Kolkata's Cult of Durga: Report #1

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I've never sweated as much as I did today at Kumartuli!!! Well, maybe I did...but let me put it this way, it's been a while since I did.

The area or neighborhood is a traditional potters’ quarter in northern Kolkata, which is abuzz with workers applying the finishing touches on the variety of clay idols of Hindu gods and goddesses that are to be placed in the pandals for the Durga Puja in a few days' time.

We were met by Chhandak Pradhan, who's assisting me during the workshop, at Kumartuli, and spent over two hours photographing the lading of the finished idols unto the trucks, the artists applying paint on the unfinished clay statues, and even the fashioning of the straw armature on which the clay is applied...and yet, all the clay idols have to be delivered by tomorrow!

The objective of the workshop is to produce a a multi-part multimedia documentary on the Durga Puja festival as it occurs in Kolkata; the preparation of the clay idols, the flurry of shopping, the transportation of the idols to the pandals, the rituals and the processions to the river for the idols' final immersion in the river. I shall be working in black & white...but it's up to the rest of the participants whether to do the same or work in color.

Khari Baoli: Delhi's Spice Market

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

One of my favorite places in Old Delhi for street photography is in its spice wholesale market located just off Khari Baoli street. The smell of the various spices is overpowering, and I spent a few moments sneezing and coughing, much to the amusement of the onlookers. The market has been operating (probably unchanged to a large extent) since the 17th century, and can be accessed by walking to Fatehpuri Masjid on Chandni Chowk, and turning left.

It seems there had been a murder of a jewelry storekeeper a few days before on Chandni Chowk, so a handful of merchants of electronics and other stuff were shuttered in protest. The police was out in force with barricades, but outnumbered the protestors.

I recorded some ambient sound from the spice market, which is punctuated with spitting, coughing and hawking by the porters...this will add considerable authenticity should I decide to produce a multimedia piece on the spice market.

The Leica M9 functioned flawlessly...and eagerly jumped to action in its first view of India. Its baptism of fire seems to have been successful. It unobtrusiveness allowed me to remain unnoticed for a while, but of course, India is India...and someone will notice you and eventually engage you in some banter.

By the way, this photograph is the in-camera jpeg version of the larger DNG. I haven't processed it at all, except for a minute touch of sharpening.

In Focus: Hindu Festivals

Photo © Dibyangshu Sarkar—AFP/Getty Images

Photo © Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri

Photo © AP Photo/Manish Swarup

What an incredible but timely coincidence!

In Focus, the photo blog of The Atlantic, has just featured 39 photographs of Hindu festivals...and yes, you guessed it, 3 of those are of the preparations for the Durga Puja in Kolkata.

I am traveling this evening from London to Delhi, where I'll spend a couple of nights, then on to Kolkata to for my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition/Workshop.

The expedition/workshop will involve a lot of street photography, and at its core is the Durga Puja festivities. We plan to document the festivities from the making of the clay idols and their delivery to the neighborhoods' pandals to their final immersion in the Hooghly river.

It appears that the weather for Kolkata might be intermittently rainy during the Durga Puja week, but I also expect we shall have glorious light quality when the rain stops.

Delhi Photo Festival: October 15-28, 2011

As I mentioned in earlier posts, Delhi Photo Festival is progressing steadily, and now includes an  array of workshops, lectures, portfolio reviews, gallery walks and seminars.

I am very pleased to be participating in the festival, where I will teach a short multimedia module on October 15 aimed at photographers and photojournalists to produce audio-slideshows that rivals in quality and content then the more elaborate multimedia productions.

On the morning of the same day, I will be reviewing portfolios of non-working photographers at the same venue, the Habitat Learning Centre.

The above image is the official poster for the 'Delhi Photo Festival'. Feel free to make copies and disseminate to photo enthusiasts as widely as you can.

John Kenny: Kenyan Portraits

Photo © John Kenny-All Rights Reserved

The Guardian newspaper in London alerted me of an exhibition opening next week of John Kenny's new portraits from Kenya.

John Kenny started a journey in 2006 that took him though many of Sub-Saharan Africa’s remotest communities. He spent hours walking, hitch-hiking and driving across African countries making photographs of people, ancient cultures and traditions.

The Guardian and the exhibition venue (3 Bedfordbury Gallery) has a selected number of these portraits, but the collection can be best seen on John Kenny's website.

He tells us that the images were taken during his second trip to the far North of Kenya in 2011. With major drought across the Samburu, Rendille and Turkana villages in the region, he wanted to to convey a little more on how climate changes are undermining traditional pastoral ways of live in East Africa.

I have featured John Kenny's work a number of times. You can the posts see here and here.

Should I go and see the exhibit at the Covent Garden gallery whilst I'm in London, I'll post my impressions.

I just noticed that John Kenny used a 10x8 format Chamonix camera for some of his work.

New! Nikon's V1 Mirrorless Camera

As readers of this blog know well, I am a big fan and supporter of the interchangeable mirrorless cameras. I have the Panasonic Lumix GF1 that I just love and while it's a shame Panasonic decided to pimp it up so mindlessly with its new GF3 iteration, the fact remains that I believe this type of cameras will eventually be preferred by enthusiasts and professionals over bulky (and overly complex) DSLRs.

Nikon has just announced a new crop of such cameras, and the one that caught my attention is the Nikon V1.

The Nikon V1 is claimed to be the world’s smallest and lightest camera with interchangeable lenses and an electronic viewfinder. It ought to be in retail stores on October 20th with a 10-30mm lens for $900.

Nikon also released a collection of 4 news lenses (Nikkor 1 System) for its new cameras: the 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, a 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6 (81-297mm equivalent) for $250, a 10mm f/2.8 (27mm equivalent) for $250, and a 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 (27-270mm equivalent) power zoom lens for $750.

Intelligently, Nikon also announced a FT-1 F-mount adaptor that will allow Nikon fans to use their SLR lenses. This indicates to me that Nikon predicts that many photographers will be encouraged to migrate (as back up or second body) to its new system since their investment in lenses will be preserved.

Good move, Nikon! Let's see what Canon (and perhaps even Leica) has in store.

POV: Gear For Kolkata

As i have not used my DSLRs for quite a while (well, since the Foundry Workshop in Buenos Aires in July), I decided to give them an airing today...a very brief one; just for a photograph to accompany this post.

For the Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition/Workshop, I am taking the Canon 5D Mark II, the Canon 7D, a 70-200 f2.8 (not shown), a 28-70 f2.8, a 17-40mm f4.0, a Marantz PMD620 recorder, a 28mm Leica Elmarit, a 40mm f1.4 Nokton Voigtlander (not shown), a Holga for Canon lens (not shown) and the Leica M9 (used to take the picture).

The workshop will involve a lot of street photography, especially during the Durga Puja festivities, and I intend to use the M9 for that...for the low-light situations or for those that require quick focusing, a Canon will be used. I have a couple of projects in mind in which I will try to use the Holga lens...these will involve environmental portraiture. Should it rain, the Leica will remain dry in the Domke bag.

That being said, everything depends on the 'facts of the ground' as politicians are prone to say.

Antonio Mari: Candomble

Photo © Antonio Mari-All Rights Reserved

Here's the work of Antonio Mari, US-Brazilian photographer living in both countries, and specializing in ethnophotography. His work appeared in the New York Times, The New York Post, Newsday, Gannett Newspapers, Asahi Shimbun (Japan), Veja Magazine (Brazil), Time Magazine, Science Magazine and the Boston Globe, as well as Geo Magazine (Germany).


I was drawn to his Bahia of All Saints (Candomble) gallery which depicts the practice of the Afro-Brazilian syncretism called Candomble in the Reconcavo Baiano region of the northeastern state of Bahia,Brazil. The images were made during an offering ceremony in a small village called Milagre San Roque.

Countdown To Kolkata

Just a few lines to start the countdown for my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition/Workshop. In exactly a week from today, I'll be in Delhi enjoying the company of various friends, and looking at my first Leica images made in Delhi! I can't wait.

A couple of days later, I fly off to Kolkata to officially start the workshop.

I am currently in London until next Sunday, enjoying it as always despite having to wait till Tuesday for a BT technician to repair a fault in the internet connection. It's unreal how we've become accustomed to having the internet...it's almost like being accustomed (and expecting) electricity, heat, water...If I had to choose having television of internet, the latter would win hands down.

Charles W. Cushman: New York City

Photo © Charles W. Cushman

I don't know why The Daily Mail, as a British newspaper would feature an extensive gallery of New York City photographs made in the 1940s and later by Charles Weever Cushman, but it did and these show us how much (and how little) has changed in this wonderful city.

Charles Weever Cushman was an amateur photographer and Indiana University alumnus, who bequeathed approximately 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to his alma mater. The photographs in this collection bridge a thirty-two year span from 1938 to 1969.

Most of these places shown in the photographs have either been demolished or altered, except for one or two in the East Village. My favorite is the one above of Chinese store windows in Chinatown made on October 7, 1942.... I wonder where that is.

Which brings me to street photography. I read a day or two ago that Scott Strazzante got into trouble because some random guy took umbrage to his shooting from the hip, and shoved him. You can read of the incident here.  I also got some grief when an older fellow, whom I was photographing quite openly, hurled the vilest of epithets at me but he wasn't physical. You can read about it here.

The guy who shoved Scott said that photographing people from the hip was "intellectually unfair".  I don't know what he meant, except perhaps he thought that it wasn't really photography, and for it to be fair, people being photographed had to be aware that Scott (or I and other street photographers who shoot from the hip) were photographing them...otherwise it was a sort of surveillance photography.

Scott actually thinks that "shooting from the hip is kinda creepy".  I don't disagree (which isn't quite the same as saying that I agree) with this notion, but I would qualify it by saying that it depends who the subjects are.  For example, if provocatively dressed young women are being photographed
surreptitiously with a different intent than pure street photography, then it's creepy. Otherwise, shooting from the hip is no different than shooting candid portraits with a long lens.

Francisco "Kit" Reyes: Globetrotter Photographer

Photo © Francisco "Kit" Reyes-All Rights Reserved

I would not be exaggerating if I described Francisco "Kit" Reyes as a human National Geographic magazine. He's a videographer and photographer who's been to over 100 countries, and is thrilled to have made his passion into a career.

His resume includes working with Fox 5, CBS New York, CNBC, Channel News Asia, as well as being a freelancer videographer and photographer. If you glance at his field experience, it'll add up to the 100 countries he mentions in his biography.

Aside from his video work of Machu Picchu, Galapagos, Dubai, Brunei amongst other exotic places, Francisco has photo galleries of his work in Ladakh, Cuba, Egypt, West Africa, India, Penang, Kosovo, Borneo, Vietnam, Nepal, etc. His imagery is both documentary travel, NGO styled work, and commercial (resorts and hotels for example).

You'll spend quite a while viewing Francisco's portfolios...and you might agree with me that he's a human National Geographic.

Reminders Project Asian Photographers Grant

The five finalists of the inaugural Reminders Project Asian Photographers Grant were announced on September 12th.

These accomplished photographers were selected by a jury panel from submissions received from all over Asia, and will have their work showcased at this year’s 7th Angkor Photo Festival, which is held from November 19 to 26, 2011, in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The winner of the grant will be announced during the festival, and will receive financial support of US$3,000 for his/her winning project. The project will also be shown next year at the 8th Angkor Photo Festival.

2011 FINALISTS
AGNES DHERBEYS
South Korea / France

ANDRI TAMBUNAN
Indonesia

GMB AKASH
Bangladesh

SHIHO FUKADA
Japan

ZISHAAN AKBAR LATIF
India

Yatin Patel: Sutra

I'm pleased to have been directed to Yatin Patel's website whose title Sutra in ancient Sanskrit translates as "a thread or line that holds elements together".

Yatin Patel is an Orlando-based photographer, internet entrepreneur and native of India, and his "Sutra" project consists of images of Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat. The project uses high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, which gives photographs a distinct artistic feel.

As explained in Yatin's Wikipedia entry, he chose Ahmedabad as subject because it's a partitioned city, with ancient gated communities, small enclaves of different cultures, and lots of hidden courtyards.

Some of the "Sutra" series of prints have been printed on Japanese kozo (rice) paper, and the process is explained in a number of posts on Yatin's blog. The combination of monochrome HDR imaging and rice paper is an interesting one; the photographic style is certainly one of street photography, processed with HDR techniques and then printed on a textured medium.

The choice of Ahmedabad is an excellent one. Founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah, its architecture is a fusion of Hindu craftsmanship with Islamic architecture. I would think that Yatin will eventually do the same in Varanasi and Old Delhi, to name but two similarly compelling cities.

My thanks to Ron Mayhew, an accomplished photographer himself, who suggested Sutra to me.

Books: Holy War

This is the kind of book that makes my pulse quicken.  It's about the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama who sailed from Lisbon in 1497 to lead an expedition to find a new route to India. I haven't read it yet, but will certainly do so before I set for my own expedition The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™ scheduled for March 2012.

There's a review of the book on The New York Times' Sunday Book Review, from which I quote this (and you'll understand why my pulse quickened):

As Cliff recounts, the “landing party had assumed that Hindu temples were Christian churches, they had misconstrued the Brahmins’ invocation of a local deity as veneration of the Virgin Mary and they had decided the Hindu figures on the temple walls were outlandish Christian saints.” True, “the temples were also crammed with animal gods and sacred phalluses,” but these surely reflected exotic local Christian practices. What mattered to the Portuguese was that these long-lost Indian Christians permitted images in their “churches.” Thus, whatever their idiosyncrasies, they could not be Muslims. The Portuguese joined in the chants and invocations with gusto. When the Hindu priests chanted “Krishna,” the Portuguese heard it as “Christ.”

As one of the underlying objectives of The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™, like some of my previous photo expeditions in India, is the visual documentation of its syncretic religious traditions, the publication of this book seems have been timed perfectly.

I will share my views as soon as I read it!!

Los Angeles Times; Mature Burlesque

Photo © Mel Melcon-All Rights Reserved

In order to break from the gloom of September 11 and its coverage, I thought I'd feature something both different and uplifting. From The Los Angeles Times, this audio slideshow seems perfect to do just that...it's about Monday Night Tease, which is the longest-running weekly burlesque show in Los Angeles. It's known as a venue for dancers of all shapes and shades, as well as for its cheeky humor.

The audio slideshow features Lili VonSchtupp, who draws crowds to bar in Hollywood every week to celebrate real women with real bodies. "One of the troupes taking the stage just before midnight at VonSchtupp’s weekly Monday Night Tease calls itself the Rubenesque Burlesque. For four minutes, the women shake, bounce and bump to a hip-hop song, eventually stripping down to black leather bras. When those come off, the crowd at Three Clubs erupts. They hoot approvingly at these dancers, each of whom weighs over 200 pounds."

According to Wikipedia, American burlesque shows were originally an offshoot of Victorian burlesque in Britain, and when those went out of favor at the end of the 19th centruy, the American style of burlesque flourished, but with increasing focus on female nudity. 

September 11, 2001: The Fringe

All Photos © 2011 Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

For those who have no press passes, access to Ground Zero was prohibited yesterday. Nonetheless, the areas around it did provide opportunities for good street photography.  Naturally, any event of such a magnitude brings along the fringe...the conspiracy theorists,  the government haters, the religious minded...and the Obama supporters.

Parth Sanyal: The Kadaiwallahs

Photo © Parth Sanyal-All Rights Reserved

A couple of weeks before the start of my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo-Expedition/Workshop, I am particularly pleased to have stumbled on Parth Sanyal's website through a link on Global Post's photo blog PlanetPic, because one of his galleries depicts the Kadaiwallahs (men with large pans), the gold scavengers of Kolkata.

About 200 gold scavengers make an meagre living by collecting gold dust from the narrow lanes housing the small gold factories of Kolkata. They collect the dust in large metal pans, and burn the impurities with acid hoping to be left with tiny gold particles.

Indians consider it auspicious to buy gold during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, when the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, is worshipped. The period from October to February is high seasons for gold buying, however with its price skyrocketing, consumers are looking for alternatives, and this impacts the Kadaiwallahs livelihood. Their occupation is an ancient one; they've been doing this traditional and crude means of collecting gold since the 16th century during the Mughal Rule.

Parth Sanyal has been covering South Asia over the last 18 years for various Indian newspapers and global wire services. He has worked for The Independent in Mumbai, The Hindu group of publications and Reuters. His photographs appeared in the International Herald Tribune, Washington Post, New York Times, The Guardian, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Boston Globe, National Geography online and Global Post.

Stephane Sednaoui: September 11, 2001

Photo © Stephane Sednaoui-All Rights Reserved

Out of the many images of the aftermath of September 11, 2001 that were published in the past few weeks, I thought the most compelling were by Stephane Sednaoui featured by TIME's LightBox, which is one of the best photo blogs.. Perhaps it's because I hadn't heard of him nor seen these images before,  and were in many ways different from those I had seen before.

Stephane Sednaoui is a photographer and a movie director, and has also worked as a documentary photographer covering the Romanian Revolution of 1989. He has photographed many music album covers, and directed more than 50 music videos.

Interestingly, Sednaoui's ancestors were originally from Syria, who moved to Egypt and established one of the country's first top notch department stores. The Sednaoui brothers, Samaan and Selim, established the Sednaoui (pronounced 'Sednawee') store in the early 1900s. The store still exists to this day, but is a shadow of its grandeur after being nationalized in the 60s.

The school I attended in Cairo required that all students buy their uniforms; blazers, caps, shorts and keen-high grey socks from the Sednaoui store, and I recall quite well my excitement each year in getting these new uniforms.

Asit: Indonesian Photography

Photo © Asit-All Rights Reserved

Another instance of a talented photographer who neglects to provide full background information on his or her website is Asit. It's a shame because I am certain that photo buyers may want to get in contact with Asit. Having a contact form is insufficient, since a biography provides background information to the buyers and editors. A pseudonym is fine (if warranted) but having no background information signals a disinterest in marketing.

Most of Asit's photographs appear to have been set up very carefully, with meticulous attention and effort given to details, lighting and, in some cases, make up. It's more akin to fashion photography than travel photography.

Photo © Asit-All Rights Reserved

Francisco de Souza: Travel Photography

Photo © Francisco de Souza-All Rights Reserved

The website of Francisco de Souza is populated with galleries of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam...large images which grab viewers the way images should. None of this silly small photographs to "protect my work" from Francisco. He wants to show his images, and he does.

His biography tells us he was born and raised in Zimbabwe, where he started to photograph his Shona tribal neighbours since he was eleven. Subsequently displaced from his Zimbabwean home, he travelled to many developing countries in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and South East Asia. It is there he started to actively work with and support Non Government Organisations in Indonesia, India and Zimbabwe.

Francisco's work has been shortlisted in the Digital Photographer of the Year competition in 2009, and he received a Diploma in Photography from The Photography Institute of New Zealand in 2010.

In his India gallery, Francisco features an elderly woman in a red sari, possibly a Gujarati or Rajasthani tribal judging from her tattoos, being helped unto the back of a truck...a perfect capture in time and motion.

Thierry Riga: Lalibela Portraits

Photo © Thierry Riga-All Rights Reserved

Here's another case where the photographer is not forthcoming with personal details, but Thierry Riga appeared on my radar screen when he subscribed to my email newsletters. I looked him up, and except for his website, there isn't much...which is a shame because perhaps photo editors and buyers will want to know more about him after this post.

Thierry has three manin galleries on his website...three galleries with large images. The kind of large that pleases me and photo editors and buyers, because they can see them properly. The three galleries are of Buddhist novitiates from Myanmar (Burma), of portraits of deacons, priests and devotees during Timket in Lalibela and the fishermen of Lake Inle in Burma.

I choose to highlight Thierry's Lalibela Portraits for no other reason than it's one of the handful of galleries mentioned on this blog that deals with the Christian faith in Ethiopia.

Timket is the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany, which is celebrated on January 19 (or 20 on a Leap Year). It celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. During the ceremonies, a model of the Ark of the Covenant, is reverently carried in a procession. Timket is celebrated all over Ethiopia, but it's particularly spectacular in Lalibela, a Biblical mountain town famous for its 11 churches hewn out of solid rock over a thousand years ago. Many Ethiopians believe they were built by angels.

I recall being awakened at 3:00 am or so in Lalibela by Timket ethereal chants...enough to give goosebumps to the most secular of humans. My own gallery Footsteps in North Abyssinia has some portraits from Lalibela.

POV: I Am Awarded The ACIEL Famous Prize!

Yes, you read the headline correctly...

I am the proud recipient of the 2011 ACIEL Hall of Fame award. I was recognized by the makers of the legendary camera ACIEL-N as having contributed the most outstanding photographic work during the past years. I faced enormous competition from a myriad of well known and famous photographers from every segment of the industry, who all deserve the prize as well...but I won....and there's no second place in that kind of award.

I will be traveling to the Kingdom of Backhairistan next week to accept the award, and to pose for my picture being handed the prize; a brand new ACIEL-N43 camera with my signature engraved on its top plate. It will be presented by His Excellency Von Herr, the owner of ACIEL and president of the country. Wine with bubbles, tilapia roe on white bread flavored with Marmite will be served...and buxom Backhairistanian models will be in attendance.

The ACIEL cameras are recognized (and lusted for) all over the world because of its faultless mechanics/electronics, ergonomic and modern design, its flawless operations...and by its trademark; the famous yellow dot. The above photograph is of my ACIEL-N42...last year's model. The new one looks similar, but has no yellow dot.

Okay, folks....this is a satirical post. On a more sober level, let me say I would respect camera-makers' marketing ploys in awarding such prizes if these were awarded to photographers such as Michael Kamber, Maggie Steber, Asim Rafiqui, Stanley Greene to name but a few. But of course, like sugar attracts flies, the marketing departments of camera makers go after the so-called name recognition. It's a shame...but that's the world we live in.

But note that while I speak of the marketing departments whose mandate is to increase brand awareness with such gimmicks...camera makers also use well thought recognitions to honor deserving photographers and photojournalists. For instance, Leica and Alex Majoli. So while I make fun at awards designed to titillate undiscerning consumers, I'm glad there are others that reward non-celebrity photographers for their outstanding work.

Gian Marco Agazzi: The Red Men Of Indian Wrestling

I tried my damnedest to find information on Gian Marco Agazzi, the photographer of The Red Men of Indian Wrestling, but to no avail.

The Red Men of Indian Wrestling refers to Kushti; the traditional and ancient form of wrestling that was, and still is, practiced in India, Pakistan and other neighboring countries. The Kushti (also known as Pehlwani) wrestling performed on clay mixed with ghee. Its practitioners face grueling daily training, a strict diet and celibacy.

(Brief post...as I'm on hols!)

Delhi Photo Festival: New Updates

Mentioned in earlier posts, Delhi Photo Festival is progressing steadily, and now includes an  array of workshops, lectures, portfolio reviews, gallery walks and seminars.

The Event Calendar is up on its website, and a number of photographers and readers of this blog will either attend it in person, or have sent in their work for consideration.

As per the partial screen capture above (click to enlarge), I will be participating in the festival, where I will teach a short multimedia module on October 15 aimed at photographers and photojournalists to produce audio-slideshows that rivals in quality and content then the more elaborate multimedia productions.

Due to time constraints, I am unfortunately unable to attend the whole festival as I'm flying back to New York on October 16th after three weeks in Kolkata.

I would have liked to attend my friend Asim Rafiqui's presentation of his long term project "The Idea of India" on October 18, and the module on Basics of DSLR Film Making by my friend Anamitra Chakladar on October 23.

POV: 12 Out Of 30 Is Not Bad

Photo © Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty

I was pleased to note that about 12 out of the 30 photographs featured in the Denver Post Photo Blog's Pictures of the Week: September 2, 2001 are by non Western photographers.

The above photograph is of an Indian offering Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi on August 31, 2011.

Except for the images of the Libyan uprising, all the photographs of non Western subjects are by non Western photographers...Muhammed Muheisen, Vahid Salemi, Fareed Khan, Manan Vatsyayana, Anupam Nath, Khalil Senosi, Noah Seelam, Rajesh Kumar Singh, and Rahmat Gul.

The world is changing!

(I'm still on holidays...so brief posts!)

Along The River: Idan Hojman

Photography Book Now Winners 2011 were announced by Blurb, and amongst the books that won awards for Travel, I liked Along The River the best. Thoughtful and very well photographed.

It's by Idan Hojman, a photographer who, with a Rolleiflex in hand, flowed along the Ganges over three years, "discovering the story of the holy river from its source, in the Himalayas, to its nearby death, in a small fisherman village."

Short post as I'm on holidays!

Miehina the Kyoto Geisha

This is an extremely well made short documentary of a day in the life of a Geisha in Kyoto. It's by Glen Milner, a London based documentary and commercial director, who produced a number of U.K / U.S broadcast films. His work includes ongoing Video-Journalism for Telegraph.co.uk and camera work on feature films.

(I'm technically on holidays, so I'll upload just quick and short posts for a few days)

New! FujiFilm x10

click to enlarge

The rumors were accurate...Fujifilm announced its new compact digital camera. The X10 features a 2/3″ 12 megapixel EXR-CMOS sensor and a high-definition F2.0 wide-angle and F2.8 telephoto Fujinon 4x manual zoom lens (28-112mm)*1, and it follows the footsteps of the Fujifilm FinePix X100 released a few months ago.

As I sort of predicted (well, more like wishful thinking) a few days ago, I am more convinced now that Leica will come up with a Micro Four Thirds camera, and will announce it during Photokina 2011 in September. This type of compact sized cameras (whether Micro Four Thirds or otherwise) are the future...perhaps not for professionals (unless they're used for back-up or for specific gigs), but certainly for the rest of the photography consumers.

The new FujiFilm x10 is gorgeous...but we don't buy our tools for looks...do we?

For more on FujiFilm x10 and some commentary, drop by Steve Huff's blog.

Lock Circle Camera Caps

I thought this product would appeal to those who simply obsess over well crafted (and expensive) camera appendages. The LockCircle was designed with a minute eye for details, and as the video above demonstrates, it may well be indestructible.

The question is, of course, whether photographers and DSLR videographers will spend $79 on such a luxury item, when body caps come for free or are available for a few bucks. I seldom use body caps unless my cameras are in storage, but others may.

Now, if Lock Circle would manufacture a titanium model specifically for the Leica M9-P, and charge an arm and a leg for it, I bet it would sell like hot cakes. Currently, it's only available for Canon and Nikon.