Photojournalism
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Global Press Journal reporters carry their cameras as they work and live. The moments they capture highlight human connection across the globe.
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Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Sellakandu Vimalanathan fishes on a Sunday near a beach in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Even though Sundays are a holiday for the fishing industry, he goes out to catch fish to feed his family.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Vairavan Santhalingam (left) and his wife Santhalingam Leela watch their grandchildren in the courtyard of their house in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. They moved here to build a new life after being displaced by Sri Lanka’s civil war, which ended in 2009. More than eight people live together in the small property.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Selvaratnam Sanjayan waters and sets boundaries around the onion field that he owns in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. He has cultivated onions for the last five years.

Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
Kathiramalai Vellaiyamma weeds grass and plucks vegetables in her small home garden in Vavuniya, a city in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. She makes her living selling the produce after returning from a refugee camp in India, where she fled during Sri Lanka’s civil war.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Trainers at a clay pottery training center in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, paint clay statues of Subramania Bharathiyar, a Tamil poet and political leader, and Mahatma Gandhi to be sold at shops. They say that these items are popular with tourists.

Naranthanai, Sri Lanka
Rasakumar Yathusa, 7, curls up inside an old tire while she plays with friends in Naranthanai, a village on Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna peninsula.

Kodikamam, Sri Lanka
Appaiah Rasikumar makes furniture in his shop in Kodikamam, a small town on Sri Lanka’s northern coast. He earns about 3,000 to 4,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($17 to $22) per day selling tables, chairs and cupboards, which he says is enough for him to lead a happy life.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Thirunavukarasu Ambalavanar, 75, examines the palms of two women who came to him for predictions about their futures at the Selva Sannithi Murugan temple, a Hindu temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Ambalavanar, an astrologer, has been offering this service for 29 years.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Manavan Jesudas, 66, repairs a fish net in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. He says his age prevents him from fishing for a living, so he depends on repairing nets for his livelihood instead.

Adampan, Sri Lanka
Justin Pathinathan welds metal in his workshop in Adampan, a town in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. Although Pathinathan has been a welder for 22 years, he worries that the job could affect his eyesight poorly.

Kodikamam, Sri Lanka
Children dance karakattam, an ancient folk dance traditionally performed with water pots balanced on the head, during a festival at a temple in Kodikamam, Sri Lanka.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Manjula Swarnapali, a portrait artist, uses a cellphone photo as a reference for his latest work in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Swarnapali lives in Kandy, a city in central Sri Lanka, but travels around the country to practice and sell his art.

Kodikamam, Sri Lanka
Musicians play the melam, a percussion instrument, and the nadaswaram, a wind instrument, during a festival in Kodikamam, a town in northern Sri Lanka.

Adampan, Mannar, Sri Lanka
Karuppaiya Suthakaran (from left), Velayutham Nathan and Varnasooriya Casoon mix cement to use as the foundation of a new home in Adampan, Mannar, Sri Lanka.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Johnson Arun, 15, plays football with other neighborhood children near the beach in Gurunagar, a village in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The children, who live in a residential area nearby, play football here every evening after school has ended for the day.

Adampan, Mannar, Sri Lanka
On the main road of Adampan in Mannar, Sri Lanka, Stanistan Stanislas (left to right), Sahayanathan Anojan and Uthayakumar Vimal weigh paddy and load it onto a lorry to take to a rice mill. Farmers harvest their crops twice a year during the monsoon seasons. The period from May to September is known as Yala, and the period from December to March is called Maha.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Sellaiah Velayutham, 72, uses traditional methods to iron clothes at his laundry in Koiyaththoddam, a village in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Velayutham has been pressing in this way since he was 16. He uses an old-style iron that is heated with coals.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Sivam Mercy, 14, sets nets to catch shrimp at Pannai Beach in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Helping his father, Sivam sets the nets in the evening and hauls in the shrimp in the morning.

Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
Rajeenthiran Jonsan, 6; Pratheepkumar Thushipriyanthanan, 6; Aswini Anton, 6; and Arsatha Aroos, 5, display their crafts to an audience of parents during an exhibition at Ath Thayba Pre-school in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka. Students were taught artistic and creative ways to recycle waste materials.

Inuvil, Sri Lanka
Karunakaran Akshayan (left), Thanaventhan Kishotharan and Rajeevan Vaishalini, all 5 years old, dress up as Hindu gods for a performance at their preschool, Ilanthondar Sabha, in Inuvil, a village in northern Sri Lanka. The children are Montessori students. The Montessori method is an approach to teaching that is activity-based and more hands-on for the students.

Jaffna, Sri Lanka
At the Arasady Pillayar Temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Hindus worship by carrying “kavadi,” a type of physical burden that is often a decorated wood item. Starting at the temple, the procession danced through the village of Kondavil. The kavadi may also be a body piercing.

Alaveddy, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Panchatcharam Kanagasabapathy, 70, throws fertilizer on his rice paddy in Alaveddy, a village in the Jaffna district of Sri Lanka. Kanagasabapathy has planted paddy seedlings on his field for the past 25 years.

Koddady, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Kandaiah Sivajanam, 68, repairs bicycles at his workshop in Koddady, a village in Sri Lanka’s Jaffna district. Sivajanam has been a self-employed bike repairman for 35 years. The job helps him support his family of eight children.

Modara, Sri Lanka
Across the street from the Maha Kali Amman Kovil, a Hindu temple in Modara, a municipal ward in Colombo 15, Sri Lanka, Saraswathi, 65, reads the palm of Mindi Weerasinghe. Weerasinghe says she was amazed at how accurate Saraswathi was in telling her about her past and her struggles.