8 Incredible Photo Stories You Absolutely Can’t Miss

Upon its conclusion, we will have endured 511 days of the 2016 presidential election. Presumably, few feel it as palpably as photographer Mark Peterson, who has captured much of it in breathtaking and almost grotesque detail. The images collected together, and published in his forthcoming book Political Theater, present a unique and often unflattering look at the candidates, characters, and crowds involved in this seemingly unending circus." —Ben King, deputy art director, BuzzFeed News

"Matt Eich’s new book, Carry Me Ohio, offers a look at people and places that city dwellers all too often forget exists. In 2009, when the country was deep in recession, Matt began photographing residents in rural Ohio, a hard-hit area. His images serve to remind us about those people who struggled to raise their families in severe economic hardship, all the while feeling like the government had neglected them. The title of the book, a song by Sun Kil Moon, is a fitting soundtrack to depictions of such stark, oppressive poverty." —Laura Geiser, photo editor, BuzzFeed News

"It's easy to get caught up with the current affairs of our country in this election cycle... to get caught up in the stress of it and see it as doom and gloom. That is, until you snap out of it when coming across a photo essay like this one shot by Warzer Jaff in Mosul, and realize you do not know what doom and gloom is like at all. These photos take war photography to a more human level. They make you feel like you are there, and connected with the people and the landscape. You are taken aback. Jaff captures a sorrowful, tragic time in an impeccably haunting way." —Sarah Kobos, photo editor, BuzzFeed

"Antarctica is the holy grail of landscape photography, and Mario Tama was given an opportunity that others in the industry can only dream of. His aerial snaps of the most remote place on Earth are simply surreal. But what moved me most was when Tama acknowledged how this particular landscape was 'essentially impossible to photograph' — first, physically, due to its vastness, but also in capturing the alarming effects of climate change in the region." —Anna Mendoza, photo editor, BuzzFeed Australia

"Avery White's images show that the situation at Standing Rock has changed little in the three months since the story first made national news. The protesters continue to stand off with police, who have responded with an increased level of violence as the weather gets colder and patience runs thin. The images show the striking resolve of a diverse group of people united for a cause that cuts across ethnic, environmental, and political concerns." —Kate Bubacz, senior photo editor, BuzzFeed News

"This is an excellent example of how digital manipulation can be used for good. Steven Burton has gathered a group of former gang members who were willing to be photographed and shown what they would look like without their tattoos — those that they’ve collected over time being part of a group that they now wish to disassociate from. Many of them hardly even remember themselves without ink, but the exercise of seeing a before-and-after gives them a glimpse of life in rehabilitation." —AM

"In my view, drone photography is underappreciated. The excellent International Drone Photography Contest features the very best photography that is only possible with drones! Gabriel Scanu's drone pictures from above the coastlines of Australia give us views never seen before, with beautiful turquoise water and people swimming lengths in coastal pools. Scanu’s photos capture the best of many worlds: the brutalist architecture of the concrete pool, the swimmers stretched out in recreational leisure, and the raw crashing waves of nature beyond." —Matt Tucker, picture editor, BuzzFeed UK

"These are not the refugee photos that we are accustomed to seeing, desperate scenes of squalor in some faraway place. By comparison, Danny Wilcox Frazier's images, which focus on the banal day-to-day existence of an ordinary family, are almost boring. The ordinariness of the scenes serves as a potent reminder that refugees are not characters, stand-ins, or stereotypes, but humans who make dinner, go to school, play with their kids, and grow up as the first generation someplace new." —KB