Saturday June 28, 2003, Monrovia, Liberia

Liberians take refuge from fighting in a school

Refugee family huddles over cooking food in the hallway of a school where hundreds of Liberians have taken refuge from fighting that last week claimed hundreds of lives.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monday October 27, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq

International Red Cross building struck by suicide bombing

An American soldier at the scene of a suicide car bombing of the International Red Cross building. This morning, the International Red Cross Headquarters as well as three police stations were bombed at around the same hour leaving at least 40 people dead and wounding more than 200 in a spree of destruction that terrorized the Iraqi capital on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Friday October 31, 2003, Balad, Iraq

US soldiers on patrol in Iraq

Soldiers from First Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, Fourth Infantry Division on patrol in the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The battalion is defending itself against almost daily attacks while trying to install democratic traditions, improve living conditions and win over the local populace to their side.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Wednesday February 19, 2003, Gonaives, Haiti

Chaos in Rebel controlled Gonaives

Rebel leaders and their supporters parade through the streets of Gonaives brandishing weapons, American flags and calling for the end of President Aristide's reign at a rally attended by several thousand people. The meaning of the American flags is unknown. Rebels took control of Gonaives two weeks ago, killing about a dozen government officials and police officers.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Friday February 27, 2004, Haiti

Unrest in Haiti

The city's port being looted of food, tires, furniture and fixtures. An unknown number of people here were killed today for political reasons or in arguments over looted goods. The rebel army is expected to try to invade the capital any day. Anarchy is growing in the city; men in civilian cloths with guns roam the streets and burning barricades are everywhere.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris for The New York Times

Sunday June 29, 2003, Monrovia, Liberia

Refugees in the Masonic Temple from recent fighting in Liberia

Refugees from recent fighting take refuge in the Masonic Temple in Monrovia. 5000 people are living in this building, sleeping and cooking on the floors and washing clothes and bathing in the yard.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monday July 21, 2003, Monrovia, Liberia

Liberia civil war rages

Government forces fire machine guns at rebel forces trying to advance into the city along a key bridge known simply as "the old bridge." Rebel forces beseiging the city launched mortars indiscrimately, many of which struck civilian homes and places where refugees had gathered. Casualties are at least 250 injured and 50 dead.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monday July 21, 2003, Monrovia, Liberia

Liberia civil war rages

In front of the American Embassy, a young girl cries after viewing 18 civilian bodies killed in the vicinity by mortar fire. The bodies were left in front of the embassy as a message to America that peacekeepers need to be sent immediately. One man held a hastily lettered sign that read, "G. Bush Killer Liberia." Rebel forces beseiging the city launched mortars indiscrimately, many of which struck civilian homes and places where refugees had gathered. Casualties are at least 250 injured and 50 dead.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monday August 4, 2003, Monrovia, Liberia

66 uncollected Liberian bodies laid to rest in mass grave

A young boy buried in a mass grave along with 66 other Liberian corpses--many of them civilians--who were killed during recent fighting between rebel and government forces. The bodies went uncollected at local hospital.

Credit: MIchael Kamber / Polaris

Wednesday November 19, 2003, Kifl, Iraq

Struggling in post-war Kifl

Kifl was the sight of a major battle last year during the American force's advance to Baghdad.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Wednesday November 26, 2003, Mosul, Iraq

US troops on patrol

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division in the back of a truck patrolling the streets of Mosul in a driving rain. Two soldiers from their division were killed three days ago by gunmen here.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Saturday December 6, 2003, Mosul, Iraq

Impoverished Iraqis

Impoverished Iraqis living in shacks in the shadow of a huge mosque begun by Saddam Hussein and never finished.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Saturday February 14, 2004, Gonaives, Haiti

Rebels in control of Gonaives

Armed rebels who have taken over the city of Gonaives parade through the city streets with supporters in tow. Rebels took control of Gonaives last week, killing about a dozen government officials and police officers.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Friday February 20, 2004, Gonaives, Haiti

Rebel controlled Gonaives

At the city morgue, a pile of children lies stacked on a shelf. Adult bodies are visible in the background. Since rebels took over the city two weeks ago, the hospital is short on medicines and other supplies and suffers from electrical outages. Doctors without Borders is considering taking over the hospital. The dead were stacked on the floor and in all availiable spaces. Many of their families are too poor to afford burial.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Friday February 27, 2004, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Fear Runs Amok in Port au Prince

Early morning on the streets of Port au Prince before violence broke out. The city's port was looted and an unknown number were killed for political reasons or in arguments over looted goods. The rebel army is expected to try to invade the capital any day. Anarchy is growing in the city; men in civilian cloths with guns roam the streets and burning barricades are everywhere.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monday March 8, 2004, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Police catch looters in Haiti

Police point their guns and beat Haitians looting an industrial park in Port-au-Prince.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monday March 8, 2004, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Haiti in the midst of conflict

US Marines on patrol on the streets of Port-au-Prince being pursued by a taunting crowd of Aristide supporters shouting, "Alle alle, go, go," "You kidnapped our president," and "Aristide, 5 years." A U.N. assessment team is due to arrive in Haiti on March 8 to help prepare for a peacekeeping mission to be deployed in the troubled Caribbean nation by June 1. The team will spend the next three months in Haiti laying the groundwork for the broad U.N. peacekeeping operation, intended to help Haiti rebuild after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure in the face of an armed rebellion and international pressure.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Saturday November 1, 2003

November, 2003 Balad, Iraq An American Army colonel negotiates with a local Iraqi sheikh; the colonel wants information on attacks on American troops; the sheikh wants prisoners released. No agreement was reached. Credit Michael Kamber

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Saturday November 1, 2003

November 2004, Balad, Iraq An American soldier stands guard over Iraqi children taken from their house during a raid by US soldiers looking for weapons. Credit Michael Kamber

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Thursday July 17, 2003

July, 2004 Monrovia, Liberia In the dark hallway of a municipal building where these and thousands of others have taken refuge, Liberian children eat corn meal as fighting rages on around them outside. Perhaps a million Liberians have been forced to flee their homes during the fighting as the LURD rebel army beseiges the capital and President Charles Taylor. Credit Michael Kamber

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Thursday July 17, 2003

July, 2004 Monrovia, Liberia A refugee prays in front of a municipal building where he and thousands of other Liberians have taken refuge from ongoing fighting as the LURD rebel army beseiges the capital and President Charles Taylor. Credit Michael Kamber

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Wednesday February 26, 2003

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Tuesday January 28, 2003

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Ivory Coast

July 21, 2003 Monrovia, Liberia A mother, far right, screams as she rushes to the hospital with her baby who is bleeding from a head wound caused by shrapnel. The man at center is trying to help her and the woman at left is unidentified. Rebel forces beseiging the city launched mortars indiscrimately, many of which struck civilian homes and places where refugees had gathered. Casualties are at least 250 injured and 50 dead. Credit Michael Kamber www.kamberphoto.com mkamber@aol.com OK for I.H.T.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monrovia, Liberia

Government militia going into battle on the streets of Monrovia with teletubby back pack.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Monday March 8, 2004, Port au Prince, Haiti

US Marines patrol the streets of Port au Prince

US Marines on patrol on the streets of Port au Prince being pursued by a taunting crowd of Aristide supporters shouting, "Alle alle, go, go," "You kidnapped our president," and "Aristide, 5 years." Please credit Michael Kamber/Polaris for The New York Times

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Baghdad, Iraq

Iraqi squatters

A woman and child who's families are squatters in the ruins of the Iraqi Air Force Club, a meeting place and recreation site for Iraqi Air force officers. It was looted after the war.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Bunia, Congo

3 Congo Sengupta

The Congo Young girl at an I.D.P. camp run by UN in Bunia where Inter-ethnic violence in May claimed over 400 live and created thousands of internally displaced persons. The war in the Congo has claimed an estimated 3 million lives to date.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Bunia, Congo

3 Congo Sengupta

The Congo Teenage soldiers on the street of Bunia. Inter-ethnic violence in May claimed over 400 live and created thousands of internally displaced persons. The war in the Congo has claimed an estimated 3 million lives to date.

Credit: Michael Kamber / Polaris

Michael Kamber

Michael Kamber was born in Brunswick, Maine in 1963. He has worked as a New York City-based freelance photographer and journalist since the late 1980’s. In the United States, Kamber has covered immigration, homelessness, labor issues and the environment. He has made numerous trips to Mexico to document the mass migration of laborers to the United States. He has also worked extensively in the Caribbean, covering politics, conflict and social issues in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. In Pakistan and Afghanistan he has focused on the plight of long-term Afghan refugees and the future of a post-Taliban Afghanistan. Kamber spent 2003 photographing for the New York Times in West Africa and the Middle East, covering conflicts in the Ivory Coast, Congo, Liberia and Iraq. His work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and Europe and is featured in two recent collections of journalism; The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2002 (Houghton Mifflin) and Brooklyn: A State of Mind. Kamber is a former Revson Fellow at Columbia University. He is the winner of the Mike Berger Award, the Missouri School of Journalism’s Lifestyle Award, the Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Club Award and is a member of the New York Times team that won an Overseas Press Club Citation of Excellence for coverage of Iraq in 2003. He has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in both photography and reporting.