Samantha Appleton, Photojournalist

There comes a time when you just have to brag about cool people you know.

One of them in our life is Samantha Appleton. Though she looks like a kind-hearted, easy-going young woman from Maine (she is), Samantha is a brave photojournalist who gets close--not just too the action, but to the humans at the center of the drama.

Whether she is photographing firefighters at ground zero, insurgents in Iraq, or Nepalese circus girls, Samantha's images uncover the very human elements beneath the headlines. She shows us the anxiety, the worry, but she also shows us the kindness, the unexpected joy, the gestures of empathy.

Her photos capture the vulnerability beneath the hard shell titles of Outsourcing, Insurgent, Resue Worker, Security Forces, Immigrant, Refugee.

Visit www.samanthaappleton.com to see photo essays: Nepali Circus Girls, Iraqi Militias and Civilians, Mexico's Southern Border, 9/11, Maine Handicapped Skiing, Lubec Maine, and India Outsourcing.