Lyle Owerko: The Samburu

Photographs © Lyle Owerko-All Rights Reserved
Raised in Canada, Lyle Owerko is a photographer, a film maker and, in my opinion, a first class ethnographer. His current projects seek to bridge ethnic borders by documenting cultural groups, such as the Samburu, for the improvement of the human condition.

According to Wikipedia, the Samburu are ethnically related to the Maasai. The name 'Samburu' is also of Maasai origin and is derived from the word 'Samburr' which is a leather bag used by the Samburu to carry a variety of things. The Samburu practice polygynous marriage, and a man may have multiple wives. A Samburu settlement is known as a nkang or manyatta. Each woman in the household has her own house, which she builds out of local materials, such as sticks, mud and cow dung.

From Lyle's website, you'll find that he was the photographer whose image of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 was published by the Time magazine on its cover, but it's his ethnographic work that caught my attention, and which brings him to The Travel Photographer blog.

World In Focus: Travel Photo Contest

The sponsors of the World In Focus: The Ultimate Travel Photography Contest are the National Geographic Society, and Photo District News.

The categories are:

Travel Portraits
Outdoor Scenes
Sense of Place
Spontaneous Moments
Photo Essay

If you have any interest in participating in the contest, click here: World In Focus. however caveat emptor and read the rules and regulations very carefully before committing your entry fee and more importantly your photographs. Having the National Geographic and PDN as sponsors of the contest does not mean that one should blindly participate...and reading the rules beforehand is a must.

Interestingly, since the contest is open to both "amateur" and professional photographers (each in a different category), I learned that this how the contest defines a professional photographer:

" A professional photographer:

* Earns more than 50 percent of his or her income from photographic sales.
* Is a member of such professional photo organizations as the National Press Photographers Association.
* Publishes photographs in books, magazines, newspapers, or online regularly."

I accept the first two conditions, but what about the third...especially the bit about "publishes online regularly"? Does this mean that photographers who frequently post on Flickr (as an example) are considered professionals? That'll be news to them.