India: Theyyam

Photograph © REUTERS/Sivaram V.
The Boston Globe's The Big Picture blog has just posted 34 wonderful photographs from all around India. Many are of everyday life in this amazing country, and some are of unique festivals such as Theyyam, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Pulikali.

Sharp-eyed readers of this blog may wonder why I've posted two photographs of a Theyyam dancer today (scroll down two posts to see the other). Subscribers to my monthly newsletter already know the reason. It will be publicly announced on this blog in a few weeks!

India on The Big Picture blog

Leica S2: A 37.5 MPs Surprise

As reported by the British Journal of Photography, Leica launched an entirely new digital camera system destined to bridge the gap between professional digital SLRs and medium-format high resolution models.

The S2, with 37.5 million pixel resolution, is the first of many future models that will form part of the S system. The first model sports a 30x45mm CCD sensor, which is 56% bigger than a typical 35mm sensor. The camera will retail at around €20,000 (approx $30,000), and is aimed at fashion and commercial shooters who want medium format quality combined with a DSLR's speed and versatility.

POV: Portable Hard Drive Issues

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy
Recently returning from a trip to Mongolia, Nevada Wier recounts her frustrating experience with portable hard drives (aka digital wallets). It appears she purchased two of these gadgets before her trip and while in the field, these hard drives would not hold a charge, and eventually would not work.

Nevada suspects the battery issue was caused either because the only available electricity in Mongolia was 220AC or through generators. In the meantime and until this is resolved, she's withholding her endorsement of this hard drive model.

I think the lesson we all learn from this experience is (1) hard drives will fail when you least expect it, or where you have little chance of having them fixed quickly (this is also known as Murphy's Law); (2) to never take a newly acquired gadget, camera, accessory on a trip without having it been tested (although in this case, it seems that the drives worked well in a 110AC environment), and (3) always have a back-up solution.

News: Art Collection

All Photographs © Tewfic El-Sawy
I've recently sold 10 of my photographs to a major international bank headquartered in London. The distinctive aspect to this transaction is that the photographs are part of the bank's permanent art collection, and are printed on 40" by 25" (approx) canvases. My sales of photographs are traditionally either for stock or to magazines.

Most of the photographs chosen are of adivasis from Central India, and the rest are from Ethiopa's Omo Valley, Rajasthan and Bhutan.

The bank's art collection include photographic works by Philip Lee Harvey, Desmond Burden, Steve Bloom, Remi Benali, William Chapman, Boaz Rottem, among others.