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World of Water  
(276 images)

  • Africa, DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Kivu, Makabola. Statistics show that a woman is raped every minute in the Congo. These atrocious attacks are considered an on-going ìweapon of warî committed by rebels and even local police and militants. The women and young girls in these areas find themselves most vulnerable when simply performing the necessary but isolating chore of gathering wood and water in the forest for their families. Often they become impregnated and are then abandoned by their husbands and family.<br /> Ishimalanga Nabugamba suffered physical abuse, lost most of her family members and all her property during the war. Women for Women International has helped train thousands of women in work skills programs to help regain their dignity through financial stability and a sense of community with micro-loans and the merry-go-round program where women pool their money together and take turns receiving the pot at the end of the month. <br /> Ishimalanga, shown here with her fishing boat on Lake Tanganyika where she learned to fish, bought a large fishing net with her proceeds. She hopes she can pass this skill on to her children. Through the help she received through Women for Women International she feels that she now has a sense of purpose and hope in her life.
    Africa, DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Kivu, Makabola....
  • Iceland, Jokulsarlon, Glacier lagoon. Skaftafell National Park. Iceland, lying just below the Arctic Circle, is one of the fastest-warming places on the earth. According to the Daily Climate, the 300 some glaciers that cover 10 percent of the island are losing an average of 11 billion tons of ice a year. On this assignment I had just traveled Iceland and Greenland by ship photographing the various incarnations of ice in all its magnificence. Once off the ship I drove across Iceland and one evening ended up in “Iceberg Alley.” I watched as this iceberg flipped over and for the next three and a half hours photographed this ever-changing scene as the sun played out its captivating lightshow.
    Iceland, Jokulsarlon, Glacier lagoon. Skaftafell National Park....
  • Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Woman in palm tree over the ocean.
    Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Woman in palm tree over...
  • Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Couple in Ithaa underwater restaurant (MR).
    Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Couple in Ithaa...
  • Honduras, Roatan Island, Fantasy Island Resort, Caribbean. Overview of 22 acre Fantasy Island from and Inspire drone.
    Honduras, Roatan Island, Fantasy Island Resort, Caribbean. Overview of...
  • Icebergs in the Wendell Sea
    Icebergs in the Wendell Sea
  • Water upon water. Where much of the developing world has no access to clean drinking water there is an endless array of water-based recreation in the west. A solitary man swims in the pool aboard a European cruise ship, one of a dozen pools and Jacuzzis aboard ship, while sailing across the Mediterranean Ocean.
    Water upon water. Where much of the developing world has no access to...
  • Malawi, Cape Maclear. Children jumping from the pier at sunset.
    Malawi, Cape Maclear. Children jumping from the pier at sunset.
  • Mother who lost her three children to the sea when the tsunami hit <br /> Batticola, Sri Lanka<br /> Of the 8,000 residents of Batticaloa, 5,000 died. That’s 60 percent of its population. The once-thriving beach-front village was surrounded by a lagoon so there was nowhere to run when the giant wave hit, just into more water. Saris and clothing were left embedded in the barbed wire set up to protect against wild animals, where many of the bodies were trapped in its grip. A few remnants were scattered: cooking pots, photographs with cracked glass, clocks stopped when the wave hit at 9:22, Buddhist statues which mysteriously remained standing. But mostly there was just rubble. Everywhere had its own ghosts. <br /> <indnt>I viewed the beach, cluttered with personal effects. Human bones had started to wash up. A woman walked alongside me who appeared to be in shock. As I turned to ask if she was all right she began madly gesticulating toward the sea, indicating that it had taken her two children. She, as so many I encountered, now lived with the image of seeing her family swept away and struggled with the profound guilt of being unable to hold onto her children. Beside herself with anguish she attempted to throw herself into the ocean. I pulled her back and held her as she wept. Inconsolable, she buried her face in the sand. Death is certainly more integrated with life in this part of the world, but there was no quantifying the universality of a mother’s pain.
    Mother who lost her three children to the sea when the tsunami hit...
  • Burmese refugees in Phuket, Thailand. Most of the Burmese in Thailand are not allowed refugee status and live in abysmal conditions at Rashada Pier, leaving the children with limited access to schooling and healthcare. This boy is swimming, as many of the children do, in the filthy stagnant water that surrounds their home. The outhouse that is used as their toilet is in back of him.
    Burmese refugees in Phuket, Thailand. Most of the Burmese in Thailand...
  • Fisherman, Granada, Nicaragua.
    Fisherman, Granada, Nicaragua.
  • A boy carries a heavy water jug from the local well at Kakira Sugar Estate Plantation in Jinja District, Uganda, Africa. There is no running water in any of the homes of this poor area where most people work on the affiliated sugar planation. It’s often the children who are sent to the well to fetch the water in whatever containers they can find. The well at least affords them clean drinking water, whereas in many other areas locals are reliant on the often unclean rivers or lakes for drinking water. I was photographing for BRAC, a non-profit focused on micro-finance loan projects in developing countries. In this township they were helping children rise above their circumstances through scholarship programs to attend to school. “The only hope we have,” one mother told me, “is for our children to attend school and have a better life than we have.”
    A boy carries a heavy water jug from the local well at Kakira Sugar...
  • jade island Resort room, with infinity pool and Grand Pitons.
    jade island Resort room, with infinity pool and Grand Pitons.
  • Lissengung Island, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea <br /> This mask was carved by Fabian Pano, a master carver of Malagan ceremonial masks. <br /> Fabian learned this craft from his father who learned from the generations before him. These masks used to be ritualistically burned after a ceremony but there are so few carvers left the masks are now preserved and collected, often by tourists.<br /> I like to photograph people with something that has particular importance to them. Once I asked a Tibetan man if I could photograph him with his wife.<br /> “My wife?! I want to be photographed with my pig,” he told me. Since then I’ve never made assumptions of what has exceptional meaning to someone else.
    Lissengung Island, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea This mask was carved...
  • Floating in the Dead Sea in Jordan.
    Floating in the Dead Sea in Jordan.
  • Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Woman swimming in the ocean and the back deck of the water villa.
    Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Woman swimming in the...
  • School collecting water in buckets during rain storm. Kyondo, Rakai, Uganda, Africa.
    School collecting water in buckets during rain storm. Kyondo, Rakai,...
  • India, Agra. The challenge lay before me: how does one photograph an image as iconic as the Taj Mahal that’s been photographed so many times before and make it my own? My solution was to hire a small boat to bring me across the Yamuna River to the backside every morning. Here on the river village life unfolds in the early dawn as fisherman emerge with their nets, locals perform their early morning ablutions, animals come to drink and sadhus take their holy dip, all with the exquisite Taj Mahal almost as a forgotten back-drop.
    India, Agra. The challenge lay before me: how does one photograph an...
  • Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Woman in the infinty pool near the ocean. (MR)
    Maldives, Rangali Island. Conrad Hilton Resort. Woman in the infinty...
  • Honduras, Roatan Island, Fantasy Island Resort, Caribbean. Overview of 22 acre Fantasy Island from and Inspire drone.
    Honduras, Roatan Island, Fantasy Island Resort, Caribbean. Overview of...

  • BRAC PROJECT, Agricultural project in Fungafunga, Morogoro, women working in kitchen garden fields to sell vegetables in the local market. Rehema Aux keeps her head dry from the rain with a bucket. Morogoro, Tanzania, Africa.
    BRAC PROJECT, Agricultural project in Fungafunga, Morogoro, women...
  • Fisherman at dawn with cormorants, Li River, Yangshuo, China. <br /> I’ve photographed a series of books for National Geographic Traveler on London, Great Britain and China. I love book projects because they give me more opportunity to explore the various aspects of a country in depth, but that can bring it’s own set of challenges. For the Great Britain books I have to admit that my rental car didn’t fare too well after weeks of driving on roads in the opposite side of what I’m used to. I lost the side-view mirror on the first day. <br /> I love traveling in China for its diversity. From the Silk Road, Hong Kong, Mongolia, to its cities that rival New York in population, China is an absolutely massive country to cover. This can create it’s own set of challenges. Despite often using a translator the language barrier sometimes proved somewhat frustrating. Once I missed my train in a rural area and having no sense of pride I yelled out, “Does anyone here speak English?!” A young couple shyly stepped forward and admitted that they had some limited English skills. After extensively photographing me for their Facebook page (a prerequisite for nearly every interaction in China), they kindly helped me to buy a new ticket and gave me their cell phone number in case I need further assistance. Which I did. Often. I soon saw the brilliance of this plan and as I worked my way around this expansive land I collected cell phone numbers from gracious but random people along the way. “Hi, It’s Alison. I met you at a taxi stand. Can you please tell this waiter I’d like my dumplings steamed and not fried?” It certainly gained me a lot of new friends and has made me much more patient with the non-English speaking tourists I’ve since met in New York City. And sometimes they’ll even get my cell phone number.
    Fisherman at dawn with cormorants, Li River, Yangshuo, China. I’ve...
  • TThe Sepik River, Papua New Guinea.<br /> The respect for the river is immense. This is most apparent through the tribe’s reverence of the exquisitely crafted, yet ominously daunting, Sepik spirit houses. Men, especially of this Blackwater region, are isolated for over a month of initiation practices while receiving the crocodile tattooing. The initiates, ranging from adolescent to adults, succumb to sleep deprivation while entering an other-worldly mental state. They partake in feasts and are coached in the secrets of their elders. <br /> After two weeks of rituals the elders inflict deep painful gashes with razor blades into the backs and chests of the men. The bleeding symbolizes the draining of their mother’s blood in order to make them stronger. The open wounds are packed in mud, silt and exposed to smoke, so they will keloid, giving the scars a raised emulation of the crocodile skin. Their scars are a badge of honor and a proud symbol of their finality into manhood.
    TThe Sepik River, Papua New Guinea. The respect for the river is...
  • Papua New Guinea, The Sepik River, Kaminimbit Village. Over 900 km long, the Sepik River forms the largest unpolluted freshwater system in New Guinea. It is also one of the largest and most intact freshwater basins in Asia-Pacific with over 100 species of fish. I made a portrait of this boy among his fishing nets as he was taking a quick swimming break to cool off while fishing with his father from a dug out wooden canoe on the river.
    Papua New Guinea, The Sepik River, Kaminimbit Village. Over 900 km long,...
  • Havana, Cuba<br /> In Cuba, a country devoid of technical distractions, the vibrancy of life spills into the streets. At the end of the day men convene in the streets to play a rowdy game of dominos. Teenagers practice their steps for their upcoming Quinceañera dance, while women gossip and show off their babies. On every street corner children entertain themselves for hours playing baseball with a stick and an old bottle cap. In Havana, much of the local social life is experienced around the Malecon. The main purpose of building this wall in 1901 was to protect the city from rising ocean water, but this esplanade has become a haven for fisherman, a promenade for lovers and a social gathering place for friends.
    Havana, Cuba In Cuba, a country devoid of technical distractions, the...
  • Cultural
    Cultural
  • Fiji, Beqa Lagoon Resort.
    Fiji, Beqa Lagoon Resort.
  • Lijiang, China
    Lijiang, China
  • Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, China. <br /> A solitary Tibetan Yak herder shuttling Chinese tourists back and forth across what appears to be man made-waterfalls. <br /> I’ve photographed a series of books for National Geographic Traveler on London, Great Britain and China. I love book projects because they give me more opportunity to explore the various aspects of a country in depth, but that can bring it’s own set of challenges. For the Great Britain books I have to admit that my rental car didn’t fare too well after weeks of driving on roads in the opposite side of what I’m used to. I lost the side-view mirror on the first day. <br /> I love traveling in China for its diversity. From the Silk Road, Hong Kong, Mongolia, to its cities that rival New York in population, China is an absolutely massive country to cover. This can create it’s own set of challenges. Despite often using a translator the language barrier sometimes proved somewhat frustrating. Once I missed my train in a rural area and having no sense of pride I yelled out, “Does anyone here speak English?!” A young couple shyly stepped forward and admitted that they had some limited English skills. After extensively photographing me for their Facebook page (a prerequisite for nearly every interaction in China), they kindly helped me to buy a new ticket and gave me their cell phone number in case I need further assistance. Which I did. Often. I soon saw the brilliance of this plan and as I worked my way around this expansive land I collected cell phone numbers from gracious but random people along the way. “Hi, It’s Alison. I met you at a taxi stand. Can you please tell this waiter I’d like my dumplings steamed and not fried?” It certainly gained me a lot of new friends and has made me much more patient with the non-English speaking tourists I’ve since met in New York City. And sometimes they’ll even get my cell phone number.
    Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, China. A solitary Tibetan Yak herder...
  • BRAC PROJECT, BRAC kitchen garden. Sallay Mansaray & Tennah Kamara working in the fields. Macomba, Waterloo, Sierra Leone, Africa. I took this photo in Macomba, Sierra Leone while on assignment in Africa for BRAC, an international non-profit that focuses on alleviating poverty through the empowerment of skills training and micro-lending especially for women in developing countries. In this particular project BRAC has donated seeds and watering cans for women to work in kitchen gardens to grow vegetables for their families and sell in the local market as small income generating project.
    BRAC PROJECT, BRAC kitchen garden. Sallay Mansaray & Tennah Kamara...
  • The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival in Allahabad India, occurs every twelve years. In 2013 about 120 million people attended the festival, with 30 million arriving in one day alone, estimating it to be the largest mass gathering of humanity ever. Religious pilgrims and sadhus (holy men) come from all over India, risking the inevitable stampedes, simply for the auspicious act of taking a bath in the holy waters of the sacred Ganges River. Unfortunately, the cleanliness of the river is not as pure as the intent of the religious act itself: the Ganges is the fifth most polluted river in the world.
    The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival in Allahabad India, occurs every twelve...
  • Kumbh Mela, India.
    Kumbh Mela, India.
  • India. The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival in Allahabad India, occurs every twelve years. In 2013 about 120 million people attended the festival, with 30 million arriving in one day alone, estimating it to be the largest mass gathering of humanity ever. Religious pilgrims and sadhus (holy men) come from all over India, risking the inevitable stampedes, simply for the auspicious act of taking a bath in the holy waters of the sacred Ganges River. Unfortunately, the cleanliness of the river is not as pure as the intent of the religious act itself: the Ganges is the fifth most polluted river in the world. Pilgrims crossing the river by bridge
    India. The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival in Allahabad India, occurs every...
  • School collecting water in buckets during rain storm. Kyondo, Rakai, Uganda, Africa.
    School collecting water in buckets during rain storm. Kyondo, Rakai,...
  • Ice swimming in Arctic Finland.
    Ice swimming in Arctic Finland.
  • I took this photo in South Sudan while on assignment in Africa for BRAC, an international non-profit that focuses on alleviating poverty through the empowerment of skills training and micro-lending especially for women in developing countries. South Sudan is currently the newest country the world, burdened by fractioned tribal warfare and its influx of refugees. In fact the country went under siege from neighboring rebels the day that I arrived. I loved the tenacity and resiliency of these children that despite being surrounded by such hardships were still focused on their play and practicing their soccer speed sprinting around these plastic water bottles. Life as it should be for all children world-wide.
    I took this photo in South Sudan while on assignment in Africa for BRAC,...
  • Families living in tarps after the tsunami in Sri Lanka.
    Families living in tarps after the tsunami in Sri Lanka.
  • Children pumping water at the well. Kigulu town, Klobulenzi, Uganda, Africa
    Children pumping water at the well. Kigulu town, Klobulenzi, Uganda, Africa
  • BRAC PROJECT, Felix,a BRAC sponsored student, at home with his 6 bothers and sisters. His mother was a nurse in Khartoum and hasn't been able to work in 3 years. Her husband died 4 years ago and her new husband took in all 7 childen. His job is on hold due to the current fighting. She has 2 children with BRAC, it helps her get by. Water being delivered to his home. Gudele, Juba, South Sudan, Africa,
    BRAC PROJECT, Felix,a BRAC sponsored student, at home with his 6 bothers...
  • Burmese refugees in Phuket, Thailand. Most of the Burmese are not allowed refugee status and live in abysmal conditions at Rashada Pier. They must pay about $150 a month to these slum owners as well as monthly bribes to the police just to live here.
    Burmese refugees in Phuket, Thailand. Most of the Burmese are not...
  • The rat infested slums of Rashad Pier where most of the Burmese refugees live. The water is stagnant and filthy, yet the children are not educated to not swim and play in it.
    The rat infested slums of Rashad Pier where most of the Burmese refugees...
  • Burmese refugees in Phuket, Thailand. Many of the men spend a day, a week or up to a month out at sea on the precarious fishing boats, earning about $200 a month, while the women work at the port or at home scaling and sorting fish.
    Burmese refugees in Phuket, Thailand. Many of the men spend a day, a...
  • Africa, DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo, S. Kivu, Katana. Women for Women project. Children fetching water.
    Africa, DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo, S. Kivu, Katana. Women...
  • Fiji,Taveuni island beach.
    Fiji,Taveuni island beach.
  • Vancouver Aquariam, Canada.
    Vancouver Aquariam, Canada.
  • Couple jumping in the water after getting married at Jade Mountain Resort, St. Lucia.
    Couple jumping in the water after getting married at Jade Mountain...
  • Nicaragua, Granada, paddle boarding at Jicaro Lodge.
    Nicaragua, Granada, paddle boarding at Jicaro Lodge.
  • Koi fish pond, Japan.
    Koi fish pond, Japan.
  • The Seychelles.
    The Seychelles.
All content © 1987-2022 Alison Wright. Any unauthorized reproduction or licensing of these photographs is in violation of U.S. and international copyright law.