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  • A firefighting oil well worker employed by Safety Boss of Canada cools off in a tank of seawater in July 1991 during efforts to cap a well during the Kuwait Oil Well Fires. Ambient temperatures in the July desert exceeded 120 degrees F and often went much higher. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_026_xs.jpg
  • Kuwait oil well fires. Al Burgan field. Tornados of smoke reflected in oil lake.
    KUW_024_xs.jpg
  • The fires of a a burning oil well reflected in the surrounding oil in the burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_009_xs.jpg
  • A tornado of oil and smoke is mirrored in a vast lake of oil in the Al-Burgan Oil Fields, Kuwait. In this field alone, there were more than 300 oil wells set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. The $20 billion effort to extinguish the fires lasted until the end of the year. Each day, in this oil field alone, the loss was estimated at 5 to 6 million barrel. Huge burning oil lakes added smoke and oily rain to a nightmarish scene. May, 1991. (NPPA Winner; Communication Arts Winner).
    KUW_025_xs.jpg
  • In March, 1991, heads of the three Texas oil well fire fighting companies made their first trip to Kuwait to survey the damage of the burning oil fields set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in February. Here in the Al Burgan field in mid afternoon, it was as dark as a moonless night due to the heavy thick smoke. The only light came from the more than 300 flaming oil wells and the truck headlights. It was raining soot and unburned oil. It was estimated that 5 or 6 million barrels of oil were being lost every day in this field alone. Huge oil lakes were forming. The men in the photo are: Boots Hansen (white jacket, Boots and Coots), Raymond Henry (Red Adair Company, red coveralls), Joe Bowden (Wildwell Control, yellow coveralls), and Larry Flak (oil well fire coordinator, black jacket)
    KUW_058_xs.jpg
  • The burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991 were covered in oil that rained down from the clouds of oil smoke and oil shooting into the air after a fire had been extinguished. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. Here a fire fighting crew from Wild Well Control sprays water on a fire so that they can move closer with heavy equipment and attempt to stop the flow with a "stinger?. A stinger is a tapered pipe on the end of a long steel boom controlled by a bulldozer. Drilling mud, under high pressure, is pumped through the stinger into the well, stopping the flow of oil and gas.
    KUW_020_xs.jpg
  • In March, 1991, heads of the three Texas oil well fire fighting companies made their first trip to Kuwait to survey the damage of the burning oil fields set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in February. Here in the Al Burgan field in mid afternoon, it was as dark as a moonless night due to the heavy thick smoke. The only light came from the more than 300 flaming oil wells and the truck headlights. It was raining soot and unburned oil. It was estimated that 5 or 6 million barrels of oil were being lost every day in this field alone. Huge oil lakes were forming. The men in the photo are: Boots Hansen (white jacket, Boots and Coots), Raymond Henry (Red Adair Company, red coveralls), Joe Bowden (Wildwell Control, yellow coveralls), and Larry Flak (oil well fire coordinator, black jacket).
    KUW_056_xs.jpg
  • In March, 1991, heads of the three Texas oil well fire fighting companies made their first trip to Kuwait to survey the damage of the burning oil fields set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in February. Here in the Al Burgan field in mid afternoon, it was as dark as a moonless night due to the heavy thick smoke. The only light came from the more than 300 flaming oil wells and the truck headlights. It was raining soot and unburned oil. It was estimated that 5 or 6 million barrels of oil were being lost every day in this field alone. Huge oil lakes were forming. The men in the photo are: Boots Hansen (white jacket, Boots and Coots), Raymond Henry (Red Adair Company, red coveralls), Joe Bowden (Wildwell Control, yellow coveralls), and Larry Flak (oil well fire coordinator, black jacket).
    KUW_055_xs.jpg
  • The Red Adair Company Capping an oil well after they extinguished the fire. The burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991 were covered in oil that rained down from the clouds of oil smoke and oil shooting into the air after a fire had been extinguished. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_022_xs.jpg
  • An abandoned Iraqi tank in front of the burning Magwa oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in 1991. The desert was covered in oil that rained down from the clouds of oil smoke and oil shooting into the air after a fire had been extinguished. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_023_xs.jpg
  • The burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi in Kuwait right after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. Tornados of fire are seen spinning off a burning well. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_019_xs.jpg
  • A lake of oil reflects a fire in the burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_013_xs.jpg
  • A dinner table is set on fire in the desert at Burning. Earlier that evening, 8 celebrants have dinner. Burning Man is a performance art festival known for art, drugs and sex. It takes place annually in the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach, Nevada, USA..
    USA_BMAN_32a_xs.jpg
  • The burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991 were covered in oil that rained down from the clouds of oil smoke and oil shooting into the air after a fire had been extinguished. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_012_xs.jpg
  • An abandoned Iraqi tank in front of the burning Magwa oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in 1991 (July, 1991). The desert was covered in oil that rained down from the clouds of oil smoke and oil shooting into the air after a fire had been extinguished. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_032_xs.jpg
  • Crop residue being burned off in Tule Lake, California.
    USA_FIRE_2_xs.jpg
  • (1997). Broken and obsolete machines formerly stored in Peter Menzel's and Faith D'Aluisio's garage set ablaze for a Christmas card in 1997. Napa Valley, California.
    USA_FIRE_1_xs.jpg
  • Toeleria Victoria, wine barrel factory in Haro, Rioja, Spain.
    SPA_020_xs.jpg
  • Downtown Kuwait city with burning oil wells in the distance after the end of the Gulf War in 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_108_xs.jpg
  • Members of the British Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team searching for mines and weapons caches in the Manageesh Oil Fields, near the Saudi border. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_092_xs.jpg
  • Author Tim Cahill in the South Al-Burgan Oil field, Kuwait. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history..
    KUW_086_xs.jpg
  • An oil lake and devastated desert landscape in the burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_029_xs.jpg
  • Apocalypse Cow: An abandoned cow in silhouette near the burning Kuwait oil fields immediately after the end of the Gulf War (March, 1991). Within a few weeks there were no animals alive in the desert. The burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi in Kuwait right after the end of the Gulf War in 1991. An abandoned cow is silhouetted by the burning oil well. All cattle died within a few weeks. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_027_xs.jpg
  • The burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi in Kuwait right after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. Some abandoned cattle are silhouetted by the burning oil well. They all died within a few weeks. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_018_xs.jpg
  • An oil lake and devastated desert landscape in the burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_014_xs.jpg
  • A small river of oil flows through the desert in the burning northern Al-Rawdhatain oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_011_xs.jpg
  • Aerial of burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_004_xs.jpg
  • Aerial of burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_003_xs.jpg
  • Aerial of burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_002_xs.jpg
  • Aerial of burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_001_xs.jpg
  • Phnom Penn, Cambodia. Central market. Fried crickets on the left, with small fried chickens on the right.
    CAM_19_xs.jpg
  • Thinly sliced lamb chops called chuletas are cooked over embers from burning grape vines at the annual wine harvest festival in Logroño, Rioja, Spain.
    SPA_041_xs.jpg
  • The British Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team marking a safe route to drive through the Manageesh Oil field in Kuwait. After finding rockeye submunitions (cluster bombs) all over Kuwait, they detonate them with plastic explosives from a safe distance. Nearly a million land mines were deployed on the beaches and along the Saudi and Iraqi border. In addition, tens of thousands of unexploded bomblets (from cluster bombs dropped by Allied aircraft) littered the desert. July 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_097_xs.jpg
  • A dead Iraqi soldier surrounded by unexploded landmines in the Manageesh Oil Fields in Kuwait near the Saudi border. Huge amounts of munitions were abandoned in Kuwait by retreating Iraqi troops in February 1991. Also, nearly a million land mines were deployed on the beaches and along the Saudi and Iraqi border. In addition, tens of thousands of unexploded bomblets (from cluster bombs dropped by Allied aircraft) littered the desert. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_080_xs.jpg
  • The afternoon sun weakly shines though the smoke of the burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War. (May, 1991). More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_065_xs.jpg
  • The afternoon sun weakly shines though the smoke of the burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War. (May, 1991). More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_064_xs.jpg
  • A dead camel in July of 1991 in the devastated desert landscape in the burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_031_xs.jpg
  • An oil lake and devastated desert landscape in the burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_030_xs.jpg
  • In Kuwait on July 3, 1991, a Boots and Coots oil well firefighting specialist guides a stinger that will pump drilling mud into the damaged well. A stinger is a tapered pipe on the end of a long steel boom controlled by a bulldozer. Drilling mud, under high pressure, is pumped through the stinger into the well, stopping the flow of oil and gas. Many of the wells are 10,000 feet deep and produce huge volumes of oil and gas under tremendous pressure, which makes capping them difficult and dangerous. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_028_xs.jpg
  • An aerial of the devastated desert landscape in the burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. The sand has been coated with oil from more than 700 wells that were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. Firefighting equipment has been moved in to begin the process of extinguishing this burning well.
    KUW_021_xs.jpg
  • The burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_008_xs.jpg
  • The burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_007_xs.jpg
  • Aerial of burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_005_xs.jpg
  • Flying over Kuwait right after the end of the Gulf War in 1991, the desert is covered in smoke. The lights burning through the heavy clouds of smoke are some of the more than 700 wells that were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_107_nxs.jpg
  • The afternoon sun weakly shines though the smoke of the burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War. (May, 1991). More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_062_xs.jpg
  • British Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team, near GC1 (Gathering Center One), mine-clearing and bomb disposal troops, at the Al-Burgan oil field in Kuwait. The entire country was walked by teams of experts and more people died in this cleanup effort than US and Coalition soldiers killed during the actual war.
    KUW_052_xs.jpg
  • An aerial of the devastated desert landscape in the burning greater Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. The sand has been coated with oil from more than 700 wells that were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. Firefighting equipment has been moved in to begin the process of extinguishing this burning well.
    KUW_017_xs.jpg
  • A car's tail lights make red steaks down a road in the burning northern Al-Rawdhatain oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_010_xs.jpg
  • Aerial of burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_006_xs.jpg
  • An oil well fire set by the Iraqi's in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in the Al Burgan field, March 1991. Larry Flak, the oil well fire coordinator, surveys the damage on one of the more than 700 wells set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. A month after this photo was taken, the $20 billion effort to extinguish the fires began. Each day, in this oil field alone, the loss was estimated at 5 to 6 million barrels a day. This photo was made at mid-afternoon when the smoke from the fires made the desert as black as night. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history..Kuwait: Burning oil fields set by Iraqis. 10 am.
    KUW_061_xs.jpg
  • The Emir's Gardens during the Kuwait oil well fires. The huge botanical desert retreat was slowly destroyed by the flames of burning rivers of oil from nearby wells that were torched by retreating Iraqis. I photographed the gradual destruction of this walled compound in March, May and July of 1991. This was one of the last small palm tree to succumb to the fires in July, 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_070_xs.jpg
  • The Emir's Gardens during the Kuwait oil well fires. The huge botanical desert retreat was slowly destroyed by the flames of burning rivers of oil from nearby wells that were torched by retreating Iraqis. I photographed the gradual destruction of this walled compound in March, May and July of 1991. This was one of the last small palm tree to succumb to the fires in July, 1991. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_069_xs.jpg
  • Male family members perform the rituals of Hindu cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River. An electric crematorium opened at the site in 1986 but had technical problems and never caught on. The method of cremation by wood fire is steeped in tradition and still favored.
    IND_040412_757_x.jpg
  • Male family members perform the rituals of Hindu cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual.
    IND_040412_336_x.jpg
  • Male family members carry a body to the edge of the Ganges River for a final ritual dip before cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat in Varansi, India. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual.
    IND_040412_728_x.jpg
  • Oil well fire fighting specialists from the Texas company Boots and Coots shield themselves from the intense heat of the fire so that they can more closely direct other workers using equipment on the end of long booms attached to shielded bulldozers in the Kuwait oil fields. The company was one of those brought in to fight the Kuwait oil well fires after the end of the Gulf War. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_068_xs.jpg
  • Oil well fire fighting specialists from the Texas company Boots and Coots shield themselves from the intense heat of the fire so that they can more closely direct other workers using equipment on the end of long booms attached to shielded bulldozers in the Kuwait oil fields. The company was one of those brought in to fight the Kuwait oil well fires after the end of the Gulf War. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. Photo taken on July 3, 1991.
    KUW_067_xs.jpg
  • Oil well fire fighting specialists from the Texas company Boots and Coots shield themselves from the intense heat of the fire so that they can more closely direct other workers using equipment on the end of long booms attached to shielded bulldozers in the Kuwait oil fields. The company was one of those brought in to fight the Kuwait oil well fires after the end of the Gulf War. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. Photo taken on July 3, 1991.
    KUW_066_xs.jpg
  • An oil well fire specialist from the Texas company Wild Well Control shields himself from the intense heat of the fire so that he can more closely direct other workers using equipment on the end of long booms attached to shielded bulldozers in the Kuwait oil fields. The company was one of those brought in to fight the Kuwait oil well fires after the end of the Gulf War. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_059_xs.jpg
  • Maria Ermelinda Ayme Sichigalo, a farmer and mother of eight prepares dinner for her family in her adobe kitchen house in Tingo village, central Andes, Ecuador. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The caloric value of her typical day's worth of food in the month of September was 3800 kcals. She is 37 years of age; 5 feet, 3 inches tall and 119 pounds. With no tables or chairs, Ermelinda cooks all the family's meals while kneeling over the hearth on the earthen floor, tending an open fire of sticks and straw. Guinea pigs that skitter about looking for scraps or spilled grain will eventually end up on the fire themselves when the family eats them for a holiday treat. Because there is no chimney, the beams and thatch roof are blackened by smoke. Unvented smoke from cooking fires accounts for a high level of respiratory disease and, in one study in rural Ecuador, was accountable for half of infant mortality.  MODEL RELEASED.
    ECU04_7738_xf1brw.jpg
  • An oil well fire specialist from the Texas company Boots and Coots shields himself from the intense heat of the fire so that he can more closely direct other workers using equipment on the end of long booms attached to shielded bulldozers in the Kuwait oil fields. The company was one of those brought in to fight the Kuwait oil well fires after the end of the Gulf War. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_063_xs.jpg
  • The Crown Prince of Kuwait visiting the oil well fires for the first time in May which were set immediately after the end of the Gulf War. The royal family fled and when they returned they finally went out to see what all the smoke was about in the burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi, Kuwait. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_106_xs.jpg
  • A firefighter from Safety Boss of Canada sprays foam on one of the weaker oil well fires. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. Photo shot on July 3, 1991.
    KUW_071_xs.jpg
  • The Crown Prince of Kuwait visiting the oil well fires for the first time in May which were set immediately after the end of the Gulf War. The royal family fled and when they returned they finally went out to see the burning Magwa oil fields near Ahmadi, Kuwait. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_060_xs.jpg
  • Christian Ristow's bulldozer-tracked, raptor-clawed robot, called Subjugator, fires its flame thrower during a test run for his apocalyptic show of mechanical mayhem at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. A former Columbia University architecture student who is now an artist in Los Angeles, Ristow stages mechanical performances in which his constructions fight each other and destroy designated sacrificial targets. With typical bravado, he called his Burning Man show, "The Final Battle of the Twentieth Century Between Man and Machine for Ultimate Supremacy on the Earth." From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 198-199.
    USA_rs_326_qxxs.jpg
  • Safety Boss of Canada workers capping an oil well after they extinguished the fire. The burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991 were covered in oil that rained down from the clouds of oil smoke and oil shooting into the air after a fire had been extinguished. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. Photo taken on July 11, 1991.
    KUW_039_xs.jpg
  • The Red Adair Company capping an oil well after they extinguished the fire. The burning Al Burgan oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War in May of 1991 were covered in oil that rained down from the clouds of oil smoke and oil shooting into the air after a fire had been extinguished. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_038_xs.jpg
  • The "eternal fire" at the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. All funeral pyres are lighted from embers from this fire which burns above the ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore,  place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040412_403_x.jpg
  • Firefighters from the Kuwait Oil Company (called KWWK: Kuwait Wild Well Killers) pray at noon by the first oil well fire they were working on in Iraq's Rumeilah Oil Field. They did a double prayer at noon so they would not have to stop later in the day if they were at a critical phase. Later in the day they extinguished this smoky fire and the next day stopped the flow of gas and oil with drilling mud using what is called a "stinger", a tapered pipe on the end of a long steel boom controlled by a bulldozer. Drilling mud, under high pressure, is pumped through the stinger into the well, stopping the flow of oil and gas. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    KUW03_4858_xf1brw.jpg
  • At the cocktail hour, a naked woman rubs fire on her body as another woman dressed in long white outfit walks around with an empty glass and a camera at Burning Man. Burning Man is a performance art festival known for art, drugs and sex. It takes place annually in the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach, Nevada, USA..
    USA_BMAN_22_xs.jpg
  • Gun range: Explosion at live fire weapons demo.  Soldier of Fortune Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
    USA_MILT_06_xs.jpg
  • Joe Bowden of Wild Well Control, Inc. In March, 1991, heads of the three Texas oil well fire fighting companies made their first trip to Kuwait to survey the damage of the burning oil fields set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in February. Here in the Al Burgan field in mid afternoon, it was as dark as a moonless night due to the heavy thick smoke. The only light came from the more than 300 flaming oil wells and the truck headlights. It was raining soot and unburned oil. It was estimated that 5 or 6 million barrels of oil were being lost every day in this field alone. Huge oil lakes were forming.
    KUW_054_xs.jpg
  • Bedouin camel herders and their flock with an oil well fire blazing in the background.  Hundreds of camels graze around the fire in the Rumaila field being worked on by Boots and Coots. The Rumaila field is one of Iraq's biggest oil fields with five billion barrels in reserve. Many of the wells are 10,000 feet deep and produce huge volumes of oil and gas under tremendous pressure, which makes capping them very difficult and dangerous. Rumaila is also spelled Rumeilah.
    IRQ_030401_060_rwx.jpg
  • Boys warm themselves over an impromptu fire at dusk near the abandoned Zoroastrian towers of silence in Yazd, Iran. Zoroastrians brought their dead to towers of silence to be eaten by birds before the practice was outlawed by the Iranian government.  The bodies of the dead were considered unclean by Zoroastrians and so corpses were put atop the towers (often hilltops) so that the earth would not be polluted by the remains. Today Zoroastrians in the community are buried in a nearby cemetary, although placed so that the body does not touch the earth.
    IRN_061214_484_rwx.jpg
  • Death is part of the fabric of life for Hindus and like much of Indian society, takes place in open view. In the early morning men and women wash clothes in the river, slapping dhoti, saris, and other pieces of clothing against rocks and cement slabs as others tend to the bodies burning on the shore at Harishchandra Ghat. A man uses a long bamboo pole that once was part of the litter fashioned to carry a body to the cremation grounds at Harishchandra Ghat to flip the unburned legs and arms back into the fire. He uses the pole to smash the skulls open as well so that it burns more easily. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040413_007_x.jpg
  • Fire extinguisher test as the Underwriters test Lab in Northbrook (Chicago) IL.
    USA_SCI_UWRL_05_xs.jpg
  • A Hindu priest pours an offering of ghee onto a fire at the Shiva Temple, which is built into the Kid's Kemp Shopping Mall on Old Airport Road in Bangalore, India. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The 65-foot plaster statue of Lord Shiva sits in a lotus position before an amusement park-style Himalayan mountain-scape built of chicken wire and cement. This free popular attraction at the Kids Kemp shopping mall draws nearly 500,000 devotees on festival days.
    IND_081207_173_xxw.jpg
  • At the grand finale of the Burning Man festival, a man on stilts dressed like a wizard urges on the crowd, which had been held back by fire marshals and Burning Man Rangers until the Burning Man was mostly burned and the fireworks exploded. The crowd pushes forward to circle the burning man and begin a full night of revelry and dancing and more. Burning Man is a performance art festival known for art, drugs and sex. It takes place annually in the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach, Nevada, USA.
    USA_BMAN_212_xs.jpg
  • Death Valley, California. 4th of July celebration fireworks at Furnace in high winds. 100 degrees F at 10 PM. Palm trees caught on fire and burned when struck by fireworks.
    USA_DSRT_03_xs.jpg
  • Death Valley, California. 4th of July celebration fireworks at Furnace Creek in high winds. 100 degrees F at 10 PM. Palm trees caught on fire and burned when struck by fireworks.
    USA_DSRT_02_xs.jpg
  • Combatant playing war peers out a window with his paintball gun ready to fire at the Sat Cong Village paintball combat park near Los Angeles, California, USA. MODEL RELEASED.
    USA_MILT_12_xs.jpg
  • A family eats a meal on a wood fire in their ranch kitchen near the Monarch butterfly reserve. Site Alpha, near Rosario, Mexico.
    MEX_065_xs.jpg
  • Homeless man sleeps in the doorway of an abandoned building with a trash fire burning in the foreground. Naples, Italy.
    ITA_14_xs.jpg
  • Larry Flak- O.G.S. chief engineer coordinator. In March, 1991, heads of the three Texas oil well fire fighting companies made their first trip to Kuwait to survey the damage of the burning oil fields set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in February. Here in the Al Burgan field in mid afternoon, it was as dark as a moonless night due to the heavy thick smoke. The only light came from the more than 300 flaming oil wells and the truck headlights. It was raining soot and unburned oil. It was estimated that 5 or 6 million barrels of oil were being lost every day in this field.
    KUW_057_xs.jpg
  • Boots Hansen of Boots & Coots Inc. In March, 1991, heads of the three Texas oil well fire fighting companies made their first trip to Kuwait to survey the damage of the burning oil fields set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in February. Here in the Al Burgan field in mid afternoon, it was as dark as a moonless night due to the heavy thick smoke. The only light came from the more than 300 flaming oil wells and the truck headlights. It was raining soot and unburned oil. It was estimated that 5 or 6 million barrels of oil were being lost every day in this field alone. Huge oil lakes were forming.
    KUW_053_xs.jpg
  • An avid runner not deterred by disaster, Dr. Daoud, head of preventive services at Ahmadi Hospital takes his daily jog near the burning Kuwait oil fields. (May, 1991). Dr. Daoud, a Palestinian doctor working in Kuwait for many years, participated in studies of the effects of breathing oil well fire smoke for extended periods of time by dissecting the lungs of sheep kept alive in Kuwait and comparing them with imported sheep. He displayed some of the healthy and diseased lungs.
    KUW_045_xs.jpg
  • Roof Panel fire test at the Underwriters test Lab, Northbrook (Chicago) IL.
    USA_SCI_UWRL_01_xs.jpg
  • Iranian boys sit around a fire near the abandoned Zoroastrian towers of silence in the city of Yazd, Iran.  Zoroastrians brought their dead to towers of silence, where their bodies would be eaten by birds before the practice was outlawed by the Iranian government.  The bodies of the dead were considered unclean by Zoroastrians and so corpses were put atop the towers (often hilltops) so that the earth would not be polluted by the remains. Today Zoroastrians in the community are buried in a nearby cemetery , although placed so that the body does not touch the earth.
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  • Auseuga Lagavale, the matai (head) of his extended family, is cooking his favorite coconut sauce, in preparation for a feast at the Lagavale home in Western Samoa. The recipe: wring out fresh coconut meat with the fibers from the husk, boil juice in a bowl by droping in rocks heated by fire, dribble in sugar, stir constantly until the milky white sauce thickens. He is cooking in the family's detached cooking shed behind the main house. Published in Material World, page 172.
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  • Natomo family dinner of rice porridge cooks on the hearth over a wood fire.  Published in Material World, Meals of the World gallery, page 176. The Natomo family lives in two mud brick houses in the village of Kouakourou, Mali, on the banks of the Niger River. They are grain traders and own a mango orchard. According to tradition Soumana is allowed to take up to four wives; he has two. Wives Pama and Fatoumata are partners in the family and care for their many children together.
    Mal_mw_21_xxs.jpg
  • (MODEL RELEASED IMAGE). In the family's adobe walled cooking house in Tingo, Ecuador, Ermelinda Ayme Sichigalo cooks empanada over a fire for breakfast. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    ECU04_7738_xf1brw.jpg
  • (MODEL RELEASED IMAGE). At their home in Golden Horn area of Istanbul, Turkey, Safiye Çinar strokes the fire for heat while her parents Emine (left) and Mehemet (lying on the bed in the other room) rest nearby. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
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  • Firefighters from the KWWK (Kuwait Wild Well Killers) attempt to extinguish an oil fire in the Rumeilah Oil Field by guiding a "stinger" that will pump drilling mud into the hemoraging, flaming well. Drilling mud, under high pressure, is pumped through the stinger into the well, stopping the flow of oil and gas. Many of the wells are 10,000 feet deep and produce huge volumes of oil and gas under tremendous pressure, which makes capping them difficult and dangerous. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    KUW03_4976_xf1brw.jpg
  • Firefighters from the KWWK (Kuwait Wild Well Killers) attempt to kill an oil fire in the Rumeilah Oil Field by guiding a "stinger" that will pump drilling mud into the damaged well. Drilling mud, under high pressure, is pumped through the stinger into the well, stopping the flow of oil and gas. Many of the wells are 10,000 feet deep and produce huge volumes of oil and gas under tremendous pressure, which makes capping them difficult and dangerous. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    KUW03_4871_xf1brw.jpg
  • Tilapia from the Niger River being cooked over a wood fire in Kouakourou, Mali. (From a photographic gallery of fish images, in Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, p. 205).
    MAL01_0015_xxf1s.jpg
  • (MODEL RELEASED IMAGE). Squatting before the fire with her children, Sudanese Refugee D'jimia Ishakh Souleymane stirs a pot of aiysh, the thick porridge that this refugee family eats three times a day. Despite losing almost everything in their flight from militia attacks, D'jimia keeps her improvised household as orderly as possible. To cover the ground inside, the family hauled in clean sand from the dry riverbed. D'jimia and the children sleep on two blankets, which she constantly airs out and washes. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    CHA104_9174_xf1brw.jpg
  • (MODEL RELEASED IMAGE). Squatting before the fire with her children, Sudanese Refugee D'jimia Ishakh Souleymane stirs a pot of aiysh, the thick porridge that this refugee family eats three times a day. Despite losing almost everything in their flight from militia attacks, D'jimia keeps her improvised household as orderly as possible. To cover the ground inside, the family hauled in clean sand from the dry riverbed. D'jimia and the children sleep on two blankets, which she constantly airs out and washes. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    CHA104_9141_xf1brw.jpg
  • (MODEL RELEASED IMAGE). Squatting before the fire with her children, Sudanese Refugee D'jimia Ishakh Souleymane stirs a pot of aiysh, the thick porridge that this refugee family eats three times a day. Despite losing almost everything in their flight from militia attacks, D'jimia keeps her improvised household as orderly as possible. To cover the ground inside, the family hauled in clean sand from the dry riverbed. D'jimia and the children sleep on two blankets, which she constantly airs out and washes. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    CHA104_9070_xf1brw.jpg
  • (MODEL RELEASED IMAGE) Squatting before the fire with her children, Sudanese Refugee D'jimia Ishakh Souleymane stirs a pot of aiysh, the thick porridge that this refugee family eats three times a day. Despite losing almost everything in their flight from militia attacks, D'jimia keeps her improvised household as orderly as possible. To cover the ground inside, the family hauled in clean sand from the dry riverbed. D'jimia and the children sleep on two blankets, which she constantly airs out and washes. Hungry Planet: What the World Eats (p. 64).
    CHA104_0009_xxf1rw.jpg
  • Refugees around a cooking fire in a refugee camp near Merca, 100 km. south of Mogadishu, the war-torn capital of Somalia. March 1992.
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Peter Menzel Photography

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