a girl from Tibet
a woman from the Hamer Tribe
a man wearing a malagan ceremonial mask, Papua New Guinea
an Eskimo woman, Alaska
a man from the Drokpa Tribe
two babies in a bucket, Haiti
a Kazakh hunter and his eagle
a cowboy at the Charreada Rodeo, Guadalajara, Mexico
two geishas
1 of 9
Tibet Girl

Born with a traveler's spirit, photographer Alison Wright roams the globe, documenting the people and places she visits. In her new book Face to Face: Portraits of the Human Spirit, she shares her pictures of people she's encountered. "The planet, at times, can seem so vast, with the numbers almost too large for us to comprehend," she writes. "But when you capture the look in someone’s eyes, an intimate stare, a knowing glance, his or her situation becomes a shared experience, a more personal connection."

I consider Asia my second home and I feel especially captivated by the nomads of Tibet, an area I have visited numerous times over the last two decades. I feel drawn to those who live close to the land, documenting communities that may not last even another generation.

On this trip I was driving in the remote eastern region of the Tibetan Plateau when I saw this young girl, part of a crowd returning from a horse festival. It was pouring rain, so I brought her to a nearby school to take her photograph. She was so small that the light from the window barely reached her; I had to stand her on a desk. Even at the age of four, she had a face that seemed to express the underlying sadness of a culture that has been so challenged. Yet she had a look of resilience and tenacity well beyond her years. —Alison Wright

Near Manigango, Kham, Tibetan Plateau, 2005

Photograph by Alison Wright

"Face to Face": Portraits From Alison Wright

Photographer Alison Wright shares the stunning portraits taken during her travels around the world—and the stories behind the photos.

September 03, 2013

LIMITED TIME OFFER

Get a FREE tote featuring 1 of 7 ICONIC PLACES OF THE WORLD

Go Further