Canon 5D Mark II: $4800...WTF?

I just read on 1001 Noisy Cameras that a camera retailer is offering a Canon 5D Mark II with a EF 24-105mm f4.0 L lens for $4800, a nice $1000 premium. Since these cameras are sold out with a long waiting list, it seems the retailer in question figures that some photographers will fork out an additional $1000 for it to have it now...you know, the immediate gratification thing.

I guess the recessionary headlines haven't made it to where this retailer is located. Greed and cupidity...isn't that what brought Wall Street to its knees just a month ago?

Private: The Other Side of India

PRIVATE is a self-described quarterly international review of black and white photographs and texts, and an "independent and itinerant publication that offer its photographic journey since 1992".

Its website, Private Photo Review, is showcasing a special issue titled The Other Side of India, with black & white photographs by Indian photographers, such as Srinivas Kuruganti with Coal India Limited, Saibal Das with Circus Girls, Bijoy Chowdhury with Bandwallahs, and others.

I wish Private Photo Review could have shown us a sample of these photographs in a larger format. As they are, they're too small for us to really appreciate. For instance, it could've used Issuu to publish a sample magazine, which would enhanced its eye-candy appeal.

Charles Meacham: Hemkund Sahib

Image © Charles Meacham-All Rights Reserved
Charles Meacham was born just outside of Philadelphia, and his first major travel experience was a year trip touring the U.S. in a 1971 Volkswagen camper. Overheating and bursting into flames, the van died along a highway in Arizona, but his interest in travel did not.

He specializes in projects involving Sikhism, and he has recently documented the festival in Nanded, one of the biggest Sikh festival. The pilgrimage to Hemkund, whose site is a glacial lake surrounded by seven peaks located in the Himalayas at an elevation of over 15,000 ft (4,600 m), is in Uttarakhand state of India, and at a distance of 275 kilometers from Rishikesh. Charles tells me that he was the only professional photographer at the festival.

Meacham's photographs of the Sikh Nanded festival are nicely color-saturated and well editited, so that I could easily imagine what the trek felt, especially that the last section of 5 kilometers involves a steep climb from 10,000 feet to 15,000 feet.

Sikhism was founded in the 16th century Punjab district, and was founded by Guru Nanak and is based on his teachings, and those of the 9 Sikh gurus who followed him. It is a monotheistic religion which stresses the importance of doing good actions rather than merely carrying out rituals.

Charles Meacham website