Afghanistan: A Video Portrait

Earlier this year, filmmakers Lukas and Salome Augustin traveled to Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif, intent on capturing portraits of daily life. Lukas had lived in Kabul from 2006 to 2008, working with a humanitarian aid organization called Operation Mercy, and he’d fallen in love with the place. When he returned this year with his then-fiancée Salome, he shot this film, in part as a tribute to his friend Gayle Williams, an aid worker who was killed by the Taliban in 2008. I normally post still photos to In Focus, in part because I love the ability to linger on a scene. But Lukas and Salome have a still photographer’s eye, and they’ve composed a very intimate series of video portraits of both the people and the landscape. The film lasts just under six minutes, so I invite you to take a few moments, relax, start the video in fullscreen mode, and let Lukas and Salome Augustin take you on a beautiful visit to the Hindu Kush.

Amazing behind the scenes look at photographer Jimmy Chin shooting on the cliffs of Yosemite

Owl flying in slow motion! 

 Cory Fauver spent one year and six weeks growing a beard, taking roughly one photo a day and creating this video.