Marcus Yam is a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times and the winner of two Pulitzers. Having covered California wildfires extensively, he is deeply familiar with the challenge of documenting tragedy and humanity up close. Yam offers his Brief but Spectacular take on the sensitivity and perspective he brings to his work.

New York artist Miguel Colon suffered for years before finally receiving a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, during a hospitalization. In the psychiatric ward, he did a lot of drawing, working on a graphic novel and realizing the “life-affirming” nature of creativity and how it brought other people to him. Colon offers his brief but spectacular take on learning to see himself.

The Brief But Spectacular team recently brought attention to the volume of sexual assault cases in the Navajo Nation. Now, Meskee Yanabah Yatsayte, leader of an organization that looks for missing persons from the Navajo community, explains this silent epidemic.

Marine biologist Sylvia Earle has spent more than four decades at the forefront of ocean exploration -- and at age 83, she shows no signs of slowing down. Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and was named Time magazine’s 1998 "Hero of the Planet.” Earle offers her brief but spectacular take on passion for the ocean and the planet.