A photographic slice of conscript life in the South African Defence ForceThis pictorial is a compilation of images obtained by the author while working on his first book-an oral history of pre-1994 South African Defence Force national service. It was illegal to take photos; however, there were inevitably those conscripts who ignored the rules, aiming their cheap, disposable cameras at whatever they could, but usually among comrades or when it was considered safe to do so. Inevitably certain images are poor in quality, often blurred and off-centre. But that is the reality-hastily-taken amateur snapshots. Even so, many are remarkably clear, serving to illustrate a period when over 600,000 white South African males, between 1951 and 1993, were ordered to join the South African Defence Force for service mainly 'on the border', or the 'Operational Area'-South West Africa (Namibia) and Angola. It is of note that all the photos, apart from Operation Protea, were taken by non-professional soldiers; young men some would call boys. Some patriotically embraced their call-ups as an opportunity to serve their country, while most stoically accepted their unsought-for lot-the law, and a war to protect South Africa from the spread of communism, the Red Tide. Cameron Blake was born in 1969 in Johannesburg where he grew up. He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1991, with a Diploma in Graphic Design. In 1992, still liable for compulsory national service-albeit in the early '90s when most conscripts were not heeding their call-ups-he cleared in at Voortrekkerhoogte, a large military base outside Pretoria. After doing his basic training in the Technical Services Corps, he transferred to the Ordnance Services Corps in Cape Town, completing his service in the media department. After a decade of varying careers in creative media fields, he finally teamed up with a long-time friend to open a small shop in Cape Town's CBD. The shop specializes in coins, medals and surplus militaria: his true passions. It was here that he began networking with veterans and collecting their stories, in line with his interest in southern African military history. His first book, Troepie: From Call-up to Camps, was published in 2009, and the sequel, From Soldier to Civvy, in 2010.

An introduction to the rich history of Yemen and its strong relationship with Britain - from the first Yemeni sailors who immigrated to Britain in the 19th century, to the British Crown colony in Aden and right up to the integration of Yemeni communities into British society today. The Yemeni community has been a part of British society since the late 1890's and was one of the first Muslim communities to settle here. British Yemenis have lived here for over 100 years, fighting for Britain in both world wars and contributing to British society in many other ways. This book is a celebration of their achievements.

Set in the grounds of Windsor Castle, The Royal Windsor Horse Show and Windsor Castle Royal Tattoo is a quintessentially British event on a truly international scale. It is the UK's largest outdoor show and features international competitions in four different equestrian disciplines. It also encompasses military displays involving The King's Troop and The Household Cavalry, as well as various other regiments from the British Army, Navy and Air Force. Visiting troupes have also participated, including the legendary French Foreign Legion. The Queen alternates her more formal duties in the Royal Box of the temporary arena with informal visits to members of the regiments, as well as inspections. She is also to be seen walking between the many different events that are spread throughout the grounds of the castle - her 'backyard'. Leading British photographers Anderson Low look behind the scenes during this very special week of events, to reveal the remarkably informal and intimate relationship between participants, horse-breeders, support staff and the general public. The resultant images present a superb kaleidoscope of portraits - intimate, truthful character studies of the participants, and of the uniquely magical setting in which this annual pageant unfolds.

Shells are exoskeletons of living creatures and have fascinated humans for millennia. Interesting Shells presents portraits of beautiful specimens from the Natural History Museum's vast collections, each accompanied by a caption explaining their unique characteristics - whether biological, historical or geographical.

'The Gardener', is the winning project of the inaugural Syngenta Photography Award. Photographed by Jan Brykczynski, it is an extension of his previous projects in which he travelled to the outer corners of Europe to explore the lives of people in rural areas. This new work looks at how city dwellers try to connect with nature. The book documents urban gardens in Nairobi, New York, Warsaw, and Yerevan in Armenia. Jan Brykczynski approaches it as if the world were a single village, whose inhabitants seek to meet similar, and very human, needs. His focus is on low-income communities where people respond to a basic need rather than any passing fad. When they create their gardens, improvisation is all. The residents of these neighbourhoods make use of what is available - often re-using materials entirely out of context and in truly original ways. His particular interest is the way in which these spaces are arranged and in how structures for cultivation are created spontaneously. In some places these are an expression of group collaboration, in others they highlight individual imagination and the inventiveness of their creators. Yet there are surprising similarities across different continents, evidencing a collective consciousness and a common humanity.

"It stood out for me for a number of reasons. The first, and by far the most important to me, being that the composition is absolutely gorgeous." - Tim Clinch, Amateur Photographer "Packed with compelling visuals and important discussions around some of the planet's biggest issues, it's an excellent compendium of some of the world's best photographers working today." - Amateur Photographer "As compelling in its visuals as it is in its messaging, Fire is an unforgettable document." - Jonathan McIntosh, Royal Photographic Society Journal Fire is the fourth element. It destroys and creates something new. In its heat, colours, and magnitude, it provides a terrifying spectacle as much as an existential threat. Today, it speaks as much to the fragility of human structures as to the damage wrought on nature: the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, forest fires from the Amazon to Australia, and infernos in California so colossal that the sky turned red. Reason enough for the Prix Pictet, the world's leading award for photography and sustainability, to dedicate this year's photo book to the many facets of fire. Selected by photography experts from around the world, this impressive publication features 100 images from the Prix Pictet shortlist and beyond. As compelling in its visuals as it is in its messaging, this is an unforgettable document of an elemental force, and of the increasing extremes of climate change.

In Toy Soldiers, Simon Brann Thorpe blurs the boundaries between document, landscape and concept-based photography to explore this conflict. He examines the impact and potential consequences of the stalemate. Through real soldiers - posed as toy soldiers - he reveals the current situation in Western Sahara, a nation in waiting trapped in an historic cycle of colonial conflict, displacement and endless non-resolution. The work is a unique collaboration between Thorpe, a military commander and the men under his command. Shot entirely on location in the isolated and hauntingly beautiful territory known as 'Liberated Western Sahara' it is influenced by the historic works of photographers such as Mathew Brady, Roger Fenton and Edward Curtis. Toy Soldiers provides a contemporary archive on the issue of non-resolution and the paradigm of post colonial cycles of violence within modern conflicts.

HAVANA: Intimations of Departure is John Comino-James' third book of photographs relating to his experience of that city, first visited in 2002 and many times since. Yet the city still surprises; he writes: Just when I think I know parts of the city well, I catch myself walking in streets made unfamiliar by my photographs.' Arranged in six sequences, the book contemplates the visual experiences and emotional connections the photographer might lose were he unable to walk through its streets again. We imagine moments in the history of buildings, find ourselves led towards and almost overwhelmed by the energy of the street, and observe moments of individual preoccupation and solitude. In the final section, through text and colour, he responds to the blandishments of a tourist industry which all too often proposes that 'Cuba is on the verge of change - now is the perfect time to visit before its distinctive character is altered forever', countering the proposition that the Havana landscape simply presents an opportunity 'for great dramatic photos for competitions and portfolios', pointing to a wider culture of art and politics beyond the Che Guevara T-shirts and other souvenirs.

These photographs are not about the t-shirt per se. The messages are combinations of pictures and words that reveal much about the identity of the wearer. They tell who these people are and who they aren't, who they want to be and what they want us to know about them. They advertise their hopes, ideals, political views, and personal mantras.

Begun in 2009, "TEE" has taken Susan Barnett to cities and tourist spots throughout the United States and Europe to record the ever-changing messages.

'Inside Photography', a collaboration between the writer/editor, David Brittain and graphic artist, Clinton Cahill, is a book of interviews that sheds light on the art photography magazine. Inciteful and often irreverent, the book demonstrates how this critically overlooked type of publication can be an invaluable resource for creative and historical investigations.

Over the past six years Mexico has been consumed by a brutal conflict - more than 35,000 people have been killed and kidnappings have skyrocketed. After barely winning Mexico's 2006 presidential election, Felipe Calderon escalated the battle against the country's drug cartels in an attempt to marginalise the deadly gangs and the corrupt politicians and police officers who enable them. The cartels are ruthless, meting out an awesome brutality where heads are rolled into crowded discos and dismembered bodies are abandoned on busy streets. The gruesome nature of the crimes is at once unbearable and on display for the entire country to see. The narrative of Mexico's conflict is often reduced to the bodycount on the border, but the offensive against the cartels has caused an eruption of violence that is not isolated to one region. The wounds of this war bleed into every corner of the country, staining the very fabric of Mexican life with violence, death and fear. In Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit, David Rochkind moves beyond simple depictions of carnage to explore the stress and tension left in the wake of such violence and to illustrate how this conflict will impact on and handicap Mexico's future.

Gullberg combines images of women bearing scars on their bodies with those of the natural world - hinting at both a sense of inevitability and our unrealistic dreams of perfection. These women expose themselves, putting on display what our culture seeks to forget - the imperfect, the ugly and the embarrassing. And yet we need to be loved as we are. Unravelled is made in the hope that the viewer will come to love themselves a little bit more. The expressive qualities of Gullberg's work are both intimate and edgy. Her viewers are given a raw, yet poetic, look at life. She looks for beauty, strength and pride where you would not always expect to find it. Gullberg says "I deliberately put myself in situations that make me vulnerable. It makes me remember what it's like to have pictures taken of yourself. That again helps me uncover the traces that bind us together."

The "Illustrated History of Leicester's Suburbs" shows, through a fine selection of photographs from the Leicester Mercury and Leicestershire Record Office, how the countryside, farms and villages developed into the urban streets, residential areas, shopping districts and industrial estates that are so familiar today. In the course of the last 150 years, the outskirts of the city have been transformed, and they would have expanded in a way that would astonish Leicester residents of just a few generations ago.In this detailed and fully-illustrated account of the suburbs, Christine Jordan offers a concise history of each district, but she also features local anecdotes, myths and folklore, and she remembers remarkable, sometimes bizarre, episodes and notable individuals who played their part in the story. Her survey will be essential reading and reference for everyone who takes an interest in their neighbourhood and in the complex, surprising history of the city itself.Leicester evolved over the centuries, gradually at first, then swiftly during the 19th and 20th centuries. In the space of a few generations, small villages on the periphery were absorbed by the city's expansion. But Christine Jordan shows how these villages retained an identity, and their names have lived on in the urban areas that surround the centre. The origins and development of districts as diverse as Aylestone, Braunstone, Stoneygate, Evington, Spinney Hills and Clarendon Park are recalled in her account, as are the stories of the many other communities that make up the modern city.

Every year since 2001 no less than 150 sets of the decomposed or skeletal remains of people crossing into the US from Mexico have been discovered in remote areas of Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Pima County Forensic Science Center in Tucson deals with most of them, analyzing and storing their remains, archiving their possessions - and hopefully - determining their identities. In Left Behind, documentary photographer Jonathan Hollingsworth delivers a sobering look at those who do not survive the Arizona border crossing and the personal effects that they leave behind. The work takes the viewer on a journey through the day-to-day operations of the forensic science center, as well as into its archive of personal effects of the border crossers . Hollingsworth also travelled to Nogales (a key entry point across the border), and to Green Valley, Arizona where he discovered belongings left on the desert floor by migrants awaiting road-side pick-up in the dead of night. "It is a way of humanizing the immigration issue we face in the USA. It points to how desperate these individuals are to escape and start a new life. Essentially this book stands as a memorial to people who died alone, without ceremony and who are often still unknown."

Love and War chronicles Guillaume Simoneau's on-off relationship with Caroline Annandale. They first met at the Maine Photographic Workshop in 2000. Both in their early twenties, they began a feverish relationship and travelled the world together just prior to September 11, 2001. After the terrorist attacks on the United States, Annandale enlisted in the US army and was sent to Iraq. The two grew apart, Annandale eventually marrying someone else, but they reunited several years later upon her return from war to begin a tumultuous second chapter in their relationship. Using a variety of images, including pictures he took when they first met, photographs Caroline emailed home from Iraq, text messages, and handwritten notes, Simoneau charts the couple's love affair and its attendant ups and downs, but not in chronological order. Sequenced to mimic the disjointed nature of memory and identity, the project reveals how our perceptions of ourselves and our loved ones are always a blend of past and present. As the photographs progress, they expose Caroline's loss of innocence and her transformation into a toughened war veteran. Ultimately, Simoneau reveals the lasting impact - the invisible, indelible, and often irreversible effects that both love and war have on people's lives.

Nic Dunlop spent 20 years photographing Burma under military rule. His new book, Brave New Burma, is an intimate portrait in words and pictures of a country finally emerging from decades of dictatorship, isolation and fear. From the frontlines of the civil war to deceptively tranquil cities, from the home of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to the lives of ordinary people struggling to survive, Brave New Burma is both an historic collection of rare images and a powerful expose of Burma's crisis. Change has come to Burma for the first time in decades. But change brings dangers, including the erasing of history and the invention of a new Burma in appearance alone. Brave New Burma is a haunting record of a country now struggling to recreate itself.

Victor, Colorado -- the City of Mines - came into life in the early 1890s when a prospector who had been unsuccessfully searching for gold for nineteen years finally hit pay dirt. Victor, and the nearby Cripple Creek, became the two key towns in a strip of land just ten miles by six that offered up an extraordinary geological bonanza. People flocked into Victor in search of their fortunes and its population quickly rose to over 18,000. Flourishing businesses served the miners and the hundreds of surrounding mines, and an area which had once been isolated ranching country became totally transformed. The gold and the prospectors are now long gone, but Victor, with its current population of now only 450, still echoes this history in its streets and buildings.Anderson & Low discovered it by chance fifteen years ago and were immediately mesmerized by the town's individuality. With its sense of being a place outside of time - neither of the present nor of the past - it has drawn them back repeatedly.In their images they weave back-and-forth from expansive landscapes, through to expressive architectural images and intimate interiors. Whilst their subjects are primarily architectural, the human imprint of these historic structures is evident and powerfully conveyed. The result is a disarmingly intimate and moving study of a small American town.