Matthieu Paley: Prisoners of the Himalaya

I've featured the extraordinary work of Matthieu Paley a number of times on The Travel Photographer blog already, and while my favorite is still his work on a Sufi festival honoring Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Pakistan, it's also this recent ongoing film project "Prisoners of the Himalaya" that is equally remarkable. It's a documentary film aimed at capturing the life of the last Kyrgyz nomads of Afghanistan.

Matthieu returned to the Afghanistan's Pamir mountains to cooperate in the production of his first movie, along with Louis Meunier (as Director of the project) and others.

When you finish viewing the above trailer, drop by the movie's main website The Roof of the World which gives you more background to the project, and lists the team members that were involved in its making. Also spend time exploring Matthieu's website, and his unique galleries. You certainly will not regret it.

Currently based in Istanbul, Matthieu photographs explore themes of remoteness and isolation in geopolitically sensitive areas, and his work has appeared in Géo, National Geographic Adventure, Newsweek, Time, Outside, Discovery, Vanity Fair and Figaro among others. He has collaborated on numerous books. Since 1999, he travels extensively throughout the mountainous regions of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Northern India and Central Asia.

His photographs have been exhibited in galleries in New York, Hong Kong and Munich, and his multimedia presentations were projected at festival such as the Perpignan Photojournalism festival, the Banff Mountain Festival, and MountainFilm in Colorado. He has lectured at the Royal Geographical Society and the Asia Society in Hong Kong, at the Grand Bivouac Festival in France as well as at the Vancouver Mountain Festival.

Diego Verges: Ludruk

Photo © Diego Verges-All Rights Reserved

Ludruk is a theatrical genres of East Java in Indonesia. It's a form of traditional performance presented by a troupe of actors on a stage, re-telling the life stories of everyday people and their struggles. Most of the characters were performed by male actors who take the roles of women, but more recently, the sketches and farces feature mostly contemporary domestic stories, and have become commercial entertainment popular with urban and rural working-class audiences.

Diego Verges (featured many times of The Travel photographer blog and one of its Favorite 2011 Photographers) has produced a comprehensive photo essay on the Ludruk, with black & white (and color) facial portraits, and as well as environmental portraits and scenes of these performers.

Ludruk is a must-see for my readers as it merges portraiture, documentary and travel-ethnography photography, and also visually documents an art for that could well vanish in the years to come.

Note: I encountered a similar kind of performance in Bali where it's called Arja. This type of performance enacts old stories in a farcical manner and uses dialogue understood only by Balinese-speaking audiences.

Blurb Goes Mobile...

Blurb has just announced Blurb Mobile for iPhone, which is a way to create stories by easily capturing and sequencing photos and videos into short visual stories that can be instantly shared and viewed by all.

The app is available on the App Store. It's basic version is free, while a version with more bells and whistles is for $1.99. It's also compatible with iPads, so with iPad2, it'll be possible to take photographs (albeit at low resolution) directly and create stories on the fly. Or use photos saved in one's photo library. It'll record ambient sound and video clips as well.

Is it for photojournalists and the like...probably not, but for people who wish to quickly create short visual stories.

I'm sure that this may be of use to photographers who like the Hipstamatic and Instagram apps for their iPhones.

My Work: Three New Photo Galleries

I've now completed a sort of trilogy...three new photo galleries of stills from my just completed In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™.

The first of the three galleries is of the pilgrims that flock daily in their hundreds to the shrine of Hazra Mira Datar, a renowned Sufi saint in Gujarat, hoping to get rid of evil spirits, other health issues and personal problems. A black & white audio slideshow can also be seen here.

I recommend reading the journal of my experience at the Mira Datar shrine can be read here for a fuller understanding of this 600 year-old phenomenon, which is not restricted to this particular Sufi saint.

The second gallery is of the Jains pilgrims who visit the temples of Palitana; one of the holiest sites for the Jain community. Climbing the 3800 steps to the top of the hill for the main temple is an incredibly arduous task, and the Jain nuns do it continuously for three days while observing a total (food and water) fast. An audio slideshow can also be seen here.

Th third gallery is of various portraits and scenes of Sufi communities encountered during the photo~expedition, which started and ended in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

I hope readers of The Travel Photographer blog will enjoy them.

Planet Magazine: 2011 Global Travel Contest

Photo © Terri Gold-All Rights Reserved

Planet magazine has announced the winners of its Global Travel Contest (General Category), and in which I was pleased to see that Terri Gold was named as one of the runners-up with its above infra-red images made during my Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo~Expedition, which took place in January 2010.

Terri Gold's distinctive infrared images can be seen on her website Terri Gold World Imagery.

I was also pleased to see that Claudia Wiens was recognized with her portrait of a Syrian woman in the contest's Portrait Category. Claudia is a terrific photojournalist based in Istanbul and Cairo, and an alum of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City.

Anindya Chakraborty: Charak Puja

Another religious festival comes to The Travel Photographer from Anindya Chakraborty, a self taught photographer from Kolkata. A software engineer in "real" life, Anindya started photography in 2006. He's gravitating towards documentary photography, and on his moving the United States, did a series on Bodie Ghost Town, New Orleans and finally on broken American Dreams. Some of his work was published in Picsean Travel Magazine.

These can be seen on his SmugMug website.

However, I recommend you view Anindya's Charak Puja on The Invisible Photographer website where the photo essay is presented as a flash slideshow.

Charak puja is a traditional festival celebrated mainly in the rural areas of Bengal. It's unique amongst Bengali festivals because it's dedicated strictly to penance. The men and women, seeking to undertake the ritual, have to go through a month-long day fast, subsist only on fruits & perform daily worship.

On the day of the Charak, bamboo poles are erected with height ranging from 10 to 15 feet. The devotees step up to the stages, and are impaled with hooks which are attached to the poles. The devotees are then suspended from these poles.

Reminiscent of the Thaipusam festival, the Hindu devotees of the Charak festival seek penance and self-mortification to achieve salvation.

The Leica File: The Xiangqi Player

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- All Rights Reserved (Leica M9. 1/250 sec f2.8 Elmarit 28mm)

I 'm starting a new category on The Travel Photographer blog called The Leica File which will have posts/photographs of my efforts with the M9.

When the weather is good during the weekends, Columbus Park in NYC's Chinatown sees large numbers of Chinese playing xiangqi, a two-player board game similar to Western chess, and one of the most popular board games in China. Xiangqi is believed to be descended from the Indian chess game of chaturanga, and may have been played as early as the third century BC.

The majority of Chinatown's inhabitants are from the Guangdong, Toisan and Fujian provinces in China, as well as from Hong Kong. They flock to Columbus Park for socializing, play cards and chess, listen to Chinese street opera and even air their caged birds.

This fellow was so intent on his game that I could've aimed my lens an inch from his face and he wouldn't have noticed. Click the picture to enlarge.

I must say that the recent Thumbs Up EP 1 purchase has greatly improved my comfort level in handling the M9...it now fits much better, and I have better control. The only inconvenience is that with the EP1 on, the M9 is more difficult to pull out of my jacket pocket...but it shouldn't be in there in the first place, should it?

Paul Patrick: Sabarimala Pilgrimage

Photo © Paul Patrick- All Rights Reserved

Paul Patrick is a Norwegian freelance documentary photographer who started traveling the world alone at very early age. His quest was stories to tell with his camera. Since starting his travels, he has produced stories on Algeria, Burkina Faso, China, Europe, Ghana, India, Nepal and Morocco.

What drew my attention to his website was that one of his galleries is of Sabarimala pilgrimage in Kerala which Paul describes as one of the largest religious festivals in the world, with an estimated 50-60 million pilgrims visiting it every year. It's virtually unknown outside of India.

The Sabarimala pilgrimage is frequently described by the Indian press as the 'Mecca of Hindus'. The temple is dedicated to Ayyappa, who is believed to be Shiva’s third son and brother of Murugan and Ganesha. It is situated on the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats. The temple is accessible only by foot, and the millions of pilgrims to Sabarimala vow to abstain from sex, and other acts, for 41 days before embarking on the pilgrimage. No women over the age of 60 is allowed on this pilgrimage, nor are girls younger than 6. The routes taken by the pilgrims can range in distance between 8 kilometers (the shortest one) and another of more than 60 km across three hills.

Note: I am in the process of scheduling a photo~expedition in March 2012 to document a couple of religious festivals in Kerala (but not Sabarimala though). Details will be forthcoming shortly.

Note: Sreekanth Sivaswamy, a photographer and reader of this blog emailed me a correction. It's women between certain ages (some websites claim it's between 6 and 60, while others it's between 10 and 50) who are not allowed to enter the temple, since the legend attributed to Ayyappa prohibits the entry of the women in the menstrual age group.

Holy Week Celebrations

Photo © Alvaro Barrientos-Courtesy Photoblog MSNBC

Photo © Alvaro Barrientos- Courtesy Denver Post

Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter, and provides remarkable opportunities to photographers to capture the various religious festivals, rituals and pageants that are scheduled, particularly in Catholic communities, during the period. The week includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Some of the featured rituals in Spain, Portugal and Italy include the processions of hooded flagellants during Lent, as well as self-crucifixion in the Philippines considered as a form of devout worship.

In the top photograph, a masked flagellant is comforted by a colleague at the end of his penance during the 'Los Picaos' brotherhood Good Friday procession in San Vicente de la Sonsierra, northern Spain. The second photograph is of a penitent dragging his chains at the same venue. Both photographs are by Alvaro Barrientos, and I think they're some of the best amongst featured by the various photo blogs.

Flagellation is not restricted to Catholicism, but is also practiced in other religious traditions, notably in Shi'a Islam during the Day of Ashura. Much older religious tradtions, like the cult of Isis in Egypt and the Dionysian cult of Greece, practiced their own forms of flagellation.

Apart from a Holy Week spent in Guatemala in 2002 photographing the processions, I haven't photographed Catholic religious traditions (except for a short photo shoot at a small festival in Oaxaca), and I ought to plan for 2012.

Of course, it depends if the 21st of May doesn't turn out to be the end of the world as a demented US preacher predicts....then I (and the majority of us) would've missed the chance.

But something tells me we needn't worry.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it!

Vivian Maier: Street And Yes, Travel Photographer

Photo © Vivian Maier-All Rights Reserved

Much praise has been deservedly written and said about Vivian Maier, and of her photography. The story of this nanny and her photography has impressed the world, and now she (through the work of John Maloof) has a dedicated website.

Maier’s work was discovered in 2007 by John Maloof at a local thrift auction house on Chicago’s Northwest Side, while researching material for a book on that area of Chicago.

Whilst I knew that Maier's work was principally in street photography, I found out that she undertook trips on her own to Canada in 1951 and 1955, in 1957 to South America, in 1959 to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, in 1960 to Florida, and in 1965 to the Caribbean Islands. Amazingly, she traveled to India (as evidenced by her portraits in Cochin) and to Yemen in 1959.

The website gathers many galleries of her work; street photographs of New York and Chicago, her travel portfolio (Yemen, India, Canada, France, etc).

I have always maintained that there are no amateur photographers....the work of Vivian Maier validates my point of view.

Chhandak Pradhan: The God Makers

Photo © Chhandak Pradhan-All Rights Reserved

Chhandak Pradhan is an editorial photographer and freelance journalist based in Kolkata, who started his career as a reporter at 22. He currently specialises in interviews, editorial, multimedia, documentary, corporate and fashion photography. He is part of Babel Images, an international collective of documentary photographers and is represented by Barcroft Media (UK) and OTN Photos (Italy).

He was selected as a participant in the Angkor Photo Workshop 2009, and assisted Ed Kashi, Jonathan Torgovnik and Cheryl Newman during their workshops in Kolkata. He is also assisting Steve Raymer, former National Geographic magazine staff photographer and Associate Professor of journalism at Indiana University.

His various galleries are mostly editorial, and I feature his lovely The God Makers images documenting the clay artisans of Kumartuli in Kolkata who "bring gods to life" for the Durga puja. I also strongly recommend viewing, among others, his tender Living In Memory, a short photo essay on his grandparents.

It's a great pleasure that Chhandak will join and assist in my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition & Workshop™.

"Thumbs Up" For Leica M9

I've been slowly getting used to my Leica M9 over the past weeks and I, coming from a line of Canon DSLRs, found its handling to be rather challenging. The Leica M9 is sleek and aesthetically beautiful but it didn't rest in my hand as well as I would've liked. I had to really grasp it well because there's nothing on its body that I could get a grip on...nothing like the hand contour in the Canons for instance.

Poking around the internet, I found that the Leica M9 hand grip was sold at B&H for $250, and poking around even further landed me on Steve Huff's Leica blog and his praise for the ThumbsUp which is a thumbs grip manufactured by Tim Isaac of match Technical Services.

There are a number of styles available for the ThumbsUp thumb grip, and I chose the Thumbs Up EP-1. Receiving a quick response to my inquiry from Tim that he was out of stock but who provided me a list of stockists, I chose PopFlash.Photo in California, and I ordered it on Monday for the grand total of $130.88.

It arrived today! Very well crafted, the Thumbs Up EP-1 fitted perfectly in the Leica's hotshoe, and enormously improved the camera's handling. I feel the M9 is more securely grasped in my hand with it. I look forward to leave it on the M9 as long as I use it.

I have no relationship with either match Technical Services or PopFlash.Photo. I like the EP-1 and its quality, and both companies delivered excellent service.

POV: Blurb's Photo Book Now 2011

Blurb has announced Photography Book Now 2011, an international juried competition which promises it'll celebrate the most creative, most innovative, and finest self-published photography books – and the people behind them, and recommends that all Blurb users submit their best photography books for a chance to win $25,000 and worldwide recognition.

I was tempted to enter my two photography books Bali: Island of Gods and Darshan, which I spent so much energy on, but frankly the submission fee of $35 per book put me off.

The sales of both books have surpassed my wildest (but modest in monetary terms) volume expectations...and I'm happy with the degree of recognition these still constantly receive.

The submission fee is probably to cover administrative costs etc, but Blurb is earning quite a nice margin and fees from its publishing business, and while I don't begrudge it its business model, I also think that charging a fee to enter such a competition is cheeky. Yes, I know...no free lunches anymore.

That's my take on it.

Tim Hetherington

To some of my readers, Tim Hetherington's death from wounds received during an RPG attack while covering the front lines in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya yesterday was a great shock...to others, he may be just another photojournalist killed while documenting a civil war. Covering conflict has always been dangerous, and many famous photojournalists have given their lives doing it. Tim Hetherington was one of them.

For most of his distinguished career, conflict photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington documented some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts. He was one of the best known photojournalists and winner of the prestigious awards, produced powerful pieces for ABC News' "Nightline" from the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, and directed the documentary "Restrepo," which won an award at the Sundance film festival last year.

It'a grave loss to photojournalism.

The same RPG attack also gravely wounded photographers Chris Hondros (now confirmed dead by Getty), Michael Christopher Brown, and Guy Martin.

Magnum In Motion/Abbas: Children Of The Lotus

Magnum In Motion has produced Children Of The Lotus, a multimedia slideshow of Abbas' photographs made during the photographer's travels in 12 Buddhist countries spanning the better part of three years.

Abbas' inspiration was the photograph (it's really a poignant mug shot) of a young Khmer girl who was executed by a genocidal regime. He wonders how a Buddhist society, presumably full of compassion, be able to countenance the massacre and starvation of a quarter of its population?

Most of the images in the slideshow are in black & white, with a few at the end that are in color. Abbas chose to photograph in black & white because, as he tells us, he doesn't describe reality but aims to transcend it. I would have much preferred if the slideshow was either in black & white or color...I suppose the producers had a reason to do otherwise.

I also found the use of the zooming in for close ups and Ken Burns effect somewhat overdone and heavy-handed...and to use throat singing (more of the Mongolian genre) to be the wrong choice to accompany this production. It seems the producers obtained the audio from freesound.org. With the majority of the countries covered in the slideshow being of the Theravada branch of Buddhism, I'm quite sure they could've easily found more appropriate chants.

In multimedia, bad audio kills great photographs. In this project, it's not that it's bad...but it's not relevant. If all the photos had been of Tibetan (although I'm not sure if the chanting are indeed Tibetan...it could be Mongolian) Buddhism, it would've been fine.

Having said that, work by Abbas is still work by Abbas and the mute button is within reach.

Thaipusam: Kevin WY Lee

Here's a well done video of the festival of Thaipusam (some graphic scenes) by Singapore-based Kevin WY Lee. Kevin WY Lee is a street and documentary photographer and founder of Invisible Ph t grapher Asia, which is not only a collective of photographers in Asia specializing in street photography and visual journalism, but is also a platform, blog, showcase and library archive of street photography and visual journalism in that important part of the world.

I have already posted work by one of their photographers, and I'm consistently impressed by IPA's features...so bookmark it.

It was made using a Panasonic GH2 and Pentax 25mm F/1.4 lens.

Thaipusam is an important festival observed by the Hindus of southern India during the Tamil month of Thai (January - February). Outside of India, it is celebrated mainly by the Tamil speaking community settled in Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka and elsewhere.

This short movie was made in Singapore's Thaipusam, where Hindu devotees walk a pilgrimage from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Little India, carrying milk pots as offerings or attaching kavadis (heavy burdens) to their bodies, to the Tank Road Temple, four kilometers away.

Graham Crouch: Kolkata & The Effigy Makers

Photo © Graham Crouch-All Rights Reserved

Graham Crouch is a photographer currently working out of New Delhi, who worked with News Ltd in Sydney , Melbourne and North Queensland , and New Delhi. He now covers India, Pakistan , Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for a wide variety of assignments. He was awarded the Asian Geo Magazine's Photographer of the Year as well as various awards in the National Press Photographers Association of America and the Thai Foreign Correspondents Club Feature Photography. He also won first prize in the Prix de la Photographie PX3 awards in 2010.

I am pleased to feature Graham's work in Kolkata which has colorful images of the city's famous flower market, the effigy makers for the Durga puja, along with various street scenes.

Graham also has a photo essay on his PhotoShelter site which showcases the traditional potters area known as Kumortuli, where they create the Puja effigies of the Hindu gods for the annual Durga puja festivities.

I will alert the participants in my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition/Workshop™ which is scheduled for September 29 to October 13, 2011 of these galleries, since I plan for us to document effigy makers, amongst many other subject matters, during the Durga Puja.

POV: Hipstamatic...OMG! It Looks So Retro!

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved (Pseudo Hipstamatic LR Preset)

I've been scratching my head at the sudden flurry of Hipstamatic and/or Instagram "photography". I've seen well-traveled photojournalists and conflict photographers featuring images made with iPhones, and simultaneously processed using Hipstamatic or Instagram apps. Images from the Yemen uprising, the Egypt's Revolution, the Afghanistan conflict and Libya's rebellion are virtually flooding photo sites and blogs.

To me, these apps spice up photographers' standard fare...that's all. Certainly, the images do represent what photographers see and what's in front of their tiny phone lenses, but unless these images are able to be presented to form coherent documentary story-telling, I view them as a fad...a sort of fashion statement...or cute postcards without the scribbled messages in their back.

While the photos made using iPhones capture the instantaneous immediacy of events, let's smile at the retro, cool and Holga-ish look...but focus on how the photographer using an iPhone is able to present compelling content for viewers...or not. That's the litmus test.

In the long run, that's what viewers of photojournalism care about...content...not whether an image looks retro or not. And so should photographers. Pretending that using an iPhone loaded with these apps is the next new "photo thing" is silly...because it's not.

The above image was processed in Lightroom using a Holgalike-preset. The original is in the post below this one.

New York: Hip Hop In Washington Square

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- Leica M9-1/250 sec f2.8 iso 160 Elmarit 28mm

New York City's Washington Square Park has always something going on, especially when the weather cooperates. This time, it was a group of youngsters from the Academy of Urban Planning (Brooklyn) who provided impromptu entertainment. Hip hop moves were frequently shown off, and they overshadowed many of the regular buskers. Click to enlarge the photograph.

Once again, I was approached by a "peddlar" who asked me if I was "shoppin"...getting a scowl instead of an answer, he clarified his question by asking if I needed a "smoke". I guess I must look like someone who needs one. He's the fellow who asked me the same question last week...he'll probably ask me again next week.

Auto de Fe: Yatra-Pilgrims of India

Photo Courtesy Auto de Fe Magazine

Auto de Fe is a rather unusual name for a digital photo magazine, but one which the publishers seem to have chosen with definite purpose. It defines itself as a digital magazine of inquisitive journalism, and uses a platform called Publisha.

By the way,'Auto de fe' in medieval Spanish and 'auto da fé' in Portuguese mean "act of faith", but in popular use, an auto-da-fé has come to refer to burning at the stake for heresy.

The story that caught my eye is Yatra-The Pilgrims of India which is authored by Jack Laurenson. The photographs that make the essay do not carry a by-line.

For eight months a year, millions of Hindu pilgrims visit thousands of sacred sites and temples in India during the yatra season. Yatra is pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of sacred rivers, places associated with the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and other sacred pilgrimage sites.

There are various types of pilgrimages, and some involve fetching water from the Ganges river, such as visits to Haridwar, Gangotri, Badrinath amongst others.  Some involve far flung places such as Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Orissa and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.

Angkor Photo Festival 2011: Submissions Open!

It was just announced that the 7th Angkor Photo Festival will take place from November 19 to November 26, 2011 in Siem Reap (Cambodia). Details on the venue, programs and workshops, invited curators and other details will be shortly announced.

During the 2010 festival, 110 photographers (including 60 Asian photographers) presented their work, which was curated by Francoise Callier (also Program Coordinator), Antoine d'Agata and Yumi Goto.

The call for submission for the 2011 Angkor Photo Festival is now open. There is no imposed theme on the submissions, but single image submissions will not be accepted. Submissions have to be projects, and should also be accompanied by a short biography.

I've heard great feedback on this unique photo festival, and I have marked my calendar to attend it. It's a been a few years I haven't been to Siem Reap, so a photo festival of this caliber in one of the loveliest of Asian cities is impossible to resist.

National Geographic 2011 Traveler Photo Contest

Photo © Robin Moore-Courtesy National Geographic Traveler

If you're the kind of photographer who likes participating in contests, then the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2011 could be of interest.

The submission period runs from April 5 to July 11.

The magazine tells us that 3,700 photographers entered nearly 11,000 images in last year's competition, which consisted of an assortment of places, wildlife, and people that make traveling memorable. This is the 23rd year that the Traveler is inviting readers to share their photos of the world around them.

The four categories are:

Travel Portraits. Outdoor Scenes. Sense of Place. Spontaneous Moments.

There's an entry fee, and winning images will be featured in the November/December 2011 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine. There are also a number of prizes.

As always, I counsel a careful reading (and wide-eyed acceptance) of the contest's applicable rules, especially those that relate to the License, which starts as follows:

By entering the Contest, all entrants grant an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide non-exclusive license to Authorized Parties, to reproduce, distribute, display and create derivative works of the entries (along with a name credit) in connection with the Contest and promotion of the Contest, in any media now or hereafter known, including, but not limited to: ......

Kieran Doherty: The Fishermen of Kerala

Photo © Kieran Doherty-All Rights Reserved

This post is a treat...and one that I know will appreciated by readers of The Travel Photographer blog.

Kieran Doherty is a photojournalist whose career started with the Reuters News Pictures service in London. He remained with Reuters 15 years until resigning his position to undertake commissions in 2008. His photography has taken him to almost every part the world and his work has appeared in all the major international journals and magazines including Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, Stern, National Geographic, The New York Times and The Sunday Times magazine.

His recent commission by the BBC Natural History Unit has used his photography in the television series Human Planet. His work has been awarded first prizes in news, sport, features and essay categories, including being shortlisted for Fuji's European Photographer of the Year and the British Photographer of the Year on five occasions.

From Kiernan's compelling photo essays, I chose The Fishermen of Kerala to feature here. It was photographed with a Leica M6 using a 125 asa film made in India for about 50 cents a roll. Kiernan tells me that the essay was photographed in Kovalam, where Muslim and Christian fishermen were at odds over fishing rights.

While I suggest you explore all of Kiernan's photo galleries, don't miss his photo story involving the repatriation of British soldiers through the tiny English village of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. This often-covered Wootton Bassett event is about to end as the local airbase RAF Lyneham is to close...an end to an era.

Finally, Kiernan's website is one that many photographers ought to emulate...large images (including full screen view), clear and simple navigation and a concise About page.

New Nikon ME-1 Stereo Microphone

I guess it was just a question of time before the camera manufacturers would come up with microphones that can be used with their digital DSLRs.

Nikon's foray in this field is the Stereo Microphone ME-1, an compact stereo condenser microphone that features a hot shoe mount, a 3.5mm stereo output connector, and a removable windscreen, as well as a "noise dampening components designed to minimize noise resulting from AF operation," according to Nikon's press release.

The ME-1 is meant for use with Nikon digital cameras that incorporate a stereo audio input jack, including the D3S, D300S, D7000, D5100 and P7000. The new microphone does not require a battery; instead, it draws power from the connected camera.

The issue with any camera mounted microphones is that every whirr, click or hum that the camera makes in its normal operation is picked up.

Via Rob Galbraith DPI which reports that its estimated selling price of US$179.95 in the U.S.

Quinn Ryan Mattingly: Burma's Monasteries

Photo © Quinn Ryan Mattingly-All Rights Reserved

This is the second time that Quinn Ryan Mattingly's work appears on The Travel Photographer blog. He's a documentary photographer based in Saigon, and most of his work is related to documenting a wide range of subjects, including social issues, which can include documenting a Vietnamese leprosy center and a home for the aged, a behind the scenes Saigon circus, Burmese television commercial shoots, and street scenes of Yangon.

I liked one of Quinn's photo galleries in particular which he titled Burma IV: Life On The Path.  He tells us that a monk approached him in Yangon, and after a few friendly pleasantries, was invited to the monk's monastery. This provided him an insider look into Buddhist monastic life in Burma.

By all means, poke around Quinn's website, which has interesting still galleries and multimedia.

Incidentally, Quinn is one of the many photographers who uses PhotoShelter for his website and galleries, as well for selling his work.

If you want to learn how you can sell your prints, PhotoShelter has issued a free downloadable PDF guide to help you out.

The Invisible Ph t grapher: Liz Loh-Taylor

Photo © Liz Loh-Taylor-All Rights Reserved

If you haven't bookmarked the Invisible Ph t grapher Asia, I suggest you do. The Invisible Ph t grapher Asia (IPA) is not only a collective of photographers in Asia mostly involved in street photography and visual journalism, but is also a very clever brand name.

Kevin WY Lee founded the collective in early 2010, and although it's based in Singapore, it covers  Hong Kong, Japan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, India, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka.

I've been following it for a while now, and I liked a recent interview IPA has had with Liz Loh-Taylor, a young full-time documentary photographer, based in Australia, who only entered the profession in late 2009, but who has already won awards, and important recognition.

Although Liz had joined the finance industry, she also worked with disadvantaged children and communities in Africa, and decided to document their stories through a camera. She gave up her corporate career late 2009, and committed to photography since then.

If you poke around The Invisible Ph t grapher Asia website, you'll find a section on street photography with a number of photo essays related to that style. There's also a street photography contest that is open and free to photographers of any level, and in any country of residence, but submissions must be in the street photography genre and photographed in Asia within the last 12 months.

The prize? It's a street photographer's classic. A black repainted LEICA M2 Rangefinder Camera, and a brand new Nokton 35mm F/1.4 lens.

My Work: Washington Square Park Swings

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- All Rights Reserved. 1/125 sec f2.8 iso 160 Elmarit 28mm

With the weather improving, NYC's Washington Square Park is starting to swing...and is an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon...apart from lurking "peddlers" who may ask you, as they asked me, if you're "shopping" today (is the NYPD off on Sunday?).

The musicians and buskers are entertaining the tourists and locals alike. A band that many enjoy a lot is the Baby Soda Band who play great old-time swing and New Orleans jazz numbers...and proud to tell you they're from Brooklyn.

NYU students came to watch the band, and joined in the dancing. These two were quite good, and might have been dancing school students.

While the Leica M9 is a great tool...it sure ain't an action camera though!

Thomas Jeppesen: Vietnam

Thomas Jeppesen is originally from Denmark, and currently working in Vietnam as the director of an advertising agency in its capital, Hanoi. This gives him ample opportunity to photograph its streets and its vicinity.

He bought his first DSLR a couple of years ago, and developed the photography bug. He enjoys the post-processing phase of digital photography, and this shows in his gallery of Vietnamese portraits, which are mostly in black & white. Some would say they're somewhat overly contrasty, but that's a look that many B&W photographers seek.

Thomas also has a set of galleries of Hanoi street scenes and Vietnamese fashion models.

Ed Kashi At The World Financial Center

Photo © Ed Kashi-All Rights Reserved

Purely by happenstance, I stumbled on Ed Kashi's two exhibitions at the World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery. Ed's large photographs of his work Madagascar (in color) and Aging In America (black & white) were hung in two connected galleries on the second floor of the magnificent building in NYC's Battery Park. The exhibits are free to the public, and are sponsored by American Express and a bunch of the financial institutions.

Leaving aside Aging In America (a social issue not within this blog's purview), I liked a number of photographs in the Madagascar exhibit which "delves into environmental concerns, documenting the delicate balance between economic development and ecological preservation in the lush island nation."

The one photograph that appealed to me the most is the one illustrating this post. Its many layers and shadow are framed just perfectly. It's of a water collection point on the island. Another one (I couldn't find it on Ed's website) is of a banana stand; the fruit protected by an umbrella, and a woman vendor in a flowery dress.

Ed Kashi is a well known photojournalist, who's represented by VII. He's been recognized for his complex imagery and its compelling rendering of the human condition.

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop: 3 For 2

Seriously...I don't know what anyone is waiting for...Foundry Photojournalism Workshops are extending its "three-for-two" deal until May 15th.

As announced by Eric Beecroft, the rules are:

1. Deal is good now thru May 15, 2011.
2. You get THREE FULL TUITIONS/student slots for the PRICE OF TWO.
3. You MUST have three persons sign up together.
4. You must pay for the two at the same time, via PAYPAL (preferred) or Western Union.
5. Latin American Tuition- $950 for 3 students (instead of $1425).
6. All other students- $1950 for 3 students (instead of $2925).
NO MIXING AND MATCHING- locals sign up with locals only, non locals with non locals.
7. We need all three person’s NAMES and EMAIL ADDRESSES to get you registered- send them with payment, at the SAME TIME.
8. If you like, you can use The Foundry's Facebook Page to make a request to find partners to get this deal.

Zite: An iPad App

Having noticed that a fair chunk of visits to The Travel Photographer blog come from a Zite.com source, I looked it up and discovered that it's a free new iPad app called Zite, a personalized magazine that accurately targets your reading preferences.

I tried it yesterday, and I'm quite impressed with it. I chose Photography and Photojournalism as two of my sections on it, and it pulled out some interesting articles from a variety of source...including from The Travel Photographer blog. In fact, a bunch of my recent posts appear under both the Photography and Photojournalism sections...and this one will probably make it as well.

Here's a review on the Wall Street Journal.

ps. I have no connection with Zite. It's just an app that I happen to like.

Kickstart Trunk Magazine!

Trunk Magazine is a travel magazine that has launched its first issue in November 2010. While its founders are pursuing the capital required to sustain Trunk indefinitely, it requires funding to publish its next issue, Fall 2011, and needs help help to do so, and maintain the momentum of the first issue which is available through Barnes & Noble..

Kickstarter has listed it to expand its funding reach as widely as possible. It has a funding goal of $85,000 to reach by May 14, 2011.

I thought of giving Trunk some space of The Travel Photographer blog as it's a travel magazine, and should it publish successfully, it will provide an additional avenue for travel photographers to sell their work....and boy, do we need it! So if the concept appeals to you, drop by Trunk's Kickstarter page, and make your pledge.

David Cicconi is the founder, publisher, and creative director of Trunk. Previously, he was the photo director at Travel + Leisure.

The Revolution Thru The Lens of Fady Ezzet, An Egyptian Photojournalist

I've featured the work of young Egyptian photojournalists working for the local newspapers, who not only documented the Tahrir uprisings, but who also participated in the revolution.

For why I'm doing this, you can read my earlier post The Revolution...This Time Through The Lenses Of Home-Grown Egyptian Photojournalists.

This is the fourth and last part in the series, and is the work of Fady Ezzet, an Egyptian photojournalist who also works for El Shorouk Newspaper. He graduated from Cairo University, and is a full time photojournalist.

Having followed the series, I noticed that Fady's images are more in the thick of violence than the others. I presume being a male allowed him to take more risks than the other three women.

For each slideshow in the series, I chose the popular "Enta Omri" or "You Are My Life" from the repertory of the legendary Um Kulthum, the Egyptian singer who was the incomparable voice of her country. I owe the idea to a wonderful multimedia essay titled Spring by Shirin Neshat in the New York Times, who also used it as a metaphor for the revolution.

My Work: The Possessed of Hazrat Mira Datar

The most powerful and challenging traditional rituals I've experienced in India are the exorcisms and trances that frequently occur in its Sufi shrines. This is by far the most emotionally draining project I've undertaken so far...photographing it, editing it and producing it.

The Possessed of Hazrat Mira Datar is an audio slideshow of stills, movie clips and audio made during my during my recently completed In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™ when I visited this Sufi saint's shrine near Unawa in Gujarat.

I've always been interested in, and drawn to, India's multi-layered religious-cultural identities. Sufism "walked" into the sub-continent from Iran and Afghanistan, and wherever the Sufi acetic teachers lived and died, shrines were built to commemorate their teachings, deeds and legacy. They eventually became saints, or pirs as they're called in the subcontinent. It is at one of these shrines that The Possessed of Hazrat Mira Datar was made.

For those who don't mind reading, a journal/blog accompanies the audio slideshow and has more photographs (in color this time). It was a difficult decision as to whether color or black & white would be more appropriate for this project, and in the end I decided to use both, but separately. I think I was right.

My Work: The NYC Piano Guy & His Fan

M9/Elmarit 28mm-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

The "Piano Guy" of New York City was giving a performance in Washington Square a few days ago, and I photographed him entertaining a lady fan. She was standing there enjoying the music for perhaps more than 10 minutes, while he was banging away at the keys. No, she's not his mother. Click the picture to enlarge it.

The piano player is quite a fixture in some of New York City's parks and squares. He's been seen in Union Square, Father Demo Square, and now Washington Square. He's been featured in The New York Times in an August 30, 2008 article titled "The Real Piano Man".

His name is Colin Huggins, and he's a classically trained pianist. New Yorkers know him as "the piano guy". He uses four well-used pianos, which he keeps in storage units around the city. Each unit is close to a favored busking spot, and the pianos are moved on dollies. You can read the rest in the linked article.

Only in New York City!

Jeffry Plomley: Havana

Photo © Jeffry Plomley-All Rights Reserved

I caught Jeffry Plomley's work on The Leica Camera Blog, and was immediately drawn to his Havana gallery, which features excellent street scenes that are very nicely toned. A Canadian photographer, he has the ability of traveling to Cuba as freely as he wishes; something that we here in The United States cannot do as freely.

Jeffry tells us in the Leica Camera Blog that he considers Havana to be one of the world’s meccas for street photography. This is not an exaggerated statement, but one that I wholeheartedly endorse since I visited the island and its capital (legally) in 2000. In the first part of Jeffry's post, he also describes his choice of gear, packing two M9s and two M7s, with 21mm Elmarit Aspherical, 28mm Summicron Aspherical, 35mm Summicron Aspherical, 50mm Summicron, and the 75mm Summicron Aspherical. Phew!

There's also a wonderful gallery of Cuban boxing action, which I recall was a huge attraction to the photographers who were attending the workshop I enrolled in.

I suggest you choose the slideshow option, but watch it in full screen. Don't miss the one (#13) of an elderly Cuban patting a dog...grest shot!

The Revolution Thru The Lens of Lobna Tarek, An Egyptian Photojournalist

I've started to feature the work of young Egyptian photojournalists working for the local newspapers, who not only documented the Tahrir uprisings, but who also participated in the revolution.

For why I'm doing this, you can read my earlier post The Revolution...This Time Through The Lenses Of Home-Grown Egyptian Photojournalists.

This is the third part in the series, and is the work of Lobna Tarek, an Egyptian photojournalist who just started to work for El Shorouk Newspaper a few months ago. She holds a degree in Communications from Cairo University, and at just 22 has taken up photojournalism as a full time career.

Imagine having just joined the profession and being plunged in a historic and momentous event within weeks of starting her career!

For each slideshow in the series, I chose the popular "Enta Omri" or "You Are My Life" from the repertory of the legendary Um Kulthum, the Egyptian singer who was the incomparable voice of her country. I owe the idea to a wonderful multimedia essay titled Spring by Shirin Neshat in the New York Times, who also used it as a metaphor for the revolution.

My Work: The Jains of Palitana

The Jains of Palitana is an audio-slideshow on the Svetambara nuns who walk the 3800 steps to the Jain temples on top of the Shetrunjaya hills in Gujarat, as well as scenes of a Jain puja at the topmost temple.

The still photographs were made during my recently completed In Search of Sufis of Gujarat photo~expedition, during an overnight stop in Palitana. There's a cluster of over 1000 Jain temples densely packed together on the hillside overlooking the town. These temples date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, and are the focus of Jains' pilgrimage or tirtha. From the foot of the hill to the top there are about 3,800 stone steps, and it is these steps that Jains have to climb to reach the main temple on top of the hill.

Some Jain nuns and monks walk up and down these 3800 steps continually for at least three days while abstaining from drinking and eating. The Jain temples of Mount Satrunjaya are considered to be the holiest of all pilgrimage places by the white robed Svetambara community.

I posted on my experience walking up and down these steps here.

The Travel Photographer's 2011 Tripbase Award

www.Tripbase.com

The Travel Photographer blog was selected for a Tripbase 2011 Blog Award for Photography!  Tripbase's panel of judges reviewed hundreds of sites selecting the best ten for each travel category, and my site is one of those.

An excerpt from the Tripbase website:

"Listed below is a comprehensive list of the best blogs dedicated to travel photography. They exhibit beauty and creativity as well as a plethora of knowledge for the new and experienced travel photographer. They tell stories of where they have been the amazing sites they were able to see."

Let the good times roll!

Asia Society: Hutongs

Click Link Below For Movie

I always have the highest of hopes for the Asia Society's web site, but it always manages to underwhelm me. Its web site seems somehow anchored in the nineties, with timid multimedia features, and its navigation is confusing. It almost seems to me as if I ventured in a government web site, with dry, clinical and unimaginative display of its many events.

Having said that, it has featured an interesting collection of videos on the Hutongs, the traditional narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing. Hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences. Many have been demolished to make way for high rise buildings, and the few remaining are threatened.

Hutongs were created during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) when Kublai Khan founded Beijing as the capital. All closed courtyards were built in a neat layout, and the hutongs were originally all 30 feet in width, allowing plenty of sunshine. During the dynasties, small hutongs were formed within the existing ones, making them overly crowded.

Don't miss the still photographs slideshow of old hutongs!

My Work: Journey In Style

Leica M9/Elmarit 28mm-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

It certainly looks like it's a Leica posting day! I'm trying hard to acquire the habit of carrying the M9 wherever I go, and keep an eye for interesting street scenes. New York City is certainly heaven for street photography, and this scene of contrasts presented itself to me on Fifth....just like that. An elderly man (a Santa look-alike) resting on a bench looking exhausted, in front of a hip clothing store, with an advert of an energetic young man in the store's window. I thought the contrast between the young and the old...the real and the posed...but both wearing jeans... to be interesting. (Click to enlarge it).

I had pre-focused the Elmarit 28mm, so it took only a couple of seconds to compose and press the shutter. I tried it in black & white, however it doesn't work as well. I think the orange text adds a lot to the shot.

Leica & Magnum Announce Photo Essays Series!

Two names, well-known to all photographers and photojournalists, Leica and Magnum are collaborating to produce a series of multimedia essays that will take a deeper look into the stories behind the photographs.

The first installment in the series is “Leica & Magnum: Past Present Future”, and examines the legacy of Magnum photographers and Leica users from the Spanish Civil War to the present including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Bruce Davidson, Elliot Erwitt, Constantine Manos, Susan Meiselas, Alex Webb, Gueorgui Pinkhassov and also features photos from Inge Morath, Gilles Peress, Stuart Franklin, David Alan Harvey, Rene Burri, Dennis Stock, Burt Glinn, Paul Fusco, Alex Majoli, Paolo Pellegrin, Alec Soth, Jonas Bendiksen and George Rodger.