Manuel Librodo: Faces of Rajasthan

Photo ©Manuel Libres Librodo, Jr.-All Rights Reserved
Manuel "Manny" Libres Librodo, Jr. is a photographer from the Philippines, who teaches Psychology and History to high school students in Bangkok, Thailand. He professes to "shooting from the heart" and self-describes his work as lyrical. Passionate about travel, he started photography about six years ago as a way to document his travels. He prefers naturally-lit portraiture, and has established himself as a portrait photographer as well.

Manny's photographs are exhibited and published internationally, most recently as a UNICEF's 2008 desk diary and as cover of its 2009 wall calendar. Recent awards include 1st Place in Dusk to Dawn Category for the Digital Camera Magazine (UK) Photographer of the Year Competition 2008, Special Mention in Life Category as well as finalist in Joy of Travel Category for 2008 Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY).

Here's Manny's wonderful Faces of Rajasthan, and his Bhutan gallery. Explore his other galleries on his website...you'll be amazed by his talent.

Bob Krist: Shooting Locally

Photo ©Bob Krist-All Rights Reserved

Do we hang up our cameras and wait out the recession? Take up another passion till the economy turns the corner ? No, that would be like an athlete giving up practices in the off season… You’re going to get so far out of “shape” that you’ll find your photographic chops will get really rusty. No, the answer is to keep shooting travel, but for a while at least, we’re going to have to shoot it in our own backyard.

-Bob Krist

Not only does Bob Krist, the acclaimed photographer, author, educator and writer, appear on Scott Kelby's blog as guest blogger with a post titled Think Globally: Shoot Locally, but he also authors a brand new blog called Photo Traveler.

So visit what promises to be an interesting and educational blog, and bookmark it for future reference. Bob has already shared his lighting techniques for a photo shoot on Easter Island.

British Museum: Shah 'Abbas Exhibition

Being in London for over a week provided ample opportunity to take a well deserved break from photo expeditions, and imbibe as much culture as possible. The British Museum's splendid exhibition Shah 'Abbas: The Remaking of Iran was truly the week's cultural highlight, and a highly recommended event if you're in London.

The exhibition examines the achievements and the legacy of Shah Abbas, a Safavid ruler of Iran who lived 400 years ago, and who established Iran as a formidable competitor to the powers of the Ottoman Turks and the Mughals in India. The exhibition is beautifully set in the Museum's old Reading Room, whose interior dome I initially took to have been specially erected to match Shah Abbas' contemporary architecture but is its actual structure. I was fascinated to learn of the interconnections between Safavid Iran, Ottoman Turkey, Mughal India and Elizabethan England through this exhibition, and how Iran's political, religious and commercial influences spread to its neighbors, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

I left the Museum with two thoughts. If only the Bush administration had read the history of Shah 'Abbas, perhaps the Iraq fiasco would've been averted...I know, a silly thought. The other thought was whether the New York's Metropolitan Museum would have the courage of mounting a similar exhibition extolling Iran's past glory...I guess that's another silly thought.