Photography: Rosa Verde photographs basketball players around the world

Rosa Verde is a documentary photographer based in the Canary Islands off the coast of Spain, who recently gave up a career in news reportage to pursue stories she felt to be more meaningful. This led her to Basketball is Life, a poignant and touching series about the universality of the sport, and yet the diversity in reasons that people pursue it.

Far from star-studded NBA games ands fancy stadiums, the images Rosa created on her travels, from slums in Naibrobi to Aberdeen in Scotland, depict subjects preoccupied with the sport as a means to something else. The letters which accompany them are Rosa’s way of giving ownership to her subjects, a place to tell their own story, and they’re well worth a read! For larger images check out her site.

Basketball is Life currently on display as part of “Where We Stand”, a photography exhibition at the London College of Communication. It will run until 17 May.