Smithsonian Magazine (2 of 3)

José Antonio Martínez: José is an accomplished businessman who is obsessed with photography. This obsession drove him to sell his business and devote his life to photography. He earned his fame from becoming a portraitist, street photographer, and architectural photography. On the side, he created a series based on birds. This series is completely different than his previous work, but his style and energy remains the same.

Pilar Belmonte: Pilar's body of work, about her young son during his life-threatening episode with encephalitis, is very moving. She said the effort to record his struggle “kept me grounded, steady, focused.” Her other images were taken later, but still infused with a surreal quality that connected easily with the others. She shot this series in black and white to keep the message pure and not let the colors distract from the somber message.

Farzana Wahidy:

"In 2001, I created a humanitarian organization in Afghanistan called Aina, meaning “mirror.” The main goal of Aina was to empower local women, especially in media. We created Aina Photo to train local females (and males too) to become the first Afghan photojournalists. Farzana was one of the first, in 2002; she was one of 15 we picked from more than 500 people who applied. She was young, 17 or 18. At first her father was hesitant, but we convinced him that it would be a good thing for her to do. She had spent her life living under the Taliban; she knew what that meant for Afghan women, and she understood that she could tell their stories in photographs. Her main teacher was Manoocher Deghati, who is now Mideast photo editor for the Associated Press. She worked very hard and eventually became the first female photographer in Afghanistan to work with international media like the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. Farzana is telling the story of Afghanistan from the inside." -Smithsonian, Reza


I think Pilar shoots in color because the vibrant textiles and colors better represent this culture.