Paul Patrick: African Witches

Photo © Paul Patrick-All Rights Reserved

People in eastern, southern, and western Africa generally believe in witches, both male and female, and Paul Patrick, a Norwegian photojournalist, was able to document them in Ghana. He started traveling at the age of 16 in search of stories from Europe, India, Nepal, China, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Morocco.

Frenzy and hysteria about witches still grip the African mind, and witchcraft evokes fear, hatred and suspicion among Africans. Africans believe that any misfortune, whether accidents, deaths, diseases, infertility or child-birth difficulties, business failures to the male and female witches. Those accused of witchcraft are expelled from their homes, and forced to survive in the streets, in the bush, or in makeshift camps...and even killed.

You'll find the captions under each of Patrick's photographs in his gallery Witch Village are descriptive and informative...and provide background on the circumstances that caused for these women to be considered witches.

Gali Tibbon: Jerusalem

Photo © Gali Tibbon-All Rights Reserved

I like Gali Tibbon's work a lot, and her focus on faith-related reportage resonates with me. I found her interview (below) to showcase her images much better than on her website. She's an independent photographer based in Jerusalem, with over a decade of experience in photojournalism in the Middle East. Her work has taken her on assignments in Turkey, Cuba, Egypt, Jordan, Ethiopia, China, Spain and Ukraine.

Her work documents religion, focusing on faith through pilgrimage and rituals, and documenting the various Christian denominations in Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher, baptism in the Jordan River, the ancient Samaritans, Ethiopian Christianity and pilgrimages across Europe.

It's with pleasure that I watched this interview with Gali on the Canon Professional Network during which she discusses her work.


A must-see!!

Charles Pertwee: The Khumbu

Photo © Charles Pertwee-All Rights Reserved

Charles Pertwee is a photojournalist, known for his reportage in crisis stricken locations such as Banda Aceh and Afghanistan. He graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London with a degree in the History of East Asia, and took up photography soon after graduation. He has since worked for such diverse clients as The New York Times, Wired, CNN Traveller, Marie Claire, Universal Music and Nike. He's currently based in Nantes, France after living in Singapore. 

His galleries are all worthy of praise, but the two that appealed to me the most are of his work of The Khumbu (in black & white) and of Myanmar (Burma).

The Khumbu is located in northeastern Nepal, and the famous Tengboche Buddhist monastery is there. Tengboche is the largest gompa of the region.