Capybaras bathe in the hot spring water at the Saitama Children's zoo in Higashi Matsuyama city, Saitama prefecture on December 25, 2013. 13 capybaras in the zoo, originally from South America, enjoyed the hot spring water. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)
Belgium. Rosalie, 9, goes to school in Brussels. “At my school we have separate toilets for girls and boys on every floor. My classroom is on the 3rd floor. We have 22 toilets, which are shared between 230 pupils and 20 adults. The teachers at school let us go to the toilet whenever we need to”. (Photo by Tim Dirven/WSUP/Panos)
“I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “doodler”. From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercolor. Watercolor is what birthed my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital painting and my new found passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. The beginning of 2013 I won a class from The Art Department which will start this spring.”
I am 17 years old and an aspiring photographer. Ever since I set my hands on a camera, I knew I had unlocked a new dimension. One where you can expand your imagination and run for endless miles. Photography makes you look at things differently. You notice rain drops and the way the sun kisses the Earth. You breath in every moment of your life. You love to live and live to love. There is no time to waste because there is an urgency to capture each loving gesture, smile, and laugh in both humans and animals. Then every photograph becomes timeless and you smile, knowing that you hold a few split seconds in your hands. I live in a box called a camera with the lens as my window and everyday I sit on my couch watching the world outside through a different perspective. No worries, my dogs are right beside me looking at it the same way.