Their towns are literally disappearing block by block; consumed by the increasingly violent Bay of Bengal. Traditional fishing communities in the Indian state of Odisha are seeing their way of life vanishing as quickly as their homes and fish stocks. Increasingly powerful and frequent cyclones, combined with rising water levels caused by human induced climate change are taking a terrible toll. The men flee to the cities in hopes of finding work that can provide what fishing cannot anymore. Global warming is changing and destroying a centuries old way of life in the Bay of Bengal.
Michael Robinson Chávez, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning photographer for The Washington Post, became seduced by photography while traveling through Peru in 1988. A native Californian and half Peruvian, he previously worked with the Associated Press, The Boston Globe and The Los Angeles Times.
Robinson Chávez has covered assignments in over 75 countries including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the collapse of Venezuela, violence in Mexico, the Egyptian revolution, gold mining in Peru and the 2006 Hezbollah/Israeli war.
Awards Pulitzer Prize Public Service Award, team entry, 2022
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, team entry, 2020
3x winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Photojournalism
International Photographer of the Year, Pictures of the Year, 2020
2x winner Photographer of the Year, Northern Short Course
2x winner Ben Bradlee Award for Courage in Journalism
Scripps Howard Award for Photojournalism
Scripps Howard Award Finalist for Environmental Reporting
Alumnus of the Year, San Francisco State University
2x winner Photographer of the Year, White House News Photographer Association
Daily News Photography, Visa Pour l'Image, Perpignan, France
Pollux Prize for Documentary Photography
