In the impoverished townships of Johannesburg, South Africa, photographer Frank Trimbos was surprised to find hundreds of young people crowding into community centers every day to study classical ballet. "They have big dreams," Trimbos said.

In 2009 and 2010, photographer Tadej Znidarcic posed gay Ugandans in front of a crumbling wall, their backs to his camera. When Znidarcic revisited his subjects this year, much had changed. Many of the subjects chose to face the camera – and a society that had criminalized their sexual orientation.

A patchwork of different ethnic groups live in Northeast India, often in conflict with one another and caught up in a complex whirl of geopolitics. Photojournalist Sami Siva spent time with Kuki militants in the lush green hills of the state of Manipur. He says their armed struggle for independence is widely supported in the region.

Photographers Jean-Marc Caimi and Valentina Piccinni rode with 600 pilgrims and volunteers as they took the “white train” from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy to the French town of Lourdes. Disabled believers make the journey annually in hopes of a miracle.

Photographer Jordi Ruiz Cirera first visited Bolivia in 2011 after hearing about a religious community occupying the province of Santa Cruz. Mennonites, whose families fled Germany around the 16th century, separate themselves from other locals to preserve their ancestral lifestyle.

Matthew Mills McKnight, 33, was living in northern Idaho when he first decided to ask Shaun Winkler if he’d let him take photos at the Ku Klux Klansman’s compound. Then he followed the Klansman during his run for sheriff. When the primary ballots were cast in May 2012, Winkler was trounced.

Photographer Raymond McCrea Jones says the first 36 hours of life for new Army recruits can best be described using a common military refrain: shock and awe. Since February 19, he has been following a group of recruits undergoing basic combat training at Fort Benning, an Army post outside Columbus, Georgia.

Photojournalist William Plowman first visited Gary, Indiana, in 2007. He was immediately drawn to the former steel town and its complicated relationship with poverty and violence. When he recently returned to the area he says he found a community that seems to know its problems but can’t figure out a way to solve them yet.