Latest Photo Essay News - Frontline

The fishermen who go for deep-sea fishing are the most valiant among the marine fishing communities inhabiting the coasts of Kanyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram. Their predecessors used to set sail in all seasons on the Arabian Sea even before the arrival of GPS and wireless communication.

Human Struggles

Men at sea: The untethered lives of deep-sea fisherfolk

For the fisherfolk of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, earning a living often means sailing on the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal for months on end.

The search for gold early in the morning in Guru Bazar.

In the lanes of Amritsar’s Guru Bazar, a gold rush like no other

A community of sweepers separate the gold particles from the dust and sell it back to the jewellers.

Mind’s eye: How O.P. Sharma’s pictorialist approach and innovative darkroom methods redefined photography

Sharma’s retrospective at Triveni Kala Sangam showcases a career that transformed photography from documentation to high art.

A sea of memories: How sixteen fisherwomen capture their drowning world

As tides devour villages, 16 women with cameras fight to save their vanishing heritage. An exhibition in Chennai showcases their startling images.

Mridula Vijayarangakumar

The Indonesian island of Sumba can often be defined by its endless limestone hills and an arid soil where little vegetation can grow. As the climate grows warmer, water is getting increasingly scarce.

Sumba: Weaving together past and present

The people of the Indonesian island combat the impact of climate change on livelihoods by taking up weaving and exporting traditional textiles.

Boris R. Thebia

Say cheese, big kitty

Tiger safaris have become less about appreciating the big cats than about getting the perfect click for social media.

Manipur on the boil again

A drone attack by militants on Manipur’s Koutruk village on September 1 marks a phase of escalation of conflict after a relative lull of four months.

Ningthoujam Victor

More stories from Photo Essay

A view of Habba Khatoon Peak from Dawar in Gurez Valley.

Kashmir: The changing face of Gurez Valley

This once-pristine valley near the LoC has been marred by tourism.

Three Indian grey wolves at play in Karnataka.

Howling for change: How the plight of Indian grey wolves challenges conservation norms

Survival of the wolves, which are rarer than Bengal tigers, hinges on a delicate balance with pastoralist communities in mixed-use landscapes.

Iravatee Majgaonkar,Abi Tamim Vanak

By the very clear crisp direct Venetian light you become devoted to. Your theatre life cannot resist the clothesline hanging above your head that breaks the blue of the almost spring sky with a backlit red.

Venetian affair

The light in Venice teases and tempts the photographer, makes them look inwards.

Two women draped in customary robes. The photo gallery provided detailed insights into the cultural tapestry of Lamka.

From Lamka, with love: Art show brings Manipur town’s life and colours to Delhi

An exhibition at India International Centre brings Lamka’s vibrant culture to life through a diverse array of paintings, photographs, and textiles.

Vedaant Lakhera

Dark, unfathomable, murky, the Yamuna is still “our river” for the people living on its flood plains. It continues to nourish and nurture the ungrateful city.

And unquiet flows the Yamuna

The river might be on the verge of dying, but it leads parallel lives in the beliefs, legends, and historical structures it birthed.

A grey heron broods in a river divided by shrimp-farming nets, which mark many other waterbodies of Kerala. Thalassery, Kannur.

Silent SOS

Wetland and mangrove birds now forage among plastic waste in urban areas because their natural habitats are all but gone.

Hunter from the Mirshikar community, Bihar The Mirshikars are traditionally hunters and trappers of birds and small animals. Spread across parts of north India and Bihar, they are known to have taught the art of hunting to Mughal rulers. The hunters paint their faces and wear feather headdresses and bones to resemble animals and birds—a visual likeness to the hunted counts as an advantage in hunting. They also mimic the calls and scents of birds and animals to trap them. The hunting skills of the Mirshikars point to the centrality of meat consumption in human evolution. After all, the earliest humans were hunter-gatherers.

Bone connection

Animals inhabited the earth long before we did, and yet we have usurped their space. This series explores our relationship with the non-human beings.

Asha Thadani,Anusua Mukherjee

The dargah gets decked up with yellow mustard flowers.

Spring in the step

On Basant Panchami, the Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya dargah in Delhi becomes a riot of yellow as it celebrates the arrival of spring and renewal of hope.

Truckloads of coal pass through the MCL’s Bharatpur open cast mines

Coal chronicles

As India strides towards green energy, Angul’s miners, dispossessed of land and now livelihood, grapple with the bitter legacy of progress.

Jennifer Kishan

Anandars, stand in line with vessels and await the holy water to be poured into the Pongal pot, marking the beginning of the sacred Pongal ritual.

A Pongal unlike any other: Celebrating unity beyond caste and creed in Meivazhi Salai

The Tamil harvest festival served as a poignant event wherein unity and diversity were at the forefront of the celebrations.

Prasanna in Mangaluru.

Journey of love

An all-India march organised by the Indian People’s Theatre Association aims to counter hate with humanity.

Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed

Trapped in hell: In the coal mines of Jharia in Jharkhand, 400,000 people work for 17 to 18 hours a day, slogging under hazardous conditions. Most of them are Dalits belonging to Turi, Rajuar, and Ghasi sub-tribes. Their poverty makes them easy targets for rogue operators running illegal mines. In absolute disregard of labour laws, children, some of them not even 10 years old, are made to work alongside their parents in the mines, where safety measures are non-existent.

Invisible lives

A documentation of India’s disadvantaged Dalit communities, and their unseen labour. Text by Ramjee Chandran and photographs by Asha Thadani.

Asha Thadani,Ramjee Chandran

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