Created in the tradition of the field's most respected agencies, including Magnum, Sygma and VII Photo Agency, Noor's mission is to promote a deeper understanding of the world by producing independent visual reports on important social, political, environmental and cultural issues. On Oct. 18, members of the new collective hosted their first joint exhibit of such work, "One Noor in New York," at CVZ Contemporary art gallery. In addition to premiering the pioneering work of Noor photographers-including that of Kadir van Lohuizen of the Netherlands, who took home this year's most coveted photojournalism award at Visa pour l'Image-the CVZ Contemporary exhibit highlights the trend of an increased public appreciation for photojournalism as a fine-art genre.

Launched in 2004 by Carlo Zeitschel, CVZ has previously showcased work by Magnum photographers and others in the field. Other New York-based fine-art establishments devoted to contemporary news photography include the Howard Greenberg Gallery and Hasted Hunt. Many non-specialized exhibit halls have also recently hosted photojournalism shows. McClatchy Newspapers' Jodi Mailander Farrell recently took an in-depth look at the reasons for the popularity of photojournalism among New York art collectors.

Noor joins van Lohuizen with the top names in the field, including Russia's Yuri Kozyrev, America's Stanley Greene and Samantha Appleton, Italy's Francesco Zizola, South Africa's Jodi Bieber, Australia's Philip Blenkinsop, Spain's Pep Bonet and Denmark's Jan Grarup. Managing director Claudia Hinterseer handles the business side of things from the agency's Amsterdam headquarters. Going forward, Noor will promote, sell and exhibit the work of its nine founding member photographers through its online picture library and upcoming shows.