Sex workers of Faridpur

An aging sex worker reclines in her bedroom in a brothel in Faridpur, central Bangladesh.



Overflowing buckets of trash and used condoms are seen of the 3rd floor in the Joinal Bari brothel.



Kajul is embraced by a customer in her bedroom of the 3rd floor of the Boro Bari brothel.



Pachey and Argu wait for customers outside their room on the 3rd floor of the Joinal Bari brothel.
"I am 22 years old and have been working in this brothel for two years. I was married for four years but ran away because my husband was crazy. When I moved back in with my parents my uncle took me to Dhaka. I believed him when he told me he was going to enroll me in a dance school, but instead he sold me to a madame. I am not afraid of anyone. Sometimes this place is okay, sometimes it's not, but anything is better than living with my husband. I don't talk with my parents anymore; I miss them, but what can I do? The people in the brothel are like family to me; Alyea (my madame) is my mother now. I love her and dream of being a madame someday." says Pachey.



Piea waits outside her room while customers browse the halls of the 3rd floor in the Joinal Bari brothel.

About 800 women and girls live and work inside the bustling brothel, comprised of four buildings situated on an important trading route on the banks of the Padma river. Many of chowkri (bonded sex workers) are underage. Some of the girls are runaways who leave home to escape a bad situation or marriage, and end up on the brothels when they have no where else to go. Many others have been kidnapped and sold to a madame by a parent or relative. They must take on 5-10 clients per day, and most receive no pay because they must repay their debt to their madame.

Please view the rest of the project at www.AllisonJoyce.com

Korail

Fish are sold in a market inside the Korail Slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh March 6, 2011. Korail is one of Dhaka's largest slums.



The Korail slum is one of Dhaka's largest slum with a population of over 120,000 people.

March in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Men hang shirts to dry on the roof of a small garment business in the Mirpur district of Dhaka, Bangladesh.





Men work in a small jute business in the Old Dhaka neighborhood of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 90% of world's total production of Jute is harvested in Bangladesh.



A child sells balloons to a rickshaw passenger on the street in Dhaka, Bangladesh. There are an estimated 4.9 Bangladeshi children working between the aged 5 to 15.



A man sells shoes on the street in the Motijheel neighborhood of Dhaka, Bangladesh.



The Korail slum is seen in the posh Gulshan neighborhood of Dhaka. Korail is Dhaka's second largest slum.



A young girl is seen in the Korail Slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh.



A young girl is seen in the Korail Slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh.



Young girls are seen in the Korail Slum of Dhaka, Bangladesh.


I'm back in Bangladesh for the next few weeks working on different projects. It feels great to be back here, I'm surprised how much I missed this country.

Very important article by Kim Barker about the Lara Logan assault.

"...I didn’t complain to my bosses. To do so would only make me seem weak. Instead, I made a joke out of it and turned the experience into a positive one: See, being a woman helped me gain access to the chief justice. I can’t ever remember sitting down with my female peers and talking about what had happened, except to make dark jokes, because such stories would make us seem different from the male correspondents, more vulnerable. I would never tell my bosses for fear that they might keep me at home the next time something major happened. "

Everyone should read this.

Fashion Week, New York

The Wedding of Tatiana and Ken

I shot a wonderful Christmas wedding with Chris Joriann last month at the Scranton Country Club. The ceremony was beautiful and the brides family all flew in from Venezuela. I've never seen such a happy couple.

So the article finally ran today and I thought I'd post some of the photos from the Plaza Night and Day Brunch I shot last month. This is probably my favorite New York assignment to date, my camera nearly drowned in champagne!











"It's a Saturday afternoon, two weeks before Christmas, and the Plaza Hotel is jammed. Tourists in spandex and sneakers are lining up by the busload in the hotel’s lower-level shopping arcade, while one floor above an altogether different — but no less frenzied — scene unfolds.

There, in the ordinarily-fusty environs of the Oak Room, a Champagne-fueled orgy of gyrating jet-setters, lithe gold-spangled dancers and Chanel-sheathed debutantes is taking place. One particularly enthusiastic young man, Gareth Brookes, 29, is triumphantly perched on top of a service station in the center of the room, drinking Veuve Clicquot out of his Tom Ford lace-up shoe....."

Read more of the fantastic article by Carla Spartos here