Bradley Secker

Assad's exiled spy chief and billionaire cousin plot Syrian uprisings from Russia From exile in Moscow, ex-intel chief Kamal Hassan and Assad cousin Rami Makhlouf are spending millions in competing efforts to build fighting forces to lead a revolt along Syria’s coast. The governmen...

Reuters Syria coverage has been incredibly in depth and insightful since the fall of Assad. This latest story is fascinating.
Assad's exiled spy chief and billionaire cousin plot Syrian uprisings from Russia - www.reuters.com/investigatio...

YouTube video by Harvard Business Review You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why.

Fully behind this - definitely a good thing to not always have the brain occupied and distracted. The brain needs some time and space to think and calm, from boredom. youtu.be/orQKfIXMiA8?...

The Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait prize – tenderness, traditions and a table of hair The Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize showcases the work of young photographers, amateurs and established professionals in the very best of contemporary photography. From almost 6,000 submissions, f...

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

A decade on Reflections on a summer that changed everything

My latest photo filled substack article about how the summer of 2015 led us to today open.substack.com/pub/bradleys...

The Island That Keeps the Earth’s Secrets Sulawesi, Indonesia, blurs the boundaries between myth and ecology. What might it reveal about our past – or destiny?

The Island That Keeps the Earth’s Secrets www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

China removes two popular gay dating apps from Apple and Android stores Withdrawal of Blued and Finka raises fears of further crackdowns on LGBT rights amid growing restrictions

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

‘It Feels Like I’m in a Nightmare’: Inside the First Deportation Flight to Iran

‘It Feels Like I’m in a Nightmare’: Inside the First Deportation Flight to Iran www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/w...

Living with impending doom Photos as records, memories, and how their value increases after a loss

Memory, photography, and loss. open.substack.com/pub/bradleys...

My latest musings, and latest Substack post. Happy birthday photography open.substack.com/pub/bradleys...

Exclusive: Assad government secretly moved mass grave to cover up killings, Reuters investigation finds From 2019 to 2021, Syria’s authoritarian government carried out a secret operation to move tens of thousands of bodies from the exposed Qutayfah mass grave to a hidden site in the desert east of Damascus. The goal of the clandestine reburial was to hide evidence of atrocities as Bashar Assad tried to regain international standing

Exclusive: Assad government secretly moved mass grave to cover up killings, Reuters investigation finds - www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Napa on the Aegean: A Turkish Wine Region Re-emerges

Recent work from Turkey’s Aegean wine route, published today in the NYT 🍾🍷 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/t...

Freelance realities (part 2) ...a follow up and update to part one, 16 months on

open.substack.com/pub/bradleys...

Lemmy, Leigh Bowery and ‘the two Georges’: 80s stars in the Limelight – in pictures It was the place to be through the 1980s, a nightclub where Johnny Rotten and Kim Wilde rubbed shoulders with the Beastie Boys and, er, Mel Smith. David Koppel’s new book captures it all

💛 www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Elon Musk tells the UK to Podcast Episode · The News Agents · 15/09/2025 · 41m

Always a good listen, but especially this episode about the far right rally in London over the weekend. Elon Musk’s appalling call for violence, and the lack of response by the British gov & left to tackle rising far right wing sentiment doesn’t really bode well podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

YouTube video by BBC Global The boy who shot the Vietnam War | BBC Global

The 12 year old boy who photographed the Vietnam War youtu.be/eglvKJymfEc?...

Art class

From the latest Private Eye, out now.

Newspaper picture editors’ picks for Visa pour l’Image – in pictures Images chosen by 24 international newspaper picture editors will compete at this year’s Visa pour l’Image for the Gökşin Sipahioğlu by Sipa Press Daily Press Visa d’or award

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

YouTube video by BBC The Russians need to reprogramme Melania Trump! - BBC

Given her latest speech about robots - seems like the best day to share this youtu.be/PmuR2XFxkdU?...

Burkina Faso's junta passes law banning homosexuality Burkina Faso's ruling junta on Monday unanimously passed a law banning homosexuality as part of a wider reform of family and citizenship legislation. The new law, which aligns with a broadening crackd...

Yet another country steps backwards on gay rights in Africa www.france24.com/en/africa/20...

Nuts and bolts Taking you behind the scenes of a recent on-and-off project about leg lengthening in Istanbul, with actual nuts and bolts.

Behind the scenes of an assignment - from researching a topic, to pitching, and hopefully publication. In my latest Substack post, I answer some of the how-to questions, I often get asked by earlier career photographers bradleysecker.substack.com/p/nuts-and-b...

Your Body Ages Faster Because of Extreme Heat A study reveals that extreme heat accelerates biological aging even more than smoking or drinking.

Well, I'll keep on the booze and fags then, at least they're enjoyable, not like these horrendous heatwaves www.wired.com/story/your-b...

‘Being short is a curse’: the men paying thousands to get their legs broken – and lengthened It looks like medieval torture, from the metal rods inserted into sawn bones to the months of agonising recovery. But to some, travelling to Turkey to gain a few inches is a (very high) price worth pa...

"'Being short is a curse': the men paying thousands to get their legs broken – and lengthened" by ‪Ruth Michaelson and @bradleysecker.bsky.social. [4/5]

‘I was never worried’: 10 years on since Syrian siblings’ 2,700-mile escape to Germany Ten years after Angela Merkel declared ‘We can do this’ at the height of the 2015 migration into Europe, Syrian refugee Somar Kreker looks back at his 44-day odyssey

Beautiful long form photojournalism by Alessio Mamo ‘I was never worried’: 10 years on since Syrian siblings’ 2,700-mile escape to Germany www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

AI Killed My Job: Translators Few industries have been hit by AI as hard as translation. Rates are plummeting. Work is drying up. Translators are considering abandoning the field, or bankruptcy. These are their stories.

www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/ai-killed-...

Influencer Faces Three Years in Prison for Filming 12-Second Video Around Turkish Flag Investigators found the influencer's video on social media.

petapixel.com/2025/08/28/i...

Beloved and bemoaned bots A positive use for generative A.I. images

Exploring a possible positive use to A.I. generated imagery. My latest Substack post open.substack.com/pub/bradleys...

Belatedly sharing the lovely spread my leg lengthening photos got in last week’s Guardian Saturday Magazine, alongside a sensitive and insightful feature by @ruthmichaelson.com - available to read online now

I've been lowkey obsessed since @bradleysecker.bsky.social told me that (mostly) men were voluntarily having their legs sawn in half at Turkish clinics with names like (no joke) "Wanna Be Taller" and then stretched a mm at a time. Great (if gross) to see his photos here w/ @ruthmichaelson.com story.

FMA condemns the killing last night of five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza by the Israeli military and stands in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues, at least 178 of whom have been killed by Israel since the conflict began. Journalists are #NotATarget.

The troubling ways a heatwave can warp your mind A bit of sunshine can cause many of us to dream of ice cream, sunbathing and beaches, but warm weather can also make us violent, grumpy and depressed. Why?

Interesting article about the correlation between higher temperatures and higher crime rates / worse mood. As a fan of all the other seasons instead of high summer, here's to autumn ASAP! www.bbc.com/future/artic...