“Who owns a camel in New York City?” my colleague had asked while we looked over these pictures. Really, the truth is that it doesn’t matter who owns it — the point is that I’m delighted that someone does and that they were thoughtful enough to bring their camel to Mass. It's hard to not be charmed by these unorthodox parishioners.
—Kate Bubacz, deputy photo director, BuzzFeed News
Photographer Richard Ansett's frank portraits are born from and shaped by his own life experience as an adopted person. In this photo essay, we see a wide range of the personalities and lifestyles Ansett documented environmentally. Collectively, the body of work illustrates a deep curiosity and a need to gain access and intimacy with others. “I have come to realize that my fascination with other people's lives is entirely relative to my own lack of understanding and sense of dislocation,” writes Ansett.
—Laura Geiser, senior photo editor, BuzzFeed News
As far as dark tourism photography goes, the spotlight has often focused on nuclear and Cold War sites in the former USSR, particularly Chernobyl. This feature, however, is a good reminder that these sites have existed and continue to exist on US soil as well. I am intrigued by Adam Reynolds' process in photographing the sites for two years. Outside his fascination around preserving history, he also wonders whether these locations remain only in celebration of America's ability to destroy the world. His photos, just like the lives of those who used to operate these nuclear sites, presents a harmony of a mundane life and total annihilation.
—Anna Mendoza, photo editor, BuzzFeed Australia
My favorite aspect of this profile on the legendary street photographer Garry Winogrand is the tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment that whether we mean to or not, all of our artsy-looking Instagrams and snaps are indebted to the groundbreaking work of photographers like Gary Winogrand. There's a line in here from Sasha Waters Freyer, the director of a new documentary on Winogrand's life, that really resonates with me. She says, “His photographs look very easy, right? You look at that work and you're like, ‘I could take photographs like that.’ But you can't, you know?”
Truth.
—Gabriel H. Sanchez, photo essay editor, BuzzFeed News
There's a peculiar warmth of nostalgia that permeates through each of these incredible photographs of New York City in the 1960s. If Gary Winogrand's black-and-white work, featured in the previously mentioned Vice article, is steeped in the energy of the city streets, then Evelyn Hofner's color images are crystalized scenes of tableaux vivants, rich in vibrancy and tone. This is a must-see for photography and history buffs alike.
—G.H.S.
I love stage life and I'm obsessed with seeing the other side of the curtain well beyond the sets and backdrops. Mary McCartney's incredible access to these ballet dancers allowed her to explore their more vulnerable side. Despite the camera around, the often poised and perfect performers had no problems showing their less guarded and more, well, human side.
—A.M.
Well, these are great and weird. I had no idea that giant puppets were a thing, but I am so grateful for the Atlantic for alerting me to that fact. There’s no reason not to indulge whimsy; this essay reflects well the surrealness of our times.
—K.B.
Duterte's war on drugs in the Philippines has been well reported, as scores of government-sanctioned murder victims began lining the streets in 2016. In this Topic photo essay by Lynzy Billing, we learn that women dominate the news media and make up the majority of "nightcrawlers," who race to document crime scenes in the early morning hours. Here we meet a few of these brave "fixers, reporters, and photographers" who feel it's their duty to document these events. The work is traumatizing, as the graphic photographs by Billing and photojournalist Eloisa Lopez convey, but these women press on.
—L.G.
Here are the most moving and breathtaking pictures from the past week.
—G.H.S.