Photographer James Hill slideshow on Russian farmers in NYT

Photographer James Hill narrates a slideshow of farming photographs from Russia on the New York Times website.  The story, which has been repeated on every continent, is about a how modernization in the farm industry is affecting the workers and their way of life.

It’s an interesting show but the photographs aren’t unexpected.  Hill has some nice moments sprinkled through the story.  One example is a photograph of a young Russian woman wearing shorts and a t-shirt shopping among traditionally dressed, older, farm women, one of who eyes her wearily.

Hill’s photographic strength lies in his ability to put the broad landscape of agrarian Russia into visual order. This is an audio slideshow worth viewing.

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting has the following biographical information on Hill:

James studied history at Oxford University before going onto graduate studies in photojournalism at the London College of Printing. Shortly after graduation in 1991 he left for the Soviet Union.

Based from Kiev, Ukraine, until 1995, when he moved to Moscow to take up the position of European Contract Photographer of the New York Times, he covered political stories and ethnic conflicts across the former Soviet Union. Based for the last five years between Rome and Moscow he has continued to spend much of his time returning to Russia and the Caucasus. In 2001 he was nominated by the New York Times for a Pulitzer Prize in feature photography for his work covering the Chechen conflict.

Since moving to Rome in 1998 he has reported on a widening range of international political events and areas of conflict, including the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the conflict in Kosovo and the Middle East, and the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His work from Afghanistan was given an Award of Excellence in News Photography in the Picture of the Year Awards. His web journal on the conflict in Afghanistan also received first prize in Multimedia from the same competition. He was a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography, and a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for news photography as well in 2002.

His work has appeared in almost every major international publication. He continues to photograph on assignment for magazines, as well working on contract for the New York Times.

More of James Hill’s photographs from the New York Times can be found here and here.