beautiful places

Well at the risk of staining my blog with incohesion, I thought it would be nice to blog about something from the top of my head. I just thought it would be interesting and more personal to spontaneously blog. Well lately I've indulged in a vast amount of art and pictures from beautiful places. I've been thinking a lot, and I kind of feel a little sad. I really want to travel the world, with an amazing camera and just experience everything this earth has to give. In no way do I see it happening anytime soon considering I would need an income to support my desire. Its maddening seeing all of these beautiful places and not being able to be there and experience the lovely scenery or people. I want to learn and grow so much more than I could in New York. This world holds beauty so incredibly celestial it humbles me. This world is home to things more visually stunning than my flesh, my wardrobe, and my art combined. I understand I'm but a mere ant in this grand spherical world, and I want to witness all of its gifts. A lot of people have this notion that I feel as if I'm greater than most, all, or everything. I don't believe that, I am but a man, my dreams and creativity are the only things that give my own existence meaning in my eyes. It is this belief that compels me to find inspiration and grow and grow, until I am complete and fulfilled. I know my own insatiability has an appetite I could never satisfy. I still want more, people, relationships, experiences, beauty, art, clothes, ideas, etc. I apologize for the rant people, I go off on tangents but know its only because this blog is so personal. This blog is an accurate reflection of my thoughts. Its basically the best way for anyone to get to know me, and for all my habitual readers I sleep well knowing that although we might have never met, you have an idea of who I am. I put my heart and soul into post like this, so I really hope you guys take the time to appriciate them. But before I bore you to sleep here are some pictures that send me into ecstasy.

Travel Photographer Of The Year At The RGS

Photo © Matjaz Krivic-All Rights Reserved-Courtesy TPOTY

I am envious of my readers in the United Kingdom as they get the opportunity of attending The Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society which runs until 10 June 2011. Well, I hope to be in London a day or two before its end, and see it myself...fingers crossed.

The best entries from The Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) 2010, along with some of the best of the society's own archive images, are at the exhibition but those who can't attend it in person can view a fantastic BBC audio slideshow.

TPOTY has signed a five-year agreement with the RGS to hold exhibitions at its 1 Kensington Gore (London) location.

The Leica File: The Jinghu Players Of Chinatown

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I"m happy to report that the kerfuffle pitting the NYPD against the senior citizens of Columbus Park in Chinatown seems to have been resolved. As you may have read in an earlier post, the NYPD disbanded the amateur Chinese opera bands that played at the park for years, and were filmed apparently using unnecessary force to do so.

But never underestimate the resilience of the Chinese...the cacophonous opera singers and their loyal musicians were back in force and in full form yesterday ...however minus their portable amplifiers. Amps and microphones violated the New York City Noise Control Code, and the NYPD swung into action. However, not only were the musicians back, but I've never seen so many chess, mah jong and card players despite the faint drizzle.

The musicians use a panoply of Chinese traditional musical instruments, such as the yangqin, a sort of dulcimer with a near-squared soundboard, and played with two bamboo sticks, as well as the jinghu, a small two string fiddle, a circular bodied plucked lute called the yueqin and the recognizable gu and ban, a drum and clapper.

As you can tell, I used a 1.4 aperture in those two photographs. I'm currently enamored with extreme shallow depth of field!

POV: To Stage Or Not To Stage?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

I was invited a year or so ago as contributor, with other photographers (such as renowned travel photographer Bob Krist), on Pixiq, an online community where a group of professional photographers engage other enthusiasts about photography and related interests, and while it was very tempting, I excused myself because I just didn't have the time.

I occasionally drop by Pixiq to read some well-informed posts from other travel photographers, and recently I was interested in an article by Jim Zuckerman entitled Travel Photography Portraits in which he candidly tells his readers that he carefully pre-plans his photo shoots, and sets up his travel photographs, whether these are in Himbaland or elsewhere in the world.

I was equally interested to read a couple of comments, made by Marc-André Pauzé and others, essentially querying Zuckerman's work ethic for staging photo shoots, and then paying his "models". Both sides eventually get a little defensive, since they have opposing points of view.

This is not an unusual debate, and one that has been often discussed in travel photography. I didn't know Jim Zuckerman, but from his biography he's a well known photographer whose work has appeared in scores of magazines, and leads photo tours in many parts of the world. It goes almost without saying that he would make sure that he (and his clients if on a photo trip) will be able to "bag" the photographs he's after...since nothing is guaranteed in life, he just makes it possible by paying money and setting the shots.

Marc-André Pauzé, in contrast, is a photojournalist whose work ethic is against paying to set up photo shoots and opportunities. He and his peers are documentary photographers, and setting up photographs is anathema to them.

Zuckerman and Pauzé come from different corners...their market is different, and their clients seek different products. Photographers who are more commercial will set up photo shoots, use reflective umbrellas, master strobes and flashes...etc., while the latter in the photojournalism corner will use a camera, a couple of lenses and develop a relationship with his subjects, but not pay.

As Marc-André writes in his final comment: "Travel photography, as photojournalism and street photography is not staged. It is about Life."

I agree. Staging photo shoots robs reality, but I'm reasonably flexible on my own photo~expeditions to accept that staging is occasionally either better (depending on the subject matter) or the only alternative. In contrast with Jim Zuckerman, I don't really have a list of preconceived images because it would stifle my creativity and may make me not see other opportunities. My photo~expeditions single most important description is "where travel photography meets photojournalism"...and I believe it's the right one.

However, when I walk in a village in Gujarat, I'm prepared for the eventuality that staging a few photo shoots will be needed if these don't happen serendipitously. Do I like staging photographs? No, I don't....but on occasions I have no other good options. And I'd rather return with some lovely staged photographs than none.

Another important point: would I ever claim that a staged photograph isn't? No, I wouldn't...and that's an important work ethic. We have seen photojournalists breaking this work ethic rule win awards and grants, and frequently getting caught and exposed for what they are....frauds. As far as well known travel photographers as concerned, Jim Zuckerman is far from being the only one who stages photo shoots...most of them do, and their clients seem to expect it.

If you've read that far down, here's the reason I used a Gujarati doll photograph to illustrate this post: subjects in staged photos sometimes look like the doll...inanimate and lifeless!

National Geographic: Sony World Photo Awards 2011

Photo © Amit Madheshiya-Courtesy Sony World Photo Awards

The National Geographic's website is featuring the 2011 winners of the Sony World Photography Awards which is administered by the World Photography Organization. The awards were chosen by a panel of 12 judges, led by British photography critic Francis Hodges.

The choice of the first photograph of the Indian villager at an open-air movie as the Best Pro "Arts and Cultures" Picture is a great one. His facial expression is priceless...and is the "perfect moment".

The photographer is Amit Madheshiya, who tells us that travelling cinemas in India visit remote villages once a year, screening an eclectic mix of films for the equivalent of about 40 U.S. cents a ticket.

I suggest you also visit Amit Madheshiya's website which features The Nomadic Cinemas, with 24 images of this photo essay.

By the way, Amit's website is hosted by PhotoShelter...the professional website to show off your best photos.

WTF! The NYPD Hates Chinese Opera?

Photo Courtesy The Gothamist

One of my favorite photographic destinations in NYC's Chinatown is Columbus Park, where large number of Chinese residents and non-residents congregate during the weekends to play xiangqi, a board game similar to Western chess, mah-jong, and cards while listening to cacophonous Chinese opera performed by two groups of amateurs (most of whom are senior citizens).

But now I'm seriously pissed off. Here's why:

The Gothamist recently had an article with a video featuring the NYPD arresting an elderly man at the park on May 8 when they tried to stop a group of senior citizens from playing Chinese music...presumably he was a member of the bands that accompany the singers.

It may have been caused by a noise complaint by a resident, but it's more likely that it was that these bands of amateurs did not have the requisite permits that all street NYC performers need to have before playing in the streets.

Having said that, there's no doubt the NYPD crossed the line in how its officers dealt with this. On The Gothamist site, there's a short video that shows how the Chinese and others were brutally dispersed...the use of mace and batons was threatened, and the man arrested was thrown to the ground, then handcuffed.

These amateur Chinese opera singers (more like classical Chinese karaoke in my view) were certainly cacophonous, and perhaps even discordant to Western ears, but they brought in a lot of tourists and residents alike, and didn't harm anyone...quite the opposite.

So it's either that the NYPD has no ear for Chinese opera, or they really have nothing else to do. Since Osama Ben Laden was killed last week or so, I suppose they can now focus their efforts on arresting harmless senior citizens who speak no or little English.

The NYPD ought to nab the marijuana peddlars in Washington Square Park instead...or the vendors of counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags on Canal Street...and leave me the Chinese opera singers to photograph.

I wrote a number of posts on the Columbus Park Chinese opera, but this one describes the setting, while this following audio slideshow I produced is of one of the bands.

Katharina Hesse: Human Negotiations

Katharina Hesse is a damn good documentary photographer, and here's one of the many reasons why I say that:

She and her colleague, Lara Day, are requiring support for a worthwhile photographic book project Human Negotiations. It's on Kickstarter, and is an independent, self-funded documentary, exploring the lives of a community of Bangkok sex workers through both images and text.

Human Negotiations is not a journalistic account of the sex trade, but instead is a personal interpretation of a line of work that is frequently misunderstood.

To date, the project has garnered international support and was shown at numerous spaces and international festivals. Pledged funds will go directly towards printing costs so that Human Negotiations can be published as a book to coincide with an exhibition in China's foremost space for contemporary photography and video art.

So do consider to help Katharina and Lara with your pledges! It's really a worthwhile project and will encourage other documentary photographers to bring similar projects to the fore.

Katharina Hesse is a Beijing-based photographer who has lived in Asia for nearly two decades. Her photography focuses primarily on China’s social concerns among them youth, urban culture, religion and North Korean refugees.

Lara Day is a writer, editor and photographer based in Hong Kong and Bangkok whose work has appeared in leading publications including TIME and Travel + Leisure.

Stefen Chow: The Hasidim

Photo © Stefen Chow-All Rights Reserved

Stefen Chow is a photographer currently living between Beijing and Singapore. He worked with various news organizations, including Getty Images, Associated Press and Bloomberg News, as well as commercial clients such as Keppel Corporation, Singapore Airlines and Shell International. Not content to have traveled to over 30 countries, Stefen also summitted Mount Everest in 2005.

His website is full of visually varied photo galleries and I thought his most interesting were those of his personal work. For those who are adventurers, I recommend you view his work of Chomolungma (the Tibetan name of Mount Everest). and for those interested in culture to spend time viewing his large photographs of the Hasidim in Brooklyn, New York.

Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularization Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith, and was founded in Eastern Europe in the 18th century. Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel, with one of the largest concentrations of Jews in the United States.

Al Jazeera: Vietnam

Photo © Nicole Precel_Courtesy Al Jazeera

If you think Al Jazeera is only an excellent source of international news, and the Arab satellite television channel that left all our cable networks in the dust during the momentous events in the Middle East, you'd be wrong because it also features photography essays such as the one by Nicole Percel's Vietnam: Between Tradition & Modernity.

In February 2011; Nicole Precel and Nick Ahlmark were in Chi Ca Commune, a cluster of villages in Xin Man district, part of Ha Giang province in northern Vietnam, the poorest province in the country, to make a movie for the final episode of Al Jazeera's Birthrights, a series examining maternal health around the world.

Al Jazeera also features social documentary work such as the accompanying video The Mountain Midwives of Vietnam.

A 2012 The Travel Photographer Photo~Expedition™

Here's a sneak announcement for the first 2012 The Travel Photographer Photo~Expedition™, whose destination will be Kerala in south India. The objectives of the expedition/workshop will be two unusual religious festivals, a Vedic gurukul, a Kathakali academy and street photography in one of the oldest trading cities of the Western ghats.

The program, routing and pricing are almost ready, and I shall be sending its details to my newsletter subscribers by mid week.

So keep an eye on your inbox!!!

POV: Yes, I Have A Name. It's Mohamed Shaglouf!

"From the pickup, Lynsey saw a body outstretched next to our car, one arm outstretched. We still don’t know whether that was Mohammed. We fear it was, though his body has yet to be found."

We all remember the relief that the photojournalism/media felt when Stephen Farrell, Tyler Hicks, Lynsey Addario and Anthony Shadid were freed from their brutal ordeal at the hands of the pro-Qaddafi military.

Those us who have long memories also recall that the photojournalists' Libyan driver was named in the various articles that reported on the event as Mohammed, or "the driver", if at all. I wrote a blog post lamenting the fact that Mohammed's last name was unknown, despite his probable end at the hands of the Libyan loyalists.

Felix Salmon of the Reuters blog has written The Hermetic & Arrogant New York Times which, among many targets, aims at Bill Keller's (the NYT's editor) by writing this:

He (Keller) talks at length about Hetherington and Hondros, and about other photographers, like Joao Silva, who parachute in to war zones, meet fixers, get their shots, and then move on to the next job — if they don’t get their legs blown off in the process. He writes movingly about NYT photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, who were brutally treated in Libya but survived; he doesn’t mention their driver, Mohamed Shaglouf, who almost certainly didn’t.

For the life of me, I can't understand why he didn't. Is it tribalism, elitism, myopia, "i don't give a shit" about non NYT people...or non-Americans?

Simon Norfolk: Afghanistan

"This current war is tragedy, is an imperial game, is a folly...

Following the welcome demise of Bin Laden, I thought it timely to feature photographs or a multimedia essay on Afghanistan. I didn't want it to be of the conflict, or some other cliches, so this short movie on Simon Norfolk's Afghanistan project seemed much more appropriate.

In October 2010, Simon Norfolk began a photo series of Afghanistan, influenced by the work of 19th-century British photographer John Burke. Norfolk’s photographs of "modern" Kabul is presented along with Burke’s original portfolios.

Norfolk is critical of the Afghanistan war and of journalists who report from the safety of armored compounds, and especially of photographers who travel around Kabul with a security details. He was told on his arrival that he couldn't photograph freely in Kabul except with bodyguards, but he did.

The accompanying audio is really wonderful. The Afghan music and songs are hauntingly beautiful, and the call to prayer (towards the end of the piece) accompanied by pictures of Kabul at dawn may give you goosebumps.

A welcome change from the depressingly unimaginative photojournalism work we see out of Afghanistan.

The Leica File: The Guitar Man

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Saturday's ideal weather in New York City saw throngs of people in Washington Square Park, and the regular solo and group musical buskers were there as well. However, I noticed an acoustic guitar player I hadn't seen before, and moved in closer to photograph him.

Peter Grudzieh is from Astoria, Queens, and occasionally comes to the park to play his guitar and sing. I didn't recognize the songs he performed; perhaps some vintage Bob Dylan? I introduced myself and promised I'd send him some of the photographs. Although I cover up the Leica logo with black tape, he recognized it, and also knew it was German-made.

One of a kind.

And I'm sure I'll see him in the park again.

(M9/Voigtlander Nokton 1.4 40mm 1/360 iso 160)

Eric Lafforgue: SoHo Loft Gallery Exhibition

I'm very pleased that Eric Lafforgue's photographs will be on exhibit at the Soho Loft Gallery in New York City with weekend events scheduled for May 7 and 8. I will try to drop by on either of these dates to see them by myself.

Eric Lafforgue is a French photographer who started photography in 2006.  Magazines and newspapers from all over the world began using his work for illustrations on North Korea, Papua New Guinea, the tribes of Ethiopia, etc. His work also appeared on multiple National Geographic covers and featured  in The Economist, CNN Traveler and many other travel magazines worldwide.

He is part of the European leading agency Rapho and works both digital and film using Hasselblad H4D-50, Canon 1Ds Mk III, 5D MK II, Leica M6.

I consider Eric Lafforgue to be one of the best ethnologist-photographers, and I posted on his work a few times here. Apart from his stunning website, he also posts much of his work on Flickr, and I never understood the reason since by uploading images to it, he is granting the site a non-exclusive, royalty free license.

Note: Eric just advised me that a significant portion of his sales of photographs originate from his Flickr account. For him the formula works perfectly!

Cazenove+Loyd Leica Travel Photographer of The Year

Cazenove + Loyd is a bespoke (aka luxury) travel company based in the UK started almost 20 years ago by Susie Cazenove and Henrietta Loyd, which has teamed up with Leica to offer a photographic competition celebrating exploration and adventure.

The Cazenove+Loyd Leica travel photographer of the year competition 2011 is looking for photographs taken in one of the company's three areas of expertise, Africa+Indian Ocean, South+South East Asia, Central+South America.

The Travel Photographer of the Year 2011 will win a new Leica X1 and accessories, plus an X1 Akademie Workshop at the Leica Store Mayfair. From January to December 2011, an entrant can win a monthly prize of a new Leica camera, Leica sports optic or Leica Akademie workshop at the Leica Store Mayfair.

Images submitted don't have to be photographed with a Leica, and the copyright remains with the photographer...but the company and Leica have the right to use the winning images from the date of entry to 18 months after the closing date of the Competition.

The Leica File: The Flag Vendor

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"Don't Let Me Holler
Buy A Flag For 2 Dollar"

And so many people did. The vendor of United States flags did a brisk trade on May 5 on Church Street in Lower Manhattan...and why shouldn't he? The crowds had come to the area near Ground Zero because President Obama was nearby laying a wreath of flowers to honor the people killed in the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and marking the death of Osama Ben Laden.

Where I was, there were no displays of jingoism or bravado...only a sense of contentment. There were lots of locals and tourists milling about, pointing their cameras at all the flags, as well as television crews filming the crowds.  When the cavalcade of black SUVs with President Obama quickly whizzed through, the cheers were deafening....and when it quietened down, the vendors continued their spiel...Don't Let Me Holler, Buy A Flag For 2 Dollar.

(M9. 1/360 f1.4 Nokton 40mm iso 160)

Veejay Villafranca: Fate Above Faith

Photo © Veejay Viilafranca-All Rights Reserved

Vicente Jaime “Veejay” Villafranca is a photojournalist from the Philippines, who worked with Agence France Presse, Reuters, World Picture Network and the United Nations IRIN news wire. He was of the 7 Filipinos to be accepted in the first Asian documentary workshop of the Angkor photography festival in Siem Reap, Cambodia. His project on former gang members won the 2008 Ian Parry Scholarship. His work has been shown in London, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Phnom Pehn, France, Turkey and Manila. He is represented by Getty Global Assignments in London and Melon Rouge in Cambodia.

I particularly liked Veejay's powerful photo essay Fate Above Faith, which documents the faith of half a million people who seek to show their faith in the streets of downtown Manila by venerating the 400-year old relic of the Black Nazarene, which is a life-sized, dark-colored, wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ, and considered miraculous by many Filipino devotees. During this event, the devotees are overwhelmed by their faith and barefooted and dressed in the devotional colors of maroon and gold, surround the relic's carriage, pulling and tugging at the cordon ropes.

Equally impressive is Veejay's photo essay on the Badjao, the indigenous people of the seas who settled on the coasts of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga in the southern part of the Philippines.

The Leica File: Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton

Having determined that adding a Leica lens such as the Summilux 50mm 1.4 to my Elmarit 28mm would bankrupt me, I started researching alternatives and was happy to find that the Voigtlander 40/1.4 Nokton was well spoken of, and only cost a fraction ($430) of the Summilux.

The Voigtlander 40/1.4 is said to be one the fastest 40mm lens a for full frame 35mm photography. It's available in black Leica M mount, has a 43mm filter size, 7 elements in 6 groups, with a close focus of .7 meter.

I stared for a while at a couple of images on various websites that compared both lenses, and could barely make any difference...unless I read the captions which directed me to squint really really hard to see some distortion in the Voigtlander's image. Would the barely visible (to me) distortion warrant a premium of $3000 to choose the Summilux?

No.

So the Voigtlander 40/1.4 is now my second glass acquisition for my Leica M9, and probably will be my walk-around lens.

I've already shot a few images, and was impressed with the "bokeh" at its widest aperture. I'll post a few over the weekend.

POV: Bin Laden And Let's Get Real

Here are some quotes off commentary that I thought were right on the mark:
 
Jon Stewart (The Daily Show): "The face of the Arab world in America's eyes for too long has been bin Laden, and now it is not. Now the face is only the young people in Egypt and Tunisia and all the Middle Eastern countries around the world where freedom rises up."

Robert Fisk (The Independent): "So now for a reality check. The world is not safer for Bin Laden's killing. It is safer because of the winds of freedom blowing through the Middle East. If the West treats the people of this region with justice rather than military firepower, then al-Qa'ida becomes even more irrelevant than it has been since the Arab revolutions."

Tom Friedman (The New York Times): " And that is that he lived long enough to see so many young Arabs repudiate his ideology. He lived long enough to see Arabs from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen to Syria rise up peacefully to gain the dignity, justice and self-rule that Bin Laden claimed could be obtained only by murderous violence and a return to puritanical Islam.

Robert Fisk (The Independent): "But these past few months, millions of Arab Muslims rose up and were prepared for their own martyrdom – not for Islam but for freedom and liberty and democracy. Bin Laden didn't get rid of the tyrants. The people did. And they didn't want a caliph."

Luke Duggleby: The Art of Kathakali

Photo © Luke Duggleby-All Rights Reserved

Luke Duggleby is a British photographer with a degree in photography from the University of Gloucestershire. Currently based in Bangkok, he's shooting assignments and personal projects from India to Indonesia, China to Cambodia for various publications and NGOs.

His photography has been featured in The Sunday Times Magazine (UK) , The Independent on Sunday Review, Stern, Monocle Magazine, TIME, The Telegraph, GEO France, GEO Germany, The New York Times, The Times (UK), Geographical (UK), The Wall Street Journal Asia, and the USAID, amongst others.

Out of his many galleries, I chose two that I particularly admired; The Art of Kathakali, and The Last of the Bound Feet Women.

Kathakali is one of the oldest theater forms in the world, and originated in the area of southwestern India now known as the state of Kerala. It's the classical dance-drama of Kerala and is rooted in Hindu mythology and literally means "Story-Play". In my forthcoming 2012 photo-expedition to Kerala, I am planning an exhaustive photo shoot at a Kathakali school (as I did in 2009).

As for the Bound Feet Women, NPR featured an article on this practice and its history here, where it tells us that millions of Chinese women bound their feet to turn them into the prized "three-inch golden lotuses." Footbinding was first banned in 1912, but some continued binding their feet in secret. Some of the last survivors of this barbaric practice are still living in Liuyicun, a village in Southern China's Yunnan province.

Marty Stalker: Egypt-After The Revolution

Here's an impressive documentary on Egypt during the heady days immediately following the revolution, filmed by Marty Stalker. Marty is a writer/director living in Northern Ireland with a passion for film-making. He recently graduated from the Lights Film School in New York City.

His Vimeo page informs us that the documentary was filmed on the Canon 5D Mark II with Zeiss compact prime Lenses in March 2011, and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 with Magic Bullet Mojo.

You can read Marty's notes on its production on his Scattered Images website.

The yells of the crowds one hears in the opening few moments of the movie are interesting since these are "Here's The Thief" (presumably about Mubarak), and "We Want Our Money". I liked how grainy black & white newsreel-like clips were inserted among the main colored movie. I am certain you'll be impressed by Dr Kamal Aboumagd, the wise constitutional lawyer, a gentleman who, in his demeanor and style, exemplifies the Egyptians of yore.

Well done.

POV: I Told You So....

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

On November 8, 2010, I wrote a post titled "Photo Tours Are Useful But..." in which I suggested:

"However, let's take this a step or two further because, simply put, there are photographers who market their workshops (and there are many these days) whose work may be phenomenally beautiful and inspiring, but who are unable to lead, who can't/won't teach and are unable/unwilling to share. It's simply not enough that the photographer's work is good...not at all. There are many more factors that come to play in one's decision in choosing a photo workshop."

It seems my advice is valid because the blogosphere is currently abuzz with news that the photo workshops/tours conducted by a famous photographer are really not worth the trouble nor do they warrant their lofty prices.  So let me reiterate what I say over and over again:  If I wanted to go on a workshop I'd rather go with a grunt...not a celebrity/famous photographer....I wouldn't want to be patronized nor palmed off to an assistant...that's my personal view, and you can read the whole post via the link above if you need to.

I certainly don't need to beat the caveat emptor drum louder than what has been written in the courageous and eloquent  Reflections on Steve McCurry Myanmar Workshop (don't miss the comments from other participants in the workshops) nor can I top Duckrabbit's witty rapier thrust to the jugular in the Competition: Please fill in the missing word post....

And how can I not provide the link that may have started the whole fuss, which appeared in the brilliant A Photo Editor, in which a Craiglist ad for an exploitative internship is deservedly criticized.

As always, make up your mind. It's your money and your time after all. Naturally, if you still want to spend over $10,000 on a workshop and learn how to make children cry, then by all means join up.

Oh, you may wonder why I chose a Balinese Arja performer to accompany this post. Well, an Arja actor is a man disguised as a woman...and a visual metaphor for things sometimes not being what they are advertised as. I could have used an image of a kathoey, but I don't have one.

The Leica File: Strawberry Ice Cream

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved

Walking in the Meatpacking area of New York City, I saw the ice cream truck's technicolor paint job, along with the red shirt and white hat worn by the ice-cream eater, and all seemed a perfect juxtaposition of brilliant colors. I know I haven't nailed it from a compositional standpoint, and I'd be happier had I gone lower and a few inches to the left...but it is what it is, and that's what street photography is all about...the scene happens in a second and you either get it or you don't.

Because of the 28mm lens, I was about a foot away from the gentleman and he seemed unaware that he was in my frame, and the integral part of the composition.

I should have used different settings instead of the f2.8 and an iso of 400...it was a brilliant sun, and I could've had better results with an f8 and an iso of 160, but my camera had these settings on already, and I didn't have time to reset them since I was focusing as quickly as I could. I find that accurately focusing the M9 still requires very careful adjustment...even in brightly-lit scenes such as these.

Beyond being sharpened a little bit, the image wasn't post-processed nor cropped.

Li Wei: The Earth (Mongolia)

Photo © Li Wei-All Rights Reserved

Li Wei is a freelance photographer based in Beijing, who was born in Hohhot,Inner Mongolia, and who graduated from the Communication University of China.

His photographs of Inner Mongolia are those of an insider...no tourist stuff here, nor are the photographs the type one sees in glossy magazines advertising Mongolian lifestyle.

Inner Mongolia (distinct from the country of Mongolia) is an autonomous region of China, located in the northern region of the country. It shares an international border with the country of Mongolia and the Russian Federation. Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group, constituting about 80% of the population, followed by Mongols.

Matthieu Paley: Prisoners of the Himalaya

I've featured the extraordinary work of Matthieu Paley a number of times on The Travel Photographer blog already, and while my favorite is still his work on a Sufi festival honoring Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Pakistan, it's also this recent ongoing film project "Prisoners of the Himalaya" that is equally remarkable. It's a documentary film aimed at capturing the life of the last Kyrgyz nomads of Afghanistan.

Matthieu returned to the Afghanistan's Pamir mountains to cooperate in the production of his first movie, along with Louis Meunier (as Director of the project) and others.

When you finish viewing the above trailer, drop by the movie's main website The Roof of the World which gives you more background to the project, and lists the team members that were involved in its making. Also spend time exploring Matthieu's website, and his unique galleries. You certainly will not regret it.

Currently based in Istanbul, Matthieu photographs explore themes of remoteness and isolation in geopolitically sensitive areas, and his work has appeared in Géo, National Geographic Adventure, Newsweek, Time, Outside, Discovery, Vanity Fair and Figaro among others. He has collaborated on numerous books. Since 1999, he travels extensively throughout the mountainous regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Northern India and Central Asia.

His photographs have been exhibited in galleries in New York, Hong Kong and Munich, and his multimedia presentations were projected at festival such as the Perpignan Photojournalism festival, the Banff Mountain Festival, and MountainFilm in Colorado. He has lectured at the Royal Geographical Society and the Asia Society in Hong Kong, at the Grand Bivouac Festival in France as well as at the Vancouver Mountain Festival.

Diego Verges: Ludruk

Photo © Diego Verges-All Rights Reserved

Ludruk is a theatrical genres of East Java in Indonesia. It's a form of traditional performance presented by a troupe of actors on a stage, re-telling the life stories of everyday people and their struggles. Most of the characters were performed by male actors who take the roles of women, but more recently, the sketches and farces feature mostly contemporary domestic stories, and have become commercial entertainment popular with urban and rural working-class audiences.

Diego Verges (featured many times of The Travel photographer blog and one of its Favorite 2011 Photographers) has produced a comprehensive photo essay on the Ludruk, with black & white (and color) facial portraits, and as well as environmental portraits and scenes of these performers.

Ludruk is a must-see for my readers as it merges portraiture, documentary and travel-ethnography photography, and also visually documents an art for that could well vanish in the years to come.

Note: I encountered a similar kind of performance in Bali where it's called Arja. This type of performance enacts old stories in a farcical manner and uses dialogue understood only by Balinese-speaking audiences.

Blurb Goes Mobile...

Blurb has just announced Blurb Mobile for iPhone, which is a way to create stories by easily capturing and sequencing photos and videos into short visual stories that can be instantly shared and viewed by all.

The app is available on the App Store. It's basic version is free, while a version with more bells and whistles is for $1.99. It's also compatible with iPads, so with iPad2, it'll be possible to take photographs (albeit at low resolution) directly and create stories on the fly. Or use photos saved in one's photo library. It'll record ambient sound and video clips as well.

Is it for photojournalists and the like...probably not, but for people who wish to quickly create short visual stories.

I'm sure that this may be of use to photographers who like the Hipstamatic and Instagram apps for their iPhones.

My Work: Three New Photo Galleries

I've now completed a sort of trilogy...three new photo galleries of stills from my just completed In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™.

The first of the three galleries is of the pilgrims that flock daily in their hundreds to the shrine of Hazra Mira Datar, a renowned Sufi saint in Gujarat, hoping to get rid of evil spirits, other health issues and personal problems. A black & white audio slideshow can also be seen here.

I recommend reading the journal of my experience at the Mira Datar shrine can be read here for a fuller understanding of this 600 year-old phenomenon, which is not restricted to this particular Sufi saint.

The second gallery is of the Jains pilgrims who visit the temples of Palitana; one of the holiest sites for the Jain community. Climbing the 3800 steps to the top of the hill for the main temple is an incredibly arduous task, and the Jain nuns do it continuously for three days while observing a total (food and water) fast. An audio slideshow can also be seen here.

Th third gallery is of various portraits and scenes of Sufi communities encountered during the photo~expedition, which started and ended in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

I hope readers of The Travel Photographer blog will enjoy them.

Planet Magazine: 2011 Global Travel Contest

Photo © Terri Gold-All Rights Reserved

Planet magazine has announced the winners of its Global Travel Contest (General Category), and in which I was pleased to see that Terri Gold was named as one of the runners-up with its above infra-red images made during my Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo~Expedition, which took place in January 2010.

Terri Gold's distinctive infrared images can be seen on her website Terri Gold World Imagery.

I was also pleased to see that Claudia Wiens was recognized with her portrait of a Syrian woman in the contest's Portrait Category. Claudia is a terrific photojournalist based in Istanbul and Cairo, and an alum of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City.

Anindya Chakraborty: Charak Puja

Another religious festival comes to The Travel Photographer from Anindya Chakraborty, a self taught photographer from Kolkata. A software engineer in "real" life, Anindya started photography in 2006. He's gravitating towards documentary photography, and on his moving the United States, did a series on Bodie Ghost Town, New Orleans and finally on broken American Dreams. Some of his work was published in Picsean Travel Magazine.

These can be seen on his SmugMug website.

However, I recommend you view Anindya's Charak Puja on The Invisible Photographer website where the photo essay is presented as a flash slideshow.

Charak puja is a traditional festival celebrated mainly in the rural areas of Bengal. It's unique amongst Bengali festivals because it's dedicated strictly to penance. The men and women, seeking to undertake the ritual, have to go through a month-long day fast, subsist only on fruits & perform daily worship.

On the day of the Charak, bamboo poles are erected with height ranging from 10 to 15 feet. The devotees step up to the stages, and are impaled with hooks which are attached to the poles. The devotees are then suspended from these poles.

Reminiscent of the Thaipusam festival, the Hindu devotees of the Charak festival seek penance and self-mortification to achieve salvation.

The Leica File: The Xiangqi Player

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- All Rights Reserved (Leica M9. 1/250 sec f2.8 Elmarit 28mm)

I 'm starting a new category on The Travel Photographer blog called The Leica File which will have posts/photographs of my efforts with the M9.

When the weather is good during the weekends, Columbus Park in NYC's Chinatown sees large numbers of Chinese playing xiangqi, a two-player board game similar to Western chess, and one of the most popular board games in China. Xiangqi is believed to be descended from the Indian chess game of chaturanga, and may have been played as early as the third century BC.

The majority of Chinatown's inhabitants are from the Guangdong, Toisan and Fujian provinces in China, as well as from Hong Kong. They flock to Columbus Park for socializing, play cards and chess, listen to Chinese street opera and even air their caged birds.

This fellow was so intent on his game that I could've aimed my lens an inch from his face and he wouldn't have noticed. Click the picture to enlarge.

I must say that the recent Thumbs Up EP 1 purchase has greatly improved my comfort level in handling the M9...it now fits much better, and I have better control. The only inconvenience is that with the EP1 on, the M9 is more difficult to pull out of my jacket pocket...but it shouldn't be in there in the first place, should it?

Paul Patrick: Sabarimala Pilgrimage

Photo © Paul Patrick- All Rights Reserved

Paul Patrick is a Norwegian freelance documentary photographer who started traveling the world alone at very early age. His quest was stories to tell with his camera. Since starting his travels, he has produced stories on Algeria, Burkina Faso, China, Europe, Ghana, India, Nepal and Morocco.

What drew my attention to his website was that one of his galleries is of Sabarimala pilgrimage in Kerala which Paul describes as one of the largest religious festivals in the world, with an estimated 50-60 million pilgrims visiting it every year. It's virtually unknown outside of India.

The Sabarimala pilgrimage is frequently described by the Indian press as the 'Mecca of Hindus'. The temple is dedicated to Ayyappa, who is believed to be Shiva’s third son and brother of Murugan and Ganesha. It is situated on the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats. The temple is accessible only by foot, and the millions of pilgrims to Sabarimala vow to abstain from sex, and other acts, for 41 days before embarking on the pilgrimage. No women over the age of 60 is allowed on this pilgrimage, nor are girls younger than 6. The routes taken by the pilgrims can range in distance between 8 kilometers (the shortest one) and another of more than 60 km across three hills.

Note: I am in the process of scheduling a photo~expedition in March 2012 to document a couple of religious festivals in Kerala (but not Sabarimala though). Details will be forthcoming shortly.

Note: Sreekanth Sivaswamy, a photographer and reader of this blog emailed me a correction. It's women between certain ages (some websites claim it's between 6 and 60, while others it's between 10 and 50) who are not allowed to enter the temple, since the legend attributed to Ayyappa prohibits the entry of the women in the menstrual age group.

Holy Week Celebrations

Photo © Alvaro Barrientos-Courtesy Photoblog MSNBC

Photo © Alvaro Barrientos- Courtesy Denver Post

Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter, and provides remarkable opportunities to photographers to capture the various religious festivals, rituals and pageants that are scheduled, particularly in Catholic communities, during the period. The week includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Some of the featured rituals in Spain, Portugal and Italy include the processions of hooded flagellants during Lent, as well as self-crucifixion in the Philippines considered as a form of devout worship.

In the top photograph, a masked flagellant is comforted by a colleague at the end of his penance during the 'Los Picaos' brotherhood Good Friday procession in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, northern Spain. The second photograph is of a penitent dragging his chains at the same venue. Both photographs are by Alvaro Barrientos, and I think they're some of the best amongst featured by the various photo blogs.

Flagellation is not restricted to Catholicism, but is also practiced in other religious traditions, notably in Shi'a Islam during the Day of Ashura. Much older religious tradtions, like the cult of Isis in Egypt and the Dionysian cult of Greece, practiced their own forms of flagellation.

Apart from a Holy Week spent in Guatemala in 2002 photographing the processions, I haven't photographed Catholic religious traditions (except for a short photo shoot at a small festival in Oaxaca), and I ought to plan for 2012.

Of course, it depends if the 21st of May doesn't turn out to be the end of the world as a demented US preacher predicts....then I (and the majority of us) would've missed the chance.

But something tells me we needn't worry.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

Vivian Maier: Street And Yes, Travel Photographer

Photo © Vivian Maier-All Rights Reserved

Much praise has been deservedly written and said about Vivian Maier, and of her photography. The story of this nanny and her photography has impressed the world, and now she (through the work of John Maloof) has a dedicated website.

Maier’s work was discovered in 2007 by John Maloof at a local thrift auction house on Chicago’s Northwest Side, while researching material for a book on that area of Chicago.

Whilst I knew that Maier's work was principally in street photography, I found out that she undertook trips on her own to Canada in 1951 and 1955, in 1957 to South America, in 1959 to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, in 1960 to Florida, and in 1965 to the Caribbean Islands. Amazingly, she traveled to India (as evidenced by her portraits in Cochin) and to Yemen in 1959.

The website gathers many galleries of her work; street photographs of New York and Chicago, her travel portfolio (Yemen, India, Canada, France, etc).

I have always maintained that there are no amateur photographers....the work of Vivian Maier validates my point of view.

Chhandak Pradhan: The God Makers

Photo © Chhandak Pradhan-All Rights Reserved

Chhandak Pradhan is an editorial photographer and freelance journalist based in Kolkata, who started his career as a reporter at 22. He currently specialises in interviews, editorial, multimedia, documentary, corporate and fashion photography. He is part of Babel Images, an international collective of documentary photographers and is represented by Barcroft Media (UK) and OTN Photos (Italy).

He was selected as a participant in the Angkor Photo Workshop 2009, and assisted Ed Kashi, Jonathan Torgovnik and Cheryl Newman during their workshops in Kolkata. He is also assisting Steve Raymer, former National Geographic magazine staff photographer and Associate Professor of journalism at Indiana University.

His various galleries are mostly editorial, and I feature his lovely The God Makers images documenting the clay artisans of Kumartuli in Kolkata who "bring gods to life" for the Durga puja. I also strongly recommend viewing, among others, his tender Living In Memory, a short photo essay on his grandparents.

It's a great pleasure that Chhandak will join and assist in my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition & Workshop™.

"Thumbs Up" For Leica M9

I've been slowly getting used to my Leica M9 over the past weeks and I, coming from a line of Canon DSLRs, found its handling to be rather challenging. The Leica M9 is sleek and aesthetically beautiful but it didn't rest in my hand as well as I would've liked. I had to really grasp it well because there's nothing on its body that I could get a grip on...nothing like the hand contour in the Canons for instance.

Poking around the internet, I found that the Leica M9 hand grip was sold at B&H for $250, and poking around even further landed me on Steve Huff's Leica blog and his praise for the ThumbsUp which is a thumbs grip manufactured by Tim Isaac of match Technical Services.

There are a number of styles available for the ThumbsUp thumb grip, and I chose the Thumbs Up EP-1. Receiving a quick response to my inquiry from Tim that he was out of stock but who provided me a list of stockists, I chose PopFlash.Photo in California, and I ordered it on Monday for the grand total of $130.88.

It arrived today! Very well crafted, the Thumbs Up EP-1 fitted perfectly in the Leica's hotshoe, and enormously improved the camera's handling. I feel the M9 is more securely grasped in my hand with it. I look forward to leave it on the M9 as long as I use it.

I have no relationship with either match Technical Services or PopFlash.Photo. I like the EP-1 and its quality, and both companies delivered excellent service.

POV: Blurb's Photo Book Now 2011

Blurb has announced Photography Book Now 2011, an international juried competition which promises it'll celebrate the most creative, most innovative, and finest self-published photography books – and the people behind them, and recommends that all Blurb users submit their best photography books for a chance to win $25,000 and worldwide recognition.

I was tempted to enter my two photography books Bali: Island of Gods and Darshan, which I spent so much energy on, but frankly the submission fee of $35 per book put me off.

The sales of both books have surpassed my wildest (but modest in monetary terms) volume expectations...and I'm happy with the degree of recognition these still constantly receive.

The submission fee is probably to cover administrative costs etc, but Blurb is earning quite a nice margin and fees from its publishing business, and while I don't begrudge it its business model, I also think that charging a fee to enter such a competition is cheeky. Yes, I know...no free lunches anymore.

That's my take on it.

Tim Hetherington

To some of my readers, Tim Hetherington's death from wounds received during an RPG attack while covering the front lines in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya yesterday was a great shock...to others, he may be just another photojournalist killed while documenting a civil war. Covering conflict has always been dangerous, and many famous photojournalists have given their lives doing it. Tim Hetherington was one of them.

For most of his distinguished career, conflict photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington documented some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts. He was one of the best known photojournalists and winner of the prestigious awards, produced powerful pieces for ABC News' "Nightline" from the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, and directed the documentary "Restrepo," which won an award at the Sundance film festival last year.

It'a grave loss to photojournalism.

The same RPG attack also gravely wounded photographers Chris Hondros (now confirmed dead by Getty), Michael Christopher Brown, and Guy Martin.

Magnum In Motion/Abbas: Children Of The Lotus

Magnum In Motion has produced Children Of The Lotus, a multimedia slideshow of Abbas' photographs made during the photographer's travels in 12 Buddhist countries spanning the better part of three years.

Abbas' inspiration was the photograph (it's really a poignant mug shot) of a young Khmer girl who was executed by a genocidal regime. He wonders how a Buddhist society, presumably full of compassion, be able to countenance the massacre and starvation of a quarter of its population?

Most of the images in the slideshow are in black & white, with a few at the end that are in color. Abbas chose to photograph in black & white because, as he tells us, he doesn't describe reality but aims to transcend it. I would have much preferred if the slideshow was either in black & white or color...I suppose the producers had a reason to do otherwise.

I also found the use of the zooming in for close ups and Ken Burns effect somewhat overdone and heavy-handed...and to use throat singing (more of the Mongolian genre) to be the wrong choice to accompany this production. It seems the producers obtained the audio from freesound.org. With the majority of the countries covered in the slideshow being of the Theravada branch of Buddhism, I'm quite sure they could've easily found more appropriate chants.

In multimedia, bad audio kills great photographs. In this project, it's not that it's bad...but it's not relevant. If all the photos had been of Tibetan (although I'm not sure if the chanting are indeed Tibetan...it could be Mongolian) Buddhism, it would've been fine.

Having said that, work by Abbas is still work by Abbas and the mute button is within reach.

Thaipusam: Kevin WY Lee

Here's a well done video of the festival of Thaipusam (some graphic scenes) by Singapore-based Kevin WY Lee. Kevin WY Lee is a street and documentary photographer and founder of Invisible Ph t grapher Asia, which is not only a collective of photographers in Asia specializing in street photography and visual journalism, but is also a platform, blog, showcase and library archive of street photography and visual journalism in that important part of the world.

I have already posted work by one of their photographers, and I'm consistently impressed by IPA's features...so bookmark it.

It was made using a Panasonic GH2 and Pentax 25mm F/1.4 lens.

Thaipusam is an important festival observed by the Hindus of southern India during the Tamil month of Thai (January - February). Outside of India, it is celebrated mainly by the Tamil speaking community settled in Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka and elsewhere.

This short movie was made in Singapore's Thaipusam, where Hindu devotees walk a pilgrimage from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Little India, carrying milk pots as offerings or attaching kavadis (heavy burdens) to their bodies, to the Tank Road Temple, four kilometers away.

Graham Crouch: Kolkata & The Effigy Makers

Photo © Graham Crouch-All Rights Reserved

Graham Crouch is a photographer currently working out of New Delhi, who worked with News Ltd in Sydney , Melbourne and North Queensland , and New Delhi. He now covers India, Pakistan , Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for a wide variety of assignments. He was awarded the Asian Geo Magazine's Photographer of the Year as well as various awards in the National Press Photographers Association of America and the Thai Foreign Correspondents Club Feature Photography. He also won first prize in the Prix de la Photographie PX3 awards in 2010.

I am pleased to feature Graham's work in Kolkata which has colorful images of the city's famous flower market, the effigy makers for the Durga puja, along with various street scenes.

Graham also has a photo essay on his PhotoShelter site which showcases the traditional potters area known as Kumortuli, where they create the Puja effigies of the Hindu gods for the annual Durga puja festivities.

I will alert the participants in my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition/Workshop™ which is scheduled for September 29 to October 13, 2011 of these galleries, since I plan for us to document effigy makers, amongst many other subject matters, during the Durga Puja.