A picture from a recent assignment for MIT News was used as the homepage for MIT on Dec. 12, 2011. The image teases a story on Dr. Antonio Torralba's work to develop image-interpreting artificial intelligence.

Education Week is rapidly becoming a favorite client. Their assignments always cover interesting subjects and the editors (Nicole and Charlie) love to see creative takes on those subjects. Most recently, I traveled in Smithfield, Rhode Island, to photograph urban school children on a nature walk at an Audubon site. You can see a few images from the shoot in the recent work section of this website or in my archive.

I get sidetracked into thinking of my photos only in the context of newsstand papers and magazines, so I'm always happy to find unconventional uses for them. One of my pictures, from Showdown Ski Area in central Montana, was featured in this year's Winter Guide (available in hotels and tourist locations in the Western US and as a free PDF) published by the Montana Office of Tourism. You can see other images from Showdown in my archive or elsewhere on this site.

A selection of my images from the Occupy Boston demonstrations has been featured on SocialDocumentary.net. I've gotten to know SDN founder Glenn Ruga since moving to Boston, where he's also the executive director of the Photographic Resource Center, and he thought the images would be a good fit for the site. You can see more images from Occupy Boston at my archive here: coverage of the Occupy Boston demonstrations

I recently photographed an intriguing story for the Wall Street Journal. The article focused on a small, family-run motel in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, that is the center of a legal battle using federal asset forfeiture laws to seize private property. The laws were intended to be used to fight drug cartels, but conservative legal activists are targeting the motel--the cheapest place to stay for miles around--as a piece of property linked to crimes. The police are called to the motel periodically, mostly domestic violence and small drug offenses, and the legal challenge would use those small crimes to seize the property. The motel owner, whose father built the place in the 1950s, now stands to lose his business, despite not being charged with any crimes. You can read the story here. My pictures were used in print (including on the front page!), in a slideshow accompanying the article online, and at the Wall Street Journal's photo blog Photo Journal (screenshot above). Thanks, as always, to Matt and the rest of the crew at the Journal's photo desk.

I've been photographing the Occupy Boston demonstrations on and off over the past few weeks, and Michael over BagNewsNotes was interested enough in my images to feature and discuss one such picture, of a protester holding the "Don't Tread on Me" Gadsden flag while protesting outside one of downtown Boston's high-rises. The discussion hinges on what initially drew me to make the picture: the protester is using a flag most recently associated with the Tea Party movement and in so doing conflates big banks with oppressive government. You can see more images of the Occupy Boston protests at my archive: Coverage of Occupy Boston

Virtual Education Targets Rise of Autism About a month after visiting DC for portfolio meetings, I got an email from Charlie at Education Week with my first assignment for the publication. For a story in a package on the use of technology in education for students with special needs, I photographed Jack Ursitti, a seven-year-old with autism who uses an iPad for language learning and leisure activities. I spent a couple of hours with Jack as he worked with a therapist and teacher at his home outside of Boston. The story is behind Education Week's paywall, though you can see an excerpt here: Virtual Education Targets Rise of Autism You can see more pictures from the shoot at my archive: Education Week - Jack Ursitti - Virtual Education Targets Rise of Autism or at the recent work section of this website: Outtakes: Education Week – Virtual Education Targets Rise of Autism

I was happy to get a phone call a few weeks ago from Nicole at Education Week for an assignment in Rhode Island as part of the publication's September 11th coverage this year. You can read the story online at Education Week's website: For Muslim Students, Life Changed After Sept. 11 More pictures from the shoot can be seen in my archive: Education Week - Shayreen Izoli - For Muslim Students, Life Changed After Sept. 11 or in the recent work section of my website: Outtakes: Education Week – For Muslim Students, Life Changed After Sept. 11

Right before my recent travel across the US, I got a call from Erica at The Chronicle of Higher Education for a couple of assignments in New Hampshire for a story on the increasing role of online degrees at traditional universities. In the past few years, Southern New Hampshire University has increased its online offerings, and it has been a boon for the school. Now the school has students worldwide, earning fully-accredited degrees primarily online. For the shoot, I spent an evening at home with the Fiore family, two full-time-working parents and their young child, as Dan and Jennifer finished coursework for a mathematics course at SNHU. The next day, I met up with SNHU president Paul LeBlanc for portraits at the university's College of Online and Continuing Education offices in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. It was a fun shoot, and you can see the photos used by the publication and the story online at the Chronicle's website: Online Venture Energizes Vulnerable College You can see more images from the shoots at my archive: Chronicle of Higher Education - Online Venture Energizes Vulnerable College - Study at home and Chronicle of Higher Education - Online Education - SNHU President Paul LeBlanc

I couldn't be more excited that the two pictures below from Harbin's Siberian Tiger Park appear in a new documentary for Current TV's Vanguard television series (view the trailer above, or here if you can't see the embedded video). The episode, "Tiger Farms," focuses on the illegal trade of tiger parts and products with footage from China, India, and Burma. It's an issue close to own interests--see my work on China's zoos and an extended take of pictures from the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park--and I'm glad to see it get such an in-depth treatment. How the pictures came to be in the documentary is an interesting story. More than a year ago, I received an email out of the blue from a Vanguard producer asking if I could share any information about tiger zoos. They'd seen my work on my website and wanted to get video of some of the things I'd photographed. I let them know what I knew (which wasn't much...they got much better access than I ever had) and wished them well. But, early this summer I got another email from a producer asking if they could use my pictures. When their crews traveled to the Harbin park, the vat of tiger bone wine, seen in my pictures below, was nowhere to be found. They wanted to show evidence of the wine being displayed in a public place in China, and I had it. A little back and forth negotiation on fees and terms, and voila, my pictures showed up on television. Check your local listings for when the show will be broadcast in your area. They've been playing it on Current TV at least once a week lately.