Alessandra Meniconzi: Nenets Of Arctic Siberia

Photo © Alessandra Meniconzi_All Rights Reserved

“I prefer remote and rugged places, mountainous terrain and desert."

Yes, Alessandra Meniconzi prefers to travel to areas many other travel photographers wouldn't think of going because they're truly remote and inaccessible. An excellent photographer, she's also extremely versatile, and her updated website features new galleries that cover most of the globe's regions.

Alessandra's galleries range from the Arctic Siberia to Ethiopia, from Lapland to the Silk Road, and from Greenland to Tibet and the Himalayas. She worked extensively for more than a decade in the remote areas of Asia, documenting minority people and their traditional cultures. More recently, she focused on the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions that are threatened by climate change, development, and resource extraction.

I chose to feature her Nenets of The Arctic Siberia gallery, as it's one of her most recent work. The Nenets are an indigenous people in northern arctic Russia. According to the latest census in 2002, there are 41,302 Nenets in the Russian Federation. They have a shamanistic and animistic belief system which stresses respect for the land and its resources.

Her photographs have been published widely in magazines, as well as in books for which she was the sole photographer: The Silk Road (2004), Mystic Iceland (2007), Hidden China (2008) and QTI -Alessandra Meniconzi, Il coraggio di esser paesaggio (2011).

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop: My Multimedia Class: The Quick And Easy

I thought I'd post the description of the class I'll be teaching at the forthcoming Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Chiang Mai. And in so doing, I'm also encouraging those interested in photojournalism and photography to join this event, in which all the instructors are amongst the best photojournalists available.

This will be the 5th time I am to teach at the Foundry, and I'm thrilled to have been included since its inception in Mexico City in 2008.

I will teach a multimedia class that allows its participants to concentrate on their stories, rather than on the application. The purpose and aim of the class is to show photojournalists how to make quick work of slide show production, using their own images and audio generated in the field, to produce a cogent photo stories under the simulation of publishing deadlines. Most of the class’s time will be spent photographing in the field, while indoors time will be devoted to weaving the material into photo stories.

This class will require participants to produce two short (about 3 minutes -or less- each) photo stories: one of human interest (narrative and preferably in monochrome), and the other thematic
(travel-documentary for example, and in color).

Participants will be required to use Soundslides (or iMovie) software, and Audacity for audio. Participants must have Digital Audio Recorders (such as the Zoom H1). Soundslides can be downloaded in its trial format, while Audacity is a free sound editor.

Fuji X-Pro1 Goes Globe Trotting

How could I have I missed this?

Fujifilm and British luxury luggage manufacturer Globe-Trotter have joined forces to create an exclusive travel case and X-Pro1 camera package that takes the "limited edition" tag to its extreme.  It's restricted to Harrods, and only 12 are available for sale at £5,695 ($ 8800 or so). Since all of the camera hardware can be bought from B&H for about $3800, the travel case on its own probably costs in the vicinity of $3000 (adjusted for VAT).

Each travel case contains a Fujifilm X-Pro1, its three lenses, a flash and a filter. No mention of a handful of SD cards thrown in.

Since Britain is celebrating the Queen's Jubilee this week, here's another bit of useless trivia for you: Queen Elizabeth II purchased her Globe-Trotter suitcases for her honeymoon from Harrods. She probably still uses them.

This is a page out of Leica's playbook. Targeting the very wealthy who seek status symbols, while probably knowing very little of photography. I bet we'll be seeing more of this luxury "packaging" in the future for both Leica (as it usually does) and the upstart X-Pro1.

Chico Sanchez: The Dresser

Photo © Chico Sanchez-All Rights Reserved

To break the recent string of India and Asia related posts, here is The Dresser, an audio slideshow by Chico Sanchez, a freelance photographer based in Mexico City.

The Dresser is Cesar Diaz, a professional dresser (el vestidor in Spanish) of religious icons, from Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Spain. In this audio slideshow, Cesar demonstrates how he prepares Our Lady of Sorrows for an Easter Holy Week celebration in the village of Prado del Rey, in Andalusia, Spain.

I've featured the work of Chico Sanchez, a freelance photographer based in Mexico City, on a number of occasions. Chico worked in Venezuela, collaborating with Reuters, European Pressphoto Agency, Agencia EFE, and currently freelances for various newspapers and magazines.

POV: Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died (and in my view, also those who were wounded and maimed) while serving in the United States Armed Forces...

It also ought to be a day when we shame the old men who sent and still send young men and women to senseless wars...wherever and whenever.

As Herbert Hoover said:

Older men declare war.

 But it is the youth that must fight and die.

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop 2012 Contest!!!

Eric Beecroft just circulated this amongst the instructors, so here is the fresh news!

You can win ONE FULL FREE TUITION TO THIS YEAR'S FOUNDRY PHOTOJOURNALISM WORKSHOP in CHIANG MAI, THAILAND. 

Winning=ONE  free tuition AND an invite to the pre workshop faculty and staff private dinner. 

HOW TO PLAY: (read and keep the rules or you'll be disqualified)

1. You may post ONE PHOTO TOTAL on the Facebook Foundry Workshop Page. Thats one photo, over the 10 day span of the contest. 

2. The theme is 'Home.'  You can interpret that however you wish. There is no trick or secret, we aren't looking for abstract or concrete here. Just good photos. 

3. The winner will be decided by who gets the most votes/likes on their image on the Foundry Facebook page at the end of the 10 day period.  YOU MAY NOT LIKE OR VOTE FOR YOUR OWN IMAGE. 

4. Anyone and everyone can vote, invite your friends and family to visit the page and like the best photos they see.  This is open to the public.  You can come back and vote multiple times for different people's images.

5.  The voting is not meant to be a popularity contest.  We think that the best photographs will rise to the top of the entry pile. At least thats the plan. 

6. CONTEST BEGINS SUNDAY MAY 27 at 12AM MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME.  AND ENDS JUNE 5 2012 at 7 PM MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME. 

7. One winner will be announced within 3 days of contest ending. 

8. EVERYONE WHO ENTERS CAN TAKE 10%  OFF FULL FOUNDRY TUITION FOR THIS YEAR WORKSHOP! WE ARE SO GENEROUS! - THATS $100 dollars for internationals/westerners, and $50 dollars for locals/regionals. JUST BY ENTERING!

Those who enter can get this reduction in price by paying the reduced amounts via Paypal (for internationals- $875; for locals- $375) directly to:info@foundryphotoworkshop.org or pay via Western Union if you need to. 

9. Already registered/paid tuition ? Students already registered can enter but if they win they get free tuition to Foundry 2013. Where will it be held ? thats a surprise until end of Foundry 2012….

SMALL PRINT: READ IT!!!! 

We reserve the right to exclude photographers who don't fit the criteria of:

international/western photographers:  3 years working as a professional photographer or less 

locals- no restrictions on length of time worked as a photographer

We reserve the right reject entries that we feel are too manipulated, photoshopped, etc- its a photo contest not an illustration contest.

We will reject images that you steal from others. We don't even want you at the workshop if you do this. 

We reserve the right to reject entries that have multiple likes from the same person, should you figure a way to do this. 

We reserve the right to be the boss of the contest, and that means if anything else comes up, we reserve the right to reject and award the winning photograph based on principles of fairness, ethics and good old fashioned sportsmanship. We reserve the right that no one else has this right but us, since its our party. 

Cheaters never prosper. 

Sacbee's The Frame: Kevin Frayer's Urs Festival

Photo © Kevin Frayer-All Rights Reserved

I've been waiting for coverage of this event! Just look at this flamboyant character!!!

The Sacramento Bee's photo blog The Frame features Kevin Frayer's remarkable photographs made during a major Sufi Muslim Urs festival in Rajasthan.

It starts off the series of these 36 photographs telling us that thousands of Sufi devotees from different parts of India annually travel to the shrine of Sufi Muslim saint Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, in Ajmer, in the Indian state of Rajasthan for the annual Urs festival observed to mark his death anniversary.

Along with other photographers, I've been photographing the Sufi traditions in South Asia for a while, especially trying to underscore the syncretic elements of this tradition with Hindusim, but to my chagrin I haven't been to this festival as yet...although I was in Ajmer a number of times.

Moinuddin Chishti is the more famous and revered Sufi saint of the Chisti order of the Indian Subcontinent. He was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE, and is believed to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammed. He interpreted religion in terms of human service and exhorted his disciples "to develop river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality."

I cannot help but to piggyback this feature by adding my own work on The Possessed of Mira Datar; an audio slideshow of black & white photographs made at one of the most famous shrines (or dargahs) in Gujarat. The still photographs of this audio slideshow were presented at the Angkor Photo Festival last November.

And for those who follow my posts for clues to my future photo expeditions-workshops, this may well be one for 2013. It'll be as intense as the Oracles of Kali's festival, the focus of my most recent photo expedition in Kerala this past March.

Anthony Pond: Ginger Godowns (Mattencherry)

Anthony Pond is certainly prolific. His multimedia piece Ginger Godowns is the fourth audio slideshow I feature on my blog, and the second of his photographs and audio recordings made during The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™.

And I know he's got a few more up his sleeve.

This time, he focuses on the area of Mattencherry with its ancient warehouses, or godowns, of ginger, pepper, turmeric, rice and other spices which are hand-sifted, bagged and marketed, filling the air with pungent, sharp aromas, which you can almost smell from this audio-slideshow.

The area of Mattencherry dates back to the Arab, Portuguese and Dutch traders before British colonial times, and its streets are lined with old dilapidated warehouses which can be easily imagined as having been in use even much before the 1500s.

Elissa Bogos: Afghan Tea House Poets

"Let all the infidels become Muslims"

Here's a wonderful short (too short!) video made by Elissa Bogos in a tea house in Afghanistan on 11.11.11 for One Day on Earth.

I describe it as wonderful, not because of the unfortunate intolerance expressed by the old man towards the end of the clip, but because it's beautifully filmed, because of its ambience and because of the music. I wished the clip had been much longer, and that it tarried longer with the "poets" who recited traditional verses (and expressed their gripes), and that it lingered around the corners of the tea house.

Elissa Bogos is a freelance photojournalist and videojournalist based in Kabul, Afghanistan. She was the editor-in-chief of The Sakhalin Times, an English language weekly in the Russian Far East.

Her photographs and videos were published in The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, EurasiaNet, The Huffington Post, The Montreal Gazette, Reuters, New York Daily News and in other media. In Afghanistan, she freelances for a variety of NGOs and private companies and has worked with the Associated Press, Tolo TV and Channel One TV.

NYTimes: Moises Saman's Egypt's Choice

Presidential election fever has been gripping Egypt for months, and it'll perhaps come to a conclusion in the coming few days...or in another few weeks, if a runoff is the case.

Along with many millions of Egyptians, I couldn't believe my eyes when watching the first ever presidential debate in the Middle East took place earlier this month. Yes, it was flawed...yes, the two frontrunners went overboard in hyperbole and off topic attacks one each other... but nowhere else in the Arab world, has such a spectacle ever been seen before.

Yes, Egypt's political transition has been farcical, messy, bizarre, chaotic, violent, unpredictable, and serious, ....however after centuries of Pharaonic kingdoms, various foreign occupations, colonialism,  royalty and dictatorships, Egyptians were now experiencing the teething pains of democracy. I raise my hands in wonder when I read articles by educated journalists and pundits who claim that after 30 years of Mubarak's regime, Egypt is experiencing democracy. It's not 30 years...but over 2500 years!

In recognition of this critical milestone in Egypt's (and in the world's) history, I feature Moises Saman's Egypt's Choice as published in The New York Times.

My Work: The Art of Kathakali

One of the highlights of my Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop this past March was spending half a day at a Kathakali school near Thrissur, and documenting the preparations and performance of this ancient art. It was totally distinct from the usual superficial performances shown at the various tourist hotels, and the professionalism of the performers was breathtaking. Apart from the talent of the performers, I was especially struck by the singing which you hear on this "photo-film".

Kathakali is one of the oldest theatre forms in the world, and originated in Kerala. It's a group production, in which actors-dancers take various roles in performances based on themes from Hindu mythology, such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The elaborate make up sessions often take longer than the performances themselves, and follow a certain ritual.

I chose to process the photographs in sepia (DxO Labs), which were made with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Leica M9, with the ambient audio recording on a Tascam DR40.

You can also watch it in HD on Vimeo.

POV: Will QR Codes Be Useful?

I've been seeing these QR codes for some time now....some airlines offer them as an alternative to printed boarding passes, banks have them to facilitate mobile banking, and even cars have them painted on their sides. I've used them to download my boarding passes on a couple of occasions.

The QR codes are sort of barcodes that can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters of information, and their ease of use makes them practical for businesses. When you scan or read a QR code with your iPhone, Android or other camera-enabled Smartphone, you can link to digital content on the web; activate a number of phone functions including email, IM and SMS; and connect the mobile device to a web browser!

Cool! So my quick search revealed there are many free QR Code generators such as Kaywa and others, and naturally I immediately filled in my The Travel Photographer website's URL, and voila!!! The square barcode you see above is the QR Code for it. You scan it with your iPhone/Android and your browser will immediately log on to my website.

This is the QR of for my blog, The Travel Photographer's Blog:

And finally, here's the QR Code for The Leica File:

Is it useful for photographers? I have no idea.  For the time being, I can only think of one use for it (apart from how the airlines and banks do), and that is to have it printed on one's business card. The recipient would scan it into his/her device and would be immediately logged on to your website.

NYC's United We Dance Parade With The X Pro-1

All Photos ©2012 Tewfic El-Sawy (Click To Enlarge)

Serendipity was the reason I stumbled on New York City's 6th Annual Dance Parade yesterday.

Barricades and police presence around St. Marks Place can portend a lot of things these days, but when I was handed an announcement for United We Dance, I suspected I'd have a good time. This was corroborated by a woman standing besides me who predicted I'd also get fantastic photographs.

I only carried my Fuji X Pro-1 fitted with the Fujinon 18mm f2.0, and since the barricades had been erected along the route of the parade, I wasn't sure it'd work with such a short range lens. I was on the verge on hurrying back home and get my Canon 5D MarkII and the 70-200 f2.8 that serve me well in such events....but as the police seemed to not be in the mood to restrict photographers, press affiliated or not, I chose to stay and ignore the barricades.

 It worked.

Naturally, I had to compete with other photographers who had the "appropriate" gear,...DSRLS mostly with long zoom lenses, but I had reasonable access to the dancers as they performed. I chose a spot on 8th Street that was in the shade (the other side of the street was very sunny), took a reading off the asphalt, and kept my camera's setting at 1/500 sec and an aperture of f2.0 (for a shallow DOF).

In a way, it was both frustrating and liberating to shoot with the X Pro-1. I was frustrated in not having the 70-200 lens (or even a 24-70mm) with me for some close portraiture of the gorgeous dancers...and frustrated that the X Pro-1 seemed to 'oversleep' sometimes. I probably missed about 4-5 photographs because the X Pro-1 didn't respond as quickly as I wanted. Its AF also seemed to be confused  in some situations.

The liberating aspect of having the X Pro-1 is that it forced me to be close and personal with the dancers.   Its size makes it so much easier to be unobtrusive, although the dancers were eager to be photographed, so stealth was a little difficult.

The JPEG photographs were processed (minimally) in Photoshop.

POV: TIME Magazine Cover Of Netanyahu

The drivel featured by TIME-Lightbox in relation to its magazine cover of Netanyahu is nausea-inducing on many levels.

But let's stay on what the cover seeks to tell us. In my view, it tries to tells us that Netanyahu's stare is that of a politician,  tough, steely and unwavering...that line may perhaps get swallowed in New York City, but in Europe and the Middle East (yes, TIME magazine will feature the same covers on all its international editions), it'll be construed as a stare of arrogance, zealotry and defiance.

Then, it tells us that he's a "King"...presumably because he has "conquered" Israel by convincing the centrist Kadima Party to join a coalition...and then the cover uses Netanyahu's nickname as a baby (or whatever Bibi is). Is the purpose of infantilizing the name to familiarize him vis-a-vis the American public? Make him one of us...since we have the rather unfortunate habit of nicknaming everyone? 

For crying out loud, the fellow's name is Binyamin Netanyahu...use it.

Drivel.

8th Angkor Photo Workshops: Applications Open

The Angkor Photo Workshops is back for the 8th year, and has now announced that it is accepting applications.

I can't emphasize strongly enough that it is a phenomenal opportunity for all photographers, emerging and established, and this comes from personal experience following my attendance and participation last year. It was a delightful experience to meet all those concerned with the workshop, and co-mingle with the hundreds of photographers who joined it.

The Angkor Photo Workshops is held annually in Siem Reap, and is offered free to selected young photography talents from Asia. The week-long professional photography workshop provides participants with firsthand training, invaluable exposure, and a chance to develop their personal photographic style and vision. Over the years, the workshop has highlighted emerging talent from the region, and many previous participants are now pursuing successful photography careers.

Gumroad: Selling For Photographers?

I saw a post about Gumroad on Pixiq, and its premise piqued my interest, as it may do for my readers.

Gumroad claims that it serves to democratize the ability to sell stuff online, and 'stuff' obviously includes photographs, or songs, albums, videos, and other products. It does so by creating a link to your photograph(s) so that your fans, friends, and followers who want to buy it, can do so, and no store set up is needed.

Gumroad's fee structure is states as 5% + 25¢ of each transaction.  If you sell a photograph for $100, the fee is $5.24 and $94.75 is deposited into your bank account. According the Gumroad's FAQ, it supports Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diners Club cards.

It may be worth one's time to try this service out.

Sebastian Cortés: Backwaters India

Photo © Sebastian Cortes-All Rights Reserved

You'll have to navigate Sebastian Cortés's website a little bit to land on his Travel page which groups his wonderful work in photo essay form.

There are some 12 of those...Backwater Kerala (from which the above photograph is shown), Forever Rajasthan, Chic In Milan, Sidhpur in Gujarat (with magnificent old mansions...probably called havelis as they do in Rajasthan), Venice, Varanasi, Cinque Terre, the Colosseum in Rome, Fort Kochi, Portofino, South Beach (Miami) and the Maldives.

If you haven't guessed it by now, yes...Sebastian Cortés works in both Italy and India. He was born in New York, and took up photography while at New York University film school.  In 1985, he moved to Milan and started photographing fashion and lifestyle photography assignments for international magazines and commercial clients, while also concentrating on portraits and fine-art work. In 2004 Sebastian moved together with his family to India, where he continues to work and produce various book projects.

Here's also his work of Pondicherry's interiors.


 

POV: Bhutan...No More Shangri-La?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Is Bhutan no longer the "Shangri-La"?

I've traveled to Bhutan no less than 5 times over the past 12 years, leading photo expeditions that were extremely popular and were well attended. These photo expeditions were especially enjoyable, provided its participants and myself a solid inventory of photographs of Bhutan's unique culture, traditions and religious festivals, and were trouble-free.

However, over my last three photo expeditions in 2006, 2008 and 2009 I noticed changes...some subtle and others not so subtle. Tourism had progressively become a huge business. The guides and fixers we had on these photo expeditions have become tour operators themselves, luxury hotels chains (such as the Aman Resorts with already 5 properties in the country...Thimpu, Paro, Gangtey, Punakha and Bumthang, with the Taj and Uma chains) are building properties, and there's now a domestic airport in central Bumthang for those who want to fly from Paro, instead of driving for a couple of days.

Shane Green, a photographer who's joining my forthcoming photo workshop in Vietnam, just returned from Bhutan along with his wife, and emailed me his impressions, and they confirm what I have sensed and noticed over the past few years.

Yes, Bhutan is still a wonderful country to visit, and the Bhutanese are some of the most gracious people one can hope to meet, however exploding consumerism, modernisation and urbanisation are taking their toll. Thimpu seems to be a huge building site, with many leaving their rural living to make a living in its capital.

In 2009, I recall having a cappuccino with a Thimpu resident in a Starbucks look-alike cafe and then playing snookers (and drinking too much beer) at a sort of watering hole with some of my group, amongst Bhutanese teenagers. And yet, a few days before, dinner in a Jakar hole-in-the-wall, consisted of Tibetan momos cooked the traditional way in a dingy smoky kitchen.

It wasn't too long ago that most, if not all, Bhutanese women had their hair in pageboy cuts, but with the advent of television bringing with it 46 channels exposing people to Indian (and others) programs, they started to grow it, following the Bollywood fashion.

Shane went as far as remote Ura, in the central Bhutan, where I don't recall seeing any tourists there as recently as 2009...and yet now, tourists outnumbered the local audience at its annual festival.

Is it over for Bhutan as a specialty destination? I hope not...but I don't see how its tourism authorities can retain the country's cachet against an encroaching modernism, especially with a population that seeks a more affluent standard of living brought about by tourists and other sources.

After all, look at what's happening in Siem Reap...and Angkor!

I predict it won't be long before the Ugyencholing elderly man in this post's photograph will be holding a Blackberry or a Nokia...if he doesn't have it already.

Diana Markosian: The Girls of Chechnya

Photo © Diana Markosian-All Rights Reserved

An interesting glimpse in an area that a relatively few are really familiar with...Chechnya, was recently featured by TIME Lightbox.

Diana Markosian's Goodbye My Chechnya is such a glimpse into the lives of young Chechen women who witnessed the horrors of two wars, and are coming of age in a country that is rapidly rediscovering its Muslim laws and traditions.

It's particularly interesting to view Diana's photographs of these Chechen women and their traditions and compare them to Oded Balilty's photographs of the Jewish ultra orthodox communities, which included a series on a traditional Hasidic Jewish wedding.

Two separate religious traditions, often at odds with each other....and yet similar in so many ways. And as both photo essays are made of such compelling photographs, that the comparison between the two from an aesthetic point of view bring this point very clearly to the forefront.

According to Diana Markosian,  Chechnya is experiencing a wave of Islamicization since the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Religious dress codes are the rule, young (and polygamous) marriages are frequent and gender roles are increasingly conservative.

NYC's Hudson River Pageant With The Fujifilm X Pro-1

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- (Click To Enlarge)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- (Click To Enlarge)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- (Click To Enlarge)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- (Click To Enlarge)

Chancing upon the Earth Celebration Hudson River Pageant on Saturday gave me the ample opportunity to try out my new Fujifilm X-Pro1 in a non-street shooting situation. As it was almost noon, the sun was really quite harsh, and I had to make do with intense glare off the concrete boardwalk, and rather deep shadows.

I had the only lens I have for the X Pro-1; the Fujinon18 mm f 2.0. Two of the four images were made at f16, and two others at f5.6...and all were at 200 iso. Oh, and I had neglected to bring the lens hood!

It was a pleasure to shoot with such a small unobtrusive camera, although I had to get  really close in some cases to get the photograph I wanted. There were some other professional photographers there; some with the almost obligatory 70-200 lenses, who probably made some lovely close up portraits (I did too...later on when I trooped back to the Hudson River Park with my own Canon 5D Mark II and the 70-200 f 2.8.

But back to the Fujifilm X Pro-1...these were made by choosing the Velvia Film Simulation setting, and Auto White Balance. I intended to get an overly saturated result for all these colored costumes, and I think I chose right.

By the way, Thomas Menk's Fuji X-Pro1/Scoop It website is one of the best ways to keep track of various reviews for this camera, and for its rumor, samples and news. If you're interested in the X Pro-1 or thinking of buying one, follow it.

And for those ecologically minded, the Hudson River Pageant was part of Earth Celebration’s fourth annual events to restore the native species and habitats of the Hudson River.

POV: The Best Marigold Hotel

Go see this movie!!!! No matter how old or young you are...you'll spend an enjoyable two hours in the company of world class actors...wit and realism.

The best line in the movie (and beyond) is uttered by Dev Patel:

 "Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not the end."

Priceless!

Ed Ou: Yemeni Camel Jumping

Photo © Ed Ou/Reportage by Getty Images (Courtesy The New York Times)

I enjoyed Ed Ou's account in the LENS blog of The New York Times of how he had stumbled across the unusual practice of camel jumping in Yemen.  The photographer, known for having documented most of the events during the Arab Spring, was in the country and decided to revisit the remote region of Tehama, which had been the site of one of his most memorable photographic experiences in 2009.

Camel-jumping is an event that takes place during celebrations in that region, which counts as one of the poorest in the country. It seems that in the early evening, 4 or 5 camels are lined up, the contestants take running starts and leap over the animals.

It got me wondering if there was any connection between this form of contest and the jumping of the bulls ceremony practiced by the Hamar tribe (and others) in the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia. The jumping of the bulls is more of a marriage ritual and ceremony than a contest, since the men performing it are about to get married...and should they fail to jump over the bulls four times, they won't be allowed to wed.

After all, Yemen and Ethiopia are geographically close to each other, and have very strong historical, commercial, religious and cultural ties.

Here's also a short video by Ed Ou of the camel jumping contests.

POV: New Leica M-Monochrom...Is It Mmmmm?

Ah, well...the Twittering with the Leica hashtags was alight with news of THE event! The announcement that Leica would unveil a new model!! The suspense so painstakingly built up by the Leica marketing/PR machinery was rather deflated by the Leica Rumors website, which a few months ago, had already made the prediction/announcement that the new model would be a black and white only sensor in an M camera...and so it was.

Don't get me wrong...I have a Leica M9 and M lenses (well, one of the two in a 40mm Voigtlander) and enjoy using it very much...As my readers know well, I also find it frustrating at times, because of many reasons. Most of these reasons are my own shortcomings...but a few others are due to to the M9's well known issues.

So that said, I scratched my head in puzzlement at Leica's chutzpah in announcing this model which still retains an old LCD screen and no auto-focus, and that can be pre-ordered at a number of retailers (B&H and Adorama list it for preorder) for $7,950 or about $1000 more than the M9!

The justification for the higher cost is the quality of the new sensor, a top ISO setting of 10,000, a rangefinder-type optical viewfinder and a 14-bit uncompressed RAW mode that yields 36MB DNGs.

I have no idea if this model will sell well or be a flop...nor does anyone else.  But I took a look at the dpreview.com hands-on review of the Leica M-Monochrom, and I read phrases which, to me, are smiling warnings. For instance, the reviewer uses sentences such as "there's a real pleasure to be found in having to think harder about the shots you're taking."...and "Getting the best out of the Monochrom takes practise (perhaps a lifetime's worth) and processing, but willfully embracing that challenge seems to be part of what this camera is about."

A lifetime's worth? That says it all. I'll keep enjoying my M9 and my new Fujifilm X Pro-1 with the knowledge that using the former will continue to frustrate me, and will occasionally produce exceptionally lovely photographs....and the certainty that I can, with a swift adjustment, have the X Pro-1 produce in-camera excellent black & whites should I want or need to.

For those who like that sort of thing...here's a video reviewing the new Leica M-Monchrom.

Ayush Ranka; Koovagam (Hijra) Festival

Photo © Ayush Ranka- All Rights Reserved

"Religious festivals in India are typically explosive affairs, but few pack the surreal punch of Koovagam." 

And so begins a three part article in the India Ink section of The New York Times, which is accompanied by the photographs of Ayush Ranka, an independent photojournalist based in Bangalore.

Ayush just attended the Koovagam Festival and returned with a photo essay (33 photographs) of this annual religious festival for hijras, India’s male-to-female transgendered people.

The festival celebrates the myth of Lord Krishna taking female form in order to marry Aravan, a warrior who fought the Mahabharata War. It is in Koovagam, a small village in Tamil Nadu, that a large number of transgendered people come to worship Aravan, and celebrate the night when Krishna took the form of a woman to become his wife, and then weep in mourning at the news of his death.

Hijras have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent, and their culture draws upon the traditions of several religions. However, their goodess is Bahuchara Mata with a temple in Western Gujarat.

Ayush Ranka was selected as one of the top ten short-listed photographers of the Redux Scholarship for the 2009 Foundry Photojournalism Workshop,  and his clients include New York Times, Volvo, UVEX (Germany), Azim Premji Foundation, GQ (India), Financial Times Magazine, Harvard Business Review and Femina Magazine.

POV: Swords Are Closer Than They Appear!

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- All Rights Reserved

I've been asked as to how close (or far) this particularly fierce looking and menacing Oracle devotee was to me whilst I made this photograph. After all, he's wielding a ceremonial sword with a curved tip that seems to threaten my well-bring...and, depending on what lens I am using, could be inches or feet away from where I was.

This is one of the photographs I made during the festival of the Oracles of Kodungallur celebrated at the Bhagawati temple, which was one of the highlights of my Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop this past March. It involved the sacrifice of cocks and shedding of the Oracles own blood, to appease the goddess Kali and her demons who are said to relish blood offerings.

Well, I was inches away from him and was so close that I felt the draft or the swoosh made by the whirling of the sword above his head. My eye was glued to my viewfinder, shooting like crazy...and since I was using my 17-40mm f4.0 lens, set at probably 17mm.... I "saw" him at quite a safe distance.

Though he seemed rather out of it, I think he was still very aware of me...so I don't think I was in any danger despite the proximity.

But the moral of the story is that when one is photographing something like that, shoot with both eyes open! You'd avoid a splitting headache.

For the rest of the Oracles of Kodungallur photo essay, the gallery of stills is here, while the audio-slideshow is here.

Leica & Magnum: Chien-Chi Chang's Chinatown

Chien-Chi Chang's work in this short video is a singular treat because it'll appeal with many of the street photographers who find New York City's Chinatown to offer the richest of visual opportunities...and I'm one of those.

This photo essay is made of a collection of photographs taken between 1992-2011, and each photograph is paired with a short clip of audio...which is a brilliant idea, and one I shall try to emulate as I walk the streets of NYC. I am certain that adding 5 seconds or so of high heels on the sidewalk of Bleecker Street and some pedestrian chatter for instance, will enhance the visual experience. I have already tried this yesterday, and it isn't as simple as it sounds.

But back to the Chien-Chi Chang's Chinatown. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Chinese live in the Canal Street are of NYC, which is the largest Chinese community outside of Asia.

The photographer spent 19 years documenting the lives of men from the Chinee province of Fuzhou who leave their wives and families to work as dishwashers, cooks, carpenters and day laborers in New York City’s Chinatown. they spend their days at work, usually in difficult circumstances, and live in overcrowded dorm like apartments where they cook, eat, sleep and dream of prosperity and of home.

The Travel Photographer's Warm Split Tone LR Preset

Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I've received a number of emails asking me how the toning of the still photographs of The Spice People of Mattencherry audio slideshow was done.

It's an overly saturated look, which I thought would go well with the color of turmeric, ginger and the burlap sacks so prevalent in that ancient area of Kochi. So here's the "secret sauce" as some call this sort of post processing workflow, which in reality is really quite simple.

It obviously is not suited for many types of photographs and projects, but if you need this sort of saturation, do try it and see if it suits you. For fine tuning, I'd increase or decrease the Blacks slider as deemed necessary after choosing the preset.

To download, click on The Travel Photographer's LR Presets.

Suchet Suwanmongkol: Theyyam

Here's a short video trailer featuring Suchet Suwanmongkol who was recently in Kerala to document the ritual of Theyyam, amongst other of the area's cultural and religious events.

Suchet is not only a well established photographer, well known for his photography in his country of Thailand and beyond, but he's also the owner of the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi hotel in Chiang Mai, which he painstakingly built in an effort to restore and preserve the region's Lanna culture.

His travel photography website features galleries from Myanmar to the depths of Papua New Guinea, from India to Tibet and from Venice and Cinque Terre to China's interior. He also has an impressive portfolio of fashion photographs.

He has another website SUWANMONGKOL, which I believe is the most recent, and that also features a number of his galleries.

Theyyam is a Hindu ritual exclusive to North Malabar in Kerala, India. Suchet (as I did as well) photographed the Theyyam rituals in Kannur. This is a cult going back several thousand years, with ancient traditions, rituals and customs, and it includes all the castes and classes of the Hindu religion in this region.

The performers of Theyyam belong to a lower caste, and this in itself is unique since only in Kerala do the upper caste Brahmins and the lower caste share important roles in religious rituals.

I am told that the final version of Theyyam ought to be finalized soon, and naturally I will bring it to you on this blog as soon as it is.

CameraBag2: Photo Editing

Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

I chanced on the Camerabag2's website just yesterday, and thought I'd share it with my readers, especially as it offers a free trial for 30 days.

Camerabag2 describes itself as a photo app for Mac and PC with a new approach to editing. It claims that its Analog Engine pairs a full suite of photographic tools with filters and vintage simulations. It uses a straightforward approach to layering, rearranging, and tweaking all of these effects in realtime. It has 100+ fully-adjustable filters and 25+ professional controls.

Purists will probably not be interested in such as app, but for those who like presets, and appreciate tweaking these to suit their own preferences, Camerabag2 does deliver. It has all sorts of tools, from simple exposure and cropping to advanced vignetting, color correction, and curves. However, I didn't see any sharpening tools...but I may have missed it.

The image I made on Bleecker Street the other day was processed in Camerabag2 as seen above.

Does it compete with Lightroom, Photoshop et al? Of course not. But it offers a quick fix to those who have no time or interest in getting involved with these two heavyweights...and it does so at the price of only $29. Not too bad.

Note: I have no direct or indirect relationship with the makers of Camerabag2 and/or its distributors.

Lisa Wiltse: Daulatdia Brothel

Photo © Lisa Wiltse-All Rights Reserved

In Bangladesh, on the banks of the Padma River, is the village of Dauladtia. It is here that the largest brothel in the country thrives , with over 2000 servicing 3000 men every day. The sex workers have usually been kidnapped by gangs, sold by their families or step families or tricked with promises of good jobs. It's estimated that there are 100,000 women selling sex in Bangladesh.

It is here that Lisa Wiltse photographed her photo essay Daulatdia Brothel, and documented the atrociaous practice of procuring a drug called Oredexon, a “cow-fattening” steroid to underage girls, in order to make them plumper and look older, despite the dangerous side effects on their health.

Lisa Wiltse is an American photographer who moved to Sydney, Australia where she worked as a staff photographer for the Sydney Morning Herald until 2008, when she moved to La Paz, Bolivia to pursue her freelance career.

Her photography has been recognized by Photo District News, the National Press Photographers Association, Sony awards, and is the recipient of The Walkley award in Australia, among others. Her work been published in The Sydney Morning Herald,The FADER, Time Magazine, Internazionale, Private photo review, The Sun magazine and The Australian Financial Review.

Leica M9 vs Fuji X Pro-1...Result!

JPEG #A FUJI X PRO-1

 JPEG # B LEICA M9

Well, the results of the poll are correct!

The results are (at the time of writing this post) 139 voted for image A to have been made with the Fuji X Pro-1, while 114 voted for it to have been made with the Leica M9.

I think the point of the poll's question is to demonstrate that, to me at least, both cameras are very close in terms of quality of images...in my experience, the Leica M9's images have a little greenish tint to them (probably depending on the light source?), while the X Pro-1's images are warmer (again perhaps of the light source).

Naturally, the images I used were JPEG's 'out of the box' so to speak...and perhaps I should've used the RAW files from each camera instead. As I always maintain and say, cameras are nothing but tools. A carpenter needs a claw and a ball-peen hammer in his/her tool box. Brand loyalty taken to unreasonable partisan levels is always silly and unproductive. Both the M9 and the X Pro-1 have their weak and strong points...as mostly everything else in life. and that's all there is to it.

Yesterday I went to the Occupy Wall Street protest in Union Square with both the M9 and X Pro-1. Some of the images I made using both cameras can be viewed on The Leica File in a slideshow. I used the X Pro-1 when I needed the speed because of its AF, and used the M9 when I had the luxury of time to focus.

I was accosted by a number of photographers who were curious as to what I thought of the X Pro-1.

My Work: The Spice People of Mattencherry

Here's a short audio slideshow which I produced in under an hour yesterday of some stills I made on Mattencherry's main street during my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™. 

Mattencherry, part of Kochi, was once a bustling centre of trade, particularly in spices but is now but a shadow of its historical vibrancy, however godowns of ginger, basmati rice and other spices can still found on its main street. It is there that traders and porters work from the same small stores occupied by their forefathers.

All the stills are with a Leica M9 and post processed in Lightroom using my own split tone preset.

I, like many others, am at loss at what to call an audio slideshow. It seems to me that audio slideshow is cumbersome and old fashioned. Some like Benjamin Chesterton of Duckrabbit Multimedia call it photo-film...while others like John Stanmeyer call it audio-visual. Joe Weiss of SoundSlides calls it just that..soundslides.

But none of those have clicked with me.

Naked Eye: Leica M9 vs FujiFilm X Pro-1

JPEG #A STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA

 JPEG # B STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA

JPEG #A  (AUTO FIX IN PHOTOSHOP)

JPEG #B (AUTO FIX IN PHOTOSHOP)

Another poll for those who like playing the game.

Here are JPEG #A and JPEG #B; one is made with a Leica M9 at 200 iso with a Leica Elmarit 28mm at f2.8, while the other was made with a Fuji X Pro-1 at 200 iso with a Fujinon 18mm (equivalent of 27mm) at f2.0. The photographs were made within a few seconds from each other under the same lighting conditions, and using an automatic shutter speed.

The lower two are the same images after using Auto Fix in Photoshop. No other processing was done to either of them.

So what's your call? Which image was made with the M9, and which with the X Pro-1?




After having handled the M9 for about 15 months and the X Pro-1 for just over a week, I feel that both have a place in my tool box.  It took me a few hours to understand the ins and outs of the X Pro-1, and I haven't had frustrations to speak of once I ironed out its quirks. In contrast, the Leica M9 is a difficult camera with which I had considerable frustrations (and some pleasures) so far.

I am neither a Leica cheerleader nor a X Pro-1 groupie, and as I imply earlier, I consider them both to be useful tools for different jobs. That said, while the M9's build is better (more solid) than the X Pro-1, its many shortcomings (lack of AF, abysmal display, image quality issues at ISOs higher than 640, etc) are difficult to tolerate with the appearance of the X Pro-1 that is also well-built, has reasonable quality glass, has good image quality to 6400 iso, and a lovely display, apart from its many other technical advantages, such as its revolutionary hybrid viewfinder as one of numerous examples.

"Will the FujiFilm X Pro-1 dethrone the Leica M9? "

Sure, the Leica M9 not only has a mystique, but more tangibly, also provides a special 'feel' to the  photographs it produces...but the X Pro-1 image quality is excellent. Does it have the Leica "feel"? No it doesn't. The M9 is a full frame camera, and the X Pro-1 isn't. However, it has an APS-C sized sensor, which produces images that are said to be equal, if not superior, to those of full-frame cameras.

Will the FujiFilm X Pro-1 dethrone the Leica M9? I doubt it...but it's a very serious contender, and fills a niche for photographers who seek to add a digital rangefinder-like camera to their gear, and do not want to spend upwards of $7000 for a body to do it.

And for those who have voted in the previous poll in which I ask for the readers preference between photographs made with a Leica M9, a Fujifilm X Pro-1, a Canon 7D, a Canon 5D Mark II and a Panasonic GF1, the results favored the Leica M9 which got 38.5% of the votes, then the X Pro-1 which got about 33%.