Rafiq Maqbool could be described as a war photographer. Many of his images from Kashmir and Afghanistan are graphic and painful to view. Following last week's deadliest-ever suicide bombing in Kabul, he filed photos for the Associated Press depicting searing grief and utter despair.

Yet, the near steady stream of anguish from Asia on the news wire is interrupted frequently by the 28-year old Kashmir, India, native's ongoing documentation of daily life. Arresting images artfully composed and simply appointed, the photographs richly exploit the color and culture of the region. From the wild and chaotic bravado of buzkashi, an ancient horsemen's game, to the exotic textures of the street market, Maqbool's pictures transport us, however momentarily, out of our world, into his.