John Spillane: The Fishermen of Kerala

John Spillane is from Cork, Ireland and works in IT Network support in the pharmaceutical sector. A landscape photographer, John has recently diversified into travel and people photography and to that end, traveled to Italy, Cuba, Namibia and Bhutan...as well as his native Ireland.

His interest in photography started when he was 8 with a Kodak 126 Instamatic. In the 80s, John moved to an Olympus OM10 with a 50mm lens until the early nineties when he started shooting slide film, used a tripod and started working with graduated filters and polarizers for landscapes. He started his digital photography in 2006 with a Nikon D200 purchased while passing through Singapore.

During my The Oracles Of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop, John worked on a number of multimedia photo projects and has now published his very first attempt at Soundslides with his The Usual Catch; an audio slideshow of black & white stills of the fishermen of Punnapra in Kerala.

It was his first travel experience to India. And he certainly got his India "baptism" in an unusual but unforgettable fashion when he encountered the so-called Oracles at the Bharani festival. Covered in turmeric powder, and his Nikons dangling at his sides...he told me he had never imagined it would be like that.

I was promised a pint (perhaps two) of Murphy's Irish Stout if I visited County Cork. It's a worthy inducement.

Fun Island Resort In Maldives

Fun Island Resort is found in South Male Atoll, a 45-minute speedboat ride from Malé International Airport. It options two dining choices and reasonable rooms with personal balconies nestled at intervals white sandy beaches.

Fun Island Resort: 

Exotic, deserted, untouched is a technique of describing the indescribable. The Island atmosphere is as straightforward going and laid back because it appearance. Fun Island offers an exquisite mix of ‘Fun and Sun’. the large lagoon of the island provides ideal conditions for a range of water sports and therefore the powder white beaches provide you with the possibility to get pleasure from the sun and therefore the sand in picturesque settings. Sun down release potentialities for alternative types of enjoyment‐ dance away the night at the disco or just stare upon the celebs with a protracted drink in hand. Fun Island is that the excellent combination of fun and relaxation for an unforgettable vacation.

Accomodation: 

Fun Island offers fifty luxurious and up to date Bungalows with splendid views of the lagoon and therefore the ocean beyond. All Rooms have a non-public and furnished terrace with direct access to the beach, where you'll lie back and relax whereas gleaming at the ocean. you'll see the sunrise or the sunset simply sitting within the corridor of your space whereas having your favorite drink. These rooms are elegant and contentedly furnished with all fashionable facilities. The rooms feature air-con, Telephone, Mini Bar, Sitting space, hooked up rest room with each hot and cold contemporary water.

Guest space options Individually management air-con, Ceiling Fan, IDD phonephone in space, Mini Bar, Sitting space, Sun beds on the market inn Terrace, 220V‐2240V power a 50Hz in all sockets within your space, hooked up {toilet|rest space|bathroom} with Hot & cold contemporary water shower further guest room facilities Baby cot on request Daily cleaning Wake‐‐up service

Activities:

Fun is endless at Fun Island, everything you are doing are an journey. delight in a variety of water sports and beach activities offered at the resort. Explore the shore and sail in catamaran, snorkel within the superb reefs. alternative fun activities like Jet ski, canoeing, windsurfing, dinghy sailing and timaran sailing are offered at Fun Island.

The Wakhan Corridor

The Wakhan Corridor is a slender area in the far north-eastern Afghanistan which forms a land link between Afghanistan and China. The corridor was a political creation of the Great Game, and a result of agreements between Britain and Russia in 1873 and between Britain and Afghanistan in 1893. It currently has 12,000 inhabitants, who live very much the same as their ancestors did centuries ago.

In 2011, inspired by an article published by the New York Times, Fabrice Nadjari and Varial, two 33 year-old authors, photographers and childhood friends, decided to embark on a journey in the Wakhan region. It is here that they decided to take photographs of the inhabitants of the Wakhan villages. The portraits made with their Polaroid cameras developed odd hues, and their quality deteriorated quite rapidly due to the altitude.

The photographers also produced the Traces of Time book project (to be published in May 2012) which they claim "presents a vision between a current and tangible printed reality that already ceases to exist and an uncertain present resembling the past. This is the perspective of travellers who steal a snapshot of life and leave behind a trace that could change the lives of those they've passed."

As is seen in the trailer (listen to the haunting soundtrack!!) above, the photographers convinced Ismaili children, young women, and housewives, opium smokers, village chiefs and simple peasants to pose for their Polaroid cameras.

The show Wakhan, An Other Afghanistan will be featured at the MILK Gallery, 450 West 15th Street in New York (May 18-23, 2012).

Verdict: The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"...the uniqueness of this photo expedition-workshop..."

That's how one of the group members started to express his satisfaction in having attended The Oracles Of Kerala Photo-Expedition-Workshop while bidding goodbye to me and the rest of the group.

Uniqueness! It's precisely what I strive for when I structure my itineraries and programs for my photo expeditions/workshops. Are all of those based on unique itineraries? Of course not...but most of them are. The Oracles Of Kerala Photo-Expedition-Workshop was based on two main Hindu religious festivals: Thirunakkara Arattu Utsavam, a 10-day temple festival, and the Kodungallur Bharani, a wild and unusual localized religious festival near Kochi. The former is a Hindu religious extravaganza with elephants, while the latter surpasses the famed Kumbh Mela in intensity. To my knowledge, no travel photographer has ever dared to conduct a photo trip/workshop covering these two festivals. 


This uniqueness of this photo expedition-workshop, as well as the positive group dynamics among its group members, certainly places it amongst the top three I have ever organized and led so far.

Spice Godown-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Now cutting to the chase, here are the planned photo shoots that worked well:


1. The Fishermen of Punnapra. 
2. The Vedic School in Thrissur.
3. The Thirunakkara Arattu Utsavam Festival. (Drummers & elephants galore)
4. The Shadow Puppets near Cheruthuruthy. (Excellent!)
5. The Kathakali performance at the Kerala Kalamandalam. (Superb!)
6. The Kodungallur Bharani aka The Festival of Oracles. (Incredibly Intense).

Vedic Gurukul-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Although the group members liked the photo shoot at the Mattencherry spice godowns, it was rather mundane, at least from my perspective. The photo shoot at the Kochi Chinese nets was passable. The photo shoot planned at the oldest mosque in India known as the Cheraman Juma Masjid was a total failure from a visual standpoint. Nothing of its original structure remains, and its artefacts are copies of the originals (lost or pilfered). I can add to this that no one can make non Muslim visitors feel more unwelcome to mosques as blinkered Islamic clerics. The short visit to the adjacent Islamic school was, in contrast, a pleasant experience with delightful young students.

I fault myself for not having double checked the information provided by our guide which resulted in our being late in attending the last day of the Thirunakkara Arattu Utsavam Festival. The local policemen saved the day by getting some of us through the throngs of people. They were very helpful, and wanted us to get to the best vantage points, and as close to the elephants as possible.

Logistically, the photo expedition worked well. All the hotels were of high standard (mostly in the 4-star category), and their staff were very helpful. I must mention here Mr Bijou, the restaurant manager at the ABAD Whispering Palms Resort, who is an encyclopedic source for Keralite religious festivals. I wished he had joined us on the trip. 

Temple Lighting-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

It was a little disappointing that the ABAD Whispering Palms Resort in Kumarakom didn't have an alcohol license, but we nevertheless managed to procure the bottles of beer so necessary for our well-being after long photo shoots. That said, the hotel provided us with a conference room where we met daily to work on our slideshows, and edit our photographs...so it more than made up for its lack of alcohol license!

The vehicle used to transport us was more than adequate, and was driven with skill by Haris Aziz, a delightful and reliable young man with a good sense of humor. He quickly became our group's go-to-man for whatever we needed. In contrast, the guide allocated to us by the local travel agent was ineffectual, and was out of depth. He was more suitable for elderly tourist groups interested in museums and history, not for a bunch of gung-ho travel photographers. I couldn't find it in me to fire him, but I should have. 

Lastly, it was immensely gratifying to witness how seriously all of the group members worked at their multimedia projects; often while exhausted. Two of the 7 photographers in the group had already attended my previous Kolkata workshop, so had a substantial head start but worked as diligently as the rest. One of us had an extremely uncooperative laptop that crashed frequently, but who never lost his sense of humor nor his interest in learning multimedia. 

To be assured that the 7 group members were fully familiar with SoundSlides and Audacity, I suggested they completed a 2-3 minutes multimedia project in less than 3 hours.

They did.