Photo Essays (Newest to Oldest)
For photo essays focused exclusively on Japan’s traditional festivals, visit the dedicated Matsuri page.
Waterfalls of Japan
In Japan, waterfalls are more than beautiful cascades – they shape ritual and belief, belong to a landscape sustained by flowing water, and have long stirred the artistic imagination, from Bashō’s poems to Hokusai’s woodblock prints.
Karo Nakizumo Festival (Crying Baby Sumo)
At Karo’s Nakizumo Festival, babies are brought into the sumo ring and coaxed to cry – a seemingly comic rite rooted in the old belief that loud tears bring health, strength, and good fortune.
Nada no Kenka Matsuri (Nada Fighting Festival)
At Nada no Kenka Matsuri, lavishly ornamented floats are driven hard into one another to the beat of taiko drums, turning neighbourhood rivalry into a spectacle of impact, noise, and brute teamwork.
VIEW PHOTO ESSAY Nada no Kenka Matsuri (Nada Fighting Festival)
Misasa Onsen Hanayu Festival (Misasa no Jinsho)
In Misasa Onsen, Hanayu Matsuri builds slowly – rope-making, prayer, procession – before the town gives itself over to the jinsho, a colossal tug of war between east and west fought beneath the lights of the main street.
VIEW PHOTO ESSAY Misasa Onsen Hanayu Festival (Misasa no Jinsho)
Tottori Shan-Shan Festival
Each August during Obon, thousands of dancers carrying jangling umbrellas sweep through central Tottori in choreographed waves, transforming the city into a shifting field of colour, bells, and collective rhythm.
Nakada Hadaka Matsuri
In Nakada, on the edge of Nagoya, men scramble again and again up slick bamboo poles in a muddy paddy field, sliding back into the mire until the poles finally give way – a small, rough-edged purification rite aimed at driving off bad luck in the yakudoshi years.
Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri
Each autumn, Kishiwada’s danjiri carts come hurtling round tight corners at a near-impossible pace while roof dancers balance above the charge, in a display of skill, nerve, and split-second timing where any mistake risks serious injury or death.
Miya Festival
In Gamagori, the Miya Festival reaches its astonishing climax at the water’s edge, where decorated floats are hauled into the sea by teams of men straining against surf, weight, and ritual obligation.
Uchi-Soto
Uchi-Soto dwells in moments of meeting and friction – where the traditional leans against the modern, the native against the foreign, the strange against the familiar, and the inward world of uchi against the outer space of soto.
The Greatest Gift (Video)
Made to support scholarships for the Pamulaan Center for Indigenous Peoples Education, The Greatest Gift follows Hance Pugales and, through her, the wider struggle for educational access among Indigenous youth in the Philippines.
The Great Bonfire of Toba
At Toba’s fire festival, two giant burning towers become the focus of a fierce village contest, as men hurl themselves at the flames to wrench out the sacred trees hidden within and read the fortunes of the year ahead.
Takisanji Oni Matsuri
At Takisanji Oni Matsuri, a fire ritual of startling theatrical force is performed not for spectacle alone but for purification – a prayer in flame for peace, protection, and a good harvest.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
Each August 6, Hiroshima gathers before the cenotaph to mourn the dead of the atomic bombing and renew its public appeal for lasting peace.
Konomiya Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Man Festival)
Held in Inazawa and rooted in rites once performed to drive off plague, the Konomiya Hadaka Matsuri draws thousands of nearly naked men into a punishing crush of cold, contact, and purification.
VIEW PHOTO ESSAY Konomiya Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Man Festival)
The Temples of Angkor
Spread across a vast archaeological landscape near Siem Reap, the temples of Angkor preserve the stone afterlife of the Khmer Empire at a scale that still feels imperial – immense, intricate, and half reclaimed by the forest.
Protest Photography
Taken across Britain and Europe during years of political unrest, the images record marches, police lines, placards, speeches, and surging crowds – moments when protest turned the streets into sites of confrontation and dissent.
Elephant and Castle
Photographed in 2005 and 2006, before redevelopment began, Elephant and Castle stands in the uneasy pause before demolition, when uncertainty hung over residents, traders, and the future of the area itself.
Faith Healing in London
In London’s Pentecostal churches, faith-healing services draw illness, testimony, music, and belief into public rituals where suffering is voiced, witnessed, and answered with prayer.
Homelessness in the UK
In Brighton, where affluence and rough sleeping occupied the same streets, one of the most public forms of homelessness comes into view – lives exposed in plain sight, yet still too easily absorbed into the city’s background.