All Photos © Jaime Permuth

“Yonkeros,’ a Spanglish derivative of ‘junk,’ is a term for the people and businesses that strip wrecked cars and sell them for parts or scrap metal. Jaime Permuth’s recent body of work Yonkeros, shot over the course of one year, examines the landscape of the junkyards in the Willets Point section of Queens, New York. “In fair weather, this is strenuous, backbreaking work; when the frost sets in it becomes downright monumental”, Permuth says, noting that most of the mechanics grew up in tropical climates of Latin American.

For Permuth, Yonkeros became a lyrical exploration of first world consumerism, waste, and obsolescence as they intersect with third world ingenuity and survivalist strategies in this no-man’s-land of Queens. Now, the days of the Yonkeros are numbered. The City of New York has cleared the last hurdles to redevelop the area for commercial and residential use, and Mayor Mayor Bloomberg himself recently broke ground for the project. “What will become of these 250 businesses, the men who make their livelihoods there and the working-class families who depend on them for the affordable and fast service they provide?  No answers are forthcoming yet,” Permuth says.  “Willets Point is destined to become another urban legend, one which future generations of our glossy metropolis will have a hard time accepting was ever true.” Permuth’s work is on view in an exhibition at Pregones Gallery in the Bronx, through April 28th.

Yonkeros will be published as a book by La Fabrica Editorial in Madrid and distributed worldwide.  Permuth is a Guatemalan photographer based in New York City.  He teaches in the Master of Professional Studies in Digital Photography program at the School of Visual Arts.

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© Josef Hoflehner.

Josef Hoflehner began his Jet Airliner series in early 2009. Captioned “Air France Airbus A340-300, arriving from Paris-Charles de Gaulle,” this photograph from 2011 was captured in a wide-angle format as a plane roared over a beach on its way to land. The scene is completely unstaged, making this moment all the more extraordinary.

“Jet Airliner #44″ is part of a group exhibition at Bonni Benrubi Gallery in New York that runs until September 10.

© Mathias Depardon. Above: A young migrant is trying to get himself under the axle of a truck going to Italy through the harbor of Patras, Greece in October of 2010.

Between 100,000 and 150,000 newcomers arrive in Greece every year and according to Frontex 75% of migrants entering Europe come through Greece. To continue the journey through Europe, migrants have to reach Patras, a harbour on the West coast of Greece which can turn out to be a window towards Italy. Hundreds of migrants are still here, some of them for 2 years, in the hope of reaching Italy illegally. In Patras the living conditions are extremely difficult for most sleep in the streets and parks near the harbor. On a daily basis they are trying to enter the harbor by jumping on a ferry going to Italy, or riding directly under the axle of a truck departing on the same ferry. Everyday ferries, from Italy to Patras, disembark migrants who get caught after spending 48hours in the ferry lying under a truck, without food or water. Patras is the dead end of the European migration policy.- Depardon.

To see more of Depardon’s work click here.

© Jose Lins

Contrails from a streaking jet bisect the Moon as Jose Lins observes from the French city of Arles.

Lins’ image was included in the winners gallery of the 2010 PDN World In Focus travel photography contest. The 2011 Contest is currently open for entries until September 7, but enter today to avoid late fees. A People’s Choice winner will also be selected.

© Stephen Mallon

Next Stop Atlantic – an exhibition of Stephen Mallon’s work is opening at the Front Room gallery on September 10th, 2010. This stunning series features the process of artificial reef building off the East Coast in the U.S. The exhibit will be running September 10th through October 3rd.

See more of Stephen Mallon’s work here.