The Travel Photographer's B&H Photo's VIP Tour

B&H's Isaac Buchinger with Tewfic El-Sawy

B&H's Yechiel Orgel with Tewfic El-Sawy

I'll preface this post by saying this:...despite my spending over an hour at B&H SuperStore on a VIP tour, I managed to reach deep in my inner reserves of self-discipline and will power, and emerged without buying a single item from one of my favorite retailers! It took a super-human effort, and a high degree of self-negation. A note to Santa:  Write this down in my plus column.

My hosts on this exhaustive tour on Thursday were Isaac Buchinger and Yechiel Orgel of the company's Affiliate Marketing Department. I visited every nook and cranny of the SuperStore, and even though I'd like to think I'm a frequent visitor, I was shown areas I didn't know existed.

Nothing was left out; Isaac must've guessed I had a flashlight fetish and showed me one that doubles up as a weapon and that sells for many many dollars...he showed me headphones that cost almost as much as my car, and ushered me into B&H's TV studio...a jaw-dropping environment which made me feel I was at one of the networks.

All that, and we were still in the ground floor of B&H's 70,000+ square feet building. The second floor is, of course, where the photography stuff is...and where I frequently spend more than what I can afford.

Nothing new on the second floor that I hadn't seen before, except for two areas of interest to me. The first is that B&H has a new (at least to me) section for DSLR video rigs, and that it produces and offers a full line of affordable line of photo/video support gear under the name Pearstone.

For instance, I noticed a Pearstone intervalometer or shutter release for a very reasonable $50 instead of the pricier Canon. I recently bought mine from an eBay vendor in Hong Kong, and while it's perfectly fine, I would've chosen to buy it from B&H had I known about this product line.

Following the tour, we returned to B&H's corporate offices for a meeting.

Oh, and another thing...I still don't know what B&H stands for.  Now I know...see below.

Addendum: A number of readers informed me that Wikipedia lists B&H's ownership and history.

Palani Mohan: Kolkata's Rickshaw Pullers

Courtesy Getty Images' Reportage

Palani Mohan describes the rickshaw pullers of Kolkata as "human horses" who work for 18 hours a day, hand pulling/carrying people and goods for a pittance. There are over 18,000 rickshaw wallahs in Kolkata, and although the state government declared this "inhuman" and "barbaric", and tried to ban rickshaws from the city's streets. This was rejected by the pullers themselves, and huge protests ensued.

Most of the rickshaw pullers are impoverished Biharis, who come to Kolkata to earn money to feed their families back in Bihar. Some describe their lives as "cursed". with most of their earnings going to rent the rickshaw itself, leaving almost nothing for their families.

I love these black & white environmental portraits, and as documenting rickshaw pullers will be one of the aims of my Kolkata Photo~Expedition/Workshop, I'll be providing this post's link to its participants.

Palani Mohan was born in Chennai, India, and moved to Australia as a child. His photographic career started at the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, and since then he has been based in London, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and now Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.

His work has been published by many of the world's leading magazines and newspapers including National Geographic, Stern, Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times. He also published three photographic books. His work has been recognized with awards from World Press Photo, Picture of the Year, National Press Photographers Association, American Photo and Communication Arts. He is represented by Getty Images' Reportage Group in New York.

Books: Robert Van Koesveld's Bhutan Heartland

Robert Van Koesveld has published a wonderful book on Bhutan, and entitled it Bhutan Heartland. The details of the book are available on a sub-section of Robert's website.

When I got it, I experienced a twinge of envy at Robert's talents as a photographer, and how well produced this book was. Joining Robert in the task of putting this book together is his wife Libby Lloyd.

Bhutan Heartland explores the culture, history, beliefs and dazzling Himalayan landscapes of this wonderful country, known as Druk Yul...and where smoking in public places is against the law!

Nine chapters make up this hardback book of 210 pages. Robert and Libby have taken their readers from Paro in the west of the country to its east, traveling through the high passes of Dochu La and others, meeting monks, nuns, lamas...stopping at Ogyen Choling and documenting the various exuberant tsechu festivals...and end up with silk weavers and yak herders.

If you decide to visit Bhutan (and you must!!!), this is the book you ought to read. It's not a guidebook, but the amount of informed research in it was new to me, informative and interesting...and I've already been to Bhutan about 4 times!!!

Well recommended. You can buy it from Robert's website or order it from major booksellers such as B&N.