From the Downtown East Side series. Photograph by Claire Martin

We interviewed photographer Claire Martin last year as part of our occasional Found on Flickr series, and now she’s won one of Magnum’s Inge Morath awards, which not only serves as a nice bit of recognition, it will also give her $5,000 to put toward one of her projects.

About the award, Claire says:

Documentary work is so difficult to publish and very hard to create without funds. Often it seems like only an idiot would try to pursue this path in the real world, and I am sure when I explain myself to most people they see me that way. So awards like the Inge Morath make you believe it is possible. Even if you don’t win it, knowing that there is an industry that supports it, no matter how small is encouraging.

Read her whole interview with the British Journal of Photography here.