Glimpse - Your Stories from Abroad

Runner-up
[Bucharest, Romania] A homeless man in Bucharest displays a picture of Jesus along with a free dinner given to him by a local NGO. His fingers are stained with the silver paint that many of the homeless sniff. The paint suppresses hunger pains and causes sensations of euphoria.

Photo by Taylor Weidman

Runner-up
[Arusha, Tanzania] While studying abroad with the International Honors Program, my group spent two weeks living in a Maasai community in northern Tanzania. During a wedding ceremony, my host brother (pictured) decided that he was going to be the event's de facto photographer.

Photo by Justin Fahey

Runner-up
[San Francisco, United States] This icon of San Francisco, was my favorite subject while I was in the United States from 2005 to 2007. I enjoyed taking pictures of the bridge from wherever it was visible—from Mount Diablo, 50 miles away, and from underneath it during a bay cruise. The view of the bridge from this angle is quite different, enhanced by the clouds and evening sun.

Photo by Vinayak Yardi

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[KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa] Driving along the N2 in the KwaZulu-Natal on a blue-sky day in early fall, I saw a number of cinderblock houses scattered on the dry hills. Most had small corn patches in front and laundry hanging out to dry, but this one was abandoned. The cloud formation in the sky completed the photograph.

Photo by Mila Dunbar-Irwin

Runner-up
[Dehli, India] Entering any location in India with a camera is a very interesting experience. While some people in other cultures fear the lens of a camera, in India I was constantly being asked to take photographs of people. Upon entering the largest Sikh temple in Dehli, a priest named Bangla Sahib approached me and asked if I could take his picture. After snapping the shot, I was surrounded by at least 10 people who wanted to see the image on the LCD screen.

Photo by Sam Powers

Runner-up
[Zanzibar, Tanzania] I spent the latter part of the summer of 2008 backpacking the island of Zanzibar. The small island off the coast of mainland Tanzania is of mixed African and Arab descent, though it is said Italians now privately own about half the island. That may explain where this local fisherman—who spoke English, Italian, and Swahili—got his stylish hat. He wears it while leading tours and fishing in his traditional wooden boat.

Photo by Mike Mian

Runner-up
[Bugembe, Uganda] Every evening, as I headed home from work in Uganda, I passed a night market bustling with activity. As my day came to a close, the day for these hardworking women had barely begun. Women in rural Uganda are both the breadwinners and homemakers, usually receiving little to no help from their husbands.

Photo by Justin Loiseau

Runner-up
[Oxahuey, Peru] In northern Peru during a festival, this motorcyclist delights crowds with an exhibition of jumps and stunts. I was told that he is a local man who moved away to the city, but that he comes back every year to perform his stunts at the festival. The townspeople carried on over him as though he were a rock star.

Photo by Richard Sitler

Runner-up
[Manila, Philippines] George Callaza (center) is a 21-year-old Filipino who has spent much of the last five years in jail, despite never having been convicted of a crime. In the Philippines, prisons are so crowded that the average case lasts four to six years. George’s cell is packed to 250 percent of its capacity.

Photo by Taylor Weidman

Runner-up
[Westland National Park, New Zealand] After three hours of scrambling up slippery cliffs, hurdling giant roots, and forging icy mountain streams in New Zealand’s Westland National Park, I was finally gifted with the view of the entire valley. My friends, hundreds of feet below, were clambering up the icy face of Franz Josef Glacier.

Photo by Wren Alberston-Rogers

Runner-up
[Agra, India] This photo was taken just outside the fabled Taj Mahal in India. While walking the grounds surrounding it, I noticed this woman in front of me. I stopped, held up my camera, and asked her permission to take her portrait. The beggar’s face provided a stark contrast to the opulence of the nearby mausoleum.

Photo by Ashley West

Runner-up
[El Tatio, Chile] The best time to observe the geysers of El Tatio is at the break of dawn. The hot vapor rising from the ground in El Tatio gives the impression that the earth is alive, breathing. The largest geyser field in the Southern Hemisphere, El Tatio is a tourist attraction, as well as a site of spiritual importance for the Atacameños, the region's indigenous people. Unbeknownst to many tourists, El Tatio is also at the center of a long-running debate. While energy companies seek to exploit the geysers' geothermal potential, local activists fear that this would slowly kill the geysers altogether, leaving the area without its all-important source of tourist income.

Photo by Saila Huusko

Runner-up
[Buenos Aires, Argentina] This picture was taken at the San Telmo Antique Fair in Buenos Aires. One of the most popular items for sale are antique seltzer bottles, and they can be found all over the city. In many of Buenos Aires’ cafés, you can order a “soda water” and you will get a personal siphon bottle to drink from.

Photo by Nicole Sapiro

Runner-up
[London, United Kingdom] While observing the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, I was more taken by the diversity of the crowd than by the actual event. Commonly known as the melting pot of the world, London is home to a vast array of people with different traditions, backgrounds, and beliefs.

Photo by Daniel Clutter
 

Runner-up
[Baghdad, Iraq] Faisel Mohammed, 14, juggles a soccer ball beneath the Jahadriyah bridge on Baghdad's Aaras Island in June 2009. Residents of the small Tigris River island were gripped by soccer fever last season as they followed the Iraqi National Football Team to the Asia Football Confederation championship game, where they left victorious.

Photo by Daniel Britt

Runner-up
[Paris, France] Preening, this pigeon appears headless above a browning apple core in the streets of Paris. Taken on Bastille Day, this picture truly provokes a thousand revolutionary words. The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 is the symbolic event that marks the beginning of the French Revolution. While parades and countless other frivolities occurred elsewhere in the city, this headless pigeon marched alone, a morbid reminder of the tens of thousands of French citizens beheaded at the guillotine during the Reign of Terror as the gallant Revolution imploded upon itself.

Photo by Mitchell Bloom

Runner-up
[Brussels, Belgium] The summer flowers have gone and the outdoor café tables are damp with rain, but the cold months in Brussels have their charms. In this shot, taken at the end of October, the evening lights come out to play on the stones of the glistening square.

Photo by Liat Noten

Runner-up
[Huayllarccocha, Peru] Ernesto is one of over 40 students at Cafe Social Yuraq Ch'aska, a small one-room schoolhouse with just one professor in the rural town of Huayllarccocha, on the outskirts of Cusco, Peru. Ernesto is fluent in both Spanish and Quechua, as are all of the children in his community, and is currently studying hard to learn English, so that he may travel to the United States when he's older. In the meantime, Ernesto works on his family's potato farm, where his cheeks have become chapped by the strong winds of the mountainous region.

Photo by Sarah Gormley

Runner-up
[Freetown, Sierra Leone] This man came up asking, “Wetin?” to the crowd after scoring in the final round of a local soccer game. “Wetin” is a native Krio word, meaning “what,” and was meant to rile up the crowd. I had come to the game to see the White Lions, a team of teenage boys no older than 19 years old from the Wellington Orphanage, where I was volunteering. Every player on the White Lions had been orphaned during Sierra Leone's civil war during the 1990s. The man pictured was from the opposing team.

Photo by Katie Sasser

Runner-up
[Cuan Di Xia, China] In the Taihangshan Mountains lies the quiet Ming dynasty village of Cuan Di Xia. I followed this man as he navigated the narrow alleys and stairwells linking the various courtyard homes before reaching this point. The sign on the wall reads: “Highest area in Cuan Di Xia straight ahead.” Already exhausted, the man must now decide if he still wants to continue onward.

Photo by Nicholas Steiner

Runner-up
[Damaraland, Namibia] In Namibia, I visited the Himba tribespeople in the village of Kamanjab. There, I assisted in the milking ceremony and the smoke bath. The villagers taught me about their beliefs, ancestors, and herbal medicines. I learned that their jewels and hairstyles were symbols to indicate tribe status.

Photo by Romulo Rejon

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[Manarola, Italy] Wandering down a stony path, I discovered this weekend vintner harvesting grapes from cliffside vineyard cascading to the Ligurian Sea.

Photo by Connie Gomez

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[Kampala, Uganda] I took this photo on one of the last days I spent in Kampala. I had a local friend named Jamal who played soccer near our house, and I was watching him play. Seeing my camera, many children ran up to me and began to pose for photos. These two brothers stood on the sidelines, not noticing me, as they watched their older brother’s game.

Photo by Charith Norvelle

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[Prague, Czech Republic] I regularly crossed Charles Bridge on my way through Prague, often stopping to look at some of the art for sale in the little tourist stalls. It’s usually a busy place, but this morning, the fog had kept most people indoors, it seems. Though it had been foggy for a couple of days, this morning was exceptionally spectacular, with warm tones of the sun shining through the thick, swirling mist.

Photo by Paul Cook

Runner-up
[Paris, France] While visiting Paris, I carried my camera with me religiously, looking for interesting content to photograph in the streets. In the Esplanade des Invalides I noticed a father and son flying a kite together. The child managed to get the kite stuck on a lamppost, and I began photographing when the father mounted and scaled the tall post to untangle the kite for his son.

Photo by Dustin Keirns

Runner-up
[Machu, Picchu] My exploration of Machu Picchu, the famous Incan ruins, commenced at 3 a.m. with a rigorous uphill hike. The idea was to see the site before it was overwhelmed by tourists. While my friends and I succeeded in being among the first tourists to arrive that morning, it was obvious that other inhabitants had staked a claim to the land long before us. Dozens of alpacas—cousins of the llama—eyed us curiously, perhaps annoyed that we were disturbing their peace.

Photo by Katy Fiedler

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[Masaka, Uganda] At Masaka Primary School in Uganda, children pray in their own way, often together in large groups. Coming from the hills surrounding the main road, more than half the students commute up to three miles from home. The rest live in the bunkhouses that were built through the school’s relationship with Good Samaritan Ministries, a non-profit located in Beaverton, Oregon.

Photo by Zachary Krahmer

Runner-up
[Gao, Mali] I took this photo from a small canoe in northern Mali. I was with two Songhia men, searching for hippopotamus south of Gao in the Niger river. At midday, the hippos were showing us nothing more than distant bubbles. This woman immediately caught my eye as she sat in the mud, washing away in a proud, confident, meditative state, ignoring our presence completely.

Photo by Jared Alden

Runner-up
[Miranda, Venezuela] Cacique Jesus Tereso Sánchez devoted 68 years of his life to one of Venezuela's most important cultural events, a procession to honor the Virgin of Coromoto. Every Sunday after Ash Wednesday, Jesus Tereso Sanchez put on his crest of plumes—which weighed about 22 pounds—mounted his horse, and presided over a procession of more than 3,000 pilgrims. Cacique Jesus Tereso Sánchez passed away on July 7, 2009 at the age of 84.

Photo by Pedro Moreno

Special thanks to our contest sponsor, Amigos de las Américas!