Field Notes

Louisville, Kentucky: Gun enthusiasts examine the wreckage at the largest machine gun event in the United States, held at the Knob Creek Gun Range, just south of the city.

Former slaves set up the community of Hog Hammock so that, separated from the mainland, they could farm, raise livestock, and preserve elements of their African heritage, including the English Creole/African Gullah dialect.

Crow Reservation, Montana: In Big Horn County, people watch a horse race during the 99th annual Crow Fair, one of the longest-running Native American gatherings in the United States.

A secluded, Edenic lake just a mile off the Appalachian Trail was once the site of a fight in which locals tried hard to keep people away from what they believed to be an environmental menace. Were they right to?

Kabare Territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo: The settlements at the Kachuba mining site in South Kivu.

For the people who live along Canada's Kluane Lake, it doesn't matter whether the Slims River was the first or the 10th or the 100th river to be stolen by climate change.

Jumbi, Zanzibar, Tanzania: The Green Queens warm up ahead of a match. Men on the island have long resisted women's presence on the field, but a small cadre is challenging traditional gender norms.

Ajo, Arizona: Heavy-duty, non-biodegradable canteens—occasionally insulated with clothing or blankets to prevent chafing—scatter the desert in the Tucson sector of the United States border with Mexico.

Sindo Ferry passengers have their passports checked and their luggage x-rayed before they board, but they are divided about how meaningful national boundaries are.

East of San Diego, California: In 2013, Border Patrol Agent Jacopo Bruni looks south over a border fence in the mountains.

San Luis, Arizona: A United States Drug Enforcement Administration official aims a flashlight down a 55-foot-deep drug-smuggling tunnel that spans a distance of nearly 240 yards under the U.S.-Mexico border. Drugs ran north, and weapons and cash ran south.

Twenty-four hours in rattlesnake country.

Hermosillo, Mexico: Central American immigrants walk to a soup kitchen for some much-needed sustenance after traveling by Mexican freight train—known among the caravaners as "the beast."

In the Brazilian state of Roraima, newcomers arrive every day by car, bus, and bicycle.

Sarasota, Florida: A wedding guest takes a smoke break along the water after a late afternoon thunderstorm.

Set off of one of Addis Ababa's main streets is a secret, self-enclosed village. In that village, girls like Raissa—some as young as 11 years old—fleeing bride abduction, early marriage, and other harmful practices have found a refuge.

Yangon, Myanmar: In 2015, a week before general elections, people attend a rally for politician Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy.

Sjors Horstman has spent the last 30 years of his life at the bottom of the Grand Canyon as a volunteer for the National Park Service—one of the longest-serving volunteers in NPS history.

Manila, Philippines: In 2016, police investigate an alley where a 37-year-old man was killed by two unidentified gunmen riding motorcycles.

The Adorers of the Blood of Christ, an order of Catholic nuns that define themselves as advocates of Earth, square off against the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline.

Zante Island, Greece: The remains of a cigarette ship that met its demise in October of 1980.

Even though a majority of West Virginians see government health care as fundamentally un-American, even evil, they know the Affordable Care Act is saving lives every day.

The city prides itself on working with those who are "un-bankable," and on evaluating loans based on individual stories instead of automated credit scores.

Orania, South Africa: Niklas Kirsten, a former paratrooper in the South African Army, instructs Erik Du Pree on handgun self-defense in the fields outside an ultra-conservative, all-Afrikaner stronghold known as Orania.