Andrew Prinsen | Multimedia

Amputees

This was a video produced for the humanitarian organization Global Refuge International during the summer of 2006. It paints a scene in northern Thailand on the Burmese border of soldiers from a rebel army who lost limbs in battle, and the desperation they now face.

Beggars

This was the last photo project I put together last time I was in India. It’s a slice out of a day in the life of a couple of men I came to know while living in Varanasi …

Novel Encounters

I notice the old man approaching out of the corner of my eye. I’ve been sitting against a wall, reading a book while waiting for the next in an endless series of trains that has carried me dutifully around this country. I glance up and have to squint into the sun as I take the man in …

The grit

The boy pulls himself along the train’s aisle on his hands, his good leg propelling him as his limp one drags behind, his bare feet sliding silently along the vinyl floor. He uses a small broom, stiff, bristly reeds lashed together, to poke under the seats, fetching a surprising amount of dirt and trash. Old ticket stubs and empty betel nut wrappers, plastered with a thin film of grease and dirt, are pulled from the locomotive’s crevices and added to the growing pile that is pushed along in front of his thin frame …

The Drug

Jayad always gives me an excuse to keep in mind if we run into the Burmese police and they stop us for questioning. Today we are going to “the furniture shop,” where Jayad tells me they “make lots of wooden furniture … especially coffins.” In fact, we are headed toward a cemetery on the outskirts of town because I’m told that this is where many of the area’s drug addicts hang out. Or rather, we’re going to a hill overlooking the cemetery, because Jayad tells me we can’t get too close, much less go inside …

Little Grown Up Girls

News of my arrival spreads quickly through the rooms of this back alley structure, their high, tonal voices chattering in choppy, short syllables. Before I know it I’m sitting in a low wooden chair, its reclined position trying to put me much more at ease than I feel …

Rowing the Wild Atlantic

It wasn’t their first time in the middle of the ocean. The last time was much worse. Sarah Kessans, then 22, and Emily Kohl, then 23, both graduates of Purdue University, were huddled in the small cabin of their 24 ft. ocean rowing boat with their sea anchor, a parachute-like outfit, dropped down into the water during the squall that came on them 18 hours before. As they were about to make another call into their distant support ship, a rogue wave, likely close to 20 feet high, slammed into the vessel’s port side sending the craft tumbling keel side up …

Freewheelin’ Community Bikes

This video was created while doing work for Moved Media. More than just a bike shop, Freewheelin’ Community Bikes is a program that teaches kids self-respect and perseverance. To find out more about Freewheelin’, including shop and bike sales hours, go to www.freewheelinbikes.org. This is a piece we created to help them better tell their story to all of their …