Michael Christopher Brown

“Jane Goodall, one of the world’s most revered conservationists, who earned scientific stature and global celebrity by chronicling the distinctive behavior of wild chimpanzees in East Africa — primates that made and used tools, ate meat, held rain dances and engaged in organized warfare — died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 91.” @nytimes @janegoodallinst Re-sharing below a post made last year, after taking my family to see a @natgeo screening of the beautiful film ‘JANE,’ directed by Brett Morgen: “we often go to the zoo but poppy has never seen chimps in the wild. as she watched fascinated, i whispered that we will go to gombe someday, to visit the place i’ve been fortunate to see several times. ofc, my favorite visit to gombe was with jane! overall i saw just how connected she was to gombe, a relatively tiny piece of protected park along the western edge of tanzania. one day at sunset, as we sat sipping a little whisky on the sandy shore of lake tanganyika, we saw monkeys jumping on a shaky tree limb and she said that birds would arrive any moment, which they did. she explained that when the monkeys jumped, bugs bounced off the limbs and birds saw this and came to eat the bugs mid flight. partially hidden in the trees near the shore was jane’s home, which as most human structures in gombe looked like a kind of caged zoo enclosure. i looked through her collection of natural history books, scattered on the wood shelving between chimpanzee skulls and other artifacts of gombe life. jane visited gombe once a year, and liked to go see the chimps on her own. one day i passed by and she had apparently gone to do just that. but just as i was leaving i saw, climbing along the outside of the wire walls, a family of chimps, clearly also looking for her. at the end of the week, as we departed gombe by boat, this same family, the matriarch of which she had known for decades, came to the shore to watch her leave. here is jane just offshore of gombe in a boat, looking away from the hills of the park and towards the sunset over congo which she must have seen thousands of times 🌅 🐒”

Coming Soon 💙 ‘The Difference Between Bullets and Stones,’ a book of poems and photographs by @mosab_abutoha and @michaelchristopherbrown Image Details: #1: Abu Dis. West Bank. 02/18/18. 13:43:25. 31°46’2.232” N 35°15’9.648” E #2: Shu’afat Refugee Camp. East Jerusalem. 05/17/18. 12:11:48. 31°48’31.62” N 35°14’37.86” E

Dear friend Pete McBride @pedromcbride has recently written a book, Witness to Water, about his two decades of work documenting his backyard river, the Colorado, to highlight growing western water challenges. The book brings you on a source-to-sea, in-depth journey across multiple expeditions, including over a thousand miles of hiking, the last Colorado River paddle to the sea, and an intimate father-son exploration of the entire watershed from the sky. This heartfelt story takes a personal and vulnerable look at the ups and downs behind the scenes of a story that spans seven states and two countries. He’s grateful to friends @kevinfedarkoauthor , NYT-bestselling writer of A Walk in the Park, and Dr. Len Necefer, founder of @nativesoutdoors (@lennecefer ), for their guest essays. Check it out. Info in bio link. #WitnessToWater #bookrecs #nonfiction Video and photos by @pedromcbride #PeteMcBride

On an island most cannot leave, people find other ways to escape. Through music, through substances, through the night. 10 years ago I photographed a generation growing up in Cuba. This was the world they inherited… Cuba is only ninety miles from the United States, but for many here, it might as well be another planet.

Madot Dagbinza joined the Congolese army at sixteen.
 She left home without telling her family, boarded a military plane hoping it would take her to Kinshasa to find the father who had abandoned her, and instead landed in the middle of a war zone in eastern Congo. She trained for years, eventually earning her place in an elite commando unit operating near Virunga National Park. She rarely left the front lines. When we met her in 2012, she carried a pink photo album into battle, filled with things war usually erases: friendships, special outfits, dolls she kept while deployed, and photographs of her son, Belade, named after her father, an elephant hunter. When asked about love, fear, and death, she returned to the same sentence:
“This job is my father and my mother.” Madot later became the bodyguard to Colonel Mamadou Ndala, a national symbol in the fight against militias in eastern Congo. On January 2, 2014, their convoy was ambushed. Mamadou was killed. Madot died alongside him. For more on Madot visit the @nytmag link in profile.

For a long time, I didn’t know how to stand inside love. Love isn’t proving, it isn’t intensity, it isn’t losing yourself. Love is grounding. Presence. Care that stays. Love is a choice you make, again and again. Sometimes it’s just a trace, left behind to say: this mattered. ❤️‍🔥

I spent years trying to be enough. I thought if I saw enough, went far enough, survived enough…. 
That I’d finally arrive. But enough isn’t a becoming, it’s being, its presence. @weareenough

We’re not Jewish. But my daughter is learning something bigger than identity. I spent years photographing the world, and everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve learned the same thing: meaning lives everywhere, if you’re willing to look. I share this with my daughter everyday before school: The more you learn from people who are different than you, the more you discover how similar we all are. Hanukkah reminds us that values don’t disappear in dark times, they illuminate them As Gandhi said: religions are many branches, but the tree is one. Happy Hanukkah. 🕎

This photograph was made in Tripoli during the Libyan Revolution, inside a property owned by Muammar Gaddafi’s family, as the state collapsed and revolutionary forces took control of the capital. For forty-two years, access in Libya was carefully controlled, not just through law or violence, but through space. Certain buildings, neighborhoods, and homes were designed to be unreachable and distance was part of how power functioned. As the regime fell, those barriers began to disappear. Palaces, compounds, and private interiors that once symbolized untouchability became visible, navigable, ordinary… Prints and posters of this photograph are available at the SHOP link in bio. 🌍

One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever photographed is also a geological time bomb. Killer lakes exist. And Lake Kivu, resting Between Rwanda and Congo, is the largest of the three killer lakes that exist. The lake looks peaceful until you understand what’s beneath it. A vast pocket of methane and carbon dioxide lies trapped deep beneath, a ticking, geological bubble capable of releasing a cloud dense enough to suffocate everything along its shores if the earth shifts the wrong way. Scientists call it a “limnic eruption.” In 1986, a limnic eruption at the killer lake of Lake Nyos in Cameroon released a silent cloud of CO₂ that rolled downhill and killed at least 1,700 people in minutes with no warning or sound. Lake Kivu holds 3,500 times more gas than Nyos. But this lake isn’t just danger: People live, fish, swim, and build entire lives around it. It’s history, food, identity; a map of generations. A frontline of geology, politics, and survival, shaped by the volcanic heat below and human resilience above. I stood on the shoreline and felt something strange: That entire worlds can exist beneath a surface you think you understand. Limited Edition prints of this photograph are available via the link in bio. 🌋🇨🇩

Yesterday we lost Martin Parr, a giant of photography, a master of color, wit, and the everyday. He changed how we see the world. But what I’ll remember most wasn’t his amazing photography…but his generosity, and kindness. When I first met him at Magnum, he was always encouraging. Later, during one of the hardest chapters of my life…he reached out and helped me get back on my feet. He invited me to stay at his home and to present at his foundation, then he and Chris Killip helped me edit my book Yo Soy Fidel. Every morning he brought a cup of hot coffee to my bedroom door. A small gesture that lifted me when I needed it most. Martin’s work taught us how to see the world with honesty, humor, and humanity. His influence is immeasurable.
 Rest in peace, Martin. (Thanks to @jimwoodphoto for the picture of me at the @martinparrfdn )

More than a hundred armed groups exist in the Kivu provinces of the Congo at any one time, Mai-Mai, FDLR, Raia Mutomboki, M23, and dozens of other factions born largely not from ideology but from corruption, fear, and the collapse of any real government protection. National army soldiers include former militia fighters, absorbed into the ranks through fragile peace deals. Here, conflict isn’t a battle you enter or leave, it’s the environment itself. And often the frontline isn’t marked on any map, it’s standing right in front of you. Limited edition print of this photograph available via link in bio 🌋🇨🇩