Saturday February 28, 2004, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Death, looting and chaos in the streets of Port-au-Prince

As rebels move closer to Haiti's capital, Aristide supporters and armed chimere killed several oppositionists and looting among civilians began throughout downtown Port-au-Prince. This man's feet were bound and was shot in the head, his body left in the Cite Soleil section of Port-au-Prince. The uprising in Haiti continues as the political crisis in the country continues to worsen. Embattled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has said repeatedly that he will not resign before his term ends in 2006, despite calls for him to step down, and a rebel insurgency in more than half the country.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Friday May 9, 2008, Gonaives, Haiti

Rebel Commander Guy Phillipe

Rebel Commander Guy Phillipe addresses a huge crowd of nearly 100,000 supporters of the anti-government, anti-Aristide movement in Gonaives. Together with other rebel leaders Beutter Meteyer, Winter Etienne and Ti-Will, they also marched briefly through the city. The crowd continued their demonstration for more than five hours.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Saturday February 18, 2006, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico

To work and die in Juarez

In the spring of 2006, two Hollywood films will tell the continuing story of life and death in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez. Since 1993, over 400 women have been murdered in Juarez, with hundreds more having gone missing. The victims, who often fit the same profile of young women coming from other parts of Mexico in search of factory jobs, often turn up in shallow graves after having been raped and mutilated. A local saying in Juarez suggests that if you want to find the city, located just over the U.S. border, just look for the white crosses that memorialize the dead.

A man passes a mural dedicated to a murdered woman.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Sunday January 11, 2009, New York, New York, USA

iPhone users Embargo in North America until March 31, 2009.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Tuesday May 20, 2003, Iraq

Invasion of Iraq by US Troops

Retired Iraqis wait for hours to receive a $40 monthly pension payment. The temperature rose above 100 degrees, causing heat exhaustion and dehydration among Iraqis waiting on line for their pension and soldiers alike.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Thursday June 12, 2008, New York, New York, USA

Obama popularity apparent in New York's Harlem neighborhood

In Harlem, everyone has an opinion about presidential candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, now that he is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party.

T-shirts part of a shop front window display showing Barack Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday November 26, 2008, New York, New York, USA

New York Times brings on world's first fragrance columnist

Chandler Burr is the first columnist to review and rate fragrances. Burr, a longtime magazine writer and the author of "The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession," had his first column - called Scent Strip - published in the fall issue of T in 2006. Scent Strip appears frequently in issues of T: The New York Times Style Magazine. In the column, Mr. Burr reviews and rates new and classic perfumes as well as other scents such as perfumed candles. He ascribes a four-star rating system to each perfume, similar to those awarded by The Times to restaurants, ranging from no stars for a poor or satisfactory perfume to four stars for an extraordinary scent.

Chandler Burr inside the office of the New York Times.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Saturday March 22, 2008, New York, New York, USA

Mass pillow fight

March 22 was World Pillow Fight Day and Union Square was crammed with hundreds of participants armed with large, fluffy pillows. The urban pillow fight had people swinging and dodging all afternoon for the third annual pillow fight one of many similar pillow fights held around the world. The organizers say the event is a great way to encourage fun in public places. Using the social networking Web site Facebook they urged participants to decorate their pillows and to remove their glasses before the fight. While people in cities from Rome to Melbourne, Australia, participated, others will hold a similar event later this year, on account on colder weather.

Mass pillow fight organized in New York

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday June 25, 2008, New York, New York, USA

Warren Buffett to lunch with winning bidders of online charity auction

Billionaire tycoon Warren Buffet will dine with the winning bidders of an eBay online luncheon auction at Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York City. The auction ends on Friday and is expected to raise nearly a million dollars. Last year, two investors paid $650,100 for the chance to have lunch with the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco. This is the sixth year Buffett has auctioned a lunch on eBay and donated the proceeds to Glide.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffet

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Thursday July 26, 2007, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Mexican school for the blind and visually disabled

Visually impaired children play soccer using a ball with a plastic bag wrapped around it at the Ezeguiel Hernandez Romo Institute for the Blind and Visually Disabled. The sound of the plastic bag enables blind teens to hear the position of the ball.

Mark Antonio, who suffers from a visual disability, plays soccer using a ball wrapped inside a plastic bag.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Tuesday April 1, 1997, New York, New York, USA

The Darkness Within: Psychiatric ward for children at Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Darkness Within: Psychiatric ward for children at Mount Sinai Medical Center. This psychiatric ward is a one-month emergency room for emotionally disturbed children. Not a long-term care facility, the function of this ward is to immediately stabilize the patients within that month so that psychotic and dangerous behavior is reduced or halted in the meantime, until long-term care is found. Through the use of therapeutic drugs, physical restraints to control them when they get angry and violent, and daily counseling, nurses and psychiatrists are usually able to reach the children, however, the process can often be very traumatic to the young patients, because the initial road to recovery means that they have to come face to face with their fears and inner demons. Many of these kids were suicidal. Sadly, their cases are all too common. Nearly always, they were abused at home -- raped by a mother's boyfriend, beaten daily by a drunken father, ridiculed by a drug addicted stepmother -- to name but a few real and tragic examples. This essay is an inside look at the difficult processes, which are the first and painful steps on the long road to possible recovery.

Sheena watches television during a break from therapy at the psychiatric ward for children at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Friday August 4, 2006, Tyre, Lebanon

The plight of the Lebanese

A mother and her children walk past the remnants of an apartment building partially destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in the center of Tyre.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Monday December 29, 2008, New York, New York, USA

The 54th International Debutante Ball held amid recession

Observers had to look hard amid the four-foot floral sculptures and Vera Wang original dresses to find signs of the economy's collapse amid the opulence of the 54th annual International Debutante Ball held at the Waldor-Astoria Hotel. The director of the ball, Margaret Hedberg, brushed off the $14,000 cost of a table, saying "watches cost more," although she acknowledged that perhaps the deepening recession accounted for the smaller crowd this year. "People are not going overboard," said Mrs. Hedberg, who came out in 1963 and is the niece of the ball's founder, Beatrice Dinsmore Joyce. Steeped in tradition, the ball is one of the most exclusive debutante galas in New York and around the country, and this year it included young women from 11 states and from England, France, Germany, Greece and Hong Kong.

Debutantes wearing lavish gowns and carrying floral bouquets have a group photograph taken.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Monday July 31, 2006, Bint Jbail, Lebanon

Trapped Lebanese flee Bint Jbail

Residents of the southern town of Bent Jbail, Lebanon, site of a bloody weeklong siege of Hezbollah fighters by Israeli forces were able to evacuate the town for the first time since fighting began more than two weeks earlier. Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon hours after agreeing to temporarily halt attacks for a period of 48 hours. Despite international calls for an immediate end to hostilities, Israel has promised to continue its offensive against Hezbollah militants operating in Lebanon.

Lebanese civilians await their evacuation onboard a bus.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Monday July 28, 2008, Gigante, Huila, Colombia

Farm workers hand pick ripe arabica coffee beans on a plantation in Gigante, Colombia. The work 9 hours a day and pick between 50-100 kilograms each day. Colombia is the world's largest producer of mild washed arabica coffee, considered to be the highest quality bean, with annual output of between at least 11.5 million and 12.5 million 60-kilogram bags in recent years, and is the third-largest producer overall after Brazil and Vietnam. Photograph: Timothy Fadek

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday March 3, 2004, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Aristide supporters demonstrate in Port au Prince

Supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide march through the La Saline slum in central Port-au-Prince during a protest of hundreds of his loyalists. Some held up 5 fingers symbolizing the full 5 year term of his presidency.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Thursday June 12, 2008, New York, New York, USA

Obama popularity apparent in New York's Harlem neighborhood

In Harlem, everyone has an opinion about presidential candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, now that he is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party.

Naaayanna Djata, 18 (L) and Keith Jamal Downing, 25 (R), employees at the Black River Dance Studio on Lenox Avenue, delivering their opinions on the candidate.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday November 5, 2008, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Barack Obama becomes 44th US President

Democrat Barack Obama wins the American Presidential election, defeating Republican John McCain, to become the 44th U.S. president. Obama gave his victory speech to a massive crowd of supporters in his home town of Chicago's Grant Park.

Barack Obama waves to the crowd of supporters

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday March 30, 2005, Pinellas Park, Florida, USA

Portraits of supporters of Terri Schiavo

The dispute over the fate of Terri Schiavo neared its end Tuesday as the brain-damaged Florida woman moved closer to death and her parents gave up their long and bitter legal battle to prolong her life. Supporters of Terri Schiavo continue to pray for her life outside the Woodside hospice grounds where she is hospitalized in Pinellas Park, Florida. A US state judge rejected a last-ditch effort to save Schiavo that had claimed the severely brain-damaged woman had tried to say she wanted to live Despite legal appeals by the parents of Terri Schiavo, judges have not ordered the feeding tube reinserted. In a semi-vegetative state, she has not had food or water in 11 days.

Mary Porta, 42, of St. Petersburg, Florida, holding a giant spoon reading "Please feed Terri." She is a special education teacher.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Friday September 24, 2004, New York, New York, USA

Hip Hop Church in Queens

Rappers Are Raising Their Churches' Roofs At Christ Tabernacle Church in Glendale, Queens, on a recent Friday night, Adam Durso, the church's youth pastor, raised a microphone in exaltation. "Yo, God is so ill," he shouted, using a hip-hop term of praise. It was more than two hours into the weekly service, and neither the pastor nor his congregation, a multiracial group of about 350 teenagers and adults, was ready to quit. The D.J. played a hip-hop beat, and shouts of praise rose from the pews. "Come on," Mr. Durso encouraged, "tear the roof off this place in praise to God." Eleven years after the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem ran a steamroller over rap CD's, in what has come to symbolize the antagonism between hip-hop and the church, the two worlds seem to be inching closer together. The singer R. Kelly and the rapper Mase, who left the music business for five years to become a minister, have new hit albums filled with gospel messages, and one of this summer's most popular songs was "Jesus Walks," an overtly Christian rap by Kanye West. From the church side, a growing number of ministries are adopting both the rhythms and the bluntness of hip-hop culture. Mr. Butts remains critical of some rap music, but younger ministers like Mr. Durso are using its attitudes and beats to spread the gospel. In the New York area alone, at least 150 churches or ministries use hip-hop in some form, said Kim Stewart, a booking agent for Christian rappers. These include many storefront churches or campus ministries, she said. "Hip-hop is the language and the cry of this generation," said Mr. Durso, 27, who mixes guest rappers and videos with conservative evangelical preaching in his Friday services, which are called Aftershock. The results are part revival meeting, part Friday night out. "In today's terms, the apostle Paul would be living in the projects saying, 'Grace and peace to you, a'ight,' instead of 'amen,'

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Sunday August 29, 2004, New York, New York, United States

Protests against the Republican National Convention

Marchers Denounce Bush as They Pass G.O.P. Convention Hall Hundreds of cardboard coffins representing the nearly 1000 American servicemen and women who were killed in Iraq to date were carried by demonstrators during the march. On bicycles, on foot, and some with their children in tow, hundreds of thousands of people moved through areas of Manhattan today in rallies or mass demonstrations, carrying messages against war and the Bush administration. In the largest demonstration ever at a political convention, people swarmed through the midtown area of Manhattan in a march organized by United for Peace and Justice, passing by Madison Square Garden, where this week's Republican National Convention starts on Monday. At the height of the march, it took more than an hour to move one block.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday March 3, 2004, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Retribution killings

Deadly acts of retribution against pro-Aristide Chimere continues despite the presence of troops from France, the U.S. and other nations to form part of an international effort to stabilize the country which has suffered chaos and anarchy as an armed rebellion forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to step down and flee the country.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday August 1, 2007, New York, New York, USA

Daniel Mendelsohn pens history of his family's holocaust victims

In September, 2006, Daniel Mendelsohn's new book, "The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million," the story of his search to learn about the fates of family members who perished in the Holocaust, was published by HarperCollins to extraordinary critical acclaim. Mendelsohn was born 1960 on Long Island, and is a critic and author. He graduated with a B.A. in Classics from the University of Virginia, receiving his M.A. and Ph.D. in Classics from Princeton University, where he was a Mellon Fellow in the Humanities.

Daniel Mendelsohn

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Sunday April 6, 2003, Baghdad, Iraq

Invasion of Iraq by US Troops

US Marines from the 3rd Marine, 4th Battalion arrived in the suburbs of south east Baghdad this morning. In the late afternoon, they captured a main bridge to central Baghdad. Shortly thereafter, this Marine tore down a poster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Monday September 24, 2007, New York, New York, USA

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks at Columbia University

Protesters hold signs prior to the appearance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a forum for world leaders held at Columbia University in New York. The highly controversial leader's appearance at Columbia has led to thousands of protesters descending on the university in opposition. Ahmadinejad, one of dozens of world leaders in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, has publicly called for the destruction of Israel and has raised questions about the authenticity of the Holocaust.

Paulette Press, 71, holds a sign showing a newspaper cover page criticizing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Wednesday October 29, 2008

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Tuesday April 1, 1997, New York, New York, USA

The Darkness Within: Psychiatric ward for children at Mount Sinai Medical Center

The Darkness Within: Psychiatric ward for children at Mount Sinai Medical Center This psychiatric ward is a one-month emergency room for emotionally disturbed children. Not a long-term care facility, the function of this ward is to immediately stabilize the patients within that month so that psychotic and dangerous behavior is reduced or halted in the meantime, until long-term care is found. Through the use of therapeutic drugs, physical restraints to control them when they get angry and violent, and daily counseling, nurses and psychiatrists are usually able to reach the children, however, the process can often be very traumatic to the young patients, because the initial road to recovery means that they have to come face to face with their fears and inner demons. Many of these kids were suicidal. Sadly, their cases are all too common. Nearly always, they were abused at home -- raped by a mother's boyfriend, beaten daily by a drunken father, ridiculed by a drug addicted stepmother -- to name but a few real and tragic examples. This essay is an inside look at the difficult processes, which are the first and painful steps on the long road to possible recovery.

Jeremy is overwhelmed when told that he would be released from the relative safety of the hospital at the psychiatric ward for children at Mount Sinai Medical Center. His uncle was given temporary custody.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Friday January 16, 2009, New York, New York, USA

New York City hoping to become Vegas wedding rival

New York City is giving its Marriage Bureau a drastic makeover in hopes of transforming it into a Las Vegas-style wedding destination and bringing in more tourism dollars. The city has changed the once cramped, poorly-lit experience via a 24,000-square-foot space that includes a photo wall and a florist.

Christian Tagne, 24, from Cameroon and Tabitha Koelling, 23, of Boulder, Colorado, get married at the marriage bureau. A mutual friend introduced them a year ago and their first date was watching a soccer match with Cameroon vs. Morocco. Cameroon lost. Here, the couple have their photo taken against a large photo wall.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Thursday June 12, 2008, New York, New York, USA

Obama popularity apparent in New York's Harlem neighborhood

In Harlem, everyone has an opinion about presidential candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, now that he is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party.

Kevin McGill, owner of the hat and shoe shop, "Men's Walkers," delivers his remarks on the candidate.

Credit: Timothy Fadek / Polaris

Timothy Fadek

Timothy Fadek is an independent photojournalist based in New York City. A graduate with a BA degree in Marketing and a minor in Journalism, he later attended NY~s School of Visual Arts. After a 6 year stint in advertising, he made a major career change to work as a photographer. His photographs and stories have been widely published in magazines such as Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, German Geo, The New York Times Magazine, Paris Match, Le Monde, Le Figaro and Stern, among others. He has faced personal risk in order to bring attention to major world events such as conflicts in Kosovo, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, the attack on the World Trade Center, the US-led war in Iraq and civil wars in Macedonia and Haiti. His photographs have earned him industry awards and have been exhibited in major galleries. He has been a contributor to several photo books, including books on the World Trade Center attacks and the war in Iraq.

Personal web site of Timothy Fadek