Author Archives: Islelanders

MOAS

September 3, 2015 by Islelanders

Looking at the faces of the Syrian boys as they sit down in the RHIB, I’m immediately struck by how happy and relieved they look, albeit with a hint of apprehension in their young eyes, as they prepared to be transferred to a larger vessel that would carry them to Italy. It’s a far cry to how they looked to me some hours earlier, when they also sat in the same RHIB being brought to the MV Phoenix for the […]

Categories: Asylum Seeker, children, MOAS, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee, Rescue • Tags: MOAS; Malta; Libya; Sea; Rescue; Photography; Journalism; Islelanders

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November 7, 2014 by Islelanders

I had spent some time sitting with this woman in her tent, taking pictures as the French journalist from Le Monde newspaper I was accompanying interviewed her. When I saw she was going to go outside to call a friend, I slipped out ahead of her, knowing the late afternoon light was ideal for pictures. I crouched low to lose the cluttered background and just used the sky instead. I think what I’ve always liked about this picture is that […]

Categories: Living in Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee • Tags: Refugee; woman; Hal Far; Malta; Open Centres; Tent Village

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October 31, 2014 by Islelanders

As an official photographer for the NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), I was able to get up close to migrants out at sea in a way I had never been able to before, as already discussed in an earlier blog post. Things were happening fast once we came alongside the migrants’ dinghy, and I had to shoot equally quickly. Not blindly mind you – just that there wasn’t much time to think about things apart from composition and timing. It […]

Categories: Asylum Seeker, photography, Photojournalism, Rescue • Tags: MOAS; rescue; Libya; photography

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MOAS

October 22, 2014 by Islelanders

I was fortunate enough to be taken on by the NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) as their official photographer for one of its recent missions. Usually they have a full-time filmmaker on board, but the NGOs directors understood the need of having high quality still images as well, and that those images could help save lives. Though I’d witnessed several rescue operations out at sea before, I had never managed to get up close until this day. I joined […]

Categories: Asylum Seeker, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Rescue • Tags: MOAS; Malta; Libya; Sea; Rescue; Photography; Journalism; Islelanders

Yonas

October 7, 2014 by Islelanders

Yonas arrived in Malta ten years ago, fleeing war and persecution in his native Eritrea. Unlike many migrants who have landed in Malta, he has carved out a life for himself on the island, making it his home. His is a success story – he runs an internet cafe and restaurant offering typical Eritrean cuisine. I spent an afternoon and evening with him, taking pictures as he prepared and served dinner for a large pre-booked group. Of all the images […]

Categories: Living in Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee • Tags: Malta; refugee; integration, Photography

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October 2, 2014 by Islelanders

Sometimes you can miss real gems when rushing to edit and file your pictures after an event. This is one of those – I only came across some five years later when going back through the thousands of images I’ve shot on this long-term story. The reflection of the patrol boat and the AFM sailor, right over the child’s face, must have caught my eye at the time. Canon EOS-1D Mk II Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM Focal length 35mm Aperture […]

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee, Rescue • Tags: Asylum seekers: child; rescue

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September 25, 2014 by Islelanders

This man’s shawl-wrapped face immediately caught my eye as the AFM patrol boat he was on berthed at its base in the middle of the night. I felt the colours of the migrants’ clothing worked well together. I shot it on a medium telephoto lens to isolate the main subject from everyone else, whilst still keeping enough detail in the other areas so that we could still make out the other migrants different facial expressions. Canon EOS-1D X Canon EF70-200mm […]

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, Asylum Seeker, Detention, photography, Photojournalism, Rescue, Uncategorized • Tags: Photography, photojournalism, Rescue, Rescue: Armed Forces of Malta; Asylum seekers; migrants; photojournalism; Malta

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December, 1998

September 18, 2014 by Islelanders

This picture was one of the very first I ever took of irregular immigrants, back in a time when migration was not an issue in Malta. I photographed several migrants, in such poor shape that they could barely walk, being carried off the Russian ship, but this image, one of the last on my roll of film, is the one which has lingered longest in my mind. The woman’s vacant stare, the raindrops on the bus window, the dull light […]

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, Departure, Malta, photography • Tags: Asylum seekers: child; rescue, Malta, photojournalism

funeral

September 10, 2014 by Islelanders

I attended a brief and very poignant ceremony; the funeral of four Nigerian migrants who drowned while attempting to reach a better life, crossing to Europe by sea, crossing the central Mediterranean that has become a graveyard. Six immigrants died on that crossing in August 2012. Four bodies were recovered, including that of a fourteen-year-old boy. The burial took place months after the accident, because DNA tests were necessary to confirm the identities of the four who died. Her husband […]

Categories: Malta, photography, Rescue, Uncategorized • Tags: funeral; Nigeria; Malta; Armed Forces of Malta; tragedy

September 3, 2014 by Islelanders

Visually, I found the AFM soldiers in their protective gear watching the migrants disembark from the patrol boat very interesting. The late afternoon light was perfect for pictures, and I underexposed the image slightly to deepen the shadows and give it a more dramatic feel. Canon EOS-1D X Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Focal length 20mm Manual exposure Aperture f/7.1 Shutter 1/800 sec ISO 320

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, Asylum Seeker, children, Detention, Living in Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee, Rescue • Tags: Syrian; refugees; Malta; rescue

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August 29, 2014 by Islelanders

I was covering the commemorative service for the migrants who had drowned in the tragedy off Lampedusa earlier that month. Many survivors were present. As they moved to the water’s edge, I jumped down to lower ledge to shoot from as low an angle as possible as they cast flowers into the sea. Canon EOS-1D X Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Focal length 16mm Aperture priority Aperture 7.1 Shutter 1/320 sec ISO 400

Categories: Asylum Seeker, Living in Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee, Rescue, Uncategorized • Tags: Malta, Malta: Armed Forces of Malta; Malta; Rescue; photojournalism, Rescue: Armed Forces of Malta; Asylum seekers; migrants; photojournalism; Malta

August 26, 2014 by Islelanders

Together with another photographer, I was slowly and discreetly moving from room to room at the detention centre, always seeking the subjects’ permission before I would photograph them in the privacy of their dormitory. This woman, lying quietly on her bed, gave the smallest of nods in my direction when I showed her my camera. Neither of us ever whispered a word, yet there seemed to be a great deal of communication taking place. Canon EOS-1D XCanon EF50mm f/1.4 USMFocal […]

Categories: Detention, Living in Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee, Uncategorized • Tags: Asylum seekers: child; rescue, Detention, Photography, photojournalism

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August 6, 2014 by Islelanders

I positioned myself in the wide doorway leading into the hall where food was being served to the open centre’s residents, composed the image I had in mind, keeping an eye on the migrant sitting down eating his meal, and waited for someone to walk by in front of my camera. Doing this is sometimes tricky as most people tend to stop in their tracks when you see you’re about to take a picture, thinking they’d be getting in […]

Categories: Living in Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee • Tags: Eid al ftir: living in Malta; Malta; refugees

July 29, 2014 by Islelanders

These three migrants, huddled under grey blankets, were waiting to disembark from the AFM patrol boat after arriving in the middle of the night. The way the little bit of available light sculpted the shape of their faces and the blankets caught my eye. The only thing I’m not too happy with in this image is the part of the boat’s structure on the right. Luckily, being a dark grey, it’s not too distracting. Some people might argue that […]

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, Departure, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Rescue • Tags: photojournalism, Rescue, Rescue: Armed Forces of Malta; Asylum seekers; migrants; photojournalism; Malta

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Being Human

July 25, 2014 by Islelanders

I opted to shoot the arrival of this group of migrants from up on the bastions overlooking the Maritime Squadron’s base, rather than take up the army’s offer of access to the quay, because along with other journalists, I was using the location to cover the arrival of a boat in which 25 migrants had died. That particular operation was taking several hours – it wasn’t worth risking leaving our vantage point and then possibly missing the moment […]

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Rescue • Tags: Malta, Malta: Armed Forces of Malta; Malta; Rescue; photojournalism, Rescue

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July 22, 2014 by Islelanders

Covering the arrival of so many dead migrants was a sobering affair – all along we were under the impression that 19 migrants had died on this fishing boat and that 14 bodies were still on board, down in the hold. Later that evening, after we’d all filed our pictures and headed home, we learnt that 25 bodies had been brought out of the boat. Now reports are coming in that over 180 migrants who were on that vessel may […]

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Rescue • Tags: tragedy: rescue operation; Armed forces of Malta

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July 18, 2014 by Islelanders

I was allowed to board the AFM’s patrol boat when it arrived at its base carrying sixty-five rescued migrants. One of the advantages of covering arrivals in the middle of the night was that very few journalists would be present so we’d have a lot more freedom to move around than is the norm. Though it was pretty dark, the reflective space blankets (sometimes referred to as thermal blankets) draped around the migrants were bouncing enough light around to enable […]

Categories: Armed Forces of Malta, Asylum Seeker, Malta, Photojournalism, Refugee, Rescue • Tags: Asylum seekers: child; rescue, Malta, photojournalism, Rescue

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July 7, 2014 by Islelanders

I shot this picture as my contribution to an online feature called “30 Days of Faith”, published by the UNHCR on its website. The feature offered a glimpse into how refugees observe Ramadan so far away from home. Before taking any pictures, I sat down with Mubarak for an hour or so. We had a long chat about his life story. It was important for me to know who he was. That also gave me the opportunity to build a […]

Categories: Living in Malta, Malta, photography, Photojournalism, Refugee • Tags: Ramadan; Malta; Refugees; Marsa Open Centre; Malta

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