In Episode 018 of Exposures, Valerie Plesch, in conversation with Tasneem Alsultan, speaks about the long aftermath of war and the human collective scarring that persists after international attention has moved on. In discussing her recently published story, Kosovo, After the War, Plesch describes how her own family history shaped her approach to reporting: her mother’s family fled Vietnam in the final days before the fall of Saigon, and that experience of displacement, resettlement, and inherited trauma continues to inform the stories she is drawn to today.

Plesch reflects on her sustained interest in post-conflict and post-disaster societies, and on the particular value of documenting what comes after the formal end of crisis. Rather than focusing only on the spectacle of war itself, she returns to the quieter and more difficult terrain of reconstruction, memory, and survival. In Kosovo, that means listening to women and families still living with the consequences of violence, grief, disappearance, and stigma, and tracing how conflict persists across generations.

Valerie Plesch

Valerie Plesch is an independent photojournalist, documentary photographer, and writer based in Washington, D.C., where she covers politics, the White House, Capitol Hill, immigration, refugee resettlement, and related issues for editorial and feature assignments. Her work has been published by a wide range of major national and international outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, USA Today, Reuters, NPR, Politico, Financial Times Magazine, Al Jazeera English, and FRONTLINE, among many others. Her long-form documentary work focuses on the aftermath of war and the ways memory, identity, trauma, and displacement continue to shape individual and collective lives.

Tasneem Alsultan

Tasneem Alsultan is a Saudi-American investigative photographer and visual storyteller whose work explores women’s rights and social dynamics in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region. Her work has been published in The New York Times and National Geographic amongst others.

Tasneem became the first Arab female Global Ambassador for Canon in 2018, a Catchlight fellow in 2019, was voted the ‘Princess Noura University Award for Excellence’ in the Arts Category and received honourable mention for the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism. In 2020, she cofounded Ruwa Space, a platform to support visual creatives and offer education and consultation across the Middle East & North Africa. She’s a member of Rawiya women’s Middle Eastern photography collective.

TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift.

To Experience “Between the Lines” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

In Episode 018 of Exposures Jason Howe reflects on the kind of work that has defined his career: slow, proximity-based photography built through time, trust, and sustained presence. He speaks about his early years traveling through Latin America, his long engagement with conflict photography in Colombia and Afghanistan, and his belief that meaningful images are rarely made in haste. Rather than chasing breaking news, Howe describes a practice shaped by immersion—living in places, returning over years, and preserving his creative energy for work that feels necessary.

The conversation also turns to ethics, responsibility, and what photography owes the people it depends on. Howe speaks candidly about the limits of documentary impact, the importance of treating subjects with dignity, and his discomfort with the one-way extraction that so often underpins image-making. That same sensibility shapes his current long-term project in rural Spain, where he is documenting disappearing ways of life as a record for future generations.

Exposures 018 is Hosted by TOTIM Founder/ Director Luke Mertz

Jason P. Howe

Jason Howe is an internationally recognized photojournalist whose work has taken him from the front lines of conflict in Colombia, Iraq, and Afghanistan to the remote high plateaus of the Pamirs and into rarefied political environments at the highest levels of power. Known for operating with precision and credibility in complex, high-risk settings, he has built a body of work defined by access, range, and sustained visual authority.

His photographs have appeared in many of the world’s most respected publications, including The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Le Figaro, and Rolling Stone. His work has also been exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions and presented through festival screenings, reflecting a career that has moved fluently between journalism, documentary practice, and the broader cultural sphere.

TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift.

We begin 2026 with a six-part series centered around themes of place, movement, and conflict. These issues demand deeper human-centered context, as displacement, political instability, and environmental pressure increasingly define daily life for millions.

To Experience “Substitute Mother” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

In episode 017 of Exposures, documentary photographer Greta Rico speaks with Sofía Aldinio about the personal and investigative foundations of her long-term project Substitute Mother. Rico explains how the work began after the murder of her cousin, which revealed a largely overlooked consequence of femicide in Mexico: the children left behind and the women who step in to raise them. Through years of close documentation, Rico examines the social, emotional, and economic realities faced by these families while reflecting on the ethical responsibilities and psychological toll of photographing trauma within one’s own community.

The conversation also touches on Rico’s broader approach to documentary practice and the working methods that shape her projects. She discusses how curiosity and research often guide the beginning of her work, as well as the importance of building long-term relationships with the communities she photographs. Rico also reflects on the emotional realities of documentary storytelling and the need for photographers to acknowledge and care for their own psychological well-being while working on difficult subjects.

Greta Rico

Greta Rico is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller whose work focuses on gender-based violence, human rights, and the systemic effects of inequality in Mexico and Latin America. With a background in journalism and international cooperation, she uses long-form photographic narratives to explore how institutional failures impact the lives of women and marginalized communities.

Her work has been supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation, National Geographic Society, and Open Society Foundations, among others. Greta is a member of Women Photograph and has been selected as a fellow with the Magnum Foundation, CatchLight, and World Press Photo’s 6x6 Global Talent Program. Her photography has been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and Europe, and published in outlets including The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and El País.

Sofia Aldinio

Sofía Aldinio is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller whose work focuses on migration, climate, cultural identity, and the changing relationship between people and land. Her projects often center on individuals and communities adapting to environmental and political pressure, with an emphasis on intimate, long-form storytelling. Originally from Argentina and based in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, Sofía works across Latin America and the American West.

She is a CatchLight Local Fellow, a National Geographic Explorer, and a recipient of support from the National Geographic Society and the International Women’s Media Foundation. Her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times, High Country News, and Yes! Magazine, and exhibited in community spaces, museums, and educational settings. In addition to her documentary work, Sofía facilitates storytelling workshops with youth and migrant communities, focusing on self-representation and narrative agency.

To Experience “Substitute Mother” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift.

We begin 2026 with a six-part series centered around themes of place, movement, and conflict. These issues demand deeper human-centered context, as displacement, political instability, and environmental pressure increasingly define daily life for millions.

In Episode 16 of Exposures, Tracy Dong speaks with Salgu Wissmath about Reassemblage, her photographic study of the Vietnamese-German diaspora in Berlin.

Dong situates the project within her family history: her father, a former South Vietnamese lieutenant, was forced to destroy photographs documenting his military service before fleeing as a boat refugee. The absence of that archive shaped her practice, positioning photography as a means of reconstructing memory.

To Experience “Movement” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

Tracy Dong

Tracy Dong is a Berlin-based, lens-based artist whose work is grounded in memory, resistance, and the poetics of diaspora. Drawing from her Southeast Asian heritage and diasporic lived experience, her practice examines how identity, belonging, and cultural memory are shaped and reshaped across borders and generations. With a principal focus on intimate depictions of marginalized subcultures, she proposes subversion and resistance to oppressive systems through deliberate documentation.

Salgu Wissmath

Salgu Wissmath is a nonbinary Korean American photographer whose work bridges documentary, editorial, and conceptual storytelling. Originally from Sacramento, California, they are currently based in San Antonio, Texas. Their current work explores the intersections of mental health, queer identity, and faith using a conceptual documentary approach. Salgu’s editorial work has been published in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Antonio Express-News, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and NPR amongst others.

TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift.

We begin 2026 with a six-part series centered around themes of place, movement, and conflict. These issues demand deeper human-centered context, as displacement, political instability, and environmental pressure increasingly define daily life for millions.

In Episode 15 of Exposures, Zambian photographer Chona Mwemba turns his attention to a force so constant it often disappears from view: everyday motion. Not migration as crisis but the quiet, continuous circulation of people, labor, culture and influence that binds Zambia together.

Developed over several years and across extensive travel throughout the country, Movement observes how people traverse rivers, roads, islands, and rural corridors—and how those movements quietly transmit values, traditions, politics and mutual understanding. Mwemba frames movement not simply as a physical act, but as a mechanism for cultural continuity and social stability.

In this conversation, Mwemba reflects on his own path into photography, his instinct to photograph from distance and without spectacle, and his belief that movement shapes how information spreads and how empathy forms. The images resist urgency, instead asking the viewer to slow down and recognize the labor, endurance and dignity embedded in daily transit despite the structural realities.

This episode offers a deeper look at Movement as both a photographic series and a social inquiry rooted in observation, restraint and a profound respect for the lived rhythms of Zambian life.

To Experience “Movement” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

About Chona Mwemba

Chona Mwemba is a self-taught Zambian photographer with a deep love for capturing everyday life moments that cannot be replicated. The rawness and richness of his subjects and their environments serve as a personal reminder to always see the beauty of life regardless of geography. His work has been featured on platforms such as the BBC and The Times (UK). Through his work he strives to portray Zambia in a positive light. With this series of images he aspires to bring to life the beauty and strength of the Zambian people across the country, highlighting their gracious, resilient and amiable nature.

David Larsen

David Larsen is a South African photographer, journalist, and the founder ofAfrica Media Online, established in March 2000. Based in Cape Town, he focuses on documenting African stories, promoting digital archiving and training photographers across the continent. Larsen is also involved in promoting African photographers through various initiatives and awards

TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift.

We begin 2026 with a six-part series centered around themes of place, movement, and conflict. These issues demand deeper human-centered context, as displacement, political instability, and environmental pressure increasingly define daily life for millions.

In Episode 014 of Exposures DJ Clark speaks with Alex Gist about A Conspiracy of Guileless Humanity, Gist’s recent body of work developed in northern Bali. The conversation traces the project’s origins, from an initial workshop encounter to a sustained period of immersion inside a small, locally rooted restaurant that quietly resists the norms of contemporary culinary culture.

Gist reflects on his path into documentary photography—shaped by years of long-distance bicycle travel, wilderness work, and academic study in religion—and how those experiences inform his interest in ways of living that remain closely tied to land, ritual, and community. The discussion moves through process and ethics: staying long enough for trust to form, the role of writing and voice alongside images, and the distinction between simply documenting a place and embedding oneself within it.

The episode also considers the broader conditions facing emerging documentary photographers today, including sustainability, funding, and the value of slow, human-centered work in an increasingly automated media environment.

To Experience “A Conspiracy of Guileless Humanity” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

Alex Gist

Alex Gist is a documentary photographer and producer whose work examines socially and environmentally sustainable ways of living, with particular attention to how such practices persist, adapt, or resist modern systems characterized by isolation and consumption. His approach foregrounds communities and individuals whose relationships to land and to one another offer alternative models to dominant modes of extraction and disconnection, positioning these practices as critical responses to humanity’s growing estrangement from the natural world.

DJ Clark

DJ Clark is a multimedia journalist, educator, and visual storyteller based in Hong Kong. With more than two decades of experience in international journalism, he has worked as a producer, photographer, and video journalist for outlets including China Daily, The Economist, and BBC World Service. Clark is also the director of multimedia at the Asia Center for Journalism and a long-time mentor with World Press Photo and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, where he has trained and collaborated with emerging photographers across Asia and beyond. His work focuses on empowering local voices and advancing innovative approaches to visual storytelling.

TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift.

We begin 2026 with a six-part series centered around themes of place, movement, and conflict. These issues demand deeper human-centered context, as displacement, political instability, and environmental pressure increasingly define daily life for millions.

In Episode 013 of Exposures Ecuadorian photojournalist and visual artist Johis Alarcón speaks with documentary photographer Greta Rico to discuss her documentary project, I Am, Still.

The episode traces the personal, political and spiritual foundations of the project of I Am, Still which emerged during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as a deeply personal inquiry became a broader exploration of young Indigenous people who choose to remain with their ancestral home, blending modern education and technology with ancestral knowledge, memory and responsibility to the land.

The discussion also situates the work within wider struggles over land, displacement, environmental extraction and cultural survival across Latin America and offers essential context for I Am Still—not only as a photographic project, but as a lived philosophy rooted in place, family, and inter-generational identity.

Johis Alarcon

Johis Alarcón is a freelance photojournalist and visual storyteller based in Ecuador whose work focuses on social justice, human rights, and gender-related issues. She is a National Geographic Explorer and a member of Ayün Fotógrafas, Fluxus Foto, Visura.Co, Fotoféminas, and Women Photograph. Her work has been published by The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Reuters, UN Women, and others, and has been exhibited internationally. Alarcón has received numerous fellowships and awards, including recognition from the Magnum Foundation, World Press Photo, and FotoEvidence. She currently works on assignments, teaching and long-term personal projects.

Greta Rico

Greta Rico is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller whose work focuses on gender-based violence, human rights, and the systemic effects of inequality in Mexico and Latin America. With a background in journalism and international cooperation, she uses long-form photographic narratives to explore how institutional failures impact the lives of women and marginalized communities.

Her work has been supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation, National Geographic Society, and Open Society Foundations, among others. Greta is a member of Women Photograph and has been selected as a fellow with the Magnum Foundation, CatchLight, and World Press Photo’s 6x6 Global Talent Program. Her photography has been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and Europe, and published in outlets including The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and El País.

TOTIM is a new, nonprofit initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. We rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent documentary photography. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift.

To Experience “Shaboura” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

In episode 012 of Exposures, photojournalist Tasneem Alsultan speaks with veteran visual journalist DJ Clark about Shaboura, a formative body of work produced in Gaza in the early 1990s that emerged from Clark’s decision to relocate to Palestine during the First Intifada, a choice that shaped his career and his understanding of proximity in conflict reporting . Clark reflects on living and working in Gaza under occupation, focusing on the Shaboura refugee camp, an area marked by intense resistance and everyday resilience. They discusses the material realities of film-era photojournalism, the evolving risks faced by journalists, and the stark contrast between reporting then and the lethal conditions confronting reporters in Gaza today. The conversation broadens to examine Clark’s later commitment to education and mentorship as a means of supporting local storytellers and restoring context, nuance, and humanity to visual journalism.

DJ Clark

DJ Clark is a multimedia journalist, educator, and visual storyteller based in Hong Kong. With more than two decades of experience in international journalism, he has worked as a producer, photographer, and video journalist for outlets including China Daily, The Economist, and BBC World Service. Clark is also the director of multimedia at the Asia Center for Journalism and a long-time mentor with World Press Photo and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, where he has trained and collaborated with emerging photographers across Asia and beyond. His work focuses on empowering local voices and advancing innovative approaches to visual storytelling.

Tasneem Alsultan

Tasneem Alsultan is a Saudi-American investigative photographer and visual storyteller whose work explores women’s rights and social dynamics in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region. Her work has been published in The New York Times and National Geographic amongst others.

Tasneem became the first Arab female Global Ambassador for Canon in 2018, a Catchlight fellow in 2019, was voted the ‘Princess Noura University Award for Excellence’ in the Arts Category and received honourable mention for the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism. In 2020, she cofounded Ruwa Space, a platform to support visual creatives and offer education and consultation across the Middle East & North Africa. She’s a member of Rawiya women’s Middle Eastern photography collective.

TOTIM is a new initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. As a nonprofit platform, we rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent photojournalism around the world. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. 🙌

To Experience “Youth of Belfast” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

In epidsode 011 of Exposures, Veejay Villafranca talks with documentary photographer Toby Binder about his long-term project Youth of Belfast. They discuss how this important and maximally acclaimed work developed over many years, how slow the early stages were and how gaining access and trust took time (and cigarettes).

Toby and Veejay also discuss the practical side of documentary photography today, including access, funding and how the industry has shifted. The episode gives a direct, honest look at how projects like Youth of Belfast are actually made and why sustained, long-form coverage remains extremely valuable. Youth of Belfast is now available on the TOTIM app.

Toby Binder

Toby Binder is a German documentary photographer known for long-term projects focused on youth, social issues, and everyday life in divided or marginalized communities. He continues to develop long-form documentary projects across the world.

Veejay Villafranca

Veejay Villafranca is a Manila-born documentary photographer and lecturer. He began as a staff photographer at Philippines Graphic before freelancing for AFP, Reuters, and Getty.

TOTIM is a new initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. As a nonprofit platform, we rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent photojournalism around the world. Please consider a charitable, tax-deductible gift. 🙌

To Experience “Vanishing With the Waves” DOWNLOAD TOTIM APP

In episode 010 of Exposures, Bangladeshi photojournalist K M Asad joins DJ Clark to reflect on his journey from a student at Pathshala South Asian Media Institute to becoming one of Southeast Asia’s most respected visual storytellers and a World Press Photo Award winner. Trained under the legendary Shahidul Alam, Asad came of age in a generation of photographers determined to tell their own country’s stories from within.

In conversation with Clark, Asad reflects on the evolution of Bangladeshi photography, the importance of patience and proximity and why local photographers remain essential to the truth and impact of visual journalism.

K M Asad

K M Asad is an independent documentary photographer and photojournalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His long-term project Vanishing with the Waves earned him a World Press Photo Award and international recognition for its powerful portrayal of communities living on the frontlines of rising seas. Asad’s work has appeared in TIME, The Guardian, and National Geographic and others.

DJ Clark

DJ Clark is a multimedia journalist, educator, and visual storyteller based in Hong Kong. With more than two decades of experience in international journalism, he has worked as a producer, photographer, and video journalist for outlets including China Daily, The Economist, and BBC World Service. Clark is also the director of multimedia at the Asia Center for Journalism and a long-time mentor with World Press Photo and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, where he has trained and collaborated with emerging photographers across Asia and beyond. His work focuses on empowering local voices and advancing innovative approaches to visual storytelling.

Support TOTIM: TOTIM is a new initiative built to support and amplify a global and diverse community of visual storytellers. As a nonprofit platform, we rely on your support to bring under-reported stories to light and sustain vital, independent photojournalism around the world. Please consider a small, charitable, tax-deductible gift. 🙌