Paula Marina: Iemanjá

Photo © Paula Marina-All Rights Reserved
Born in Recife, Brazil, Paula Marina is a journalist and photographer who currently lives and works in in Sao Paulo. She started photography at the tender age of 18 years old, attending various courses at SENAC, and working with prints and enlargements in a makeshift darkroom in her bathroom.

Her website showcases a broad panoply of photographic interests, ranging from fine art to more travel oriented photography, however what caught my attention was her photo essay on Iemanjá.

Iemanjá is the Goddess of the Water in the Brazilian Candomblé and Umbanda religions, and December 31 is when, in addition to celebrating New Year’s Eve, large crowds of its adherents are celebrating the Festa de Iemanjá near Rio's beaches. The goddess is offered flowers, gifts, perfume and rice which are cast into the water.

Like Santeria, it is basically a possession religion in which adherents assume the form of deities, both for worship and magic.

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Posted in: Brazil,Photographers: Travel

Alessandra Meniconzi: Hidden China

I've waxed lyrical many times about Alessandra Meniconzi's Hidden China book, and it was with great pleasure that I realized she recently updated (and enhanced) her website with absolutely magnificent photographs of minorities in China, structured along the same chapters in her book.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If there's one travel photography book you ought to have on China, this is the one. If this still doesn't convince you, I believe the imagery you'll find on her Hidden China website will. This is travel photography and ethno-photography at its best.

As background, Alessandra Meniconzi is a Swiss photographer fascinated by the lives and traditions of indigenous people in remote regions of the world. After many years of working in Asia, she traveled in Iceland and became interested in the Arctic. She is the sole photographer for the books Hidden China (2008), Mystic Iceland (2007), and The Silk Road (2004), and she is currently working on the new book about Tibet, Arctic and Himalaya.

Alessandra was featured here on TTP.

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Posted in: China,Photographers: Travel

Books By Participants In TTP's Photo~Expeditions™

A few weeks ago, I wished here that more of the participants who join my photo~expeditions would, not only feature their work on their websites as most do already, but also publish their images in book form. It's not an easy task to prep and publish a book, but the eventual satisfaction is just sublime. I know first hand because I self-published Bali: Island of Odalan, and now I'm waiting for the sample proof of my second book Darshan (an announcement will be made shortly).

So I was very pleased to see 4 members of The Travel Photographer's Photo~Expeditions™ have already published their books (and with some, already their second or even third book).

1. Torie Olson joined my Theyyam of Malabar Photo`Expedition™ in 2009, and has just published the wonderful Life In Color (Photographs of Gujarat), a 117 page large hard cover landscape book.

2. Sandy Chandler joined a number of my photo trips; the latest being Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition™ this past July, and has just published Calling The Soul, an 80 page standard landscape book that promises to be a gem.

3. Charlotte Rush-Bailey joined my Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo Expedition™ earlier this year, and quickly published her Kutch Classic, a 98 page large format hard cover landscape with her "specially brewed" photographs.

4) Susan Storm joined my Sikkim & Darjeeling Photo Expedition™ in 2003. A photographer and journalist for over 20 years, she worked for many of the top magazines in most continents. She published Colours In The Dust (On The Sari Trail), a 232 pages standard landscape book of her lovely images of India.

My congratulations to these photographers who took the initiative and featured their work in print form. I'm looking forward to hearing from other participants as to their book publishing efforts. C'mon, guys!

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Posted in: Books,Photo Tours,Photographers: Travel

Robert van Koesveld: Bhutan

Robert van Koesveld is a retired psychotherapist living in Perth, Australia. His biography tells us that he delights in meeting with people from all walks of life, and describes as travel's best moments as those in which he encounters these people.

Robert is also about to publish his book Bhutan Heartland, (Fremantle Press, October 2010) which he produced with his wife, Libby Lloyd.

You can also watch the Bhutan Circumambulation video in large QT format here. Some nice bokeh in the movie.

Circumambulation of temples is an important Hindu ritual, and is similarly performed in most religious traditions; from Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I like how circumambulation sounds when it's uttered...but it's a word I can never spell it correctly.

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Posted in: Bhutan,Multimedia,Photographers: Travel

Sam Chadwick: Cuba & More

Photo © Sam Chadwick-All Rights Reserved

Sam Chadwick is a travel photographer and a Hell's Kitchen (NYC) resident where he works on a variety of photographic projects and planning his next photographic travels.

He started photography as a main means of documenting his 5-day ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro. Since then, he traveled to over 50 countries, creating a large collection of images of people, cultures and environments. In 2007, he reached the semi-finals of the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and his images have appeared on Reuters.

You can see his many galleries on his website, from Guatemala, Belize, Nepal, Costa Rica, East Africa and my favorite Cuba.

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Posted in: Cuba,Photographers: Travel

Matthieu Paley: The Pamir Mountains

Here's a 6 minutes trailer from a multimedia documentary "Forgotten on the Roof of the World" by photographer Matthieu Paley and anthropologist Ted Callahan that tells the story of a little-known tribe of Kirghiz nomads in one of earth’s most remote regions - Afghanistan’s High Pamirs mountains.

The full documentary will be screened by Matthieu at the Royal Geographical Society (Hong Kong) on Tuesday 22nd of June.

Matthieu Paley is an Asia-based (currently based in Hong Kong) photographer specializing in editorial and documentary photography. His work appeared in Geo, National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Outside, Discovery and various others.

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Posted in: Afghanistan,Multimedia,Photographers: Travel

Rick Sammon's Travel Photo Tips

Photograph Rick Sammon-All Rights Reserved
Photographer Rick Sammon offers some travel photography tips for getting those images that are frequently (or not) elusive for some of us. There are quite a number of such tips, ranging from Dressing for Success to Drag the Shutter to Create a Sense of Motion.

Most of the tips are aimed at part-time photographers, and I agree with all of them except the final one...and that's the one in which Rick suggests paying a small fee to adults in exchange for their picture. I seldom pay people for photographs unless they are performers who earn a living from their craft, and expect something in return. Naturally, we all have our personal techniques, and there are no absolutes...however I espouse a somewhat contrary view.

You can also read my POV: The Ten Commandments, which is the most popular post on The Travel Photographer's blog in terms of readership numbers.

(Via Imaging Insider)

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel,POV