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Brandon Stanton: Humans of New York

Photo © Brandon Stanton-All Rights Reserved
Here's a really great project!

As many of us who follow photography and photojournalism remember, and still frequently refer to, The New York Times' series of One In 8 Million were superb multimedia visual narratives about interesting New Yorkers...and photographer Brandon Stanton has followed with his compelling Humans of New York; portraits of New Yorkers of all stripes, shapes and background.

Brandon's goal is to gather 10,000 street portraits and plot them on an interactive map. More than 2000 portraits have been gathered so far, and even include stories about some of the fascinating people photographed.

One of the stories I especially liked was the one about The Poet. I have seen this guy a few times...and saw his sign.

Ah, if only these stories were also captured by using a handheld sound recorder!!! The audio could then be added to the portraits, and we'd be in incredible multimedia paradise!

According to Brandon Stanton's biography, he has had a colorful background. He currently lives in New York, where he’s on a mission to find every interesting person in the city, and take their photograph.

Gone Fishin'

Have a good Memorial Day!

Alexander Martirosov: Venice & Its Carnavale

Photo © Alexander Martirosov-All Rights Reserved
Alexander Martirosov is a photographer from St. Petersburg, Russia, and specializes in portraiture, fashion and fine art photography. He recently staged two exhibitions, opened his own studio, formed a team of associates, and became a finalist in several competitions held under the auspices of the International Federation of Photographic Art, FIAP.

Alexander's background is in fashion retail, and he is the founder and owner of one of the largest retail chains of Italian fashion shoes in St. Petersburg. Previously, he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Technology, majoring in Radiation Processes in Nuclear Energy. You'll agree that his luminous photographs of masked characters at the Venice's Carnavale betray his fashion background and affinity...they could be featured in all the major international fashion glossies.

The Venice Carnavale is the most internationally known festival celebrated in Venice, Italy, as well as being one of the oldest. This congregation of masked people began in the 15th century, but the tradition can be traced back to the beginning of the 14th Century.

Angkor Photo Workshops 2011




Now in its 7th year, the free 2011 Angkor Photo Workshops is now officially accepting applications from all young Asian photographers.

To get started, photographers can download and read through the application guidelines and the application form below:
The guidelines and form contains all the information needed on how to apply for this year’s workshops. However for clarifications and or questions, the Angkor Photo Workshops can be contacted email at angkorworkshop [at] gmail.com .

The workshop will be held from November 17 – 23, 2011 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. As per the previous years’ workshops, 30 participants will be selected from amongst the applications received. The deadline to submit the application is July 15, 2011.

Since its inception in 2005, more than 180 young photographers from all over Asia have been selected to participate in the annual free Angkor Photo Workshops. Conducted by renowned international photographers who volunteer their time, the Angkor Photo Workshops provide participants with firsthand training, invaluable exposure and a chance to perfect their art.

Over the years, the workshop has highlighted emerging talent from the region, and many previous participants go on to embark on successful photography careers both regionally and internationally.

I'll be there!!

Lola Akinmade Åkerström : A GeoTraveler

Photo © Lola Akinmade Åkerström _All Rights Reserved
Since today is the (un)official start of the summer season in the United States with an exodus of people towards vacation destinations for the long Memorial Weekend, I thought I'd feature a renowned travel expert on The Travel Photographer blog.

Lola Akinmade Åkerström does everything; she's a photographer, a writer, an editor, a photojournalist and worked for NGOs. She has won countless awards for her photography and travel writing from the National Geographic magazine to major newspapers. In her photography, she specializes in travel photography and is known to be a food photographer as well, especially if in exotic locales.

I chose to feature Lola's exquisite image of a pensive Egyptian overlooking the Nile for this post. She has many more, and although her imagery is not grouped by country...she classified her work in groups instead.

For those who are on their way for the long week end, let's go let's go let's go!

Paul Levrier: Mekong Delta

Photo © Paul Levrier-All Rights Reserved
I've posted the work of Paul Levrier before on The Travel Photographer's blog, but he just alerted me that his website Visions of Indochina had been updated, and now included large sized images...and he was right. His portfolio is certainly large sized, making it easier and more enjoyable to appreciate.

Having said that, I especially liked his must-see new section On Assignments which features his work from Can Tho, the largest town in Vietnam's Delta, where his intent was to record life on the Mekong river and its famed floating markets. He used a wide angle on a number of his shots, and with the extra large size he chose for his images, they appear almost life-like.

Reading Paul's notes on his accompanying blog, he tells us that while tourists usually visit the Cai Rang market, the largest on the Mekong, he headed instead to Nga Bay, but found that the local authorities had closed and pushed the vendors further up river to a rural location called Cho Noi...which was difficult to get to, and was consequently free of foreign sightseers.

I traveled to Can Tho in 2003 (eons ago, it now seems) photographing for a NGO, and unfortunately had no time to photograph the floating markets. After seeing Paul's images, this is high on my to-do list.

Carolyn Beller: Oaxaca

Photo © Carolyn Beller-All Rights Reserved
I wager that readers of The Travel Photographer blog will agree with me that this third in a row pure travel photography post is a home run!

Carolyn Beller started her photography work in earnest as recently as 2006 with an established background in art, interior design and pottery, as well as in teaching art.

Her biography tells us that she took up photography when realizing that it would serve to document the lives and culture of various indigenous people she came in contact with when she worked on pottery projects. She traveled to Nepal, India, Burma, and Rwanda.

Carolyn attended workshops with Alex and Rebecca Webb, David Alan Harvey, Jay Maisel, Nevada Wier, Catherine Karnow and Jim Richardson. Some of those names I obviously recognize and others I don't...but I thought her wonderful photograph of young boys and their shadows in her Oaxaca gallery has much of Alan Harvey's and Webb's influence in it.

After seeing Carolyn's photographs made on the Staten Island ferry, that's a project I ought to take on as well. Staten Island is part of New York City, isn't it? If so, I consider it my purview as much as Chinatown and Washington Square Park are.

Jochem Gugelot: Iran

Photo © Jochem Guegelot-All Rights Reserved
This is the second day in a row that I feature pure travel photography to The Travel Photographer blog...this time it's the work of Jochem Gugelot whose biography tells us that he lives in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and who's a freelance graphic designer and photographer.

The graphic influence is very much at play in Joachem's work. First of all, his galleries (what he calls photo series) are displayed in a very large size, which is what I've advocated for a few years now. When I am sent website galleries by photographers, I can't describe how much more receptive to featuring them when they consist of large images....to my eye, 1000x667 pixels ought to be the norm...but Joachem's are much larger than that. I view the site using a Chrome browser on a monitor of 1920x1080, and it's stunning.

Jocahem features his work from Iran, the Seychelles and the Maldives as well as a delightful photo series of the Himalayan Kingdoms. You'll also notice he's partial to low angles as well as photographing from above the scene. gallery of the Himalayan Kingdoms, which include Sikkim (and Darjeeling).

Out of all his series, I particularly like his work of Iran...a country long demonized by the US for no reason, and one that hasn't been sufficiently featured on my blog. You'll see a number of landscape photographs with a few street scenes. Jochem also included frames of Istanbul and Dubai in the gallery.

Ania Blazejewska: People of Ladakh

Photo © Ania Blazejewska-All Rights Reserved
To start the week on a pure travel photography note, here's the work of Ania Blazejewska. She is a freelance travel photographer based in Poznan, Poland. Having graduated with a degree in political science, her embrace of travel and photography led her to Asia and northern Africa.

Her work was recognized in various Polish and international photo contests, and her  freelance photos and articles were featured in a number of Polish-language travel portals. She has photographed in Cuba, India, Ladakh, Laos, Oman, Morocco, Srl Lanka and Nepal...to mention just a few.

Many of her travel photography is of people, and photographed in portrait mode...in vertical format. I chose her Ladakh gallery to feature here, but don't leave her website until you've explored her many other galleries. One that I particularly liked as well is her Living As A Burmese Monk photo essay.

Incidentally, Ania is one of the many photographers who uses PhotoShelter for her website and galleries.

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

The Leica File: The Chinese Flutist

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Despite the imminent threat of the Rapture yesterday, I trotted along to one of my favorite New York City haunts, and happily found it teeming with Chinatown residents who were enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. This time I took my Elmarit 28mm and the Voigtlander Nokton 40mm for the M9, as well as my digital recorder....and I was rewarded.

There were three competing Chinese traditional sing-along bands, and I spent time with two of them. Despite their rather severe expressions, the elderly Chinese who populate Columbus park to listen to the music during the week-ends are extremely cordial, and laugh easily when a "gweilo" such as I takes interest in their culture. I had a number of conversations with Chinese men who, despite a halting English, were happy to see me taking photographs. As always, the card-playing, mah jongg and chess brigades were in force...some tables reserved for women players, who seemed to take the games more seriously than the men.

You may notice that the above photograph (click to enlarge) of the Chinese flutist is at an angle...this is because it's originally a vertical. I seldom shoot verticals, but I wanted to get that particular angle. And, yes, I toned a little bit.

Another thing...well, actually two things. The first is that I tried out the E-Clypse MAG 1.25x 34 from match Technical Services. It magnifies the Leica viewfinder image by 25%, and has a silicon rubber eyecup. The manufacturer claims that it increases the focusing accuracy by 25%, by magnifying the focusing patch. Let me say first that it's extremely well made, and fits the M9's viewfinder thread perfectly. It does magnify the focusing patch (I can't tell if it's 25% or not) but it's not the holy grail either...so while it makes focusing a tad easier, it'll still have to be gotten used to.

As for the second thing: Asim Rafiqui, a friend and damn good photojournalist (and Leica user) reminded me of the principle of zone focusing to resolve my difficulties. It had been stored in a dusty cobwebbed part of my brain, as I had never used it (the principle, not my brain). So I tested it once or twice while walking on Broadway...it works, but still needs refining.

I am on the right path. And since the Rapture has not happened, I have the time to practice. Phew.

Alex Webb/Rebecca Webb: Violet Isle


Few people interested in photography don't know who Alex Webb is, so I'll keep this introduction brief.

He began working as a professional photojournalist in 1974, and joined Magnum Photos as an associate member in 1976, and a full member in 1979. He photographed extensively in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, and in Turkey. His photographs have appeared in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Life, Geo, Stern, and National Geographic, and has published many books.

Rebecca Norris-Webb is an international photographer and poet.

Violet Isle is featured by Magnum In Motion, and showcases Alex’s exploration of the streets of Cuba and Rebecca’s discovery of unique and sometimes mysterious animals. While the photography styles of this husband-wife team is distinctly different, they decided decided to weave their images together to create a multi-layered portrait Cuba.

While you watch the audio slideshow, you'll see this combination of the two styles...the typical street scenes, color saturated with lots of shadows, reflections, sun-drenched walls...and more ethereally, many caged birds, a metaphor for Cubans. The soulful soundtrack is Silencio by the Buena Vista Social Club.

Would I have preferred to hear a soundtrack of ambient audio and music recorded in the streets of Havana instead? Yes, of course...no question about it. That being said, anything by the Buena Vista Social Club is great.

Nick Riley: The Witch Doctor Of Tanzania

Photo © Nick Riley-All Rights Reserved
"For issues of love and business, property and health, people in Tanzania will visit a witch doctor. The job description appears to vary significantly between individuals. Some can help to find lost property, others specialise in healing the unwell, others still in raising curses on those that have wronged you."
My readers will immediately know that this photography essay is one that The Travel Photographer's blog relishes in featuring.

But first things first. Nick Riley is a UK photographer, currently working in Tanzania. His work has featured extensively in the press, including BBC Wildlife magazine, where he won photograph of the month. In June 2010 he was shortlisted for Photographer Of The Year. He worked on projects for clients across the public and corporate sectors, including the NHS and Diageo, but his passion is for documentary and wildlife photography.

The Witch Doctor is a multi-gallery photo essay, arranged in a blog format. Nick was allowed to photograph during the healing sessions conducted by a witch doctor in a poor suburb of Dar Es Salaam. In a tiny room filled with incense, and lined with various shells, leaves, carvings, coins, jars and packets of various powders. It was there that the witch doctor started her magic.

These are extremely atmospheric photographs, and are very well composed despite the difficult circumstances. Short of being there, I would have loved to hear the ambient sound from these sessions! Beautiful and rich colors...And do take the time to explore the other entries in Nick's blog. Well worth it.

It should be mentioned that although Islam orthodoxy frowns on witch doctors and other sorcery for exorcism, other sects less strict tolerate (and even encourage) such traditional ways to rid those afflicted with jinns and evil spirits.

The Leica File: The TV Watcher

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Walking on 14th Street in Manhattan, I noticed this man watching the news on a television in a store window. He was transfixed by whatever he was watching, oblivious of the morning's light drizzle. He had placed his shopping bag (with the umbrella) on the ground and was motionless for a little while. Click on it for a larger image.

This particular street is interesting for street photographers because one witnesses different cross sections of the city's inhabitants as one walks from one avenue to the next. The most interesting are the spots next to the subway entrances, and around the Salvation Army's headquarters.

I'm still struggling with the manual focusing on the M9. I'ts getting much better, or I should say, I'm getting better at it...and that's the only thing that needs to be worked on and improve.

To that end, I decided to try the E-Clypse MAG 1.25x from matchTechnical Services, which claims that it magnifies the viewfinder image by 25%, and increases the focusing accuracy of your Leica 25%, by magnifying the focusing patch. This is the same outfit that manufactures the Thumbs Up EP-1 that I bought recently, and which I really like a lot.

I shall report as soon as I receive it and test it. I hope it does help my focusing.

Status: Travel Photographer's The Oracles Of Kerala™


Since announcing it via my newsletter a few days ago, I've received an unusually large number of applications to join The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™, scheduled for March 2012, and which will revolve around producing photo essays and multimedia stories of two of Kerala's most unusual religious and ancient festivals, as well as its ancient dance-drama and Vedic chanting tradition.

The workshop is limited to 7 participants, and having received a larger number of applicants than expected meant I had to base my choice on a combination of factors; preference was given to photographers who have joined my earlier photo~workshops aka the "repeaters", then to those applicants who had been wait-listed on one or more of my earlier photo workshops, and lastly on the style of their photography and interest in learning multimedia.

I regret turning away anyone.

It would be certainly be easier for me to enlarge the number of participants on my trips, and accept as many applicants as possible, but I'm not that kind of travel photography expedition leader.

Pete Muller: The Cattle Keepers of Southern Sudan

Photo © Pete Muller-Courtesy Time Lightbox

I wasn't planning to feature the work of Pete Muller today (the sequence of my posts are often pre-decided a week in advance), but seeing his terrific work The Violent Cattle Keepers of Southern Sudan on the wonderful Time Lightbox blog convinced me otherwise, and I rejigged the sequence.

Pete writes that these cattle keepers are members of the Dinka Rek sub-tribe, who describe themselves as a “brigade.” In this remote area of southern Sudan, there are no signs of the army or the police, and no government as such. Consequently, these men form a militia to protect themselves from marauders of other equally well-armed pastoralist groups in the area.

The moment I saw the first photograph in Pete Muller's slideshow, I thought "oh, Jehad Nga's chiaroscuro style!", and true enough, Pete graciously ends his write up by giving credit to Nga for inspiring the aesthetic of these photos.  A statement that reflects well as to Pete's character.

Pete Muller is a photographer and multimedia reporter based in Juba, Sudan. He uses images, words, audio & video to tell under reported stories. He maintains an excellent blog which also features many of these portraits.

A really excellent photographer.

POV: Leroy's Visa Pour L'Image Says....

Image © Alexandra Avakian. Courtesy British Journal of Photography

From The British Journal of Photography:

Jean-François Leroy, Visa Pour l'Image's director, believes it's essential to remind "people of the important role photojournalists play in keeping us informed," which, he says, will be reflected in this year's edition of the world's largest photojournalism festival.
"But don't expect to see projects on Tahrir Square. I've never received that many CDs about one particular event. I know that square by heart now. I could draw you a plan from memory. I've seen it all: Tahrir during the day, Tahrir at night, Tahrir and the dogs, Tahrir in the morning, Tahrir in the evening. So what? What's the point? What's the story?"
- Jean-François Leroy, Visa Pour l'Image's director

What's the story, he asks. What's the story in Tahrir??????

After guffawing at that er...statement, what can I say other than some people are visionaries, and others are myopic, provincial and silly...and past their useful shelf life?

In contrast, take a look at NOOR Images current involvement in Cairo, where Stanley Green and others are leading a photojournalism workshop.

Olivier Laurent of The British Journal of Photography conducted the interview, and has written this response (which I quote in its entirety for fairness) on my Facebook page:
" I conducted the interview with Jean-François Leroy, and in case things are not clear enough, Leroy did say that he would not show Tahrir Square-related stories (i.e. reportages that only focus on the events at Tahrir Square) because they lack incredible context over the entire Middle-East revolution movement. Instead, he chose to show Yuri Kozyrev's work, which includes images shot in Tahrir Square but put into a wider context thanks to the images he shot in Bahrain, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, etc. To react to some of the comments here, I don't think he uttered "une connerie"** (I wish there were a perfect english equivalent to this word). In my opinion, he's quite right. I'm not saying that there hasn't been meaningful work coming out of Tahrir Square, but have these photographers submitted their work to Visa? A lot of the images I've seen coming out of that square were repetitive (in some cases, shot by three or four photographers at the exact same time) and lacked that overarching meaning - the true impact of this revolution on the Egyptian people. There's nothing wrong with a photographer parachuting in Cairo for such a story (and it's much needed to bring attention to the story) but at the end of the day, I find it more enriching when I look at these events through the lens of a photographer that truly understood these events. Laura El-Tantawy springs to mind, for example...
 One clarification though, we're talking, in this case, of the exhibitions presented at Visa. There's no doubt that countless of images from Tahrir Square will be shown during the evening projections there."
 ** To keep things succinct and brief, I still think it was "une connerie", and an unfortunate one at that.  It will be up to the attendees of the Visa Pour l'Image event as to whether ignoring a seminal and historical uprising in the Middle East (notwithstanding Yuri Kozyrev's wider work) was another "connerie", or not.

Alinka Echeverria: The Pilgrims Of Tepeyac

Photo © Alinka Echeverria-All Rights Reserved

Alinka Echeverria is a Mexican visual artist who was recently named 2011 winner of the HSBC Prize for Photography given by the HSBC Cultural Foundation of France. Her work for this prize showed 300 of the 6 million pilgrims that make their way to the Guadalupe Basilica, near Mexico City, bearing statues of the Virgin.

Her website has two interconnected galleries: the first is the black & white The Pilgrims, of portraits made in the Temple of Tepeyac, La Basilica de la Virgen de Guadalupe in Mexico City on the anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the indigenous Mexican Juan Diego.

The second gallery is of color photographs, titled Road To Tepeyac, and is of backs of 300 Mexican Catholic pilgrims on their journey to the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City. The photographs of the pilgrims are cut out from the rest of the scene, leaving us their backs and their religious images and icons.

The hill of Tepeyac is the site where the saint Juan Diego met the Virgin of Guadalupe in December of 1531, and received the iconic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

New! The Travel Photographer's The Oracles Of Kerala™


I'm super excited to have set up the The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™, an opportunity to document two of Kerala's most unusual religious and ancient festivals, as well as its ancient dance-drama and Vedic chanting tradition.

It promises to be a multi-layered unique experience, merging travel photography and documentary photography styles, documenting unusual festivals of religious pageantry with decorated elephants accompanied by dancers and drummers, while the other involves Velichapadus (oracles), who enter into trances and offer blood to deities, as well as street photography in the old city of Kochi, a Kathakali performance (including pre-performance sessions), and documenting a Vedic school.

This photo~expedition/workshop is limited to 7 participants, and has already been pre-announced to my newsletter subscribers (to which you can subscribe via the box at the right side of this blog).

As with many of The Travel Photographer's Photo~Expeditions™, it's specifically structured for photographers interested in documentary photography, ethno-photography and multimedia, and who seek to take their creativity to a new level by creating multimedia stories from their inventory of photographs.

I'm in the process of reviewing the applications/registrations that have come in from the subscribers.

And speaking of travel photography meets documentary photography, have a look at my To Stage Or Not To Stage post, which elicited a lot of reactions from my readers and Twitter followers.

Travel Photographer Of The Year At The RGS

Photo © Matjaz Krivic-All Rights Reserved-Courtesy TPOTY
I am envious of my readers in the United Kingdom as they get the opportunity of attending The Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society which runs until 10 June 2011. Well, I hope to be in London a day or two before its end, and see it myself...fingers crossed.

The best entries from The Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) 2010, along with some of the best of the society's own archive images, are at the exhibition but those who can't attend it in person can view a fantastic BBC audio slideshow.

TPOTY has signed a five-year agreement with the RGS to hold exhibitions at its 1 Kensington Gore (London) location.

The Leica File: The Jinghu Players Of Chinatown

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I"m happy to report that the kerfuffle pitting the NYPD against the senior citizens of Columbus Park in Chinatown seems to have been resolved. As you may have read in an earlier post, the NYPD disbanded the amateur Chinese opera bands that played at the park for years, and were filmed apparently using unnecessary force to do so.

But never underestimate the resilience of the Chinese...the cacophonous opera singers and their loyal musicians were back in force and in full form yesterday ...however minus their portable amplifiers. Amps and microphones violated the New York City Noise Control Code, and the NYPD swung into action. However, not only were the musicians back, but I've never seen so many chess, mah jong and card players despite the faint drizzle.

The musicians use a panoply of Chinese traditional musical instruments, such as the yangqin, a sort of dulcimer with a near-squared soundboard, and played with two bamboo sticks, as well as the jinghu, a small two string fiddle, a circular bodied plucked lute called the yueqin and the recognizable gu and ban, a drum and clapper.

As you can tell, I used a 1.4 aperture in those two photographs. I'm currently enamored with extreme shallow depth of field!

POV: To Stage Or Not To Stage?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved
I was invited a year or so ago as contributor, with other photographers (such as renowned travel photographer Bob Krist), on Pixiq, an online community where a group of professional photographers engage other enthusiasts about photography and related interests, and while it was very tempting, I excused myself because I just didn't have the time.

I occasionally drop by Pixiq to read some well-informed posts from other travel photographers, and recently I was interested in an article by Jim Zuckerman entitled Travel Photography Portraits in which he candidly tells his readers that he carefully pre-plans his photo shoots, and sets up his travel photographs, whether these are in Himbaland or elsewhere in the world.

I was equally interested to read a couple of comments, made by Marc-André Pauzé and others, essentially querying Zuckerman's work ethic for staging photo shoots, and then paying his "models". Both sides eventually get a little defensive, since they have opposing points of view.

This is not an unusual debate, and one that has been often discussed in travel photography. I didn't know Jim Zuckerman, but from his biography he's a well known photographer whose work has appeared in scores of magazines, and leads photo tours in many parts of the world. It goes almost without saying that he would make sure that he (and his clients if on a photo trip) will be able to "bag" the photographs he's after...since nothing is guaranteed in life, he just makes it possible by paying money and setting the shots.

Marc-André Pauzé, in contrast, is a photojournalist whose work ethic is against paying to set up photo shoots and opportunities. He and his peers are documentary photographers, and setting up photographs is anathema to them.

Zuckerman and Pauzé come from different corners...their market is different, and their clients seek different products. Photographers who are more commercial will set up photo shoots, use reflective umbrellas, master strobes and flashes...etc., while the latter in the photojournalism corner will use a camera, a couple of lenses and develop a relationship with his subjects, but not pay.

As Marc-André writes in his final comment: "Travel photography, as photojournalism and street photography is not staged. It is about Life."

I agree. Staging photo shoots robs reality, but I'm reasonably flexible on my own photo~expeditions to accept that staging is occasionally either better (depending on the subject matter) or the only alternative. In contrast with Jim Zuckerman, I don't really have a list of preconceived images because it would stifle my creativity and may make me not see other opportunities. My photo~expeditions single most important description is "where travel photography meets photojournalism"...and I believe it's the right one.

However, when I walk in a village in Gujarat, I'm prepared for the eventuality that staging a few photo shoots will be needed if these don't happen serendipitously. Do I like staging photographs? No, I don't....but on occasions I have no other good options. And I'd rather return with some lovely staged photographs than none.

Another important point: would I ever claim that a staged photograph isn't? No, I wouldn't...and that's an important work ethic. We have seen photojournalists breaking this work ethic rule win awards and grants, and frequently getting caught and exposed for what they are....frauds. As far as well known travel photographers as concerned, Jim Zuckerman is far from being the only one who stages photo shoots...most of them do, and their clients seem to expect it.

If you've read that far down, here's the reason I used a Gujarati doll photograph to illustrate this post: subjects in staged photos sometimes look like the doll...inanimate and lifeless!

National Geographic: Sony World Photo Awards 2011

Photo © Amit Madheshiya-Courtesy Sony World Photo Awards
The National Geographic's website is featuring the 2011 winners of the Sony World Photography Awards which is administered by the World Photography Organization. The awards were chosen by a panel of 12 judges, led by British photography critic Francis Hodges.

The choice of the first photograph of the Indian villager at an open-air movie as the Best Pro "Arts and Cultures" Picture is a great one. His facial expression is priceless...and is the "perfect moment".

The photographer is Amit Madheshiya, who tells us that travelling cinemas in India visit remote villages once a year, screening an eclectic mix of films for the equivalent of about 40 U.S. cents a ticket.

I suggest you also visit Amit Madheshiya's website which features The Nomadic Cinemas, with 24 images of this photo essay.

By the way, Amit's website is hosted by PhotoShelter...the professional website to show off your best photos.

WTF! The NYPD Hates Chinese Opera?

Photo Courtesy The Gothamist
One of my favorite photographic destinations in NYC's Chinatown is Columbus Park, where large number of Chinese residents and non-residents congregate during the weekends to play xiangqi, a board game similar to Western chess, mah-jong, and cards while listening to cacophonous Chinese opera performed by two groups of amateurs (most of whom are senior citizens).

But now I'm seriously pissed off. Here's why:

The Gothamist recently had an article with a video featuring the NYPD arresting an elderly man at the park on May 8 when they tried to stop a group of senior citizens from playing Chinese music...presumably he was a member of the bands that accompany the singers.

It may have been caused by a noise complaint by a resident, but it's more likely that it was that these bands of amateurs did not have the requisite permits that all street NYC performers need to have before playing in the streets.

Having said that, there's no doubt the NYPD crossed the line in how its officers dealt with this. On The Gothamist site, there's a short video that shows how the Chinese and others were brutally dispersed...the use of mace and batons was threatened, and the man arrested was thrown to the ground, then handcuffed.

These amateur Chinese opera singers (more like classical Chinese karaoke in my view) were certainly cacophonous, and perhaps even discordant to Western ears, but they brought in a lot of tourists and residents alike, and didn't harm anyone...quite the opposite.

So it's either that the NYPD has no ear for Chinese opera, or they really have nothing else to do. Since Osama Ben Laden was killed last week or so, I suppose they can now focus their efforts on arresting harmless senior citizens who speak no or little English.

The NYPD ought to nab the marijuana peddlars in Washington Square Park instead...or the vendors of counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags on Canal Street...and leave me the Chinese opera singers to photograph.

I wrote a number of posts on the Columbus Park Chinese opera, but this one describes the setting, while this following audio slideshow I produced is of one of the bands.

Katharina Hesse: Human Negotiations


Katharina Hesse is a damn good documentary photographer, and here's one of the many reasons why I say that:

She and her colleague, Lara Day, are requiring support for a worthwhile photographic book project Human Negotiations. It's on Kickstarter, and is an independent, self-funded documentary, exploring the lives of a community of Bangkok sex workers through both images and text.

Human Negotiations is not a journalistic account of the sex trade, but instead is a personal interpretation of a line of work that is frequently misunderstood.

To date, the project has garnered international support and was shown at numerous spaces and international festivals. Pledged funds will go directly towards printing costs so that Human Negotiations can be published as a book to coincide with an exhibition in China's foremost space for contemporary photography and video art.

So do consider to help Katharina and Lara with your pledges! It's really a worthwhile project and will encourage other documentary photographers to bring similar projects to the fore.

Katharina Hesse is a Beijing-based photographer who has lived in Asia for nearly two decades. Her photography focuses primarily on China’s social concerns among them youth, urban culture, religion and North Korean refugees.

Lara Day is a writer, editor and photographer based in Hong Kong and Bangkok whose work has appeared in leading publications including TIME and Travel + Leisure.

Stefen Chow: The Hasidim

Photo © Stefen Chow-All Rights Reserved

Stefen Chow is a photographer currently living between Beijing and Singapore. He worked with various news organizations, including Getty Images, Associated Press and Bloomberg News, as well as commercial clients such as Keppel Corporation, Singapore Airlines and Shell International. Not content to have traveled to over 30 countries, Stefen also summitted Mount Everest in 2005.

His website is full of visually varied photo galleries and I thought his most interesting were those of his personal work. For those who are adventurers, I recommend you view his work of Chomolungma (the Tibetan name of Mount Everest). and for those interested in culture to spend time viewing his large photographs of the Hasidim in Brooklyn, New York.

Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularization Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith, and was founded in Eastern Europe in the 18th century. Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel, with one of the largest concentrations of Jews in the United States.

Al Jazeera: Vietnam

Photo © Nicole Precel_Courtesy Al Jazeera
If you think Al Jazeera is only an excellent source of international news, and the Arab satellite television channel that left all our cable networks in the dust during the momentous events in the Middle East, you'd be wrong because it also features photography essays such as the one by Nicole Percel's Vietnam: Between Tradition & Modernity.

In February 2011; Nicole Precel and Nick Ahlmark were in Chi Ca Commune, a cluster of villages in Xin Man district, part of Ha Giang province in northern Vietnam, the poorest province in the country, to make a movie for the final episode of Al Jazeera's Birthrights, a series examining maternal health around the world.

Al Jazeera also features social documentary work such as the accompanying video The Mountain Midwives of Vietnam.

A 2012 The Travel Photographer Photo~Expedition™


Here's a sneak announcement for the first 2012 The Travel Photographer Photo~Expedition™, whose destination will be Kerala in south India. The objectives of the expedition/workshop will be two unusual religious festivals, a Vedic gurukul, a Kathakali academy and street photography in one of the oldest trading cities of the Western ghats.

The program, routing and pricing are almost ready, and I shall be sending its details to my newsletter subscribers by mid week.

So keep an eye on your inbox!!!

POV: Yes, I Have A Name. It's Mohamed Shaglouf!


"From the pickup, Lynsey saw a body outstretched next to our car, one arm outstretched. We still don’t know whether that was Mohammed. We fear it was, though his body has yet to be found."

We all remember the relief that the photojournalism/media felt when Stephen Farrell, Tyler Hicks, Lynsey Addario and Anthony Shadid were freed from their brutal ordeal at the hands of the pro-Qaddafi military.

Those us who have long memories also recall that the photojournalists' Libyan driver was named in the various articles that reported on the event as Mohammed, or "the driver", if at all. I wrote a blog post lamenting the fact that Mohammed's last name was unknown, despite his probable end at the hands of the Libyan loyalists.

Felix Salmon of the Reuters blog has written The Hermetic & Arrogant New York Times which, among many targets, aims at Bill Keller's (the NYT's editor) by writing this:

He (Keller) talks at length about Hetherington and Hondros, and about other photographers, like Joao Silva, who parachute in to war zones, meet fixers, get their shots, and then move on to the next job — if they don’t get their legs blown off in the process. He writes movingly about NYT photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, who were brutally treated in Libya but survived; he doesn’t mention their driver, Mohamed Shaglouf, who almost certainly didn’t.
For the life of me, I can't understand why he didn't. Is it tribalism, elitism, myopia, "i don't give a shit" about non NYT people...or non-Americans?

Simon Norfolk: Afghanistan

"This current war is tragedy, is an imperial game, is a folly...
Following the welcome demise of Bin Laden, I thought it timely to feature photographs or a multimedia essay on Afghanistan. I didn't want it to be of the conflict, or some other cliches, so this short movie on Simon Norfolk's Afghanistan project seemed much more appropriate.

In October 2010, Simon Norfolk began a photo series of Afghanistan, influenced by the work of 19th-century British photographer John Burke. Norfolk’s photographs of "modern" Kabul is presented along with Burke’s original portfolios.

Norfolk is critical of the Afghanistan war and of journalists who report from the safety of armored compounds, and especially of photographers who travel around Kabul with a security details. He was told on his arrival that he couldn't photograph freely in Kabul except with bodyguards, but he did.

The accompanying audio is really wonderful. The Afghan music and songs are hauntingly beautiful, and the call to prayer (towards the end of the piece) accompanied by pictures of Kabul at dawn may give you goosebumps.

A welcome change from the depressingly unimaginative photojournalism work we see out of Afghanistan.

The Leica File: The Guitar Man

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Saturday's ideal weather in New York City saw throngs of people in Washington Square Park, and the regular solo and group musical buskers were there as well. However, I noticed an acoustic guitar player I hadn't seen before, and moved in closer to photograph him.

Peter Grudzieh is from Astoria, Queens, and occasionally comes to the park to play his guitar and sing. I didn't recognize the songs he performed; perhaps some vintage Bob Dylan? I introduced myself and promised I'd send him some of the photographs. Although I cover up the Leica logo with black tape, he recognized it, and also knew it was German-made.

One of a kind.

And I'm sure I'll see him in the park again.

(M9/Voigtlander Nokton 1.4 40mm 1/360 iso 160)

Eric Lafforgue: SoHo Loft Gallery Exhibition


I'm very pleased that Eric Lafforgue's photographs will be on exhibit at the Soho Loft Gallery in New York City with weekend events scheduled for May 7 and 8. I will try to drop by on either of these dates to see them by myself.

Eric Lafforgue is a French photographer who started photography in 2006.  Magazines and newspapers from all over the world began using his work for illustrations on North Korea, Papua New Guinea, the tribes of Ethiopia, etc. His work also appeared on multiple National Geographic covers and featured  in The Economist, CNN Traveler and many other travel magazines worldwide.

He is part of the European leading agency Rapho and works both digital and film using Hasselblad H4D-50, Canon 1Ds Mk III, 5D MK II, Leica M6.

I consider Eric Lafforgue to be one of the best ethnologist-photographers, and I posted on his work a few times here. Apart from his stunning website, he also posts much of his work on Flickr, and I never understood the reason since by uploading images to it, he is granting the site a non-exclusive, royalty free license.

Note: Eric just advised me that a significant portion of his sales of photographs originate from his Flickr account. For him the formula works perfectly!

Cazenove+Loyd Leica Travel Photographer of The Year


Cazenove + Loyd is a bespoke (aka luxury) travel company based in the UK started almost 20 years ago by Susie Cazenove and Henrietta Loyd, which has teamed up with Leica to offer a photographic competition celebrating exploration and adventure.

The Cazenove+Loyd Leica travel photographer of the year competition 2011 is looking for photographs taken in one of the company's three areas of expertise, Africa+Indian Ocean, South+South East Asia, Central+South America.

The Travel Photographer of the Year 2011 will win a new Leica X1 and accessories, plus an X1 Akademie Workshop at the Leica Store Mayfair. From January to December 2011, an entrant can win a monthly prize of a new Leica camera, Leica sports optic or Leica Akademie workshop at the Leica Store Mayfair.

Images submitted don't have to be photographed with a Leica, and the copyright remains with the photographer...but the company and Leica have the right to use the winning images from the date of entry to 18 months after the closing date of the Competition.

The Leica File: The Flag Vendor

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
"Don't Let Me Holler
Buy A Flag For 2 Dollar"

And so many people did. The vendor of United States flags did a brisk trade on May 5 on Church Street in Lower Manhattan...and why shouldn't he? The crowds had come to the area near Ground Zero because President Obama was nearby laying a wreath of flowers to honor the people killed in the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and marking the death of Osama Ben Laden.

Where I was, there were no displays of jingoism or bravado...only a sense of contentment. There were lots of locals and tourists milling about, pointing their cameras at all the flags, as well as television crews filming the crowds.  When the cavalcade of black SUVs with President Obama quickly whizzed through, the cheers were deafening....and when it quietened down, the vendors continued their spiel...Don't Let Me Holler, Buy A Flag For 2 Dollar.

(M9. 1/360 f1.4 Nokton 40mm iso 160)

Veejay Villafranca: Fate Above Faith

Photo © Veejay Viilafranca-All Rights Reserved
Vicente Jaime “Veejay” Villafranca is a photojournalist from the Philippines, who worked with Agence France Presse, Reuters, World Picture Network and the United Nations IRIN news wire. He was of the 7 Filipinos to be accepted in the first Asian documentary workshop of the Angkor photography festival in Siem Reap, Cambodia. His project on former gang members won the 2008 Ian Parry Scholarship. His work has been shown in London, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Phnom Pehn, France, Turkey and Manila. He is represented by Getty Global Assignments in London and Melon Rouge in Cambodia.

I particularly liked Veejay's powerful photo essay Fate Above Faith, which documents the faith of half a million people who seek to show their faith in the streets of downtown Manila by venerating the 400-year old relic of the Black Nazarene, which is a life-sized, dark-colored, wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ, and considered miraculous by many Filipino devotees. During this event, the devotees are overwhelmed by their faith and barefooted and dressed in the devotional colors of maroon and gold, surround the relic's carriage, pulling and tugging at the cordon ropes.

Equally impressive is Veejay's photo essay on the Badjao, the indigenous people of the seas who settled on the coasts of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga in the southern part of the Philippines.

POV: Bin Laden And Let's Get Real


Here are some quotes off commentary that I thought were right on the mark:
 
Jon Stewart (The Daily Show): "The face of the Arab world in America's eyes for too long has been bin Laden, and now it is not. Now the face is only the young people in Egypt and Tunisia and all the Middle Eastern countries around the world where freedom rises up."

Robert Fisk (The Independent): "So now for a reality check. The world is not safer for Bin Laden's killing. It is safer because of the winds of freedom blowing through the Middle East. If the West treats the people of this region with justice rather than military firepower, then al-Qa'ida becomes even more irrelevant than it has been since the Arab revolutions."

Tom Friedman (The New York Times): " And that is that he lived long enough to see so many young Arabs repudiate his ideology. He lived long enough to see Arabs from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen to Syria rise up peacefully to gain the dignity, justice and self-rule that Bin Laden claimed could be obtained only by murderous violence and a return to puritanical Islam.

Robert Fisk (The Independent): "But these past few months, millions of Arab Muslims rose up and were prepared for their own martyrdom – not for Islam but for freedom and liberty and democracy. Bin Laden didn't get rid of the tyrants. The people did. And they didn't want a caliph."

Luke Duggleby: The Art of Kathakali

Photo © Luke Duggleby-All Rights Reserved
Luke Duggleby is a British photographer with a degree in photography from the University of Gloucestershire. Currently based in Bangkok, he's shooting assignments and personal projects from India to Indonesia, China to Cambodia for various publications and NGOs.

His photography has been featured in The Sunday Times Magazine (UK) , The Independent on Sunday Review, Stern, Monocle Magazine, TIME, The Telegraph, GEO France, GEO Germany, The New York Times, The Times (UK), Geographical (UK), The Wall Street Journal Asia, and the USAID, amongst others.

Out of his many galleries, I chose two that I particularly admired; The Art of Kathakali, and The Last of the Bound Feet Women.

Kathakali is one of the oldest theater forms in the world, and originated in the area of southwestern India now known as the state of Kerala. It's the classical dance-drama of Kerala and is rooted in Hindu mythology and literally means "Story-Play". In my forthcoming 2012 photo-expedition to Kerala, I am planning an exhaustive photo shoot at a Kathakali school (as I did in 2009).

As for the Bound Feet Women, NPR featured an article on this practice and its history here, where it tells us that millions of Chinese women bound their feet to turn them into the prized "three-inch golden lotuses." Footbinding was first banned in 1912, but some continued binding their feet in secret. Some of the last survivors of this barbaric practice are still living in Liuyicun, a village in Southern China's Yunnan province.

Marty Stalker: Egypt-After The Revolution



Here's an impressive documentary on Egypt during the heady days immediately following the revolution, filmed by Marty Stalker. Marty is a writer/director living in Northern Ireland with a passion for film-making. He recently graduated from the Lights Film School in New York City.

His Vimeo page informs us that the documentary was filmed on the Canon 5D Mark II with Zeiss compact prime Lenses in March 2011, and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 with Magic Bullet Mojo.

You can read Marty's notes on its production on his Scattered Images website.

The yells of the crowds one hears in the opening few moments of the movie are interesting since these are "Here's The Thief" (presumably about Mubarak), and "We Want Our Money". I liked how grainy black & white newsreel-like clips were inserted among the main colored movie. I am certain you'll be impressed by Dr Kamal Aboumagd, the wise constitutional lawyer, a gentleman who, in his demeanor and style, exemplifies the Egyptians of yore.

Well done.

POV: I Told You So....

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved
On November 8, 2010, I wrote a post titled "Photo Tours Are Useful But..." in which I suggested:
"However, let's take this a step or two further because, simply put, there are photographers who market their workshops (and there are many these days) whose work may be phenomenally beautiful and inspiring, but who are unable to lead, who can't/won't teach and are unable/unwilling to share. It's simply not enough that the photographer's work is good...not at all. There are many more factors that come to play in one's decision in choosing a photo workshop."
It seems my advice is valid because the blogosphere is currently abuzz with news that the photo workshops/tours conducted by a famous photographer are really not worth the trouble nor do they warrant their lofty prices.  So let me reiterate what I say over and over again:  If I wanted to go on a workshop I'd rather go with a grunt...not a celebrity/famous photographer....I wouldn't want to be patronized nor palmed off to an assistant...that's my personal view, and you can read the whole post via the link above if you need to.

I certainly don't need to beat the caveat emptor drum louder than what has been written in the courageous and eloquent  Reflections on Steve McCurry Myanmar Workshop (don't miss the comments from other participants in the workshops) nor can I top Duckrabbit's witty rapier thrust to the jugular in the Competition: Please fill in the missing word post....

And how can I not provide the link that may have started the whole fuss, which appeared in the brilliant A Photo Editor, in which a Craiglist ad for an exploitative internship is deservedly criticized.

As always, make up your mind. It's your money and your time after all. Naturally, if you still want to spend over $10,000 on a workshop and learn how to make children cry, then by all means join up.

Oh, you may wonder why I chose a Balinese Arja performer to accompany this post. Well, an Arja actor is a man disguised as a woman...and a visual metaphor for things sometimes not being what they are advertised as. I could have used an image of a kathoey, but I don't have one.

The Leica File: Strawberry Ice Cream

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Walking in the Meatpacking area of New York City, I saw the ice cream truck's technicolor paint job, along with the red shirt and white hat worn by the ice-cream eater, and all seemed a perfect juxtaposition of brilliant colors. I know I haven't nailed it from a compositional standpoint, and I'd be happier had I gone lower and a few inches to the left...but it is what it is, and that's what street photography is all about...the scene happens in a second and you either get it or you don't.

Because of the 28mm lens, I was about a foot away from the gentleman and he seemed unaware that he was in my frame, and the integral part of the composition.

I should have used different settings instead of the f2.8 and an iso of 400...it was a brilliant sun, and I could've had better results with an f8 and an iso of 160, but my camera had these settings on already, and I didn't have time to reset them since I was focusing as quickly as I could. I find that accurately focusing the M9 still requires very careful adjustment...even in brightly-lit scenes such as these.

Beyond being sharpened a little bit, the image wasn't post-processed nor cropped.

Li Wei: The Earth (Mongolia)

Photo © Li Wei-All Rights Reserved

Li Wei is a freelance photographer based in Beijing, who was born in Hohhot,Inner Mongolia, and who graduated from the Communication University of China.

His photographs of Inner Mongolia are those of an insider...no tourist stuff here, nor are the photographs the type one sees in glossy magazines advertising Mongolian lifestyle.

Inner Mongolia (distinct from the country of Mongolia) is an autonomous region of China, located in the northern region of the country. It shares an international border with the country of Mongolia and the Russian Federation. Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group, constituting about 80% of the population, followed by Mongols.