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People selling their goods, sleeping during the day, families marrying off their young daughters… Because almost half of the yemenis do not have enough to eat, living with less than $2 a day. Two years ago, during the Arab Spring, the yemeni economy contracted by 50% and inflation reached 23%.

I took all of these photos during my 44 days stay in the beautiful land of Afghanistan. Photos are taken in Kabul, Herat, Mezar-e-Sharif and the US airfield base of Bagram.

We are less than 10 days away from the opening of the SWPA exhibition, which will take place at Somerset House, London, from 26 April - 12 May.
If you still do not know whether to go or not, here's some more inspiration for you (click on images to enlarge):

Promoting every year the work of hundreds of photographers and journalists, World Press Photos aim is to increase public awareness on social issues, general and spot news and basically anything interesting going on in this complicated world. It is definetly one of my favorite competitions. Every year I cannot wait to scroll through their galleries and be inspired by the amazing work of the photojournalists showcased on the website.

                             World Press Photo of the Year 2012     

Launched in 2008 the SWPA is one of the most prestigious contemporary photographic awards.
This year the competition saw the highest number of photos ever submitted with over 122,000 entries from 170 different countries.
The judges of the competition, composed of members of the World Photographic Academy, are changed annually and select a shortlist of the best talents in the Professional, Open and Youth categories.
Here is a collection of the shortlisted photos that impressed me the most:

I was sitting on the train coming back from Milan, after shooting the annual motorcycle fair, when a woman approached me asking for directions. "Are you also going to see Amma?" she asked me. I had no idea what she was talking about so, all excited, she quickly explained to me that Amma Mata Amritanandamayi, the world wide known Mahatma (or big soul) from India was in Italy for her European Embracing The World Tour.
I was way too tired to face another shooting session but when I arrived at the station the advertising signs picturing this incredibly friendly and smiley woman triggered my curiosity. I could not resist so I decided to make a quick visit to the event.