“If these people don’t ever release me from prison, if I exhaust all my remedies in court, I’m gonna make these people kill me,” Daniel Taylor said to his brother, David Taylor during the third time that David purposefully got himself incarcerated in order to spend time with Daniel.

When Daniel Taylor was 17, he was wrongly convicted of a double murder that he physically could not have committed.  Police investigators beat him into the false confession that sealed his fate, but there was paperwork to prove he had been in police custody for disorderly conduct at the time the murders occurred.  Daniel spent two decades of his life sentence looking out from behind bars knowing that he had every right to be free.  On June 28th, 2013, the charges against Daniel were dropped and he was released from maximum-security prison in Menard, IL.  According to the National Registry of Exonerations, Daniel was the 90th to be exonerated in Cook County since 1989 and the 34th to be wrongfully convicted based on a faulty confession.

This portrait is a part of a larger story, Exonerated: Am I Really Free?, which was done for the Chicago Tribune. 

Reggie Parfait, left, Juliette Brunet, and Howard Brunet stand for a portrait behind their uncle Chris Brunet's house on Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, USA on April 21, 2016. "We have to be careful with the .22; we need those shells for food," Chris, who is raising Juliette and Howard, said. Because they do not have a car and Chris is in a wheelchair, they cannot always get off of the island to get groceries. Instead, they make do with the limited resources the island can still provide. On this night, they made rabbit stew. Chris Brunet is the eighth generation in his family to live on the island as a member of the tribe. In one generation, "this island has gone from being self-sufficient and fertile to relying on grocery stores," he says. "What you see now is a skeleton of the island it once was." Since 1955, the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe has lost 98 percent of its land to the encroaching Gulf waters. The Tribe's identity, food, and culture have slowly eroded with the land. In response, the Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the Tribe $48 million to relocate through the National Disaster Resilience Competition. As the effects of climate change transform coastal communities around the world, the people of Isle de Jean Charles will be only 60 of the estimated 200 million people in coastal communities globally who could be displaced by 2050 because of climate change.

This image was a part of The First Official Climate Refugees in the U.S. Race Against Time story I wrote and photographed for National Geographic.

Humpback whales swim through Cierva Cove along the Western Antarctic Peninsula on March 21, 2016. As climate change slowly raises temperatures in Antarctica, the longer summers mean that humpback whales stay in the area feeding much longer than they historically have.  This delays their migration and breeding as well as increasing their body size.  This photo is from the Searching for Whales in Antarctica story done for National Geographic on how climate change is affecting whale populations in Antarctica. 

Serenity Bamberger floats in the Little Blanco River along her family's property on August 18, 2015 in Blanco, Texas. Three months prior, over Memorial Day, the same river flooded their home and business destroying the majority of the family's belongings and source of income. The Memorial Day weekend flooding, which affected Texas and Oklahoma, killed 24 people according to The Associated Press. Three of those deaths occurred along the Blanco River of which the Little Blanco River is a direct tributary. Despite the toll the river has taken, Bertha Rivera, Serenity's grandmother, said, "The river bed was dry for years, so now that the water is here I tell the girls to take advantage of it all that they can."

David Elliott looks on as Susan Elliott kisses one of their rescue dogs on their bed in their home in Wharton, Texas on June 29, 2018. When the flood from Hurricane Harvey came into their home they had to stay on top of their bed, which was surrounded by water, to stay dry and safe. The bedroom was the first room that they started repairing. Although still not finished, the bedroom remains one of the only rooms that is able to be lived in safely a year after the hurricane. They call it their "command center" because they do everything in this room, including eating their meals. "Our bedroom is still the only place where we can live," Susan said. "For months I didn't want to come out of the bedroom." Susan said that during the flood, her dog "Little Baby stayed on the bed with me the whole time. The dogs kept us calm. Baby kept me from collapsing."

Erin O'Loughlin embraces her son Brendan O'Loughlin after his brother Marcus O'Loughlin, who has autism, attacked him while they were playing on the trampoline outside the family's home in Cary, NC on October 6, 2014. As Marcus has aged, the frustrations that result from his autism have turned him violent towards his family. Shortly after this incident Erin and her husband Colm O'Loughlin decided to permanently move Marcus, at age 11, to an assisted living facility for their other children's safety as well as their own. "We know in our hearts that Marcus is going to need assistance for the rest of his life," Erin said. "As far as Marcus living a regular normal life with everybody else in the world, that might not be right for him and he might not be happy with that, so why should I push that on him? We just want Marcus to be happy. We want him to reach his full potential, whatever that might be."

Whole Woman's Health, plaintiffs in the Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt case, and women's reproductive and abortion rights advocates react to the Supreme Court of the United States' 5-3 ruling in a closed Whole Woman's Health clinic, in Austin, Texas, USA on June 27, 2016. The plaintiffs argued that Texas House Bill 2, which closed dozens of abortion clinics across Texas including this one, was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court agreed and ruled that Texas cannot place restrictions on abortion providers that pose an undue burden on women trying to access abortions. Upon hearing what is being considered the nation's most significant abortion ruling in a generation, those gathered hoped that closed clinics, such as this one, will be able to someday reopen because of this ruling. On the wall of a procedure room in the closed clinic, there is a Sojourner Truth quote that reads, "The truth is powerful and it prevails." The clinic reopened nearly a year later.

William Rafael Carranza Martinez laughs after running away from the waves with Jessica Carolina Dominguez Martinez, 1, and Elda Hidalia Martinez, 9, near the border wall before marrying his partner at the beginning of the March Without Borders at Friendship Park on April 29, 2018 in Tijuana, Mexico. Hundreds of migrants from Central America traveled for about a month across Mexico to reach the United States border. In the afternoon, the group, including the Martinez family, plans to go to the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego, California, where many of the migrants will seek asylum.

Police officers stand guard at the scene of a shooting while the Comandos de Salvamento attend to the shooter, who was also shot, on a street in San Salvador, El Salvador on September 29, 2018. Earlier that day there had been another shooting in the same area. The Comandos de Salvamento are a first responder volunteer group that aids in stabilizing and transporting people who have been victims of violence, accidents or need emergency medical care. Many volunteers became members of the group as a way to stay out of gangs.

Cindy Romero, 24, from Honduras, holds her son Jason Velasquez, 2, and shields him from the cold winds coming off of the Pacific ocean as they wait with friends at the beach on November 29, 2018 in Tijuana, Mexico. They were weighing their options and deciding whether they should cross the border illegally at the beach to ask for asylum.

Children play along the 12th Street Beach in Chicago on August 13, 2013.  Lifeguards had told them to get out of Lake Michigan because of rip tides and high levels of e. coli.  

Joshua Seitter, 12, and Whiskey Lullaby stand for a portrait at the North Carolina State Fair on October 25, 2013.

Caiden Contreras, who has autism, stands for a portrait in the room he shares with three of his brothers at his home in San Antonio, Texas on May 27, 2015. His parents are both unemployed and living off of his and some of his siblings' disability checks, as well as several other forms of financial assistance from the government. His mother Sandra Contreras homeschools Caiden and four of his seven siblings at their home.

Charros try to lasso a loose horse as a part of the Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution Charreada at the San Antonio Charros Association in San Antonio, Texas, USA on November 20, 2016. These charreadas are seen as a way for Mexican-Americans to hold onto and honor their heritage. Teams are often comprised of several generations of family members. The modern style of charreada developed after the Mexican Revolution, when the traditional charros began to disappear.

Casey attended her final high school prom with her mother Janice at Forest Park High School on April 26, 2014.  Although many people with autism are overwhelmed by loud noise and wild lights, Casey loved to dance with her mother to the music and watch her classmates interact.  Her brother Emerson, who attends Forest Park, was also there with a group of his friends.  Janice said, "I honestly think she felt like Cinderella or Belle that day and if it takes me going with her to make that happen, it is worth it to me." 

At nearly midnight on June 2, 2015, Alondra Aragon, center, led a chant in City Hall in San Franciso, Calif. immediately after the Mission Moratorium was voted on. The final vote was 7-4 in favor of the moratorium, but the measure needed nine votes to be passed as an "interim emergency ordinance." Aragon and dozens of other Mission Moratorium supporters had filled the room for over eight hours that day. Of the supporters, San Francisco Board of Supervisors Member John Avalos said, "The rich fabric of the Mission is what is here today." Katy Tang, the supervisor from District 4, said, "This was incredibly moving for me, although at times emotional, very inspirational."

Reid Howard of Ferdinand, 8, walked a bat back to the dugout during the Class 2A sectional game in Tell City, IN on May 30, 2014.  Forest Park was defeated by South Spencer 9-2.

Southridge senior Ethan Schwoeppe, bottom, Luke Stetter, junior, Drew Dearing, freshman, and Braden Harding, freshman, stacked on top of each other and cheered for the Raiders during halftime of their game against Washington in the IHSAA Class 3A sectional tournament in Huntingburg, IN on Wednesday.  The Raiders lost 41-35.

A victim of a rape holds her hands to her face after recalling what happened during the attack in Hazel Crest, Ill. on Wednesday, August 7, 2013.  The Robbins Police Department failed to investigate the rape, which is now outside the statute of limitations.  However, investigators are working on 52 other rape cases that remain within the statute of limitations.