Rubin Museum of Art: Bhutan!

My favorite museum in New York City, the Rubin Museum of Art, will be featuring Cham ritual dances in public spaces in and around New York City. These events will be free to the public, and a schedule will be posted shortly on the museum's website. As soon as I receive notification of the schedule, I shall post it.

The Cham dances will be performed in New York City by 13 monks from the monastery fortress of Trongsa in central Bhutan. Depending on the locations, these dances will be spectacular! Will one be at the Rockefeller Center? I hope so.

Here's my very own multimedia sideshows: Dancing Monks of Prakhar and The People of Druk Yul.

POV: What Is SEO?

Photograph Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
An interesting post appeared on Rob Haggart's blog, A Photo Editor (if you haven't been visiting his blog, you ought to!) dealing with Search Engine Optimization.

Haggart's post is very well thought out (don't forget to also check out the comments on his post), but reading it more than once to make sure, I was struck how my own entry about 18 months ago into the world of branding, blogging and website maximization followed his post's worthwhile recommendations. I only wish it had been written before...it would've saved me many hours!

For instance, blogging is now a must-do for photographers who seek to maximize their chances of being seen (and contracted) by photo editors, buyers and the public. Haggart goes so far as saying :"Who cares if no humans read your blog. The search engine benefits alone are worth it. "

Absolutely!

Most of the buying requests for my photographs in the months since I've started The Travel Photography blog have been made by buyers reading (or having seen) it, which they land on through Google. In fact, many of the new clients for my photo expeditions are readers of this blog...and since I've placed a subscription box for my email newsletters on it, subscriptions have jumped at least ten-fold.

More suggestions by Rob Haggart are: link the blog to one's website, and vice-versa, to exchange links with 2-3 peers in your specific industry (travel photography for me), and to make sure that the title of the blog reflects one's interest and specialization. Perhaps these are basic and fundamental to me now...but did I know all this some 18 months ago? No, I didn't.

As I said, a must-read post.

La Santa Muerte

Photograph Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
While participating in the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City this past June, one of the projects that my class was interested in was the cult of Santa Muerte.

The cult of Santa Muerte is unusual because it's the cult of the drug lords, the dispossessed, and criminals. There are many shrines to Santa Muerte in the capital city, but Tepito is where the most popular shrines are. Tepito is an infamous barrio and its tough reputation dates back to pre-Hispanic times. The neighborhood is a warren of mean streets and alleys, lined with auto-body shops and small stores. It's here that the prostitutes, drug dealers and petty thieves come to pay their respect to the saint. It's also where the common folk; housewives, cab drivers and street vendors come to make their offerings...tequila bottles, candles, money and flowers.

La Santa Muerte