  Oct. 27: Week in Photography  Welcome to your weekly JPG newsletter! 📸Your lens to the internet's most powerful photographs 📸 MOST POWERFUL PHOTO OF THE WEEK  This week's most powerful photo was taken in Santiago, Chile, where thousands of protesters have come together in solidarity against income disparity, social inequality, and the rising cost of living.  What began as a student-led protest against a 4% rise in subway fares has escalated into a national movement cutting across class and demographics. On Monday, Santiago Gov. Karla Rubilar reported that 11 people had died as more than 10,000 troops entered the city to forcefully dispel the protesters. This photograph shows that despite the government's efforts, this grassroots movement shows no sign of slowing down in the face of military force.    We lead this week’s BuzzFeed News photo stories with further coverage on the massive protests in Chile. BuzzFeed News editor Matthew Champion outlines the events that led to last weekend's escalation and shares photographs from the wave of unrest in Santiago. From there, we shift gears with a pair of galleries guaranteed to put you in the seasonal mood. Take a spooky journey into the darkest corners of the archive to witness pictures of the haunted and the curious — this one is not for the faint of heart. Lastly, travel across the Northern Hemisphere to see how autumn has painted the landscapes in golden hues of orange, red, and yellow.  Here are more photo essays published by our friends elsewhere.  CHILE PROTESTS: PHOTOS FROM THE ANTI-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATIONS  What began as a protest against a 4% rise in subway fares has morphed into a wave of unrest over social inequality.  PHOTOS FROM THE CRYPT: HAUNTED PICTURES FROM HISTORY  We've uncovered some of the spookiest and haunted photographs from history that are guaranteed to send a shiver down your spine. Viewer, beware: These pictures are not for the faint of heart.  AUTUMN ON DECK: PICTURES OF FALL AROUND THE WORLD  Take a visual journey around the Northern Hemisphere to witness the changing leaves and stunning sunsets of fall.   FOR YOUR 👀 ONLY: THE WOMEN OF THE 116TH CONGRESS 📸 This past January, the New York Times published an incredible collection of interviews and portraits documenting the women of the 116th Congress, the largest class of women to join Congress ever. Each picture is styled in a manner comparable to the historical portrait paintings of presidents from throughout American history, highlighting the changing demographics of the US government and offering candid insight into the lives of these history-making women.  This body of work has been compiled into the new book The Women of the 116th Congress: Portraits of Power. Here, the two photographers who made these stunning portraits, Elizabeth D. Herman and Celeste Sloman, discuss the experience of photographing with these incredible women.  Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del). Where did this project begin for you and how did you go about photographing these women?  Elizabeth D. Herman: The story was an idea born while I shadowed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on election day for the 2018 midterms. Throughout the day, I kept thinking about how much the current political class has changed in recent decades. Inspired by the work of Kehinde Wiley, who painted President Barack Obama’s official portrait, I drafted a pitch to photograph the new representatives in the style of historical portrait paintings. My goal was to evoke the imagery we are used to seeing in the halls of power, but to instead place people not previously seen as powerful starkly in the frames.  Celeste Sloman: For me personally, the project began when my editor, Marisa Schwartz Taylor, contacted me about joining Elizabeth to work on the project. From there, we had to determine the look and direction for the work and decide on the appropriate gear to bring with us to DC. We worked in a number of different locations during the course of the shoot, spending roughly 15 minutes with each congresswoman.  Left: Rep. lhan Omar (D-Minn). Right: Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass). What were the challenges you faced in approaching such an enormous project?  EDH: Aside from the logistical challenges you’d expect from trying to schedule and make so many portraits in such a short period of time, I think the biggest difficulty was just addressing my own fears around the project — that it would fail, that we wouldn’t be able to schedule everyone in time, that the portraits wouldn’t be strong enough. It felt like such a dream project, that I wanted to make sure that I did it justice.  CS: Pulling off a project like this takes dedication, perseverance, and great production skills. In addition to the scheduling, most of the locations we worked in were relatively difficult to access, so bringing all of our gear in and out of the locations was definitely a challenge. Also having such a quick turnaround for the entire project was another challenge, but the entire team truly went above and beyond to bring the project from start to finish and I can say that none of the difficulties we encountered were insurmountable or hindered the quality of the project.  Is there a specific image or story from the shoot that's your favorite?  EDH: Photographing Speaker Pelosi was a particularly special moment; we photographed her on the second day of the first week of shooting, so she was among the first members we photographed. I felt excited and nervous prior to her coming to the studio — as the highest-ranking elected woman in US history and as someone who has actively worked to elevate more women in US politics, it felt important to think deeply about how to approach her portrait.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). CS: I really loved a moment I had with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester from Delaware. She was wearing a scarf that her sister had made for her that has a print of her great-great-great-grandfather's voting registration card. He was a former slave, so this scarf was extremely meaningful to the congresswoman — she wore it at her own swearing-in. I asked her to hold the scarf to her chest and all of a sudden the energy in the room changed and became emotional. It was a really special and memorable moment.  What do you hope people will take away from these images?  EDH: My hope is that this collection of images can push back against existing associations we have with power and who can or cannot lay claim to it, so that it more accurately reflects who is and can be in power in 2019. The more we start to associate women with power — to have it be a woman that comes to mind when someone refers to a leader or politician or president — the more we will start to see it as the norm, rather than the exception.  CS: There are so many things I hope people will take away from this project. I hope that women will feel encouraged to pursue careers in politics, especially at a local level. I hope that women and girls will see something of themselves in this group of powerful, diverse, and inspirational congresswomen and I hope that one day we will see true gender parity in our political landscape.  📸YOUR WEEKLY PALATE CLEANSER:  This week's palate cleanser is brought to you by the deep, soulful gaze of Segasira, a silverback mountain gorilla who calls Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park his home. It was at this park in 1967 that American primatologist Dian Fossey had predicted the extinction of this species by 2000, but conservation efforts have ensured that gorillas like Segasira may live long and healthy lives.  "That's it from us for now. See you next week! —Gabriel and Kate “Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies.” —Diane Arbus
📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by the News Photo team. Gabriel Sanchez is the photo essay editor based in New York and loves cats. Kate Bubacz is the photo director based in New York and loves dogs.  You can always reach us here.  BuzzFeed, Inc. |
