Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

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  • A man fixes mining equipment in a muddy pit in a search for gold in Borneo. Such operations leave a devastated landscape and miners test high for mercury earning about $5US a day.
    Gold_20060421_01818.tif
  • A man fixes mining equipment in a muddy pit in a search for gold in Borneo. Such operations leave a devastated landscape and miners test high for mercury earning about $5US a day.
    Gold_20060421_01781.tif
  • Men work on mining equipment in a muddy pit in a search for gold in Borneo. Such operations leave a devastated landscape and miners test high for mercury earning about $5US a day.
    Gold_20060421_01790.tif
  • Randy Olson, a photographer on assignment for National Geographic at a gold mine in Ghana.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223065.TIF
  • Men work on mining equipment in a muddy pit while searching for gold in Borneo. Such operations leave a devastated landscape and miners test high for mercury earning about $5US a day.
    Gold_20060421_01868.tif
  • Resettled families gather in a community neighboring a gold mine in Ghana..
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222974.JPG
  • A couple strolls beneath power lines framing moai statues at Ahu Tahai. Over 100,000 tourists visit Easter Island annually.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8059_1493938.JPG
  • A ray fish ashore in a beach settlement in Saint Louis, Senegal.<br />
<br />
Stingrays are considered a type of fish that is related to sharks. They are found in the warm and temperate waters all over the world. Stingrays have a flat, gray to the darkish brown body and a long tail with a poisonous stinger on their end. Stingray is a popular seafood dish in many parts of the world.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7393_1057925.JPG
  • An American alligator suns in the shallow, tannin-rich waters of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia. The mahogany-red hue of the water which, when reflective looks like black coffee, is caused by the acid released from decaying vegetation.<br />
<br />
An adult alligator can reach 8–12 feet in length and weigh 400 to 500 pounds. The primitive reptile was nearly hunted to extinction for sport and for its leathery hide, which is used for shoes and purses.The Okefenokee is home to an estimated 10,000-13,000 American Alligators.<br />
<br />
Established in 1937, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge protects the waters, wilderness, and wildlife of the 402,000-acre Okefenokee Swamp.
    MELISSA FARLOW_05842_110250.JPG
  • A submerged alligator is only visible with his armored back poking above placid waters as he  hunts on the muddy bottom of the Okefenokee Swamp. The reptiles skin has embedded bony plates called osteoderms or scutes.<br />
Alligator populations are considered to have recovered from overharvesting pressures through supplemental farming practices and protections placed on wild animals. However, the species is still federally listed as threatened because it looks like the American crocodile, which is endangered.
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  • A plastic company that makes household items with older injection molding equipment.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8515_2702709.jpg
  • After the church wedding, the bride and groom are escorted through the streets of town following musicians. They collected family members who carried food to the street blocked off for the party. <br />
Mexico's narrowest point is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec--flat, country where the Zapotec culture is still strong.  Women take leading role in business and government.  The Isthmus never became part of the Aztec Empire and resistance to the Spanish was strong in the mid-1500s.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187034-1.JPG
  • Circus performers dressed in their costumes ride on a truck through town to advertise the show in Pisco. Locals watch the parade as 20 performers from Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Uruguay and Chile smile and wave as they ride around in a circus truck the first night in town.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187037-1.JPG
  • The arid plateau north of the Grand Canyon is viewed from Navajo sandstone rocks of Coyote Buttes. From a 3,000-foot-high escarpment to a canyon 2,500 feet deep, Arizona's Vermillion Cliffs National Monument encloses a host of geological wonders.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-41.JPG
  • Crossbeds of Navajo sandstone paint the Coyote Buttes in hues created by the precipitation of oxides. From a 3,000-foot-high escarpment to a canyon 2,500 feet deep, Arizona's Vermillion Cliffs National Monument encloses a host of geological wonders.<br />
<br />
The 280,000 acre wildness area is federally protected and a permit is required to reduce impact on the geological treasure.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705729-40.JPG
  • A cowgirl drives her herd down a dusty trail from their winter range in Beef Basin, Utah. In the last rays of light, the cowgirl works late to move her cattle on public land near Monticello, Utah. Land whipped into dust by a dry winter offers little forage for cattle on this Bureau of Land Management grazing allotment. In the spring, ranchers pay a fee to drive cattle onto higher, wetter ground.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680961-16.jpg
  • Men and women of the Kara tribe gather for an evening dance.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7661_1306605_2.TIF
  • Men and women of the Kara tribe gather for an evening dance.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7661_1306605_11.TIF
  • Fields are cleared and then burned in preparation for planting.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7661_1306608_9.TIF
  • Ornamental cuts on a Suri girl will heal in a raised pattern of scars.
    MM7661_20090225_03142.tif
  • Ornamental cuts on a Suri girl will heal in a raised pattern of scars.
    MM7661_20090225_03115.tif
  • Portrait of a Mursi woman with her lip plate removed.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7661_1306608_15.TIF
  • Portrait of a Mursi woman with her lip plate removed.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7661_1306608_14.TIF
  • Portrait of a Mursi woman with her lip plate removed.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7661_1306608_10.TIF
  • Portrait of a Mursi woman with her lip plate removed.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7661_1306608_11.TIF
  • Men stand on a bamboo structure fixing mining equipment in a muddy amalgam pit they use to sluice gold..
    Gold_20060421_01800.tif
  • Brown bears fish for salmon in Kuril Lake. So many salmon—pink, chum, sockeye, coho, chinook, and masu—flood the waters that typically solitary brown bears crowd together
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-14.TIF
  • A brown bear's claws hang onto the salmon in Kuril Lake.<br />
<br />
Grizzly bears need to eat about 40 fish a day to put on weight to make it through the winter.<br />
<br />
Brown bears in Kamchatka can be 7 to 9 feet in length and weigh 700-800 pounds. Species: U. arctic Genus:Ursus<br />
<br />
Kamchatka has the highest density of brown bears in the world, with almost 15,000 on the Russian peninsula.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-13.TIF
  • Spawning salmon runs fill the Ozernaya River, considered the crown jewel of Kamchatka  and runs directly into the Bering Sea.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7593_1260983-11.TIF
  • The Armani Club is in the Liu lin Road area attract a scene of young people.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7493_1176463-6.tif
  • A boy uses milk to coax his pet lamb and calf into a waiting truck; the animals are being taken to a nearby fair competition.
    RANDY OLSON_06414_3280_5.TIF
  • Indian Muslims at the call to prayer on the roof of a Kolkata mosque.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7890_1386463.TIF
  • A fountain on the newly designed Riverwalk along the Detroit River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT6613_1457274.jpg
  • Guests at the Mediterranean Bistro, a wine and beer loft.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1376350.jpg
  • A man works out along the beach in Lummus Park at sunrise.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1376343.jpg
  • An Afro-Cuban dance teacher shows dance moves of sea goddess Yemaya.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1376328.jpg
  • A couple talk and laugh at an outdoor restaurant at night.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1376325.jpg
  • Waterfront Scotty's Landing offers alfresco dining with a local twist.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1312335.jpg
  • A couple take in a view from Cape Florida Lighthouse, rebuilt in 1847.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1312320.jpg
  • Trainers gather at the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame the night before a wild horse competition, Extreme Mustang Makeover. All dressed in white hats and shirts, they met for opening ceremonies and instructions for the next day.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222863.jpg
  • A captured wild horse eyes his surroundings after loaded onto a trailer following a roundup by the Bureau of Land Management.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222854.jpg
  • Detail of the main on a colorful wild horse rescued from the Sheldon Wildlife Refuge.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222830.jpg
  • A wild mustang trudges through snow pawing at drifts foraging for grasses to survive on in the Ochoco Mountains.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1200574.TIF
  • Portrait of Shirley, a float house owner near Prince of Wales Island.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075171.jpg
  • After the wedding ceremony on the Mendenhall Glacier, a newly married couple waits to fly back to their cruise ship by helicopter.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075165.jpg
  • Father and daugter kayak on still water near Moser Island which separates North and South Arms Hoonah Sound on Chichagof Island in Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075162.jpg
  • A young girl investigates sea life at low tide on Moser Island in Southeast Alaska.<br />
Scientists have counted at least 170 species of macroscopic invertebrates in the rich marine intertidal zones.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075155.jpg
  • A crisp early morning after a freshly fallen snow in the Mendenhall Valley at an inn near Juneau.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075150.jpg
  • Hands clasped, a couple shows their rings after the wedding on Mendenhall Glacier.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075137.TIF
  • A surreal and beautiful setting for the wedding ceremony. A cake and champagne are placed on a table covered with a linen cloth. A camera on a tripod records the couple's wedding vows taken on the Mendenhall Glacier. They said they were married in "God's Cathedral."
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075135.TIF
  • A newly married couple dances on Mendenhall Glacier. They took a helicopter onto the icefield and celebrated after the ceremony. Although dressed in traditional wedding formal wear, they were careful to step over the melting ice in their crampons.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075126.jpg
  • Two fishermen net a salmon near Prince of Wales Island in the pristine waters of Southeast Alaska.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075107.jpg
  • A family sets up racks to dry salmon and prepares it for smoking at a Native Alaskan Tlingit fish camp at Dog Point near Sitka.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075050.jpg
  • Crew members from a family fishing operation land approximately 1,000 Coho salmon in the boat from a purse seine in waters near Craig, Alaska.<br />
Alaska’s fisheries are some of the richest in the world, with fishermen harvesting hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of salmon, crab, herring, halibut, pollock, and groundfish every year. However, overfishing, exploitation, and poor fisheries management in the ‘40s and ‘50s took a heavy toll on the industry. The state adopted drastic measures that saved the fishing industry from collapse. Tough times again hit the fishermen in the 1970s as the number of boats grew and increasingly efficient gear depleted catch levels to record lows.<br />
Permit systems and reserves helped the commercial industry recover in the late ‘70s—a trend that has continued to the present because of cooperation between scientists and fishermen.<br />
Fishermen and loggers rank in the top two spots for most dangerous jobs. Both are common lines of work for people in the Alaskan outdoors. Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking fatal occupational injuries in 1980, there were 4,547 fatal work injuries in 2010, and fatality rates of some occupations remain alarmingly high.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075033.TIF
  • Crew members refer to this maneuver as the  "fish walk" when they slide across a boat's deck to push pink salmon into the ice storage area. The fishermen were seining in the waters in Southeast Alaska.<br />
Alaska’s fisheries are some of the richest in the world, with fishermen harvesting hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of salmon, crab, herring, halibut, pollock, and groundfish every year. However, overfishing, exploitation, and poor fisheries management in the ‘40s and ‘50s took a heavy toll on the industry. The state adopted drastic measures that saved the fishing industry from collapse. Tough times again hit the fishermen in the 1970s as the number of boats grew and increasingly efficient gear depleted catch levels to record lows.<br />
<br />
Permit systems and reserves helped the commercial industry recover in the late ‘70s—a trend that has continued to the present because of cooperation between scientists and fishermen.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075032.jpg
  • A young girl wears a hair net at lunchtime outside a family take-out restaurant in the small fishing village of Petersburg. Located on Mitkof Island, the community attracted immigrants of Scandinavian origin to the Native Alaskan Tlingit settlement in Alaska's Southeast.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075031.TIF
  • A cruise ship docks at Ketchikan's harbor bringing a city full of tourists for shopping and sightseeing. The once logging town is dependent on the growing tourism industry. Nearly a million cruise ship passengers visit Alaska, sometimes doubling a town’s population on a summer day. <br />
The ships travel the Inside Passage, a network of waterways between islands along the coast of Alaska, British Columbia and Washington state. <br />
Travelers can shop for native art and souvenirs or diamonds in one of many jewelry stores along what was a former red-light district during the Gold Rush. The Misty Fjords National Monument is one of the area’s major attractions.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075021.TIF
  • Crisp winter air clears over freshly snow-dusted trees in Tongass National Forest looking across the Icy Strait in the Inside Passage toward Southeast Alaska’s Chilkat Mountain Range. The region is known for it’s harsh winds and rugged landscape as well as it’s beauty.<br />
Chilkat, in the native Tlingit language, means “storage container for salmon.” The name was given because of warm springs that keep the Chilkat River from freezing during the winter as it flows through the mountain range, thus allowing salmon to spawn late in the season, and creating safe “storage.”
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075008.TIF
  • Family and friends build a bonfire on a secluded beach on Prince of Wales Island.<br />
The main island includes hundreds of adjacent smaller islands—a total of more than 2,600 square miles with 990 miles of coastline and countless bays coves, inlets, and points.<br />
The landscape is characterized by steep, forested mountains and deep U-shaped valleys, streams, lakes, saltwater straits, and bays that were carved by the glacial ice that once covered the entire area. The spruce-hemlock forest covered land is full of muskegs, or bogs. Most of the mountains on the island are 2,000 to 3,000 feet tall.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075007.TIF
  • Tourists are drawn to the beauty of Alaska and its glaciers, and some come for the ultimate and most unlikely experience—donning crampons for their wedding on ice.<br />
If the weather cooperates, couples can arrange for a limousine pickup from a cruise ship to the airport for a helicopter flight onto a glacier. They had a traditional ceremony with tuxedo and white wedding dress and extra touches including wedding cake, music, and flowers.<br />
The groom pops the cork on a bottle of champagne provided by the planner who married this couple on the Mendenhall Glacier.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1073540.TIF
  • Rays of sunlight pierce the clouds hanging over Sitka Sound and Baranof Island. Southeast Alaska receives about 200 inches of rain a year creating its moody ambiance.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1073532.TIF
  • Sea stacks tower above the surf at Shi Shi Beach.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_754685.jpg
  • Autumn-hued vine maples along the Sol Duc River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_754684.jpg
  • A bunchberry flower framed by ferns.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_754682.jpg
  • Mount Olympus and its sister peaks.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_754677.jpg
  • Hydrated lime is spread to kill the invasive coqui frog.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6842_964844.jpg
  • Border collies are trained to help manage sheep.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6842_964834.jpg
  • A farmer leaves muddy footprints in a taro patch.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6842_964828.jpg
  • Invasive grass lines the shoreline near a wooden dock.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6842_964823.jpg
  • A family tending their taro fields, threatened by apple snails.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6842_964803.jpg
  • A cowboy rancher rides a horse across the flat sagebrush sea of western landscape. High, windswept clouds overhead in clear blue sky is typical in Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area in Oregon's Harney County. The agreement was created to protect the land and scarce water sources valued by ranchers and wildlife.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_705717.jpg
  • Rain that never hits the ground, virga of low-lying clouds paints a dramatic sky above Steens Mountains, a 30-mile long massif in southern Oregon. Tail lights cresting a hill are barely visible on a single lane road shared by ranchers, miners, and recreational users.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680976.jpg
  • Shadows fall across Painted Hand Pueblo, a tower in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, a treasure of Ansazi Indian ruins in Colorado. The 176,000 acres of federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management includes 20,000 archeological sites.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6659_680975.jpg
  • A silver-painted but nude, tuba-playing unicyclist rides through the desert at Burning Man Festival. Balancing her sousaphone, she was like a mirage and disappeared into a crowd in the Black Rock Playa. The counter-culture celebration is held annually in Nevada and attracts thousands of costumed participants to party. Many performance artists plan unique and strange costumes that are creative and whimsical. There are no spectators, only participants.
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  • Aerial view of the Hackensack River.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06460_671043.jpg
  • A cyclist on a 19th century style cycle pedals ahead of a thunderstorm.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06341_515866.jpg
  • Man on antique bike pedals ahead of an Indiana thunderstorm.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06341_515794.jpg
  • Boy holds a small kitten on his family farm in Greenup, Illinois..
    MELISSA FARLOW_06341_515767.jpg
  • A young trainer works with a wild horse training him with a gentle calm voice asking him to lie down.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737138.jpg
  • A young trainer works with a wild horse in a gentle manner.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737136.jpg
  • A young trainer calms a wild horse she is training, one of 50 unwanted wild horses she has adopted.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737134.jpg
  • A young trainer calms one of the 50 unwanted wild mustangs she and her mother adopted.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737133.jpg
  • A young horse approaches a trainer looking for attention. The teen and her mother have adopted 50 unwanted wild horses and train many of them for riding and competitions.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737132.jpg
  • A young girl is fearless working with a feisty colt. She adopted the wild horse that was rounded up when he was one month old.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737128.jpg
  • A young horse trainer relaxes with rescued horses on the family ranch.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737120.jpg
  • A young girl gives big hugs to a beloved, recently adopted mustang.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737118.jpg
  • A young girl and her adopted wild horse stand by the water that flows from Cold Creek into a water hole.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737117.jpg
  • A horse trainer faces a wild mustang and speaks softly approaching the wary horse.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737115.jpg
  • Training for competition, a rider steadies her wild horse on a steep slope into a lake.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737114.jpg
  • A wild horse trainer coaxes her horse to walk through a curtain made of plastic that could spook a horse.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2737108.jpg
  • A transgender sex worker straightens her hair extension while getting ready for work. She has her own room and lives with her aunt taking the bus nightly to the historic district of Quito.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2708532.jpg
  • A father takes to the floor of the living room in their home as he shows his son moves to try when BBoy dancing. Young, urban culture is expressed through rhythmic music and acrobatic dance similar to hip hop.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512521.jpg
  • Dancers perform acrobatic moves while practicing BBoy or breaking, a hip hop style of street dance. The groups of young teens mix modern dance moves with indigenous influences. They are athletic and work hard perfecting their dance steps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512508.jpg
  • Young dancers perform acrobatic moves while practicing BBoy or breaking, a hip hop style of street dance. The talented group mixes indigenous influences with modern dance steps and were brought together by a Ecuadorian choreographer interested in helping them navigate the cultural landscape. He helped find them a space to practice and oversees their rehearsals in Quito.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512507.jpg
  • A dog watches as a transgender prostitute walks through the neighborhood to her apartment in north Quito.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512388.jpg
  • Mennonite farm children play at a water hole.
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  • A plastic company that makes household items with older injection molding equipment.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8515_2702710.JPG
  • A plastic company that makes household items with older injection molding equipment.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8515_2702709.JPG
  • Plastic bottles are sorted at a recycling facility in Valenzuela, Philippines.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8515_2702685.JPG
  • Estero de Binondo stream in the Chinatown area of Manila is covered with itinerant homes to the degree that the stream is no longer visible. It is choked with plastic waste. Hardly believable, the stream in this photo is on the left side of the frame. Itinerant residents will be relocated to Bulacan, a settlement in the north. Although the Pasig was cleaned up with major effort, plastic still flows from here into the river making the Philippines one of the top three countries the world a contributor to polluting the oceans with plastics.
    RANDY OLSON_MM8515_2702675.JPG
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