USA: The Big Easy two months after Katrina

New Orleans, USA - October 23, 2005: A somber farewell is hastily scrawled on the side of home in St. Bernard Parish, an area that Hurricane Katrina left almost completely flooded. Due to mold, most of these houses will be demolished, displacing residents and dismantling communities.

USA: Protestors march in Chicago

Chicago, USA - March 10, 2006: Thousands marched through downtown Chicago in protest of The Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437) which, among other things, criminalizes illegal immigrants and anyone who assists them in remaining in the United States.

AFG: Post-war Kabul: Peace at last

Kabul, Afghanistan - July 21, 2006: Two boys play just outside the ruins of King Nadir Shah's tomb near the edge of the city. After more than 20 years of almost constant war, peace is finally a reality again but who knows how long it will last?

AFG: A country rebuilds

Kabul, Afghanistan - August 5, 2006: Refuse litters the ground outside the decimated ruins of a house in Afghanistan's capital. Though a few new houses have been constructed, the neighborhood is still mostly made up of rubble and the burnt skeletons of buildings.

PRC: Life in modern China

Chaolian, China - May 22, 2007: Advertisements for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases dominate the walls in the island village of Chaolian near the modern metropolis of Jiangmen in southern Guangdong Province. Chaolian and other areas in and around Jiangmen are ancestral villages to millions of overseas Chinese living in the United States and other western countries.

PRC: Citizens protest demolition

Hong Kong, China - May 23, 2007: Protestors drape buildings--among the oldest in Hong Kong--in Hong Kong Island's Wan Chai District with yellow banners in condemnation of their planned demolition to make way for a massive new hotel. Space is scarce in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; many old neighborhoods--and even landmarks--face destruction in the name of progress.

ROC: The old men of Ximending

Taipei, Taiwan - June 7, 2007: Two guai yeye ("strange grandfathers") relax in the Ximending neighborhood of the Wanhua District. Many older men--mostly retired soldiers--frequent this trendy shopping center in hopes of soliciting sex from student prostitutes.

ROC: Taipei's former red light district

Taipei, Taiwan - June 7, 2007: Worshippers light joss sticks at Taipei's historic Longshan Temple in Wanhua District. Originally constructed in the early 18th century, it has been repaired and rebuilt numerous times after natural disasters, fires, as well as an attack by American bombers during World War II. Locals still come here to pray and seek guidance while groups of tourists marvel at the architecture.

ROC: Taipei's former red light district

Taipei, Taiwan - June 12, 2007: Two men haggle over the best price for a mobile phone near the Longshan Temple in Wanhua District of Taipei, its former red light district. Local authorities have been cracking down on the trade of stolen goods and prostitution in the area with limited success.

PRC: Hong Kong's electronics market

Hong Kong, China - June 27, 2007: A lightbulb vendor looks on from his booth on Apliu Street, home of one of Hong Kong's most famous flea markets where locals and tourists alike come to purchase electronics and other items.

AFG: Village elders fight for the education of women

Kabul, Afghanistan - July 3, 2007: A village leader from Wardak Province travels to the capital with other elders to pick up supplies destined for a girls' school in their area. Many of their loved ones are teachers at the school and have received anonymous threats from or been attacked by Taliban supporters who oppose the education of women. Kabul-based aid workers could not be guaranteed safe passage to their villages, prompting the elders to make the journey themselves to avoid putting more lives at risk.

AFG: ISAF troops on patrol

Kabul, Afghanistan - July 4, 2007: Local children run to the roadside as French amphibious vehicles rumble out of Kabul. The International Security Assistance Force, originally formed in 2001 to retake the capital from the Taliban, has since been deployed throughout the rest of the country and is still seeing combat.

AFG: Deaf students sit down to their daily lesson

Jalalabad, Afghanistan - July 11, 2007: A school for the deaf gives local children with hearing impairments the opportunity to receive an education and also teaches them skills necessary to overcome their disabilities. Many schools such as this one receive support from both local and international organizations.

PRC: Hong Kong's electronics market

Hong Kong, China - August 6, 2007: Shoppers inspect the latest flat panel LCD monitors at the Golden Computer Centre which mainly sells computers and computer parts. Directly underneath the Centre is the Golden Shopping Arcade which served as the unofficial hub of software piracy in Hong Kong until the illegal trade was shut down by police after the 1997 British handover.

USA: Gary's slow transformation

Gary, Indiana, USA - November 8, 2007: A crumbling church has been scheduled for demolition after standing vigilant in downtown Gary for the better part of the 20th century. The abandoned sanctuary has since become a hotspot for urban explorers and photographers.