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The qualities of light in a picture influence our perceptions of subjects by setting mood, revealing texture, and shading detail. These qualities appear in countless varieties of light: the shaft of sunlight in a dark scene, the gentle bath of sidelight from a big window, the cold fade of dusk, the warm glow of a tungsten bulb or a late afternoon, the eerie pulse of an electronic screen, the candy splash of a neon sign, and the contrast of a backlit silhouette. Shadows simplify, hide, and dramatize in an endless dance with illumination. The pictures collected here are united not by theme, but by photographers writing with light.
A vendor prepares rice to be donated to the poor on a roadside in Islamabad, Pakistan on November 1, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)
Amina Khatu holds her son Ahmed inside a thatched hut at a crowded IDP camp on November 25, 2012 on the outskirts of Sittwe, Myanmar. An estimated 111,000 people were displaced by sectarian violence in June and October effecting mostly the ethnic Rohingya people, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #
A model prepares backstage during Fashion Week at Milk Studios on September 9, 2012 in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images) #
Boatswain's Mate 3 Billy Lewis watches a helicopter land on the flight deck onboard the USS Underwood while patrolling in near Panama as part of a multi-national effort to hit illicit trafficking routes. (Dario Lopez-Mills/Associated Press) #
Buddhist monks study at a monastery in Mandalay, Myanmar on December 1, 2012. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press) #
Syrian children look through their car window as they cross into Lebanon with their families at the border crossing in Masnaa, Lebanon on November 30, 2012. (Hassan Ammar/Associated Press) #
Joana Escudero holds her sister Carolina as they prepare to leave the settlement of Puerta de Hierro, Spain on December 15, 2011. Fifty-four families have been living in Puerta de Hierro for over 50 years. Since 2010, the community has been subject to evictions on the grounds that the dwellings are illegal. Families whose houses have been demolished move in with relatives whose houses still remain. (Susana Vera/Reuters) #
Chief midwife Maria Antoneta Cabral Barbosa holds a newborn baby boy she had just delivered by flashlight at the hospital in Gabu, Guinea-Bissau on May 23, 2012. In Guinea-Bissau, one of the deadliest places in the world to give birth, a woman has a 1 in 19 chance of maternal death. (Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press) #
