From Aaron Huey

The mother and wife of every soldier who dies in Iraq gets a Purple Heart. Sgt. David Mitts and SSG. Salamo Tiualuuluu's wives were both pregnant. Nathan Wood was 19. Kyle Eggers had 3 little boys who never knew him. At the memorial for PFC Andrew Ward the priest said “War is the ultimate failure of man.”

These photos tell the story of five Purple Hearts.

CAPTION: At the funeral of Nathan Wood, Marine LCpl age 19, at Christ Church Kirkland, WA. Nathan was killed Nov 9 in Fallujah. His best friend, Garrett Ware, also a marine fighting in Falluja, was injured and sent home with a purple heart. In this image Garrett hugs Rex Wood, Nathan's father. Photography © Aaron Huey

See the rest of this very special project on Aaron's web site.

Via Greg Mironchuk

Applications Now Being Accepted for the 3rd Annual Yarka Vendrinska Scholarship

Mark and Tanya Bohr are pleased to announce the third annual scholarship for emerging photojournalists who demonstrate financial need to continue their careers. The award may be used to attend any of the photojournalism workshops at The Maine Photographic Workshops.

The $2,000 scholarship is offered in memory of Yarka, who was a passionate photojournalist. She was drawn to photograph people often ignored by society the homeless, the aged and the ill. Finding great humanity in her subjects, she attempted to show this through her imagery.

The ideal applicant will not only be interested in photojournalism, but will have demonstrated social awareness in the spirit of Yarka=92s work, which can be seen on her site, www.yarka.net. While the award will be based upon need, the applicant must also provide a portfolio of recent work. Portfolios and proof of need for financial assistance must be submitted in digital format, as the awarding committee is not centrally located. For further information and application forms, see the Maine Workshops scholarship site.

Scholarship application deadline: 5:00 PM on Tuesday, March 1, 2005. The award will be officially announced on Yarka's birthday, April 25, 2005.

To read more about the Foundation, please visit www.yarkasfund.org.

On a minor tangent, friend and fellow photojournalist Robb Hill won this scholarship the first year it was offered. He attended The Maine Photo Workshops on that award and studied under Eugene Richards, the famous documentary photographer, for a week.

Think twice about copying content or code from any web site. Copyscape is here.

Tewfic El-Sawy, a travel and editorial photographer just came back from India and has some really terrific images. One set of images is of Adivasis in Chhattisgargh. The second set is called Sufis of the Dargahs.