In 2022, in the Central Highlands where most of Vietnam's coffee is grown, meeting with baristas, growers and coffee experts looking to refine the country's robusta bean.
In 2021, in the mountain village Nikortsminda, where the priest and his community make their own wine – and all wine served in church. Georgia was most probably the first place in the world where wine was made.
In 2020, meeting with winemakers following the long-standing tradition in Lebanon of making fermented drinks – the country was actually the first-ever country in history to export wine, when the Phoenician seafarers brought amphorae on their ships.
In 2019, during a Switch Perspective session held for the Migration Study Week organised for researchers and academics working on migration. Our session introduced people from the migration history of Lebanon and the larger region, anyone from Jesus and Mar Maroun to the Sursock family and Jean Said Makdisi
In the beginning of 2019, during the demonstrations against the government of president Omar al-Bashir, with street artist Assil Diab who paid tribute to the killed protesters by going to the homes, mourning with their families and painting their portraits on the walls of their houses.
In the beginning of 2019, on the 8th anniversary of Egypt's January 25 revolution, with craftsperson Hany Abdel Kader who uses Egypt's age-old khayamiya, or appliqué, technique to craft pieces documenting what happened on Tahrir Square during the days of the revolution.
In 2019, in the garden of the owner of one of Kolkata's old jute mills, still functioning, when looking at how jute can play a role in the future as a sustainable material.
In autumn 2017, while in Saudi Arabia to document crafts and traditions for Atharna, an organisation set to revive and support traditional Middle Eastern handicrafts. We spent one month traveling to many parts of the country, meeting with date farmers, embroiderers, flower binders, weavers, knife makers, toothbrush pickers (yes, the natural kind known as miswak) and map collectors, including these gentlemen.
In 2018, at the Armenian College in India's once-capital Kolkata, where Armenian children still come to study entirely for free. Many come from Armenia proper, but there are also students from Iraq, Iran, Russia and – as of autumn 2018 – a young girl from Myanmar's 20-people strong Armenian community. The school forms a contemporary manifestation of Kolkata's once large and influential Armenian population.
In 2018, outside the school of Jaago, an organisation providing education to children in difficult circumstances and hard-to-reach areas (including inside one of the tea gardens, where workers live with their families). Jaago signifies an impressive strength of Bangladesh as a country: its tradition of voluntary, non-profit work, to provide support and social services outside of the governmental structure.
In summer 2017, at the workshop of kandakori artisans in Khujand, Tajikistan's second largest city and an ancient silk road stop. Kandakori is the Central Asian tradition of carving beautiful decorations and figures from wood – even though the craft is facing changing times and competition from fast-produced items, many in Tajikistan and neighbouring Uzbekistan still appreciate and order hand-carved furniture, decorations, doors and entire wooden verandas and teahouses.
In 2017, with coppersmith Salah Uddin Hassoun on the first floor of his workshop, surrounded by pieces from his long crafts career. I met him for a project I'm working on for Atharna, a new initiative to document Middle Eastern crafts. The photo we look shows a piece he did for Sultan Qaboos of Oman: a large handmade lantern, which he sketched the design for in three days. The craft itself was a lengthier process, done with a wooden hammer and a small chisel, one beat at a time.
In 2017 and 2018, when hosting workshops for journalists and civil society actors to reflect on their own experiences and perspectives: the idea is to find ways to tell stories without reproducing stereotypes or narrow notions about people and places.
In winter 2016 in Jaffna, the main city in northern Sri Lanka, which during much of the 30 year long civil war was cut off from life in other parts of the island.
In 2016, preparing the opening slide for a talk at an ILO/UN conference on migration in Delhi. The session was based on stories of Syrians living in Lebanon, a country with more refugees per capita than any other in the world, and intended to describe some of the very diverse life situations of Syrians in Lebanon.
In 2015, documenting the effects of climate change in coastal Bangladesh, one of the areas most affected in the world, and hearing how residents are finding strategies to cope and respond.
In 2015, at the launch of Mashallah News' series 'Night', a collection of photo stories from across different Middle Eastern cities of life during the dark hours.
2015, with a family from Syria living in Lebanon. Many Syrians were already living and working in Lebanon before the war started, but they would typically go back and forth, and stay only as long as they had work in Lebanon's agricultural and other sectors. Now, people are no longer able to go back.
In 2015, with Ethiopian runner Aregu Abate, who came to Lebanon as a domestic worker and later became one of the top runners in the country.
In 2014, at the Dubai book launch of Mashallah News' book 'Beirut Re-Collected', an anthology with 20 stories about forgotten places in the Lebanese capital.
In 2013, in the home of William Bobby's family in Khulna, doing a story for a series on everyday cooking from kitchens across the world.
In 2014, meeting with volunteers cleaning up the streets after an explosion hit a neighbourhood in the centre of the city. Tripoli, because of its geographical and socio-cultural proximity to Syria, has been affected in many ways by the war.
In 2012, on the one year anniversary of the Libyan revolution-turned-war, standing on top of a demolished building inside the private complex of Gaddafi, looted and totally destroyed during and after the war.