Lately, Walter Astrada has been finding himself at the right place, at the right time. Or some people would say, at the wrong place and at the wrong time. He was in Kenya when violent political riots broke out. There he shot some of the most graphic images seen of this internal conflict. He was also in Congo when an under-reported conflict forced 250,000 people into exiles. And, back in February, he arrived two days before some of the most violent repression killed 100 people in Antananarivo in Madagascar.

That month, the main opponent to the government, Andry Rajoelina, proclaimed himself leader of the country. But, President Ravalomanana wasn't ready to relinquish power, responding to the proclamation by calling in the presidential guard that shot at demonstrators. Astrada was there.

'At first the situation was very calm,' he tells BJP. 'I couldn't really justify my presence there, but decided to wait until the following Saturday as there were protests planned. The protests were very orderly, as they always were. There were 2000 people, and just about 20 policemen. The idea was just to go to the palace, shout a few slogans and that would be it. But suddenly the police left, and people started running towards the presidential palace. They didn't intend to overtake it, they didn't even ran towards the fences. That's when the first shots took place.'

He continues: 'The first thing you do is find cover. Only then you start to take pictures. There were so many dead around me.' He brought back some of the only images of the deadly unrest, which he says, is his role as a photojournalist. 'I believe all this is very wrong. It shouldn't happen. It's the same in Congo and Guatemala. Being there, my responsibility is to show what happened. When I'm working, it's not just about taking pictures. I'm not a tourist. The work you do is about what you saw. There is not much room for interpretation [with these violent images]. We're just documenting the facts.'

Picture courtesy of Walter Astrada / Agence France Presse.

However, being there doesn't necessarily means that the images will make it out of the country and into the mainstream media. For example, he says, two of the most disturbing images, showing bloody bodies were barely published in the 'West'. And he has several theories why that is. 'First, it happened on a Saturday, and the Sunday papers don't publish that kind of violent stories. And, in many parts of the world, they don't even know where Madagascar is, unless people saw the animated films of the same name.'

Not everything in Astrada's work is about news. When he has time, and especially when he has the money, he works on his personal projects. Next month, he will be spending a month in India to document sexuality-based abortion, which is costing the lives of thousands of female foetuses. This will form part three of his project on violence against women. The first part was shot in Guatemala. One of the resulting images received the British Journal of Photography's International Photography Award. The second part was shot in Congo, where he also did some work for AFP.

'When it is news, AFP selects my destination. But I chose Kenya. For Congo, I was sent there because I was the only one that received a visa. In Uganda, I covered what I thought was important.' But for his personal work, Astrada selects his destination. 'He balances his press work with his personal projects depending on his financial situation. 'It's a matter of money. If I need money, then I will be working for AFP and magazines. And when I have enough money, then I will work on my personal stuff.'

Sometimes, when he is on assignment for AFP, Astrada will shoot some pictures for his personal projects. Some of these pictures were shown during one of Visa pour l'Image's nightly projections.