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  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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_040_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
  • Black Rock Desert, Nevada: 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..Devilish Spokane, Washington chip designer David Wilkins dances as a piece of art burns on the Black Rock Desert/ Burning Man Festival, Nevada.
    USA_BMAN_161_xs.jpg
  • Gun range: Explosion at live fire weapons demo.  Soldier of Fortune Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
    USA_MILT_06_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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Firefighters preparing a burning oil well so that the damaged well head can be capped in the Magwa field near Ahmadi, Kuwait. More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history.
    KUW_033_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
  • 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 man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. 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_040415_058_x.jpg
  • A rowboat passes, distorted by the heat waves rising from a body burning at the Harishchandra cremation grounds on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. 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_040412_361_x.jpg
  • After the death of a 72-year old man who lived across the road from the Khuenkaew family of the Material World Project, his family followed Thai tradition and bought a castle-like, wood-and-crepe paper funeral bier and placed the body on top. Then the village held a two-day wake, complete with tents, music, gambling, and outdoor barbecues. Gifts were piled atop the casket. Afterward, the men carried the bier on long bamboo poles to the cemetery. The family posed for photographs in front of the bier, said good-bye to the dead man, and left the cemetary-keeper to burn the remains. Published in Material World: A Global Family Portrait. pages 86 & 87. Thailand.
    Tha_mw_9_xxs.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
  • Saint John's Night on the beach at Playa Malvarrosa, Valencia, Spain.
    SPA_267_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 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
  • he 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_035_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
  • 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
  • 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
  • A rowboat passes, distorted by the heat waves rising from a body burning at the Harishchandra cremation grounds on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. 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_040412_369_x.jpg
  • Brilliant spectacles of light from handheld towers of candles, held by priests and other Hindis during religious rites (pujas). Colorful and popular Dasasvamedha Ghat gets a lot of attention from religious pilgrims, locals, and tourists alike and is one of the busiest bathing ghats in the city of Varanasi.
    IND_040411_707_x.jpg
  • A man watches his girlfriend making it with another woman as the Burning Man burns. 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_200_xs.jpg
  • Roasting red peppers for preservation and canning. Santo Domingo, Rioja Region, Spain.
    SPA_196_xs.jpg
  • British Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team sweeping for unexploded ordinance and bomblets in the devastated desert landscape in the burning Magwa oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War (near GC1: Gathering Center One). More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. 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_072_xs.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
  • 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
  • Kuwait oil well fires. Al Burgan field. Tornados of smoke reflected in oil lake.
    KUW_024_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
  • 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
  • A man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. 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_040415_078_x.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.
    IND_040413_308_x.jpg
  • A young girl picks her way along the shoreline as a body burns at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. 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_040412_411_x.jpg
  • Crop residue being burned off in Tule Lake, California.
    USA_FIRE_2_xs.jpg
  • Two women prepare a meal on a wood fire in their ranch kitchen near the Monarch butterfly reserve. Site Alpha, near Rosario, Mexico.
    MEX_064_xs.jpg
  • Toeleria Victoria, wine barrel factory in Haro, Rioja, Spain.
    SPA_020_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
  • 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
  • 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_064_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
  • British Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team sweeping for unexploded ordinance and bomblets in the devastated desert landscape in the burning Magwa oil fields in Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War (near GC1: Gathering Center One). More than 700 wells were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops creating the largest man-made environmental disaster in history. 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_036_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
  • 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
  • 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 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 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
  • 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_001_xs.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
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, India. 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?a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations. Sometimes a body is burned in one location and the ashes brought to Varanasi.
    IND_040413_293_x.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
  • 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
  • Along the shoreline a body burns at the Harishchandra cremation grounds on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. 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_040412_359_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
  • (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
  • Car fire on I-80 in Hercules, California, NE of San Francisco.
    USA_060328_003_rwx.jpg
  • Car fire on I-80 in Hercules, California, NE of San Francisco.
    USA_060328_001_rwx.jpg
  • Napa Valley, CA at Thanksgiving time 2010 with Menzel and D'Aluisio family. MODEL RELEASED.
    USA_101125_133_x.jpg
  • An unexploded rockeye submunition (cluster bomb), in the Manageesh Oil Field. After finding these rockeye submunitions all over Kuwait, the British Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team detonate them with plastic explosives from a safe distance. When they are found close to a burning oil well, a string is attached and it is dragged to a cooler distance to be detonated. 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_096_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_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
  • Aerial of burning a burning oil well in the Magwa oil field 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_034_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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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_040415_440_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, India. 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, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040413_292_x.jpg
  • A passing cow eats discarded marigold garlands along the shoreline as a body burns at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. 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_040412_409_x.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
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat in the city of Varanasi, India. 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?a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations. Sometimes a body is burned in one location and the ashes brought to Varanasi. A ghat is a stairway in India leading down to a landing on the water.
    IND_040413_293_xw.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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Flames from a propane stove engulf a small pot of chiles in oil as rickshaw driver Munna Kailash's wife Meera prepares lunch for her husband in their courtyard in Varanasi, India. (Muna Kailash is featured in the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.)
    IND_040415_142_xw.jpg
  • Brian Krause, president of Boots and Coots, talks with Sara Akbar, development specialist for the Kuwait Oil Company, and member of the firefighting team from the company's (KWWK: Kuwait Wild Well Killers) as they prepare to extinguish the first oil well fire in Iraq's Rumaila Oil field. After dousing the flames with high pressure water hoses, they sealed the spurting well 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. The Rumaila oil field is one of Iraq's biggest 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_030327_126_x.jpg
  • Brian Krause, president of Boots and Coots, with Sara Akbar, development specialist for the Kuwait Oil Company and member of the firefighting team from the company's (KWWK: Kuwait Wild Well Killers) as they prepare to extinguish the first oil well fire in Iraq's Rumaila Oil field. Sara is a Muslim woman and is rather surprised by the way Brian, a friendly American, reacts to a photo by putting his arm around her. The other Kuwaiti's notice this too. After dousing the flames with high pressure water hoses, they sealed the spurting well 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. The Rumaila oil field is one of Iraq's biggest 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_030327_121_x.jpg
  • Sara Akbar, development specialist for the Kuwait Oil Company, makes a cell phone call before joining firefighters from the companies (KWWK: Kuwait Wild Well Killers) as they prepare to extinguish the first oil well fire in Iraq's Rumaila Oil field. After dousing the flames with high pressure water hoses, they sealed the spurting well 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. The Rumaila oil field is one of Iraq's biggest with five billion barrels in reserve. The burning wells in the Rumaila Field were ignited by retreating Iraqi troops when the US and UK invasion began in March 2003. Rumaila is also spelled Rumeilah.
    IRQ_030324_061_rwx.jpg
  • Pre-dawn worshipers with flaming camel dung at the Hindu Rat Temple in Deshnoke, Rajasthan, India. This ornate Hindu temple was constructed by Maharaja Ganga Singh in the early 1900s as a tribute to the rat goddess, Karni Mata..
    IND_026_xs.jpg
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Peter Menzel Photography

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