the largest metallurgical industrial centers in the world. It was built in the 1930's to use the high concentration of iron ore found in the "Magnetic Mountain" nearby. Other than the metal industry, the city is famous for being located half in Asia and half in Europe.
I happened to be there during the annual "Day of the Metal Worker" holiday which is celebrated with much enthusiasm by the local population on the third Sunday of July. The MMK (Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works) plant is the main local employer, in fact the city would not exist without it. I went to one of the highest points in the city to find a general view of the plant, and here I found locals enjoying the sunset and their yearly holiday looking over the smoking chimneys."

[basanti<<<]

"When on the campaign trail, I'm looking for moments away from the candidates - there are only so many images you can make of someone holding a microphone. So, you look for reactions, or some of the more subtle nuances; a button, a sign. U.S. presidential candidates engage the public in retail politics, and this is sometimes what you get.
I saw this family and set up next to them. Rick Santorum began working the room, shaking hands and signing autographs. This family had come to the restaurant to have lunch and did not know that a presidential candidate would be there. The scrum moved through the room, and I broke off to photograph this family, and this woman, who said afterwards that she just wanted to enjoy her clam chowder."

[don99]

very good find... repz error

[sanam_sanam]

thanks for sharing............

[basanti<<<]

"The very first picture I took for this series was the deceased body of Tara Sharma Phuyal lying on her hospital bed where she took her last breath after giving birth to her baby girl. One of the family members who was protesting led me to Tara's husband who was lying on the bed in the same hospital. When I queried what happened to him, I was told after hearing the news of his wife's death he went into shock, lost consciousness and had to be admitted to the hospital.
I felt really sad for Khilnath and his newly born daughter. This could have been the happiest day in their life but it was not. I was told by angry family members who were protesting that Tara died because of the hospital's carelessness, that she died because of excessive bleeding and while she was screaming on her bed the staff didn't react despite her frequent calls for help.

I was shocked and really touched by what I heard. All the time I was thinking about the baby girl and Khilnath Phuyal who is a teacher by profession. I called one of the family members later and received the number of Khilnath but he had left Kathmandu for the cremation of his wife. I was told he would be back after 13 days from his village. I waited and called him after the 13 days. His voice sounded very weak. I asked him about his baby girl. He told me she was still in the hospital and he was confused about what to do. I realized then how important a mother is for a newborn baby.

I still have not finished with this story. I don't know the end of the story but I hope these pictures bring some improvement to maternity health, especially in Nepal where it is desperately needed."

[basanti<<<]

"It was just after sunset and besides the constant and deafening roar of revving engines it was a perfect warm summer's evening in the rural Fraser Valley of British Columbia. The din of unmuffled engines was all part of a photo story I was working on at a local stock car racetrack during their popular Saturday Night at the Races. While cautiously making my way through several cars lining up for the next race, I took a quick look over my shoulder to make sure the coast was clear behind me then turned back preparing for a picture I wanted.
Wait a minute! And I quickly looked back again. There, seemingly out of nowhere, stood a Princess. In a flowing turquoise gown and a tiara on her head, there stood a young lady waiting to cross the pit lane. It was an unusual sight to say the least, considering the surroundings. I took a few photos of the Princess standing all alone then had to scamper out of the way as a mean sounding stock car moved in my direction on its way onto the course. I later learned the young lady was the evening's presenter of trophies to the winning drivers and had decided to dress in regal fashion as part of her duties

[basanti<<<]

"The accident happened in Shuangxi, Fujian province, when the steel bars accidentally broke and popped out from a machine, piercing the worker's body. The worker was sent to a hospital in Hangzhou, as the operation could not be done at a local hospital. The surgery started around nine hours after the accident and after more than five hours of surgery, was a success.
This photo was taken during the first phase of the operation, to shorten the steel bars, as the firefighter advised on how to dissect them. Co-workers helped to hold the bars with pliers and used a steel carving machine under the supervision of doctors. The doctors and medical staff provided medicine to the worker and used salt water to lower the temperature of the steel bars. After the bars were shortened, the worker was moved to an operating room where the remaining pieces were removed from his body."

[basanti<<<]

"Indian matters in my country are always a constant subject in the media, with the majority of the news being about conflict over land ownership and Indian rights within the law. I always thought that the majority of Brazilian Indians had a strong desire to be integrated into urban society, watch TV, movies, drink cold water, and use cell phones. But after coexisting with Yawalapiti Indians for a few days I realised that this wasn't the case. When I reached the village a cacique named Aritana immediately authorized me to photograph their village, but I soon realized that I also had to convince the rest of the tribe. I spent the first day just trying to become one more of the community, and getting to understand how they lived, what they did, and how they were organized.
I suffered the anguish of missing wonderful images because I knew that first I had to gain their confidence without the aggression of photographing. I had to show them that I knew the difference between intimacy and privacy. In that way many of them understood that I was a friend, and not an intruder. I did make friends and conversed with some to try and understand them better. I earned the nickname of Banana, for the bunches of bananas that I carried with me to their village. I also gained the confidence of many children, who followed me wherever I went. They loved to play in the trees, and during the hottest time of the day they played in the nearby river."

[basanti<<<]

"I was photographing the Greek section of a worldwide project on the 'Jobless generation'. Through a colleague I found Manolis Ouranos, a young Athenian who had studied civil engineering but ended up working as a cook in a small tavern. Manolis was wandering around the tavern clearly nervous about the presence of my cameras. At some point I had asked him to show me his work area, the light came from a window on the side of the super small kitchen. Manolis seemed comfortable but at the same time pensive, this was the decisive moment."

[basanti<<<]

"This was taken during a rally marking 'Land Day' in East Jerusalem. Each year there are rallies across Israel and the Palestinian Territories marking "Land Day," which commemorates the killing by Israeli security forces of six Arabs in 1976 during protests against government plans to confiscate land in northern Israel's Galilee region.
The protesters began throwing stones toward Israeli police on the scene. Police forces responded with tear gas and pepper spray. The man in the picture was sprayed with pepper spray and then detained."