Brent Stirton is a South African photographer who was born to travel the earth. But rather than travel about and snap piccies of lovely beaches in Barbados or impressive architecture in Europe, he digs a little deeper.

Stirton has travelled the world far and wide, sniffing out danger, distress, war, famine and terror. He’s got more balls than Wimbledon. His work has been featured in National Geographic, The Sunday Times Magazine, CNN, The New York Times, and now… dah dah: Sick Chirpse.

Stirton has photographed in over 30 countries and covered the darkest of issues: drought, acid attacks in Bangladesh, gang warfare, the HIV/Aids crises, the list goes on. His photographic missions have won him two awards from the UN for his efforts in the field of HIV/Aids. Stirton, alongside documenting strife, has a passion for charting dwindling cultures and tribes that may soon be gone forever as modernity steadily marches through the earth’s remaining jungles.

I’ve put together some of his most compelling and awe-inspiring photographs, they really are genuinely epic.

(Click through the following slides using the left and right arrows)

Image VIA