Josh Mcdonald: Sundays with Zara | MONOVISIONS - Black & White Photography Magazine

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025

Joshua McDonald is a 21-year-old photojournalist with a focus on human rights, conflict and social unrest.

In November 2016, Josh recalls feelings of anxiety and slight madness, he was comfortable at home in London but preparing for his trip to Iraq to document the war against the Islamic state, also known as Daesh or simply as, IS. It was a very conflicting time, as he didn’t know if what he was about to do was right.

He wanted to keep taking photos but London didn’t offer much in comparison to major stories such as his most recent feature from Nicaragua – Who’s Killing Chichigalpa?

He’s always had an interest in the natural body, so he decided to team up with London based model and friend Zara Watson. They shot together on a cold winters day in a derelict victorian house in the suburbs of west London.

For Josh, this was exactly what he needed at a time of such heightened battles in his own mind. He felt that working with Zara, was an escape from the realities of the conflict to come, to photograph someone in their most pure and natural form, the human body is such an immensely beautiful thing to capture. It was a day in which he felt completely at ease.

Website: joshuamcdonald.org