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Connecting to the world through a Monitor lens

With our camera lens, we try to show you the world as it is, with all its beauty, compassion, and resilience. This month, we’re delighted to publish another stunning photography issue of the weekly magazine. 

When I took my first assignments for º£½Ç´óÉñ, from South Africa in the early 2000s, I was a newbie foreign correspondent wowed by the people, scenes, and stories I encountered. I was also dazzled by photojournalist Melanie Stetson Freeman, who had come from Boston to work with me for those weeks.  

She traveled like the pro she is, nonchalantly moving herself and her cameras through townships and tiger enclosures, dance studios and bushlands. She seemed both fearless and lighthearted, connecting with everyone we met, posing key questions I had inevitably forgotten to ask. 

And she saw things. I remember how she would move quickly to take a shot, or slowly and deliberatively set up for a future one. Later, I would realize she had spotted the best scenes for my narratives – the best moments of light, both literally and figuratively, that I would try to capture in words. 

Since then, I’ve been fortunate to learn from others on the Monitor’s exceptional photo staff. Every reporting trip I took with Alfredo Sosa and Riley Robinson made me a better writer, opening my eyes to the world and connecting to what was around me. When I see Scott Peterson’s stunning wartime photography, I am reminded of the imperative we writers have to remember the dignity and humanity involved in any conflict, and the people behind any policy we might analyze.

Indeed, the best piece of writing advice I have for young reporters is to go on an assignment with a skilled photojournalist. We’re honored at the Monitor to have a team of these experts. And we’re delighted to bring their work together in what has become one of our favorite magazine traditions, Our Year in Photos. 

Our photo staff’s selections – their favorite images from 2025 – not only show breathtaking journalistic craft and breadth, as well as artistic skill. They demonstrate what makes the Monitor different. With our lens, we try to show you the world as it is, with all its beauty, compassion, and resilience.