Travel Photographer Of The Year Contest

The Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) has announced its 2009 international travel photography awards. TPOTY is run by photographers for photographers, judged by photography experts, and provides prizes, including foreign travel, photographic equipment and photography tuition.

As in all and every photography contests, I strongly encourage all interested photographers to make sure they carefully read the contests' terms and conditions, especially since misunderstandings between organizers and contestants over terms, prizes and other issues sometimes occur.

Whilst on the subject of photo contests, Bob Krist has just uploaded this post on his Photo Traveler blog.

WSJ Photo Journal: Orthodox Good Friday

©Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty-All Rights Reserved
The Wall Street Journal's Photo Journal consistently brings us remarkable images from the world over. Here's one of an Ethiopian Christian Orthodox worshiper carrying a wooden cross along the Via Dolorosa, the path Christians believe Jesus walked while bearing the cross, in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Orthodox Christian clergymen and pilgrims marked Good Friday in Jerusalem's Old City, at the site where they believe Jesus was crucified on this date two millennia ago. Members of Orthodox Christian churches follow a different calendar than Protestants and Roman Catholics.

We Are Not Untouchables

©Jakob Carlsen-All Rights Reserved
The International Dalit Solidarity Network's website in an attempt to publicize the still-present plight of the "untouchables", around 250 million people primarily in South Asia, but also in the Middle east and Africa, who are born into a life where they are subjected to dehumanizing practices linked to the notion of "untouchability" and caste discrimination. The so-called untouchables have chosen the name "Dalit" for themselves to signify empowerment.

According to the Indian Ministry of Welfare, two Dalits are assaulted every hour in India, three Dalit women are raped every day, and two Dalits are murdered every day.

Jim Romano: The Tabloid Photographer

I normally plan my posts a few days ahead of time, but when I saw that today's The New York Times' wonderful multimedia One In 8 Million was featuring Jim Romano: The Tabloid Photographer, I simply couldn't resist.

Since 1946, Jim Romano has chased news on Staten Island for the Daily News, The New York Post and many others. The audio in this multimedia piece makes all the difference...see if you agree. Jim Romano...one in eight million indeed!

The photographs are by Todd Heisler, and the interview by J. David Goodman. Good work by both.

Stefen Chow: Imperial Beijing

A few days ago, I posted a POV titled Larger Is Good in which I wrote that larger images on photography/photographers' websites were advisable in order to attract photo editors and buyers.

Here's a beautiful example of what I meant: the website of Stefen Chow, a photographer who worked with Getty Images, Associated Press and Bloomberg News, Singapore Airlines and Shell. Not content to have traveled to over 30 countries, Stefen also summitted Mount Everest in 2005. He currently lives in Beijing and Singapore.

To show off the website, I chose Stefen's work on Imperial Beijing. This photo essay consists of photographs of Beijing's Imperial City, or The Forbidden City, which was home for 24 emperors over almost 5 centuries. I'd also encourage you to explore his other galleries, especially the Everest Adventure.

His beautiful images are almost as large as many monitors, and the navigation is ultra simple and intuitive. Check it out, and you'll join the large imagery converts!

NYT Magazine: Finally No Models Pics

©Ellen von Unwerth
From today's The New York Times' article "Times Will Cut Sections To Lower Costs"

"Beginning with the issue of May 10, The New York Times Magazine will no longer contain a regular fashion layout; fashion reporting and photography will continue in the T magazines published every few weeks, and in the weekly Sunday and Thursday Styles sections."

Finally! If I wanted to look at pretty skeletal fashion models, I'd buy Vogue. I never did nor will I...it's just a rhetorical flourish.

Hopefully the fashion layout/fashion reporting in The New York Times will be replaced with documentary photography and photojournalism on relevant current issues, in the mold of the Sunday Times Magazine, and other magazines of the British broadsheets. I never really understood why the NYT Magazine had fashion photos.

I'm not holding my breath...but I'm hoping.

POV: 160gb vs 160gb?

I'm always on the lookout (as most travel photographers and photojournalists are) for ways to reduce the electronic gear I carry with me on my photo~expedition/assignments, which seems to get heavier with time. Notwithstanding the many advantages of digital photography, I recall with some nostalgia as to how I used to gripe at the weight of 50 rolls of film...a feather compared to what I have to schlep now.

In case you haven't noticed, netbooks are taking the computer industry and its consumers by storm. A recent article in The New York Times' The Frugal Traveler relates the benefits of the Acer Aspire One, a tiny laptop that weighs just 2.2 pounds, and based on the comments from users of such netbooks, they're the best thing since sliced bread.

Now here's the question: the Acer Aspire One (160gb) retails for about $300 and the Epson P7000 (160gb) retails for about $750. See where I'm going with this? The Acer netbook is only 2.2 lbs, and offers wi-fi and internet connectivity...so it's almost no-brainer. I say almost because I'm an Apple user, and all my peripherals (such as external hard drives et al) are Mac friendly.

And that's what's on mind this sunny morning. Tests and trials will be conducted by some of my techie friends, and I shall report soon...I hope. If a Mac user adopted one of these netbooks, and made it work easily with Mac friendly peripherals etc, I'd appreciate a quick email!

Naturally, there are rumors that Apple will "soon" announce its own netbook or super-charged iTouch...I hope so.

Zackary Canepari: The Heart of Punjab

©Zackary Canepari/The New York Times
The New York Times featured the work of photographer Zackary Canepari in a slideshow titled The Heart of Punjab. His above photograph is of young students at a seminary school in Dera Ghazi Khan, a gateway both to Taliban-controlled areas and the heart of Punjab.

One of the key captions in the slideshow comes from the accompanying article:

"The Taliban in south and west Punjab exploit many of the same weaknesses that have allowed them to expand in other areas: an absent or intimidated police force; a lack of attention from national and provincial leaders; a population steadily cowed by threats, or won over by hard-line mullahs who usurp authority by playing on government neglect and poverty."

The accompanying article is by Sabrina Tavernise, Richard A. Oppel Jr.and Eric Schmitt.

In the same vein, PBS featured Children of the Taliban on its FRONTLINE/WORLD program on April 14, 2009.

More photography from Zackary Canepari on TTP (LINK)

The Travel Photographer's Awards Go To....

In February 2009, I offered two scholarships to the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and both Eric Beecroft and I (as jurors) are delighted today to award them to two photographers. We also chose two runners up should one or both of the winners be unable to join the workshop.

1. Winner of the TTP Full scholarship of $450 for a South Asian photojournalist is Jyotika Jain. (Runner Up is Vivek M.)

2. Winner of the FPW/TTP scholarship of $900 for a photojournalist of any nationality is Martyn Aim. (Runner Up is Mike Terry). This scholarship is equally funded by the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop and The Travel Photographer.

It was an exceedingly difficult task to choose 2 (plus 2) from the many submissions, and we took both the quality of images submitted and the photographers' statements in consideration.

Congratulations to the winners, who will be contacted by the Foundry Workshop soon.

Ajmal Naqshbandi: The Fixer

Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi is a feature-length documentary that follows the relationship between an Afghan interpreter, Ajmal Naqshbandi and his client, American journalist Christian Parenti. This intimate portrait of two colleagues shifts dramatically when Ajmal is kidnapped along with an Italian reporter.

The documentary also examines why was the Italian journalist, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, released in exchange for five Taliban prisoners while Ajmal was left behind and beheaded by his captors.

It is produced by Nancy Roth and directed by Ian Olds. Fixer will be screened during the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2009.

I've posted about Ajmal Naqshbandi two years ago on this blog, and hope this documentary does his memory justice.

Eric Tourneret: The Honey Gatherers

Photo ©Éric Tourneret-All Rights Reserved.
The Rai (aka Raji) people live in the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal, and are known as the honey hunters. Twice a year, Rai men gather around steep cliffs that are home to the world's largest honeybee, and as they have for generations, these men are to harvest its honey. The harvest ritual usually starts with a prayer and sacrifice of flowers, fruits, and rice. A fire is then lit at the base of the cliff to smoke the bees from their honeycombs.

The honey hunters then descend the cliffs, harnessed to a ladder braided bamboo well over 250 feet above ground. With the rest of their teams securing the ropes, and providing tools up and down as needed, the honey hunters fight the bees as they cut chunks of honey from the comb.

This is the work of photographer Éric Tourneret, who after traveling to Djibouti for his military service, began a career as photojournalist for a number of French magazines. Examples of his fascinating photo reportage include the indigenous sorcerers and healers of the Ivory Coast, the “Transvestites of Islam” in Pakistan, and his work on bees.

Éric Tourneret's "The Honey Gatherers of Nepal".

New Nikon D5000

Nikon introduced the new D5000, with a 12.3 megapixel DX-format CMOS image sensor, a D-Movie Mode with sound, which allows the recording of 720p HD movie clips, a vari-angle color LCD monitor allowing the positioning of the 2.7-inch monitor, 19 Auto-exposure Scene Modes, One-button Live View, continuous shooting as fast as 4 fps, ISO sensitivity from 200 to 3200, built-in image sensor cleaning, and a host of other features.

The new D5000 will be available at Nikon dealers beginning in late April 2009 at an estimated selling price of $729.95.

A D5000 review by Dan Havlik

D5000's Articulated Display

My Work: Traders of Kochi

One of the scheduled photo-shoots during the Theyyams of Malabar Photo~Expedition was in the streets of old Kochi, or more specifically, Mattencherry. This area offered opportunities to photograph the bazaar-like alleys, with traditional godowns and stores stocked with all types of rice, dark brown nutmeg, red and green chillies, earthy ginger, black pepper and other spices.

From the walkabout in Mattencherry is the Traders of Kochi gallery.

Many of the local people I spoke with, and photographed, were Muslims, descendants of the Arab merchants who propagated their faith along the Malabar Coast. A significant community was created through the marriage of local women to these Arab sailors, and are still known as the Mappilas or Moplahs. The Arabs merchants and mariners are believed to come from the Red Sea coastal areas, and the Hadramaut region of Yemen.

Nice people, hard-working and welcoming.

POV: Larger & Simple

My two posts today are inter-related. This one is about my long-standing view that photography web sites which display large photographs do a better job in getting them sold (or getting their makers hired), and the second (above) puts this belief into practice.

In one of my posts on Photocrati, I made the point that “larger is better”, and used the example that some of the most popular photography blogs such as The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture and the Wall Street Journal’s Photo Journal, display large photographs (around 990 pixels by 640 pixels).

In fact, Rob Haggart, the former Director of Photography for Men’s Journal and Outside Magazine, is now the founder of A Photo Folio. His mission is to create “websites that get you hired.” If you drop by his website, you'll find his creations are indeed huge. Haggard is an industry insider, and knows what he's talking about.

I believe the era of dinky little "almost thumbnails but not quite" photographs is over for technical, aesthetic and for commercial reasons. The two news photography blogs I mentioned earlier also made sure of that. A few moments of research amongst the web designs currently offered by liveBooks, Neon Sky, FolioLink, SiteWelder and the rest, will unanimously reveal that large is good.

As for simple, well...I've posted earlier about The Photopreneur article which said it very clearly: "Despite the whiz-bang features and slick animation offered on so many sites, simple is usually best. Editors are short of time, and faced with a large number of images they want to gain an understanding quickly of what the photographer can do. They’re less interested in what the photographer’s Web developer can do."

So if you want to sell your photographs, consider making your websites simple, and your photographs larger. It's a no-brainer.

Gary Knight: FT Interview

©Gary Knight-Courtesy FT-All Rights Reserved.
"You find when you photograph the poor the world over that, unless you’re trying to make them appear without dignity, people understand what you’re doing and they collaborate."-Gary Knight

The Financial Times' Weekend Magazine published an interview with VII co-founder and photographer Gary Knight, who turned his lens on Brazil’s penal system, and found brutality, overcrowding and a controversial evangelist pastor with a strange power over inmates.

A worthwhile read from a leading, and thoughtful, photojournalist. Claire Holland, picture editor of FT Weekend Magazine, conducted the interview.

Praful Rao: Chatt Puja

(Click arrow to play video)
Virtually every civilization has worshiped a sun god but in Bihar, it is the setting sun that is worshiped.

Photographer Praful Rao documented the Chatt Puja, which is when the Bihari community in Kalimpong congregate in an open area much before dawn to worship the sun. Women bedecked in colorful saris, along with their husbands carrying puja material in baskets, arrive to the area much before sunrise. It is they who perform the puja.

BBC's Human Planet: Timothy Allen

I was pleased to receive an email from Timothy Allen announcing that he is writing a weekly blog for the BBC documenting his work with indigenous societies around the world for the documentary Human Planet.

Human Planet is a new 8×50 minute documentary series being made by BBC Television. The series celebrates the human species and looks at our relationship with the natural world by showing the remarkable ways we have adapted to life in every environment on earth. It is due to be transmitted in the UK in October 2010 and will be rolled out across the world soon after.

Timothy Allen is a English photographer with a hefty professional background, including the Sunday Telegraph, The Independent and Axiom Photographic Agency, and who has won prestigious awards such as 6 Picture Editors' Guild Awards including the title of Arts Photographer of the Year. More recently he was the recipient of the 'One Planet, Many Lives' award in Travel Photographer of the Year for his work with the indigenous cultures of the Himalayas. The focus of his recent work has been on the planet's remaining tribal societies, and he currently devotes his time to documenting the diversity of humanity's cultural heritage. He has worked with indigenous communities throughout the world , most extensively in India and South East Asia.

This is a blog which is certain to enchant, educate, and delight those of us who are passionate about travel photography, ethno-photography and interested in our humanity's cultural heritage. Bookmark it, and visit it often!

For Canon 5D Mark II fans: check out the short video made with a Canon 5D II during a tribal dance in Niger.

A previous TTP post on Tim Allen's Nagaland work is here.

Easter & Holy Week

©REUTERS/Henry Romero-All Rights Reserved.
A masked Catholic penitent flagellates himself during the start of a procession through the streets of Taxco in the Mexican state of Guerrero, in observance of Holy Week celebrations. Hundreds of penitents, bound and flagellating themselves, walk the labyrinthine cobblestone streets of Taxco, an almost 500-year-old silver mining town built into a mountainside, in one of the most dramatic and heartfelt Easter rituals staged in this fervently Catholic country.

Flagellation is also practiced by some Shi'a Muslims, who whip themselves on the holiday of Ashura to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussein Bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in 680.

The Boston Globe's The Big Picture has remarkable photographs of Holy Week (Link).

It's a little unfortunate that a foot appears in the top left corner of the above photograph!!

David DuChemin: Within The Frame

David DuChemin of The Pixelated Image is in the final phases of having his new book Within The Frame available at major bookstores everywhere. This a 260 page book in which David shares his experiences and knowledge acquired from years of working as a travel photographer.

Peachpit Press are publishing the book, and have posted a free down-loadable chapter of Within The Frame as a teaser.

I look forward to review David's opus soon, and expect that it'll be a must-have for all of us who are interested in travel and adventure photography. More to come soon!

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop: Another Scholarship!!

Eric Beecroft, co-founder of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, announced that the dispatches 2009 Foundry Scholarship in Memory of Alexandra Boulat will award one woman photographer from South Asia (India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and Tibet) a full scholarship to attend the workshop as well as $100 toward travel expenses.

Eligibility: Any woman photographer from South Asia (no dual nationals from outside South Asia) may apply, including those that have applied unsuccessfully to other scholarships for the workshop.

Deadline: May 7, 2009

Winners Announced May 21, 2009

Judges: The judges are dispatches’ contributing photographers Antonin Kratochvil, Yuri Kozyrev, and Seamus Murphy.

How to Apply:
Please send a link to TWO photographic essays, each containing from 6 to 20 images, to fpw [at] rethink-dispatches [dot] com.

Write “Foundry Scholarship” in the subject line.

Also include one to two paragraphs in an attached Word doc or pdf summarising your photography background, career goals, any other workshops you’ve attended, and what you hope to get out of the Foundry workshop. Please also include the links to your galleries in the attachment.

NB: Please make sure that the images are captioned. Galleries that are fast-loading are appreciated.

Kiran Ambwani

Kiran Ambawni is a freelance photographer based in Montreal, and she specializes in editorial and commercial photography. A graduate of McGill University and the Dawson Institue of Photography, her background in anthropolgy has clearly influenced her work as evidenced by her travel portfolio.

Some of her projects deal with one of the largest slums in Asia; Mumbai's Dharvi, a Trek for Peace documenting the Himalayan mountain women of Nepal, and Tibetans in exile.

Apart from her talented Travel portfolio, drop by her Landscape gallery and see how lumimous its first frame is!

liveBooks Photojournalism Websites

liveBooks has launched liveBooks Photojournalism, a cost-effective, pre-designed website offering and community for photojournalists launched in partnership with FiftyCrows and the National Geographic All Roads Photography Program.

This partnership will include eight additional leaders in international photojournalism and documentary photography in the near future, and will provide photojournalists worldwide with an opportunity to have a professional web presence at an affordable price.

The sites are available via subscription for $44/month or $444/year, or they can be purchased for a one-time fee of $1,144. I don't have a liveBooks website, but I know of many photographers who have. More examples are also found on its website. Further details are available directly from liveBooks Photojournalism.

liveBooks also has a very informative blog called RESOLVE, which is edited by Miki Johnson and Carmen Suen. I've bookmarked it for regular follow up...you may want to do so as well.

Canon 5D II Does Theyyams (VIDEO)

Here's a short snippet of raw video captured on my Canon 5D Mark II during one of the many Theyyam ceremonies witnessed during my Theyyam of Malabar photo expedition in Kerala (India). The camera used was the new Canon 5D Mark II...Nothing fancy. I just pointed and pressed the button. I still have quite a few others that are lengthier which will be worked on using iMovie etc. Audio was captured via the camera's microphone. However, I've recorded excellent audio with my new Marantz PMD-620 which I'll use for forthcoming projects.

Theyyam rituals are indigenous to north Kerala, and the actor-dancers incarnate local deities to foretell the future to devotees. Incredible imagery and action! For more information on the Theyyams photo expedition, go here.

I chose not to embed the video in this post because it looked a bit jerky when I did, so click on the link instead of the image. This will open my video page on Vimeo. You may want to go full screen to get a better feel for the action.

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop: News

Eric Beecroft, co-founder of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, has recently announced a new tuition deal for South Asian students and others.

The tuition deal runs from March 28 to April 18, 2009...so hurry and register before it expires!

South Asian:
Two for $800 — If two students sign up and pay together, tuition is $400 each/$800 total. (The students need to note whom they are signing up with when they do so to get this deal).

Standard:
Two for $1600 — If two students sign up and pay together, tuition is $800 each/$1600 total.(The students need to note whom they are signing up with when they do so to get this deal).

Canon 5D Mark II Batteries

A recent post on a professional photo forum complaining about the non-availability of extra Canon LP-E6 Camera batteries for the Canon 5D Mark II was joined by a rep for a retailer whose post reveals how Canon completely dropped the ball by not supplying sufficient extra batteries to its authorized retailers; totally mismanaging a critical component of the camera's launch, and which eventually gave rise to price gouging by unscrupulous vendors.

Why was Canon caught with its pants down? It had to know that the camera would appeal to serious photographers who would need an extra battery.

I've ranted about this in a previous post. (LINK)

Note: This post was redacted on April 20, 2009.

Sylvain Savolainen: The Afars

©Sylvain Savolainen-All Rights Reserved.
Sylvain Savolainen is a photographer and reporter based in Geneva, and is regularly published by international newspapers and magazines such as Geo, La Stampa, IHT, The New York Times and Le Figaro. In Paris, he worked with Sygma and Gamma agencies, and currently Cosmos and Grazia Neri partly distribute his work. He is also a contributor to the French and Swiss national radios. In 2007, he won the Swiss Press Photo award for the best foreign feature of the year.

Sylvain has documented many ethnic groups, including the Afars. The Afars, or Danakil, are an ethnic group in the Horn of Africa, residing principally in the Danakil Desert in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, as well as in Eritrea and Djibouti. They constitute over a third of the population of Djibouti, but the majority still remain nomadic pastoralists, raising goats, sheep, camels and cattle in the desert.

Here's Sylvain's Those Who Gaze Into The Horizon: The Afars

Geisha Peeping!

Photo ©Hiroshi Yamauch-All Rights Reserved.
How awful! The New York Times has an article on how Kyoto, the historic and former imperial capital, is attracting hordes of tourists wanting to photograph the geisha and maiko, who, with their "elaborate dress, white-painted faces and stylized gestures, exercise a special allure for Western imaginations as the seeming embodiment of Japanese tradition."

Further on in the article, I read that a record 927,000 foreigners spent a night in Kyoto in 2007, a substantial growth over the preceding year. On the other hand, the estimated number of geisha is only 1,000 to 2,000, as compared to 80,000 in the 1920s.

I'm saddened, but not surprised, that the Kyoto residents, and the geisha, are now complaining that tourists with cameras are aggressive, and even "ambush and surround the young women for close-ups. Sometimes, they say, the tourists block their way, pull their sleeves, and at times have even caused them to trip over."

On the other hand, I'm not fussed by the fellow in the above photograph. He's maintaining a reasonably respectful distance from the two geisha, and I don't see that as harassment. However, I can imagine the behavior of tourists with small compact cameras wanting to get close-ups on the geisha faces! Disgraceful.

The article is authored by Miki Tanikawa.

Matthieu Paley: Lal Shabaz Qalander Festival

Here's a multimedia feature by Matthieu Paley titled Pakistan's Love Parade. I initially thought it dealt with a Pakistani gay parade of some sort, but it turned out to be a remarkable (and lengthy, at almost 12 minutes) reportage on the annual festival of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar when, as writes Matthieu:

"For three days and nights, over one million Sufi pilgrims, devotees and onlookers join an infectious chaos of swirling and dancing; a firework of emotions and sensations; non-stop rhythmic drumbeats echoing through a heady hashish haze."

What an incredible way to describe it! I certainly wouldn't need the hashish to be exhilarated by the sound, sights and smells!

A bit of background: Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177-1274) was a Sufi saint, philosopher, and a poet, born in Afghanistan and who settled in Sindh (Pakistan). He preached religious tolerance among Muslims and Hindus, and is buried in the dusty desert town of Sehwan Sharif, where thousands of pilgrims visit his shrine every year. Hindus and Muslims alike express their devotion through trance dances and devotion for Lal Shabaz Qalander, who is considered as one of Sufism’s most venerated saint, whose message of love and tolerance some 800 years ago still powerfully resonate with his followers.

Matthieu Paley is an Asia-based (living in Hong Kong) photographer specializing in editorial and documentary photography. His work appeared in Geo, National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Outside, Discovery and various others.

My Work: Kochi's Chinese Nets

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved.
Here's one of the many images of Fort Kochi's famous Chinese fishing nets I made during my Theyyam of Malabar Photo~Expedition. Post processing was with Lightroom 2.3RC

These are interesting structures which, according to legend, were introduced by Zheng He, a Chinese Hui Muslim naval admiral who was ordered to explore the seas by the emperor Kublay Khan.

Each structure is about 10 meters high, consisting of a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over the water, and stones suspended from ropes as counterweights at the other end. Each structure is operated by a team of up to six fishermen. The nets are locally called Cheena Vala.

Justin Mott: Hanoi

Photo ©Justin Mott/NYTimes-All Rights Reserved.
The New York Times' Travel section features Justin Mott's photographs of Hanoi. The accompanying article (by Naomi Lindt) highlights how the capital city of Vietnam experienced remarkable growth since the 1990s , by shedding its grimness and morphing into a sleek metropolis with high-rises, world-class cuisine and art.

I've photographed in Vietnam for an NGO in 2003, and had one week to cover various assignments from Hanoi to Can Tho in the south, and consequently acquired a limited view of this country and of its people.

Justin Mott and his work were featured quite often on this blog; for instance Saigon, Cremation in Bali, Cambodia, and a 1 on 1 Interview.

The Gnawa Festival Photo~Expedition

I am leading the Gnawa Festival Photo~Expedition from June 18 to June 29, which will include street photography in the bustling souks of Marrakesh, in the desert city of Ouarzazat (or Ourzazate) and 4 full days of the Gnawa festival in the coast town of Essaouira. For good reason, the expedition was sold out very quickly.

From Wikipedia: "Gnawa or Gnaoua (غناوة) refers to an ethnic group and a Sufi religious order in Morocco, in part descended from former slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa or black Africans who migrated in caravans with the trans-Saharan trade, or a combination of both."

The Gnawa musicians deeply hypnotic trance music (as befits their Sufi affiliation) play hypnotic trance music, repetitive and very rhythmic, which is accompanied with loud hand-clapping and cymbals, while the Gnawa dancers twirl the long tassels on their caps with their head movements. Their songs call on revered saints (also known as marabouts) to drive out evil, cure psychoses, or cure scorpion stings.

The Gnawa Festival official website has a musical intro of typical Gnawa singing style.

An article in the New York Times on the Gnawa Festival last year gave me the idea to set up the photo~expedition.

Thierry Falise: The Jarawas

Photo ©Thierry Falise-All Rights Reserved.
The Belgian photojournalist Thierry Falise has photographed a number of various indigenous groups, including the Jarawas, one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, in his gallery titled The Twilight of the Andaman Naked People.

The Jarawas are estimated at between 250-350, and have largely avoided interactions with outsiders. They are a hunting and gathering nomadic tribe, hunting wild pigs, monitor lizard with bows and arrows. It takes a while to accept that the Jarawas are not an African tribe, but rather aborigines from a group of archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal, south east of India.

Based in Bangkok, Thierry Falise has covered South-East Asia and beyond since the mid-eighties, as a correspondent for Gamma photo agency and currently for the Bangkok-based Onasia. In 2003, he and a colleague were arrested in Laos after completing a story on a Hmong minority, and were sentenced to 15 years of prison. They were released after five weeks due to an international solidarity campaign.

POV: Should I Monetize......?

The question came up again a few days ago from more than one source. A large camera retailer suggested I ought to enroll in its affiliate program, which essentially would let me make a small percentage on each purchase that originates from this blog. Another proposed that I enter a relationship which basically would do the same, but without the bells and whistles that comes with a blatant advert on my blog.

My reply to both was the same. I will not monetize The Travel Photographer blog. I just don't want restrictions (real or imagined) that come with having this blog going "commercial". I don't want to worry if my posts are too acerbic or, conversely too "soft". If I now mention a company, or a book, or a service, it's because I experienced it first hand...or have used a trial version of its product...or just because it looks or sounds good...or just because.

If I want to raise my concerns at instances of unethical, mealy-mouthed, or hypocritical photojournalism, or at whatever I feel is unfair or unjust, I will continue do so.

I don't need advertisers looking over my shoulder, nosily huffing and puffing if I bruise an ego or two...and I certainly want to express personal views on current geopolitical events, especially those that pertain to the Middle East. And I want for this blog to continue providing its sliver of exposure to those young photographers who want and need to showcase their work.

However, what I make an exception of are sponsors for my photo-expeditions and workshops. If product-makers are willing to offer discounts, trial products, decals, pens, caps, back-massages etc to participants on my trips, I'd be happy to plaster my photo-expeditions' websites with their logos and give them all the plugs imaginable...but it will be transparent and will benefit those who join my photo trips, not me. I have already done that successfully with a generous software creator, and it worked beautifully.

But for this blog, no way. This independence gives this blog credibility amongst its readers, and that's important. My blog will remain ad-free, commercial-free and, as expected, vehemently opinionated.

By the way, have you read that a blogger is making $20,000 a month just from banner ads! Now, if it's true, that's real money!

The Art of Photography Show 2009

The Art of Photography Show 2009 is an international exhibition featuring all forms of photographic art -- images shot on film, shot digitally, unaltered shots, alternative process, mixed media, digital manipulations, montages, photograms, etc. The Art of Photography Show will be exhibited at the two-level Lyceum Theatre Gallery, in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.

The exhibition's dates are August 29 – November 1, 2009 and entry deadline is May 22.

As with any such event, all interested photographers are advised to carefully read the rules and regulations, especially those pertaining to copyright issues, and use of images.

New York Times: Myanmar (Burma)

Photo ©International Herald Tribune-All Rights Reserved.
The New York Times has launched its new Global Edition on its website, announcing that it combined its international reporting and that of the International Herald Tribune, to provide readers with a continuous flow of geopolitical, business, sports and fashion coverage from a global perspective.

One of its slideshows featured is a powerful photo essay titled "Dying and Alone in Myanmar", a collection of black & white photographs (only credited to the International Herald Tribune).

It covers the work of 23 clinics operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) that are the primary dispensers in Myanmar of the anti retroviral drugs that can prolong the lives of those infected with H.I.V.

The accompanying article is by Seth Mydans.

Addendum: I just realized that the NYT's Global Edition is the new home on the Web for the International Herald Tribune...is this another cost-cutting measure or is there more to it than that?

Innovative Stuff: DIY Magazines!

With daily "surround-sound" news that magazines (and photo magazines) are going out of business, or are looking for buyers as in the case of American Photo and its siblings, I thought this article as published in the New York Times is timely.

The giant Hewlett-Packard is hoping to make publishing a magazine easier and more accessible to everyone with a new on-line service called MagCloud. HP hopes that it'll be as simple and as common as "running photocopies at the local copy shop".

MagCloud is said to cost 20 cents a page, paid only when a customer orders a copy, and its HP parent seeks to turn it into a publishing’s equivalent of YouTube. I'm seeing it more a magazine equivalent to Blurb and the other on-demand book publishers.

Whether this service will pick up real big-time steam in this economic environment or not is open to question, but if anyone is keen to publish a photography magazine, and perhaps even sell some issues, here's your chance.