Year End 2007

Monastery (Bhutan)- © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedThe new year promises to be a stellar one! I look forward to be leading two photographic expeditions~workshops in Kashmir (July-August) and Bhutan (October), and to participate in the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico (June). I'm also planning a couple of solo photo trips in March and early winter...and I hope to attend the Angkor Photo festival in Siem Reap whenever it's held. I also have a couple of publishing projects which will come to fruition this year. This being the last post in 2007, I wish a happy healthy & prosperous 2008 to all The Travel Photographer blog's readers, subscribers and drop-ins. I've received many complimentary emails and messages about this blog...

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Posted in: Events

TTP Recap of the Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (December 23- December 30) most popular posts on TTP:TTP Photo Of The YearBhutan: Photo ExpeditionBenazir Bhutto's Assassinat...

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Posted in: TTP Recap

NPPA's Best of Photojournalism 2008

The National Press Photographers Association announced the 2008 Best Of Photojournalism contest rules which have been posted to its Web site. The contest will officially open for entries on January 2, 2008 and the deadline for all divisions is Feb 1st.This contest is designed by photojournalists for photojournalists, and is a competition in still and television photojournalism, in picture editing, and Web editing. It's in its seventh year and is claimed to be the world's leading digital photojournalism contest.Best of Photojournalism 2...

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Posted in: Contests

New York Times: Yemen

Image © Evelyn Hockstein/New York Times-All Rights ReservedThe New York Times brings us a slideshow about Yemen with Evelyn Hockstein's photographs of this stunningly exotic country. The accompanying article is by writer Tom Downey, and he writes this: " On the main street of Sana’s souk, black-clad shadows — local women — duck into fabric stores to buy colorful garments I’ll never see them wear. Working teenagers huddle next to food vendors, eating boiled potatoes and eggs dipped in coarse salt and bright red pepper. A fruit vendor wearing one thick rubber glove carefully selects a prickly pear from a wheelbarrow and strips off the spiky outer skin. Men and boys wear the curious costume of northern Yemen — a Western suit jacket over a one-piece...

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Posted in: Asia,Photographers: Travel

Photo Submissions: Elementary Tips

Image © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedA large adventure travel operator has recently requested photo submissions for its annual catalog from its approved photographers, and I thought I'd share with you how I'll go about presenting my submission.Firstly, the client wants the initial photo submissions in low to medium resolution saved as jpgs. Once the choice has been done, submissions are to be in TIFF or PSD formats at high resolutions scans of 300 dpi. All this is pretty much standard for all photo submissions of this type. Once I've decided on my photographs, I label each digital image with my name and an ID number. I burn these images on a DVD (or a CD for the initial submission) having grouped them in geographically-named folders (ie...

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Posted in: Photo Techniques

News: Batteries' Ban

The US Transportation Department announced that air travelers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning January 1, 2008 to help reduce the risk of fires.Passengers will still be able to check luggage with lithium batteries if they are installed in electronic devices, such as cameras, cell phones and laptop computers. If packed in plastic bags, batteries may be in carryon baggage. The limit is two batteries per passenger.The ban affects shipments of non-rechargeable lithium batteries, such as the Energizer and Duracell brands.Details on Safe Travel Dot GovDetails on ...

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Posted in: Events,Hard Gear

TTP Photo of the Year

Image © Copyright Shiho Fukada-All Rights ReservedI'm so taken by Shiho Fukada's photographs that I've been racking my brains how to re-post her work on The Travel Photographer. The answer? TTP's Photo of the Year.So without further ado, here's TTP's Photo of the Year: Shiho Fukada's photograph of a made-up Indian dancer...possibly a Kathakali or Yakshagana performer. The former is a dance of Kerala, while the latter is of Karnataka. The richness of the colors and the judicious use of shadows in this photograph have so impressed me that I've spent an inordinate amount of time just looking at it...trying to burn it in my visual memory in the event that I come across a similar situation.Shiho Fuk...

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Posted in: Events

Benazir Bhutto's Assassination

Image © John Moore/Getty Images-All Rights ReservedThe assassination of Benazir Bhutto has very serious implications and consequences for Pakistan and for the United States' national interests in this region. Pakistan's stability is at risk, and the whole region may face chaos and turmoil.Naturally, our supine and discredited mainstream media is now lionizing Bhutto (or "Buddo" as our illiterate anchors and clownish talking heads pronounce her name) as the beacon of democracy for Pakistan, unwilling to remember that she was dismissed from office for corruption and incompetence..not once, but twice.Notwithstanding, Bhutto's death is the worst possible outcome, as the Bush administration had been relying on her pro-western leanings to keep Pakistan...

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Posted in: Pakistan,Photojournalism

Shiho Fukada: The Aravanis

Image © Copyright Shiho Fukada-All Rights ReservedShiho Fukada is a New York-based freelance photojournalist, and her work has been published in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune Magazine, Time, Stern, Le Monde, among others. Her work has also been featured in PDN and Digital Photo Pro Magazine. In 2007 she was named one of the emerging photographers in Digital Photo Pro Magazine.I am amazed at the quality and depth of her photojournalism as showcased on her website. The three main bodies of work that I found exceptionally powerful are "50 Years Later", "The Aravanis" and "Life In A Brothel". The latter is a three-part essay featuring the stories of sex workers in Bangladeshi brothels. There's a also a...

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Posted in: India,Photographers: Photojournalists,Soundslides

One Shot: Sune Wendelboe

Image Copyright © Sune Wendelboe-All Rights ReservedFor this One Shot feature, I chose this image of an Embera woman with her child amongst the hundreds of exotic photographs on Sune Wendelboe's website Global Photographic. He's a peripatetic traveler and his website lists dozens of countries he visited and photographed over the course of 12 years. It's an incredible trove of travel imagery, landscapes and ethno-photography, which will impress even the most blase of travel photography enthusiasts. Unfortunately, Sune's biography is conspicuous by its absence on the website...it would've been very welcome.As background to the above photograph: an estimated population of 15,000 Emberá indians inhabit the Darien rainforest of Panamá. This tribe...

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Posted in: Central America,Photographers: Travel

Bhutan: Photo Expedition

Following the success of the 2006 photo expedition to Bhutan, I'm pleased to announce my photo expedition to this Himalayan Kingdom on October 3-17, 2008. The Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul photo expedition is set to travel to its heartland, and timed to culminate with the Tamshingphala Tsechu, and the Tangbi Mani festival in the Bumthang valley. While this is not a workshop per se, interested participants will be helped to create multimedia projects from their inventory of photographs of these festivals. For those of you who've missed my posts regarding photo travel to Bhutan, I would encourage you to read this post. It will give you something to consider if you're planning to join a photo tour to Bhutan.To log on to the photo expedition website...

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Posted in: Bhutan,Festivals,Photo Events,Photo Tours,Photographers: Travel

TTP: Recap of the Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (December 17- December 22) most popular posts on TTP:Kashmir: Photo Expedition-WorkshopKenro Izu: Life in BhutanMSNBC: Best of 2...

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Posted in: TTP Recap

Dagmar Schwelle: Planet Tokyo

Image Copyright © Dagmar Schwelle-All Rights ReservedI really like Dagmar Schwelle's work a lot. I think her photography is intelligent and well-thought out. An Austrian photographer & photojournalist currently based in Germany, she has recently produced a multimedia Soundslides of her photographs while recently in Tokyo. Her compositional style is very interesting, and I find that she frequently uses frames within her photographs. She did that in her earlier work of Istanbul, and now she does it again in Planet Tokyo. Just take a look at the above photograph of subway riders, and how the girl is framed between one of the arms, and the back of one of the riders...her timing is just perfect. Another photograph in her slideshow is of Sumo...

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Posted in: Asia,Multimedia,Soundslides

Sunday Rant IV

This is not really a rant...really. As TTP is ad-free, I barely look at emails from companies that offer me discounts to place their ads...but this one was different. This time it was from a company that I like a lot. The email from this reputable photography retail company proposed that if I placed its ad on the pages of TTP, I'd get a commission of 2-3% for every item bought through this mechanism. It's called Affiliate Program.I replied virtually instantly that, while I was appreciative of the proposal, The Travel Photographer blog would remain ad-free as long as I maintained it. I counter-proposed by asking if the company would support my Kashmir expedition/workshop by offering the same small discount to its participants.I realize there's...

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Posted in: Rants

Reuters' Pictures of 2007

Image Copyright © REUTERS/Desmond Boylan-All Rights ReservedAnother "Best Pictures of 2007" from ReutersFrom the collection, this gruesome photograph is of an Indian Shia Muslim flagellating himself during a procession on the final day of the week-long annual Ashura mourning rite, the highpoint of the Shia religious calendar, in Old Delhi. The self-flagellation is a ritual to mourn the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karba...

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Posted in: Photo Events

MSNBC: Best Pictures 2007

It's an annual tradition that in late December most of the mainstream media compile their choice for the best pictures of the year. Here's MSNBC's multimedia feature The Year In Pictures 2007. Some of the photographs are extremely powerful...some are disturbing and graphic. I found the one above by Tian Li to be a vision of hell on ear...

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Posted in: Events,Photojournalism

Kenro Izu: Life in Bhutan

Image Copyright © Kenro Izu-All Rights ReservedThe New York Times brings us a slideshow of Kenro Izu's exhibition of photographs of Bhutan at the Rubin Museum of Arts. I've already posted a few weeks ago about this exhibition and described it as an absolute visual treat, not only because of Izu's mastery, but also because of the exhibition's beautiful installation and ambiance.The above photograph is of a "Prayer's flag, near Kurjey Lhakhang, Bumthang, Bhutan".Bumthang is the sacred heartland of Bhutan, and is the focus of my forthcoming photo expedition to that magnificent country. The itinerary is available to members of my mailing list, and will be posted on this blog soon.Kenro Izu's Life in Bhu...

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Posted in: Asia,Bhutan,Events

Tito Dalmau: Rajasthan

Tito Dalmau is a Spanish photographer and architect, whose book Rajasthan: Houses and Men presents a collection of photographs of this region's palaces and people. Tito takes us to the wondrous cities and towns of Rajasthan; the pink city of Jaipur, the blue city of Jodhpur, the holy town of Pushkar, the white city of Udaipur and the mirage-like city of Jaisalmer....passing though a multitude of villages and small towns.His photographs are deeply saturated with color, some with many shadows...many influenced by his background as an architect, and others of people within the classic parameters of street photography. Some of my favorite photographs -and there are many amongst the 140 or so in this lovingly produced book- are those that show...

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Posted in: Books,India,Photographers: Travel

Eid el-Adha

Image © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights ReservedEid Mubarak to all readers of TTP.Eid el-Adha is a religious festival and observance celebrated by Muslims as a commemoration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for God (Allah in Arabic). It is one of two main festivals celebrated by Muslims celebrate, and it generally begins with a short prayer followed by a sermon. The celebrations last for four days. The festival starts on the 10th day of the month of Dhul Hijja of the lunar Islamic calendar. This is the day after the pilgrims in Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia by Muslims worldwide, descend from Mount Arafat. This year, it's observed on December 20...so the main religious observances of the three great Abrahamic...

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Posted in: Festivals

PDN: Making The Final Cut

I'm always interested in how photo editors make their choices in sifting through photographers' work on return from an assignment, as an example. From a PDN's article, I learned how a Travel & Leisure magazine photo editor made the choices for a "South American Haciendas” story, photographed by David Nicolas. Out of the 10 images in the PDN article, 5 were rejected and all of these were verticals...is that a coincidence? That's why I constantly try to photograph horizontals and verticals as much as I possibly can...provided what I photograph lends itself to both. I'd hate for an editor to look at my submissions and say "hmmm...you have that one in vertical (or horizontal)"? Elementary perhaps, but still worthwhile remembering. I still think photo editors write their own rules, and have...

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel

Kashmir: Photo Expedition & Workshop

I'm pleased to announce that a photo expedition-workshop in Kashmir (India) is planned for July 27-August 9, 2008. The Kashmir: Paradise On Earth photo workshop-expedition is set in this beautiful mountainous area of India, set deep within the Himalayan mountains on its frontier with Pakistan, China and Tibet. The floating city of Srinagar is the workshop-expedition's base, and the initial days in India will be spent photographing Delhi's Islamic character. This workshop-expedition will involve extensive fieldwork shooting stories in Delhi and Srinagar (and beyond), one on one portfolio reviews, nightly slideshows, panel discussions, and working dinners.Eric Beecroft and Tewfic El-Sawy are leading the Kashmir: Paradise On Earth photo workshop-expedition....

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Posted in: India,Kashmir,Kashmir Photo Tours,Photo Tours,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photographers: Travel,Photojournalism

Eric Beecroft: Indian Himalayas

Image © Eric Beecroft-All Rights ReservedEric teaches photography, photojournalism/documentary photography, history, geopolitcs and anthropology for the Walden School, a public charter school in Utah. He spends a few months a year traveling and leading photo expeditions of high school students and adults. He's a published writer and poet, with extensive outdoors experience in trekking, backpacking, some rock climbing and sea kayaking work and holds extensive budget travel experience. His photography is mostly documentary work, photojournalism, and adventure/outdoors photography. He's the visionary behind The Foundry Photo Workshops, which is to hold its first week-long workshop in Mexico City in June 2008. The event will consist of unique...

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Posted in: Photo Tours,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photographers: Travel

UNICEF: Photo of the Year 2007

Stephanie Sinclair is the winner of the international photo competition “UNICEF Photo of the Year”. Her winning photo is of a wedding couple in Afghanistan. The groom, Muhammad, looks much older than his 40 years. The bride, Ghulam, is still a child; she just turned 11. The UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007 raises awareness about a worldwide problem affecting millions of girls who are married while they are still under age. According to UNICEF, there are about 60 million young women worldwide who were married before they came of age, half of them in South Asia.UNICEF: Photo of the Y...

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Posted in: Contests,Events

B&H Plus!

I've dropped by B&H recently, and was thrilled to see that its photography department has been moved to the superstore's new second floor. One walks in and turns to the left, past the cashiers and up an escalator...and wham! a whole floor full of cameras, accessories and associated paraphernalia. Lots of space...many demonstration stations for the major brands of cameras, along with seemingly many more service staff. Sales terminals strategically placed to serve buying clients quickly. I was at B&H about 2 months ago, and had no inkling that it was expandi...

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Posted in: Events

Sebastião Salgado: Africa

© Sebastião Salgado/courtesy TaschenAmerican Photo magazine's website lists Sebastião Salgado's Africa as one of the Best Photo Books of 2007.The article tells us that Salgado, with this retrospective monograph on Africa, returns to his professional origins where he worked as an economist. Some of his critics accuse him of glamorizing poverty, but this book works to show Salgado's talented "ability to cast stories of global economic injustice as one single, Homerian tale of essential human nobility."American Photo's Best Photo Books of 2007 has a handful of images from Salgado's Africa, however they hardly do justice to his artistry. For that, one has to buy the book.Sebastião Salgado: Afr...

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Posted in: Africa,Books

TTP: Recap Of The Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (December 9- December 16) most popular posts on TTP:Timothy Allen: Nagaland100 Eyes: Mardis Gras EventMarantz PMD ...

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Posted in: TTP Recap

Season's Greetings

I offer all my readers, whether subscribers to The Travel Photographer blog or whether they're just "walk-ins", my very best wishes on this holiday season.I started this blog in late January of 2007, thinking it would be all about me, my photography work and my photo tours. Less than 2 days into it, I decided it could never be an egoistic endeavor but that I would also blog about the many talented photographers I come across either personally or through their work on the web. Some are well established, others are emerging, some are working photographers and others will become so...and others have no inkling that they are really talented.I had no expectations that The Travel Photographer blog would become so popular and read in such large numbers....

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Posted in: Events

Heaven In Meatpacking District

Last week, Apple opened its newest store a few blocks from me. The new store is America’s second largest and is the first three-level Apple store, with its trademark spiral glass stairway winding all the way up to a third floor devoted entirely to service. The store's first floor has computers, the second has iPods, iPhones, and related third-party accessories. The “Genius Bar” on the third floor is almost fifty feet long, tended by many of the store’s 175 employees. The store is open every night until midnight.As I said, Heaven has come to the Meatpacking District...and just in time for the shopping seas...

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Posted in: Innovative Stuff

New York Times: Afghan Kites

Image © Tomas Munita/NY Times-All Rights ReservedFrom Afghanistan, The New York Times brings us Tomas Munita's photography in a (too) short slideshow titled Back In The Air.Kite-flying is a traditional pastime in Afghanistan, however it was banned during the Taliban’s rule. Now, flying kites is once again the main recreational escape for Afghan boys and some men. It still remains largely off limits to girls and women. The big kite-fighting day is Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and the objective of the kite fight is to slice the other flier’s string with one's own, essentially disabling it from flying. Kite-fighting string is coated with a resin made of glue and finely crushed glass, which turns it into a blade.With the release Friday of...

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Posted in: Afghanistan,Photographers: Photojournalists

Marantz PMD 620 Digital Recorder

Thanks to the MediaStorm Blog, I learnt that Jeff Towne on Transom.org has thoroughly reviewed the new Marantz PMD 620 Digital Recorder. The PMD 620 is Marantz's smallest recorder to date, and the overall verdict is positive.While the PMD 620 is very small and light, the reviewer reports that it felt very sturdy and well-built. While mostly plastic, there's some well-placed metal components, and the switches and buttons feel solid. It sells for about $400 US. This digital recorder joins the lineup of small digital recorders such as the MicroTrack II and the Zoom H2 that are ideally suited for multimedia work in the field, and to record ambient sounds for slideshows.Check the PMD 620's specifications on Transom....

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Timothy Allen: Nagaland

Image © Timothy Allen-All Rights ReservedTimothy Allen's bio page of his website tells us that he spent 3 years in Indonesia where his interest in photography began. Upon returning to England he spent 2 years traveling the British Isles until, in the late nineties, he joined an aid convoy to Bosnia in order to work on his first year reportage project. Six months later he had left college, moved to London and begun working for the Sunday Telegraph which lead to commissions from all the British broadsheet publications and finally to a 6 year position at The Independent, working predominantly on features and portraits for the newspaper and magazine titles. Timothy now devotes his time to documenting the diversity of our world's cultures.His...

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Posted in: Bhutan,India,Photographers: Travel

Jessica Dimmock: The Ninth Floor

I have to preface my review of Jessica Dimmock's powerful book, The Ninth Floor, by describing its photographs as raw, unflinching, many of which are frightening and that have dragged me into the depths of a world heroin addicts, for whom there's seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. In a way, I'm glad to have been given the chance of reviewing that book because it forced me out of my"comfort zone", both personally and photographically-speaking.Jessica's forceful photographs document the drug-addled lives of residents on the ninth floor of a Manhattan's flat-iron district apartment building. For almost three years, she follows these drug addicts in their day-to-day activities, managing to become invisible in the process. While she...

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Posted in: Books,Photojournalism

New York Times: Afghan Suffering

Image © Tyler Hicks/NYTimes-All Rights ReservedThis is how the New York Times' article starts:"The Afghan boy crouched near a wall in this remote village, where the Taliban’s strength has prevented the government from providing services. His eyes were coated by an opaque yellow sheath. Sgt. Nick Graham, an American Army medic, approached. The villagers crowded around. They said the boy’s name was Hayatullah. He was 10 years old and developed the eye disease six years ago. “Can you help him?” a man asked.Sergeant Graham examined the boy. He was blind. There was nothing the medic could do." The photographs in the accompanying slideshow feature is by Tyler Hicks, one of my favorite photojournalists, and they ram home the fact that Afghanistan...

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Posted in: Afghanistan,Photographers: Photojournalists

Pop Photo: 2007 Readers' Photo Contest

Image Copyright © Snehendu Kar-All Rights ReservedPopular Photography magazine has announced results of its 2007 photo contest, and awarded one grand prize and six stand-outs in the categories of Action/Sports, Architecture, Candid/Humor, Nature, People, and Travel. In the Travel category, I particularly liked the photograph of the Chinese fishing nets in Cochin (India) by Snehendu Kar of Los Angeles.Popular Photography 2007 Readers' Photo Cont...

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Posted in: Contests,Photographers: Travel

Mardis Gras Photo Event

This event is a terrific concept, and a tribute to those who engineered it. “Mardi Gras 2008, 360 Degrees” is a hybrid photo event and workshop that seeks to bring photographers together to document the ritual that defines New Orleans and illuminates the city’s culture two years after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.Activities are planned the week before Mardi Gras, including workshops and presentations by established professionals and industry parters. Photographers will team together to edit their own work and uploaded to the event's servers, then reviewed by a team of editors. The selected photographs are toA terrific idea be printed for immediate display, salon style, and offered for sale to the public, with a portion of the proceeds...

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Posted in: Events,Photojournalism

WP: China's Divider of Sexes

Image © Andrea Bruce/Washington Post-All Rights ReservedThe Washington Post featured Andrea Bruce's brilliant work in a slideshow titled China's Great Divider of Sexes: Poverty. Andrea's photograph above of Chen Maiya preparing breakfast for her neighbors is Vermeer-like in its luminosity. Deservedly, this slideshow feature received an award in the Best of Photojournalism 2007 (Feature Photo Gallery).Andrea Bruce graduated with a journalism degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and joined the staff of the Washington Post, where she began to chronicle the world's most troubled areas. Her pictures from the Iraq War have been published widely and have garnered international acclaim.The accompanying article by Maureen Fan...

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Posted in: China,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photojournalism

TPOTY Results 2007

Image © Timothy Allen-All Rights ReservedI just received notice from the organizers of the Travel Photographer Of The Year contest announcing the 2007 winners.According to TPOTY's announcement, it received entries from 51 countries in 2007, covering every continent and, for the first time, we saw entries from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine. Over the three rounds of judging, 14 judges assessed this year's entries. The overall winner of the Travel Photographer Of The Year title is Cat Vinton, a UK-based photographer for her work in a Mongolia.However to me, the most interesting category was "One Planet Many Lives" won by Timothy Allen for his work in Bhutan and Nagaland, followed by Larry Louie's work on Tibetan worship. It's been an excellent...

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Posted in: Contests,Photographers: Travel

TTP: Recap of the Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (December 2- December 8) most popular posts on TTP: National Geographic Photo ContestSunday Rant III Origami Flash Diffu...

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Posted in: TTP Recap

Beyond The Frame: Bhutanese Granny

Image Copyright © Ralph N. Childs-All Rights ReservedThis image of me chatting up a Bhutanese grandmother was photographed by Ralph Childs, a friend and participant in my Bhutan Photo-Expedition.We were walking towards the Jambay Lakhang monastery before the start of the annual tsechu, and I was trying to convince the grandmother to allow me to photograph her...but with no success. It was in good humor, and we had many laughs as I conveyed to her that I would marry her and she'd fly back to New York City with me. I guess she understood my meaning but kept gesturing me away with flicks of her hand...naturally, to the great hilarity of her companions, who had urged her to take me up on my offer....but she wouldn't budge. Not terribly uplifting...

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Posted in: Beyond The Frame,Bhutan,Photographers: Travel

Atacama Desert: Multimedia

Here's a lovely combination of photography, audio, interactive maps, and design in a multimedia package that will inspire all of us who see this type of media as being one of the inevitable next steps in photojournalism....and in editorial or documentary travel photography.It centers on the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, which is the driest place on earth. Stretching 600 miles from Peru's southern border, there are parts where rainfall has never been recorded. However the Atacama is also home to more than a million people who find refuge in coastal cities, mining camps and oasis towns. There are vibrant communities, artisans, toughened workers and a devoted group of astronomers taking advantage of this unique environment. It's really too...

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Posted in: Multimedia,Peru

Newsha Tavakolian: Iran

Image © Newsha Tavakolian-All Rights ReservedNewsha Tavakolian is a photojournalist working for Iranian press and media. She worked internationally in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. She has been published in Time magazine, Newsweek, Stern, Figaro and the New York Times.I chose one of her very interesting photo essays for TTP: Entitled The Day I Became A Woman, it gives us a glimpse into the Shi'a Islam tradition that upon reaching the age of 9, a girl is considered a woman. In Teheran schools, that day is celebrated as Jashne Taklit, or "celebration of responsibility". While it's a largely symbolic celebration, it's from that day onwards that the girls have to wear a headscarf and start daily prayers at school. The girls are called...

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Posted in: Iran,Photographers: Photojournalists

Olivier Föllmi : Africa

Image © Olivier Föllmi-All Rights ReservedOlivier Föllmi is one of my favorite travel photographers, along with Eric Valli. He developed a passion for the Himalayas at the age of 18 and lived there for more than 20 years. Since 2003, he has traveled the world with his wife to capture on film the soul of the people featured in the series Offerings for Humanity. I wandered along High Street Kensington this afternoon, and visited Waterstone's where piles upon piles of photography books are on display (presumably for the Christmas season). I had the pleasure of leafing through Föllmi's magnificent book Africa, which took the better part of an hour. I've had the privilege of photographing in the north and south of Ethiopia, and through Föllmi's...

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Posted in: Africa,Books,Photographers: Travel

Origami Flash Diffuser

As my readers know, TTP is ad-free and I only mention or post on products that I've either tested and used myself, or read articles on them in publications that I generally trust. The Origami by Gary Fong falls into the second category. I read about it in PDN's Objects of Desire section, and thought it was an interesting contraption to have in one's pocket when using a flash.When I do use a flash, I use a white card secured on my flash with an elastic band, and this works reasonably well most of the time...but perhaps the Origami will do better?The Origami is a diffuser that can be swung into the flash's light path, and is foldable (hence the name), taking virtually no space in one's bag or even pocket. Although I rely on natural light as much...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Beyond The Frame: Varanasi Widow

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedWhile in Varanasi photographing the extraordinary Sufi rituals at the Bahadur Shaheed shrine, I encountered this centenarian who was sheltered in a decrepit building overlooking the Manikarnika ghat, where most of the cremations are performed. Through an interpreter, I learned that Bai Dehi was a widow from Bihar, who lived in the building awaiting her death. She, as other Hindus, believes that if she died in Varanasi she would achieve 'moksha' and freed from the cycle of reincarnation. Her voice was barely audible, not more than a hoarse whisper, and I seriously thought her to be near death, but I was told she was relatively active, and had lived for years in her small area with her meager...

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Posted in: Beyond The Frame

Phil Borges: Abay's Return

Image Copyright © Phil Borges-All Rights ReservedThree years ago, Phil Borges partnered with the organization CARE to bring attention to the necessity of empowering women in the global campaign to alleviate poverty. He traveled to Africa, Asia and South America to gather the stories of extraordinary women in remote parts of the world who have empowered themselves and their communities. Abay was born in the Afar region of eastern Ethiopia, into a culture in which young girls are circumcised. However, Abay refused despite being told that an uncircumcised woman would be ostracized and could never marry. She ran away, and returned to her village after 8 years later to work as a CARE station agent.This is her story.Abay's Return Video on Phil Borges'...

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Posted in: Ethiopia,Multimedia,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photojournalism

American Photo: Emerging Artists 2007

Image Copyright © Jehad Nga-All Rights ReservedAmerican Photo magazine recently published its Emerging Artists: A New Generation of Photo Pioneers, a feature showcasing the work of 15 imagemakers.From an initial list of approximately 100 nominees, judges for American Photo magazine chose 28 finalists, each of whom was asked to submit 15 images. The five judges were Michelle Bogre, chair of the photography department at Parsons The New School for Design; Brian Paul Clamp, owner of the ClampArt gallery in New York; David Maloney, a representative at the Art Department agency; Deborah Mauro, American Photo's art director; and commercial and editorial photographer Platon. From their selections came the 15 photographers featured in Emerging Artists...

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Posted in: Contests,Events,Photographers

National Geographic Photo Contest

Image Copyright © Sergio Andreozzi-All Rights ReservedThe results of the National Geographic Magazine's annual photography contest were announced on Friday.Four photographers were chosen from 148,203 images submitted to the International Photography Contest.Four photographers are chosen from over 24,000 images submitted to the English Language portion of the International Photography Contest.The other remaining categories are Honorable Mentions in the Animal, Landscape and People galleries.In the Photography Essay contest, the winner is Tian Li, a photographer from China who submitted an essay on China's ways of life. Other winners are Jean Claude Louis, Howard Sheridan, Larry Louie, Ceren Karacayir and Sergio Andreozzi, among others.I think...

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Posted in: National Geographic,Photographers: Travel

TTP: Recap of The Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (November 24- December 1) most popular posts on TTP:NPR: Thai Tattoo TraditionOne Shot: Anoop NegiFlickr Places: Useful For Scouti...

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Posted in: TTP Recap

Sunday Rant III

I've been itching to rant about the absurdity of the so-called "teddy bear affair' in the Sudan, and on the plight of this unfortunate English teacher. Yes, I know...it has nothing to do with travel or editorial photography, but it has a lot to do with being opinionated as I am.The events in Khartoum are absurd and insane, and if it wasn't for Gillian Gibbons being in a scummy Sudanese jail for a week or so, it would be farcical. The thought that naming a teddy bear Mohamed (which, by the way, was done by Ms Gibbons' students) would insult Islam is just risible and ridiculous. This is not comparable to the publication of caricatures of the Prophet of Islam in a couple of Danish - followed by a few European- newspapers. That incident was insulting,...

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Posted in: Rants

Candace Feit: Nigeria's Islamic Nigeria

Image Copyright © Candace Feit/NY Times-All Rights ReservedThe New York Times has just published the work of one of my favorite photographers, in a slideshow feature entitled Islamic Nigeria. Candace Feit's photographs are always luminous, and well composed. I've blogged about her work a few times on TTP and she always succeeds in impressing me. She's a photojournalist based in Dakar (Senegal) and her work appears in the New York Times, Washington Post, Le Monde, Chicago Tribune to name but a few. The accompanying article reports that the Islamic "revolution" that was supposed to transform northern Nigeria has now waned and gone in another direction, and as Lydia Polgreen writes "...the practice of Islamic law, or Shariah, which had gone on...

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Posted in: Africa,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photojournalism

National Geographic Traveler Seminar

The National Geographic Traveler has four seminars for the Fall 2007-Spring 2008 season that are held in various cities in the United States. These seminars are Travel Photography, Digital Photography, Adventure Photography, and Nature Photography, and are taught by various photographers expert in their fields. The sessions are $195 each. The Travel Photography seminar in New York City will be held tomorrow, and I see that the online registration is already closed. However, this particular seminar then travels to other cities.National Geographic Traveler Semin...

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Posted in: Events,National Geographic