You can´t miss a visit to the Pelourinho with colorfull and narrow streets, full of mysterious and charming corners. Bahia, color bracelets from do Senhor do Bom Fim da Bahia and palm oil scents, create a unique climate, warm and memorable.

In Pelourinho you will find the Lacerda Elevator and with a 5-cent coin you will be transported (like the 28,000 passengers who do daily) to the Mercado Modelo, traditional and gigantic market with sixty-three crafts shops. This unique place is the perfect setting to go during the special occasions that are repeated year after year. One of them is the “Lavagem do BonFim da Bahia”. This religious ceremony takes place every year. The crowd, mostly wearing white clothing with blue details starts the journey at 8 am from the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia, near the Mercado Modelo, in the lower part of the city. Surrounded by the gorgeous Baianas, in their white typical dresses and full of lovely and delicate laces, with flowers and large jars with water scented with alfazema (lavender), the journey began. The lucky inhabitants from this paradise mixed up with tourists from around the world. Flowers, necklaces, music and drums. Beer, lots of water, hats of all kinds. After an 8 km walk and climbing the hill that takes to the BonFim Church, the Baianas would be in charge of washing the stairs that takes us to the main entrance.

This event is one of the most important celebrations in Salvador de Bahia, toguether with the Carnaval and the Iemanja´s day. Iemanja is one of the “Orixas”, the african gods worshiped by the Yoruba religion. She represents motherhood and is the Queen of the Sea. Her day is February 2. Her followers gather next to her temple, in the neighbourhood of Rio Vermelho. Small, waterfront, could be mistaken for a fisherman’s cottage. People would offer the goddess necklaces, mirrors, perfumes, various foods and flowers, many flowers. Infinite boats venture into the sea, carrying more and more gifts for Iemanjá.

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Love to travel! From Argentina.
http://www.valeriatorrens.blogspot.com

When I went over to NYC for the first time back in 2010, I was super excited. I thought I’d be forever taking shots of Times Square and the surrounding well-known landmarks. The funny thing is when i got to New York, once I sussed the city out a bit and got on the bus to head to Central Park; they head along Via Brooklyn Bridge – which is where this shot was taken, just approaching the other side of Brooklyn Bridge. That day it was absolutely baltic, and it wasn’t a hop on/hop off type, so in order to get any shots on the way, you had to be on the top deck, and just be cold. The bus was in pretty tattered condition, but you know what, that made things better (for me!, probably not others trying to get a clear image!) I have always loved the graphic design type of things, and all the scratches on the windows made a dramatic mark onto the buildings when photographed. It was a fairly dingy, dark area, very unlike Times Square and the like. It all added something to it, Even the empty seats, with the Brooklyn skyline in the distance and looking very grey, it emphasised the real grungy, cold look of it all.

Since this was taken, I recently went back over again, (February 2013) and I have produced a NYC series, check it out at on my website under new york/ongoing.

New York is certainly a city that excites your imagination and when submerged, you definitely feel the buzz of the place, whether you’re in Times Square, Greenwich Village, Battery Park or Murray Hill. There is always something happening, every area is so completely different and that is one of the reasons i think that i love going there, with a camera in tow to be producing new work because it is generally like an on the go Photography Documentary.

The two other images below are from the New York Series. All the images are black and white – though i do delve into colour too. There is something about stripping back the colour from the city that is always in colour to give it a more simplistic approach and look.

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Scottish born Photographer
http://www.sallywanless.com

“BEACHFUL” is a project I have been working to for almost two years and applies not only to a simple set of days at the beach but the way in which people of my shares is related to the sea. The beach not only let us strip of some clothes but also of some inhibitions. The beach is a place to socialize, to drown the problems, to re-establish a connection, to overcome shyness . The relationship with the common space becomes different, the barriers fall and distances from the stranger or the unknown are canceled. Understanding the beach as a large theater where people plan their sporting skills to the party, the revelry. But also a place to search for the little ones, intent on discovering what lies beneath the surface of the sea.

It wasn’t therefore difficult to approach people, because people at the beach also lose much of their distrust towards the photographer.

If the inhabitants of the north the beach is pure relaxation, for those in the south (but I think more widely to the south of the world) the beach is a second home, the place where contact with the sun and the sea flows into a single joy, a time light and carefree; a place where the reluctance and bustle of city life finally finds a vent. The happy faces of children or the motorcycle ride to the beach are evidence.

Every shot was taken in Porticello, a little a small fishing village on the outskirts of Palermo, Sicily.

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I’m an amateur photographer from Palermo, Sicily . I started taking pictures at the age of 15 years using the Polaroid of my older brother. My greatest influences: Newton, Doisneau and Basilico
http://peppefrank.wix.com/giuseppefrancavilla

Last year I was asked to accompany two other people from my church to Uganda, to meet with a man named George Byabagambi who oversees a large number of churches, an orphanage, and various other ministries. My job was photographic, to communicate the need and opportunity our community at home might have to partner with him in his work.

We spent a lot of time in small villages, meeting and talking with people, and spending time in their churches and communities. At one point we were forced to head inside because of a violent storm that rolled through. About a hundred people crammed into a tin-roofed church, and we could hear next to nothing because of the sound of rain on the roof.

I love this image because it shows how people can be in poverty and yet give so much at the same time. In this picture, adding to the cacophony were the voices of everyone in the building crying out at the same time in prayer for some of our friends in the U.S. who were suffering from cancer.

I was crammed into a small corner of the building with a wide-angle lens, trying to capture some sense of what was happening in the room. One of my favorite details is the oversized suit the man in the center is wearing, as so much of their clothing is donated from the West, but of course when choosing suits in Uganda, a tailor is rarely available.

The second two images were taken just a bit earlier, before the storm forced us inside.

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Ryan Estes is a Philadelphia portrait photographer.