VII Photo Agency, founded by seven photo-journalists in 2002, has added four new photographers to their prestigious roster. Lynsey Addario, Ziyah Gafić, and Seamus Murphy will join the VII network and Adam Ferguson will join the Mentor Program under the guidance of Christopher Morris.

Conceived of in 2001, the photographers of VII are bonded by their mission to document they document social, political, and environmental conflict -- both in war-torn areas and in zones of peace. They document the individuals and places affected by major and minor conflicts all over the world.

Addario, Gafić, Murphy, and Ferguson are all courageous photographers who have traveled the world on a mission of capturing instances of devastation and places and people of transition for many years. Instanbul-based Addario is a self-taught photographer who has spent the last 10 years in Afghanistan, Darfur, and exploring horrific, but necessary stories like the images of her series, Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sarajevo-born Gafić has also focused on places of transition, including war-torn Bosnia, Rwanda, and Chechnya. Murphy's images -- many in a deeply emotive grainy black and white -- focus on Somalia, Nigeria, and war-torn Afghanistan, offering a scarily intimate perspective of violence, poverty, and a crumbled environment. Lastly, Ferguson has visited the depths of Mumbai slums and the valleys of Afghanistan where US forces have been training for the last several years. All of these photographers have risked their lives for the edification of viewers all over the world.

We congratulate Addario, Gafić, Murphy and Ferguson their addition to VII and look forward to the amazing photo-documentation we are sure they will continue to produce.