Orphanage, Albania

Fall of the Berlin Wall

One of the defining moments of the 20th century, the fall of the Berlin Wall was a huge leap into the unknown for so many.

It was cold the night of the 9th of November, and among the thousands upon thousands at the Brandenburg Gate this man chose to express his new-found freedom by removing all of his clothes and jumping down into East Berlin, an act that not long before would have resulted in him being shot.

For me this image redefined my approach to photography.

Night commuters, Uganda

The ‘night commuters’ walk, pictured here in Gulu in October 2004, became infamous as children left their homes to sleep in safety and avoid being abducted by Joseph Kony's LRA (Lord's Resistance Army).

More than 40,000 young people sought shelter every night on the streets and in churches, hospitals, NGO night shelters and other public buildings across northern Uganda.

Children sometimes walked for up to two hours, morning and evening, to avoid being taken. It made education impossible and put an immense strain on their families. They were vulnerable and often became victims of exploitation by adults.

Gaza

Amongst the carnage and destruction of the Gaza strip I came across these two girls, dressed up and playing their imaginary games; escaping in whatever way they could.

After the Wave, Andaman Islands

One year after the terrible 2004 tsunami Oxfam asked me to visit the Andaman Islands as part of the After the Wave project. Close to the epicentre of the sub-sea earthquake, I found a land still deeply affected by the tragedy.

The tsunami never receded from parts of the Andaman Islands as a result of seismic ground tilt. Many families remained in shelters, their homes impossible to rebuild on the flooded land.

This is Aarti Kumar, 2, in her mother's arms at the Oxfam shelter, Brinj Gunj, South Andaman.

Bethlehem

While visiting her father at work seven year old Jessica Safar was caught in fighting and hit by shrapnel from a bullet fired by Israeli soldiers. She was finally allowed through a closed Israeli checkpoint to reach the hospital, but lost the sight in one eye.

At first Jessica found it very hard to accept what happened. When she was allowed home she removed the eye from her favourite doll, saying: ‘like me, like her.’

This image was the foundation for Christian Aid's most successful ever Christmas appeal.

Fleeing Kosovo

Child soldiers, Liberia

In 1997 there were an estimated 15,000 children under arms in Liberia. The prevalence of weapons like the lightweight AK-47 rifle made it simple enough for even a 10-year old to fight as an adult.

Working in conjunction with UNICEF I came across these two child soldiers from the Small Boys Unit on the road near Gbarnga.

It was a deeply disturbing encounter. One minute ready to riddle me with bullets, the next a little boy lost.

Liverpool

Mozambique

Orphans from the guerilla conflict in Mozambique. Many of these children watched their parents being killed, some were forced to participate.

Nelson Mandela campaigning

Northern Ireland

July 1996. More than 2000 people rioted, burnt shops and offices and threw more than 1000 petrol bombs at the security forces, who in turn fired about 1000 plastic bullets.

A man died that night, crushed by an armoured vehicle in midst of the chaos.

Northern Ireland

Refugee with father, Congo

In July 1994, one of the worst ever cholera epidemics broke out among nearly one million Rwandan refugees in Goma, eastern Zaire.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimated that nearly 12,000 people died during the epidemic.

On one day alone I remember 1000 people died, sometimes they simply collapsed crossing the road in front of our car.

This boys father died at the side of the road just as I passed by. They were part of a column of refugees heading for help at an aid station a couple of miles further up the road..

His companions, too sick to help, simply kept walking. A family from a nearby hut came and took the child in.

Farmer, Sierra Leone

Aids in Uganda

Mother and daughter with CJD

They took her baby away before dawn. It was less than 24 hours after she had given birth, but already the medical staff could see her baby was in urgent need of help.

Doctors suspect this baby was the first case of CJD, the fatal brain disease linked to BSE, be passed from mother to child.

Many people with CJD have been diagnosed so late in the course of the disease that they are no longer capable of understanding what is happening. Not so with Janet.

"She has twice told me she knows she has got mad cow disease and that she is going to die," said her mother. "I hated to think what must have gone through her mind when she lay in bed at night."

Closing the pits, Wales

Mozambique

Dominican Republic

I was on assignment for the Sunday Times when I came across these children in the slums of Santo Domingo.

Part of a broader story about unfair employment practices in Free Trade Zones, this is just a simple, unguarded, moment.

I have found that the most naturally elegant people I have photographed have almost always been those who have the very least.

Abandoned children, Bosnia

Orphanage, Congo

One of a million refugees who fled the fighting in Rwanda, this tiny girl was lucky enough to find her way to a makeshift orphanage. Hundreds of children were separated from their parents in the continuous human tide that swept across the border.

Orphanage, Albania