beautiful places and sights

Sunday, March 20, 2011

My Work: The Sayid & The Banni

Although I'm more inclined to photograph in a "photojournalistic" style during my photo~expeditions and/or assignments, with the aim to merge travel photography with reportage, I also do work in travel portraiture. Not to be confused with environmental portraits, travel portraiture is a simpler style and obviously can be used for stock, travel brochures and the like.

From my just completed In Search of Sufis of Gujarat photo~expedition, I feature a couple of portraits. The one on top is of a Banni woman at the doorway of her circular mud hut in the Kutch area of Gujarat. Her expression belies her capricious attitude while being photographed. She see-sawed between being flattered that I was photographing her (she's cute, after all) and asking me for money then turning away or shooing me off. She might've had success in getting paid by tourists, who walk in her village to buy handicrafts and the like. Despite her reluctance to cooperate, I managed to position her so that one half of the frame would have a black background, and the other half would be of a mud wall...but that didn't last long.

In short...a tiresome model.

The lower photograph is of a buffalo herder (or grazer). A proud man, with a regal bearing, he was herding the buffaloes back to the owners' farm. In my eagerness to photograph him with his animals against the setting sun, I tripped and went diving down on the ground...belly and chest first. I have no idea how I managed to protect my camera which, in contrast to my knees, escaped unscathed.

A Muslim, who introduced himself as a Sayid, he works for a Hindu community of farmers. He was welcoming, extremely cooperative, and patient with us. However, he was very serious during the whole of the photo shoot, only relaxing when we had finished. Those of us who've photographed in India (as an example) know the drill...the subjects are relaxed when the camera is not aimed at them, but the second the lens is directed at them, they freeze and become super-serious.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Kongkrit Sukying: The Sufis of Gujarat

A first time participant in my photo-expeditions, and in my just completed In Search of Sufis of Gujarat, Kongrit Sukying is a photographer from Bangkok, who was a marketing executive in the beverage business for over 10 years, but changed careers in 2009. He currently is a freelance commercial photographer who also specializes in wedding photography, as well as for books and magazines.

He's the fourth participant to send me samples of his work during the photo expedition.

The top photograph of the girl running down the stairs was made at one of the Islamic sites in Ahmedabad, while the second is of a pilgrim at one of the Sufi shrines who is supplicating the saint for a favor. The strings attached to the shrine's windows are left there by women as reminders of their prayers.

The lower photograph is of a Muslim woman at one of the Muslim mosques, probably in Ahmedabad.

Similar to Teerayut, the other participant from Thailand, most of Kongkrit's photographs in his external portfolio are post-processed, and while some may find these over-worked, it's a style which finds favor amongst many in Asia. In fact, Kungkrit emphasized the fact that he attended workshop at Digital Darkroom.

Friday, March 18, 2011

POV: Analyzing Photos of The Egyptian Revolution

First, let me share this anecdote from the 2010 Istanbul Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. Mohammed "Mikko" Hassan, the late young Egyptian photojournalist, told me he had to borrow a lens from a friend so he could produce the kind of imagery expected of him at the workshop. Yes, young photojournalists in Egypt who work for local newspapers have to share lenses when covering assignments because they can't afford to have their own. This is not unheard of amongst non-Western photographers.

I remembered Mikko's words when I saw BagNews Salon was hosting an online panel this coming Sunday to discuss the media’s visual framing of Egypt's revolution. I expected and hoped it would involve the work of some of the young Egyptian photojournalists who are Mikko's peers, and who covered it for the local Al Masry Al Youm, Al Shorouk newspapers to name but a few.

Regretfully, this didn't seem to be the intent of the organizers.

As Michael Shaw of BagNews writes in response to my comment on its website:

"Instead, we looked to those with particular cross-cultural media expertise (Michelle Woodward of Middle East Report is certainly that) as well as others with deep experience reading media photos with cultural sensitivity (Campbell), as well as visual academics with an eye on on visual semiotics, in general, to articulate how the (largely Western) media created its own narrative of the story."

Perhaps a bit too heavy-handed on the defensive prose there, but fair enough. On the other hand, does it seem too "clubby" to only showcase the work of photojournalists who are already reasonably internationally well-known, and not include the photographs from those who work for Egyptian newspapers, who borrow cameras and CF cards from each other because they can't afford it otherwise, and who were beaten when they covered any anti-government demonstrations......including their revolution?

To be fair once again to Mr Shaw, he took the time to explain he didn't think the event would be the optimal venue for such photographs, but suggested that the BagNewsOriginals section might be a better fit for such work. Perhaps he's right...and it's certainly his prerogative to keep the public event within the panel's Western comfort zone.

In any case, my readers can make up their owns minds by visiting BagNews Salon and The British Journal of Photography.

Having said that, I must say I'm discomfited. Not by Mr Shaw's stance, but at having received no reaction from a couple of Egyptian photojournalists whom I asked to submit work to BagNews in time for the event. If they're unwilling to stand up and make their presence known, how can they break into "the club"?

On the plus side, I hear efforts are being made by generous photojournalists like Michael Robinson Chavez (and others) to bring the work covering the revolution by young Egyptian photographers to Visa Pour l'Image in Perpignan.

I hope they grab the opportunity.