Instagram is gaining a more prominent role in reporting what’s going on around the world, including remote areas and conflict zones. Journalists, especially photojournalists, are using the photo-sharing app to share their correspondences with the world. This behavior is raising valid ethical concerns … but it’s also producing some fascinating snapshots, and following some of these newsmakers on Instagram is a good way to fold some global awareness into your Feed.
Here are five of the most interesting journalists on Instagram:
David Guttenfelder
David Guttenfelder is the AP’s chief Asia photographer, and he has special access to the DPRK. He captures photos through his iPhone and shares them on Instagram, and they’re a compelling mix of mundane, day-to-day life tinged by an underlying sense of deep isolation. Guttenfelder’s camera doesn’t excessively Other the North Koreans it captures, but hones in on their humanity, which makes our inability to connect with them without a foreign filter all the more upsetting.
Michael Christopher Brown
Michael Christopher Brown doesn’t shy away from conflict zones. The photographer was injured while documenting the Libyan war, and regularly ventures into areas of upheaval to capture what happens on the ground and continues to document the day to day lives of residents in the war-torn country.
Ben Lowy
Ben Lowy is a photojournalist who started his career covering the Iraq War, and his work has appeared as part of the SAVE DARFUR media campaign. While his more recent Instagram activity is set capturing New York, his haunting portrayal of Iraq and Afghanistan – he even held an exhibit for his Instagram and Hipstamatic images from this time.
Phil Moore
Phil Moore is a freelancer specializing in East Africa, and his Instagram feed goes through phases of loveliness and terror depending on where he is — when he’s not in the war zone, he captures the beauty of the everyday, but when he ventures into areas of conflict, he highlights the human plight of soldiers.
Marcus Bleasdale
Marcus Bleasdale is a photographer for National Geographic who focuses on human rights and has been awarded many times over for his work. While he’s traveled the world – and documented many conflict zones – his latest Instagrams are coming out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, telling the stories of fleeing villagers and child soldiers.
Ed Kashi
Ed Kashi is a photojournalist and filmmaker who focuses on social and political issues. His Instagram includes a great deal of variety, including images from a stint in Nigeria while he was filming a documentary.
Randy Olson
Randy Olson is a documentary photography who has a long history working with National Geographic. In addition to using Instagram to shoot the violence in Turkana, Kenya, he’s also documented the people in a beautiful way, making his account a great one to follow (though go in knowing there are only a handful of photos to flip through).
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