G M B Akash: Gordon Parks Center

Image Copyright © G M B Akash-All Rights ReservedI was pleased to learn that G M B Akash has won first place in the 2007 Gordon Parks International Photo Competition with the above remarkable photograph of a young girl on a train in Bangladesh. Akash tells us that because of Bangladesh’s large population, inadequate number of seats on trains, and inherent poverty, many people are stowaways. This often results in terrible accidents.I've posted about Akash's photographic talents on TTP here, where in contrast to other mindless agenda-driven blogs, I chose to adopt a less venomous approach to his photograph of a chained Muslim child in a Bangladeshi madrasa.The Gordon Parks International Photo Competition has been conducted by Fort Scott Community...

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Posted in: Bangladesh,Events,Photojournalism

Michael Robinson Chavez: India

Image Copyright © Chris Ramirez -All Rights ReservedMichael Robinson Chavez is a staff photographer at the the Los Angeles Times after many years at the Washington Post and Boston Globe. In addition to domestic stories, he covered wide-ranging international assignments in over 45 countries. He was twice named Photographer of the Year (in 2004 and 2007) by the White House News Photographers' Association, and his work has been exhibited in his native California, the Visa Pour l'Image festival in southern France, Washington DC's Corcoran Gallery, and many other galleries around the world. I chose Michael's remarkable work on the Jain festival of Mahamasthakabhisheka. This is an important Jain festival held once every 12 years in the town of Shravanabelagola...

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Posted in: Festivals,India,Photographers: Photojournalists

NYC: No Photography Permits!

Image Copyright ©Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved New York City has now given up on its ill-thought out attempt to to rein in street photographers, videographers, and independent filmmakers by dropping regulations that would have regulated capturing public images of the city. New York will now allow photographers and filmmakers to operate without a permit as long as they don't prevent use of public spaces or obstruct more than half of pedestrian walkways. The original (ludicrous) permit plan called for a required $1 million insurance bond for photographers who planned on using a tripod in a single spot for 30 minutes, or ten minutes if filming involved five people or more.So back to the streets...and photograph away! The weather in New York...

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Posted in: Events

Mirjam Evers: Global Beat

Image Copyright © Mirjam Evers-All Rights ReservedBased in New York City, Mirjam Evers is a Dutch freelance photographer specializing in environmental portraits, travel, documentary and adventure photography. During the course of her career she traveled to over 50 countries capturing the diversity of people and cultures in some of the most exotic places in the world.Her photographs were published in American Photo Magazine, Popular Photography Magazine, Hamptons Magazine, Photographer's Forum "Best of Photography Annual" and International Expeditions. Her corporate clients include Epson and Visa Card. I chose Mirjam's Global Beat gallery on her website, but do explore her other galleries as well. Her portraits in the Global Beat gallery are...

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel

Chris Ramirez: Trinidad

Image Copyright © Chris Ramirez -All Rights ReservedChris Ramirez is a New York-based photographer whose pictures are seen on the pages of The New York Times, most notably the Travel section where Chris has done over 15 cover stories in the past 5 years. He has traveled extensively, from the northernmost points in United States to Europe and throughout the Caribbean, which has become one of his favorite corners of the globe. He has been a faculty member at the Eddie Adams Photography Workshop since 1999, where as a team producer, he produces 10 stories annually to be photographed by students and presented at the workshops final slide show. He recently photographed in Trinidad and, along with reporter Sam Sifton, experienced one of the great...

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Posted in: Multimedia,Photojournalism

The Pod

The Pod is a bean bag with a bolt attachment, which is claimed to offer a platform for cameras and camcorders that is compact, strong, flexible, portable and simple. It can be taken anywhere and set up on virtually any surface. The manufacturer claims that it has the stability that small tripods lack, and that it can be used by anyone, even the non technically minded.The pod uses the industry standard ¼" x 20 mounting bolt which comes standard on all makes and models of consumer cameras, and is customizable by removing an amount of stuffing (plastic pellets) in it, to conform with surfaces and cameras.Having a pathological hatred for tripods, I am certainly intrigued by the pod, and wonder whether it really lives up to its claims. Nothing can...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

One Shot: Tatiana Cardeal

Image Copyright ©Tatiana Cardeal -All Rights Reserved Tatiana Cardeal is a Brazilian independent photographer based in Sao Paulo, who spent her early career as an art director and graphic designer for international magazines. She decided to shift her focus to photography and document social, cultural and human right issues in 2003. Her particular interest in South American indigenous people started at an early age, when she studied indigenous traditions and cultures. She calls her photography "social photography" because of the consequences and possible social changes that evolve from it. Her photographs can be interpreted as a denunciation, a call for action or a petition to help indigenous people by respecting them, respecting their land,...

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Posted in: Brazil,One Shot,Photographers: Travel

Micro Track II Audio Recorder

M-Audio has redesigned its popular MicroTrack digital recorder, and dubbed it the MicroTrack II. The company says the redesigned version brings even more professional features to the original high-fidelity mobile digital recorder that’s used by audio and film professionals. The new recorder has an extended input gain range, analog input limiter, 48V phantom power, faster file transfer rate, seamless recording of files beyond 2GB in size and other enhancements. It allows the recording of WAV (BWF) and MP3 files to CompactFlash or Microdrives through balanced line inputs or built-in microphone preamps—which can be dragged and dropped to computers via high-speed USB 2.0 for immediate editing or Web posting. Its MSRP is $299 and it's expected to...

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Posted in: Audio,Hard Gear

Sunday Rant

Since this is my blog, and I can pretty much write about anything I like, here's a rant for this Sunday morning.Whenever I visit London, I always try to spend a weekend there so I can read the Saturday and Sunday newspapers...or the broadsheets as they're called over there. Early morning, on both weekend days, I walk to my newsagent and buy the Times and the Independent....and quickly return home carrying an armful of newsprint and the accompanying magazines.My next hours are spent reading and absorbing the news and editorials written by true professionals...in-depth, intensive and intelligent analysis of current events and foreign news. Every time I do this, I come to the same conclusion: our mainstream print media is superficial and naive....

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Posted in: Rants

New York Times: Khmer Torture House

Image Courtesy Tuol Sleng Museum of GenocideThe New York Times brings us an article on a Cambodian photographer Nhem En, who was on the staff of the Tuol Sleng prison, the most notorious torture house of the Khmer Rouge regime, which caused the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979. Nhem En was called to be a witness at a coming trial of Khmer Rouge leaders, including his commandant at the prison, Kaing Geuk Eav, known as Duch, who has been arrested and charged with crimes against humanity.Mr. Nhem En’s career in the Khmer Rouge began in 1970 at age 9 when he was recruited as a village boy to be a drummer in a touring revolutionary band. When he was 16, he said, he was sent to China for a seven-month course in photography. He became...

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Posted in: Cambodia,Podcasts

Beyond The Frame: Orang Asli

It's been a while since I've written up a Beyond The Frame post for TTP, so here's one.On my way to the Cameron Highlands in the heart of peninsular Malaysia, I chanced upon an orang asli, an aborigine, who was quite amenable to my photographing him near his hut. He was a hunter, showed off his traditional blowpipe, and demonstrated his skills by blowing a dart at a small target about 50 feet away. Although he wasn't far from the main road, he gave me the impression that he had little contact with the modern world... it may have been an act and he actually went to his real home at the end of the day to watch television...but we communicated in sign language during our encounter.The term "orang asli" signifies "original people" or "first people"...

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Posted in: Asia,Beyond The Frame

Canon 24mm 1.4L USM Lens

Following the highly scientific results of the poll recently conducted on TTP, I am happy to report that I'm now the proud owner of a Canon 24mm 1.4L USM lens. This is my first prime lens (I've always used the Canon f2.8mm L zooms) , and one that I hope will serve me well in the years to co...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

New York Times: Another Kurdish Front

Image Copyright © Warzer Jaff/New York Times -All Rights ReservedThe New York Times brings us a slideshow feature about a less publicized Kurdish militant group, which is engaged in guerilla warfare against Iranian forces. This is separate than the deadly raids into Turkey by Kurdish militants holed up in northern Iraq. The latter is the focus of urgent diplomacy, with the United States begging Turkey for restraint.As the accompanying article states: "Yet out of the public eye, a chillingly similar battle has been under way on the Iraqi border with Iran. Kurdish guerrillas ambush and kill Iranian forces and retreat to their hide-outs in Iraq. The Americans offer Iran little sympathy. Tehran even says Washington aids the Iranian guerrillas,...

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Posted in: Photojournalism

Per-Anders Pettersson: South Africa

Image Copyright © Per-Anders Pettersson -All Rights ReservedPer-Anders Pettersson is a Swedish photojournalist, who tells us that he's a a photojournalist of the old generation and that he was never been just interested in photography or photography as an art, and that his main aim is not about capturing the most outstanding or award-winning images but to understand the story and to capture it fairly and with respect.He started his career by covering major stories around the world for the likes of Stern, Geo and Newsweek, and now lives in Cape Town and New York where he is contracted to Getty Images. He has gained several international awards for his work. His desire to document the survival of people in hardship zones has taken him to more...

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Posted in: Africa,Photographers: Photojournalists

National Geographic: Alexandra Boulat

Image Copyright © Jerome Delay/AP-All Rights ReservedThe National Geographic Magazine is featuring a tribute to Alexandra Boulat who passed away Ocober 5, 2007. Touching eulogies from fellow photographers Alexandra Avakian, Jose Azel, Pascal Maitre, Jodi Cobb and colleague John Stanmeyer as well as many others, underscore and reaffirm how much she will be missed.Alexandra's tribute includes some galleries of her great work with National Geographic Magazine.(My thanks to Marilyn Terrell)NGM's Tribute to Alexandra Bou...

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Posted in: National Geographic,Photojournalism

New York Times: Burma, Uneasy Days

Image Copyright © The New York Times-All Rights ReservedA recent article by Choe Sang-Hun in the New York Times reports that as the lunch gong chimed through the tree-shaded Mahagandhayon Monastery in Mandalay , several hundred monks in burgundy robes lined up on a mid-October day, all holding alms bowls, returning after seeking donations. It is a common scene in Myanmar, formerly Burma, where one out of every 100 people, many of them children, are monks. But the lunch line at the Mahagandhayon Monastery, the country’s largest, used to be much longer.A senior monk told the NY Times reporter: “We usually have 1,400 monks here,” said a senior monk. “Because of the situation, parents took 1,000 of them home.”The article ends with this: "In mid-October...

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Posted in: Burma

Tewfic El-Sawy : The People of Druk Yul

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedDuring the October 2006 photo-expedition which I led in Bhutan, we crossed the kingdom to reach its eastern central spiritual regions. These are some of the people I encountered along the way. The People of Druk Yul is a multimedia slideshow using Soundslides, I embedded an audio track recorded during the festival in Prakhar. To receive advance notice of my 2008 photo expeditions, join my mailing list (the box on the right hand side of this page). Itineraries of past photo expeditions can be found here.The multimedia slideshow: The People of Druk ...

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Posted in: Bhutan,Multimedia,Soundslides

What The Duck

...

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New York Times: Burma, Ominously Calm

Image Copyright © The New York Times -All Rights ReservedThe New York Times brings us a cluster of updated reports on the situation in Burma...an article, a slideshow, and a podcast.Distressingly, the article carries this paragraph:“It’s not peace you see here, it’s silence; it’s a forced silence,” said a 46-year-old writer who joined last month’s protests in Yangon and was now on the run, carrying with him a worn copy of his favorite book, George Orwell’s “1984.” “We are the military’s slaves. We want democracy. We want to wait no longer. But we are afraid of their guns.”The whole article is here.The slideshow's photographs don't carry a photographer's by-line...only the copyright by the New York Times...presumably to protect the photographer...

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Posted in: Burma,Photojournalism

Poll: Which Lens?

Which Lens Would You Buy?Canon EF35mm f1.4L ($1099)Canon EF24mm f1.4L ($1089)  pollcode.com free pollsIf you had the choice between these two lenses, which would you buy? The lens will go with a Canon Mark II with a 1.3 field of view crop factor...and used for people photography largely in dim interio...

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Gary Knight: EOS-1D Mark III

In June, VII Photo photographer Gary Knight travelled to Israel, Jordan and northern Iraq on assignment for Newsweek magazine. He used an EOS-1D Mark III throughout and spoke to Canon Professional Network about his experiences.I had the pleasure of spending some time with Gary in Indonesia a couple of years back, so I wasn't surprised to read his conclusion on the EOS-1D Mark III was succint and to the point... "This camera just works.” I'm pretty certain that if the camera "works" for Gary it'll "work" for everyone. Since it's a Canon marketing blurb, there's no mention of the auto-focus issue...but other than that, it works.I much prefer reading reviews on cameras or lenses from working photographers, rather than lenghty techo-heavy reviews that magazines and websites seem to relish. I was...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Kenro Izu: Rubin Museum of Art

After years of pilgrimage to sacred landscapes and spiritual monuments, the photographer Kenro Izu has turned his masterful lens to the sacred within. Bhutan, the Sacred Within is his final work in a trilogy on this theme, and the second to be premiered at the Rubin Museum of Art. Izu takes the people of Bhutan and their particular blending of an indigenous religion and Buddhist thought as his subject. The meticulously crafted portraits he has made express the purity of those beliefs and their resonance in the larger world of today. These photographs were made during the period of 2002-2007. The photograph which illustrates this post was made at the Jambay Lhakhang in Bumthang (Bhutan), one of the destinations of my photo expedition in October...

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Posted in: Bhutan,Events

Angkor Photo Festival: Nov 17-28, 2007

A reminder that the third annual Angkor Photography Festival is to be held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for 12 days of photographic events and celebrations from November 17 to 28, 2007.The festival brings together well-known and passionate photographers from across the world in a spirit of creativity and sharing. It showcases exhibitions and outdoor projections about Asia by renowned artists and photojournalists, while differentiating itself from other events with its strong educational goals.Participants share their art by leading free workshops for young Asian photographers, and give their time to outreach projects for street children, landmine victims and HIV+ women . The free workshops run from the 17th to the 24th of November. This year again...

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Posted in: Cambodia,Events,Festivals

Tracy Hallett: Outdoor Photography

Being in London for a few days, I was immensely pleased to learn that Tracy Hallett was promoted to Editor of Outdoor Photography magazine. Tracy was Deputy Editor for two years, and will be replacing Keith Wilson who will be moving to a new job at the magazine's holding company.Congratulations to you Tracy....a well deserved promotion!It's fitting that Tracy's talents extend to being an excellent photographer herself...she has recently exhibited images images from Thailand, Guatemala, Prague in Brighton, has had an image exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and has work published in 18 consumer titles including The Independent on Sunday, British Journal of Photography, Photography Monthly, Travel Photography and Black &...

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Posted in: Events

Canon 5D II Rumors

The photo-related blogsphere is abuzzing with rumors that Canon will soon announce an upgraded version of its phenomenally successful 5D camera. It seems that the price for current 5D model is dropping "like a stone" which, to some, means that Canon is clearing its inventory before announcing the new model.The rumor mill has it that the new 5D will have a 16MP DIGIC III sensor, a 3″ LCD, Live View, a Refined AF (similar to 40D), Semi Weather Sealing and 4-5 fps. The timing is expected to be late fall or early winter 2007. As my friend Ralph Childs would say: I want o...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Anne Holmes: Pul-e-Charki Jail

Image Copyright © Anne Holmes -All Rights ReservedAnne Holmes is German-born and took her first trip at the age of six weeks, to Crete. She describes herself as peripatetic, and that home is where the suitcase is. After a career in the world of fine arts and troubled by the war -and the daily images in the headlines- in Iraq, she decided to become a photojournalist.I chose Anne's photographs of the women inmates of Pul-e-Charki prison for TTP. Pul-e-Charki is a notorious large prison in Afghanistan east of Kabul. The prison is notorious for the torture and other abuses after it came under the control of Afghanistan's communist government following the invasion by the Soviet Union. There are 8 cell blocks but only 3 are being used, and that...

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Posted in: Afghanistan,Photographers: Photojournalists

Sebastião Salgado: Amazon Tribes

Image Copyright © Sebastião Salgado -All Rights ReservedAs a boy growing up on a ranch in Brazil, Sebastião Salgado witnessed firsthand the destruction of the native forest. As thousands of acres were cleared for herds of cattle that demanded more and more pasture for grazing, the landscape was inexorably transformed into a dust-filled plain. Because of this experience, Salgado decided to make the remote tribes of South America an essential element of "Genesis," his eight-year collaboration with Rolling Stone to document the planet as it looked at the dawn of time. The first half of the Genesis project is on the Yanomami Indians, who are believed to be among the first inhabitants of South America. For the Yanomami, the forest is not just 'nature'...

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Posted in: Brazil,Photographers: Photojournalists

Inside Burma: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera is one of the few international television networks that managed to get its correspondent inside Burma during the recent uprisings. The footage is now shown on YouTube, and parts of it are chilli...

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Posted in: Burma

New Canon L Lenses

Image Copyright © Canon (via Rob Galbraith)-All Rights ReservedRobert Galbraith's website reports that Canon announced the development of two all-new telephoto lenses for use with its EOS SLR cameras: the EF200mm f/2L IS USM and the EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM. Prototypes of the new lenses will be shown at PhotoPlus Expo, taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, October 18 to 20. The new Canon EF200mm f/2L IS USM and EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM are L (luxury)-series lenses incorporating a high-performance Image Stabilizer, feature optical systems utilizing special optical materials such as fluorite to correct chromatic aberrations, making possible high-resolution, high-contrast shooting performance.Here's Canon's Press Release...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Vassi Koutsaftis: Mt Kailash

Image Copyright © Vassi Koutsaftis-All Rights ReservedGreek-born Vassi Koutsaftis has prowled the globe for over 30 years, specializing in travel photography....of the extreme kind, especially in mountainous regions. He also works as a guide for Geographic Expeditions—and has a sideline as an importer of Asian art.For today's post, I chose Vassi's gallery of photographs made near Mount Kailash. Mt Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê mountains which is part of the Himalayas in Tibet, the source of some of the longest rivers in Asia—the Indus River, the Sutlej River, a tributary of the Indus River, and the Brahmaputra River—and is considered as a sacred place in four religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bön faith. In Hindu religion, it is...

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel,Tibet

James Nachtwey: Burma Aftermath

Image Copyright © James Nachtwey-All Rights ReservedHere's a gallery of photographs by James Nachtwey as published by Time magazine on its website. I'm not certain when these photographs were made, but the implication is that Nachtwey was photographing in Rangoon recently.The latest from Burma is that its ruling junta has restored Internet service and relaxed a nighttime curfew, thus easing a crackdown on pro-democracy activists. Internet cafe owners around Myanmar's largest city, Rangoon, said they were looking forward to reopening after service was restored Sunday. Another sign of some relaxation is that the curfew was cut to four hours, 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., starting last night. However, Amnesty International said that the security forces...

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Posted in: Burma,Photojournalism

Eid al-Fitr

Image Copyright © Reuters via New York Times-All Rights ReservedEid al-Fitr is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. The 2007 Eid al-Fitr took place, for some on Friday, October 12th and others Saturday, October 13th. For Muslims, the holiday is a joyous occasion with important religious significance, celebrating of the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory, peace of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity. To mark the occasion, the New York Times features the above photograph of Muslims attending prayers for Eid al-Fitr in Lanzhou, China, in the northwestern province of Gan...

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Posted in: Events

VII: War In Iraq

Here's a three-part feature of the war coverage in Iraq by the photographers of VII. War In Iraq Through Photographers' EyesHere's Part 1Here's Part 2Here's Part...

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Posted in: Photojournalism

Gladia Budianto: Tibet

Image Copyright © Gladia Budianto-All Rights ReservedGladia Budianto lives in Singapore and is a self-described "photo enthusiast" who, inspired by the classic comic book "Tintin in Tibet", followed his dream of visiting Tibet in 2004. On this trip, he captured Tibet's vivid natural landscape and spiritual cultures in panoramic format. He's been using panoramic camera for years and still believes in the quality of films. His equipment consists of Hasselblad XPAN, a Contax G1 and a Mamiya 7II.Gladia's "Tibet: A Journey To Share" is in the popular Soundslides format, and is of both color and B&W photographs. I'm not particularly fond of mixing these two types, but many were made on panoramic cameras and are really very well composed and...

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel,Soundslides,Tibet

New York Times: Georgian Warriors In Iraq

Image Copyright © Joao Silva/New York Times-All Rights ReservedThe New York Times featured photographs of Georgian troops being sent to Kut, an area near Iran, in a recent slideshow. Its accompanying article tells us that at a time when other countries (such as Great Britain) are pulling troops out as fast as they can, Georgia has more than doubled its troop levels in Iraq to 2,000 soldiers.What's in it for Georgia, you ask? Ah, well...Georgia seeks NATO membership as a security guarantee against Russia, and by sending its troops to Iraq, its politicians hope that the United States will reciprocate by supporting Georgia's membership. This is what is defined as realpolitik.But let's go back to photography....The slideshow has the above picture...

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Posted in: Middle East,Photojournalism

David Alan Harvey

Here's an interesting snippet of video showing the legendary David Alan Harvey mentoring a student photographer (Thanks for the heads-up, Er...

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Posted in: Podcasts

Alex Sievers: China

Image Copyright © Alex Sievers-All Rights ReservedAlex Sievers is from the Netherlands, and his interest in photography started during architectural studies. He's one of the first travel photographers who effectively harnessed the power of the internet to spread his work internationally, as he started his website in 1997.He tells us that Namibia is one of the countries he prefers among the many he visited, especially its vastness and diverse landscapes. Notwithstanding, I chose Alex's work in China to feature on TTP. He also has interesting photographs of Burma on his website which I urge you to look at.Here's Alex's China Collect...

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Posted in: China,Photographers: Travel

PDN Photo Annual 2008

It's time for the PDN Photo Annual photography contest, in which photographers can submit their entries in the following categories: Advertising, Magazine/Editorial, Photo Books, Photojournalism, Corporate Design, Personal, Stock Photography, Personal, Web Sites and Student Work.As always, all those interested ought to read the terms and conditions of the contest very carefully before participating.PDN Photo Annual Cont...

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Posted in: Contests

Geographic Expeditions: Simon Winchester

An invitation from Bridget Lackie of Geographic Expeditions landed in my email inbox a few weeks ago, announcing a literary event at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center, in which the incomparable Simon Winchester would talk about his upcoming book on China.The event was held on the evening of Wednesday Sept 26th, and was extremely well attended by invitees who -to my mind at least- seemed to fit a certain profile: globetrotting travelers, Sinophiles and avid travel book readers. The talk was preceded by cocktails where everyone mingled and shared travel stories.As background: Simon Winchester is a best-selling British author, and a journalist who spent a twenty-year career as a foreign correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, and who...

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Posted in: Books,Events

Julien Millet: India

Image Copyright © Julien Millet-All Rights ReservedI know that Julien Millet is a French photographer, however I wasn't able to find his biography. He has colorful photographs of India (and other Asian countries) on his website, and also uses a web template similar to that of Foliolink, which I have posted about earlier. His website is simple but very effective...with lovely galleries of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Venice and Madagascar.Julien Millet's In...

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Posted in: India,Photographers: Travel

CBS' Sunday Morning: Bobby Haas

Image Copyright © Robert Haas-All Rights ReservedI occasionally watch CBS' Sunday Morning, and this time I was rewarded with an interesting segment featuring Bobby Haas. Haas is an aerial photographer who's traveled to some of the most isolated and rugged places on Earth, places only easily accessible from the air. He estimates that he's taken more than 70,000 photographs from the air.For the past six years, Haas traveled from Africa to South America and now the Arctic, and has the fear of heights. Furthermore, he is a successful financial investor who, back in the '80s, earned a fortune in the bare-knuckle world of leveraged buyouts with his former firm Hicks & Haas. His first book became one of the best-sellers in National Geographic's...

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel

NY Times: Christian Lebanon

Image Copyright © Bryan Denton for The New York Times-All Rights ReservedAn interesting slideshow and an accompanying article from the New York Times deals with the current political situation in Lebanon...interesting to those who follow events in the Middle East. Robert Fisk, the preeminent journalist at the Independent newspaper and bestselling author, who's an expert on Lebanon (and the Middle East), has warned repeatedly that the Lebanese are on the edge of a civil war. The article in the NY Times highlights that the current "struggle is over who gets to be the next president, a post reserved for a Christian under Lebanon’s Constitution, and which must be filled by the end of November. But the larger question — one that is prompting rival...

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Posted in: One Shot,Photojournalism

Nayan Sthankiya: Sanskrit

Image Copyright © Nayan Sthankiya-All Rights ReservedNayan Sthankiya is a Canadian photojournalist of East Indian decent, currently based in India covering international news in the Asia Pacific region. He has traveled to over 40 countries world wide. He studied multi-media arts at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Nayan slowly gravitated to photography. After spending a year lobbying the Chinese for the release of an imprisoned Korean photojournalist, he realized the power of the image to effect change and to inform and teach the world.I feature Nayan's photo essay on a Sanskrit school in Karnataka, India. Sanskrit is one of the world's oldest languages and is still in use in India today. Its position in the...

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Posted in: India,Photographers: Photojournalists

NY Times: Afghan Terrain

Image Copyright © Tomás Munita/NY Times-All Rights ReservedThe New York Times has a slideshow of Tomás Munita's excellent photographs that accompany an article describing a $40 million experimental Pentagon program that assigns anthropologists and other social scientists to American combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq. The objective is for the anthropologists to understand subtle points of tribal relations, and explain these to the combat troops.As an example, one of the anthropologists identified an unusually high concentration of widows in one Afghan village, whose lack of income created financial pressure on their sons to provide for their families, and drove the young men to join well-paid insurgents. As a consequence, the US military...

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Posted in: Afghanistan,Photographers: Photojournalists

Alexandra Boulat

Image Copyright © Jerome Delay/AP-All Rights ReservedIt is reported that photojournalist Alexandra Boulat, one of the founding members of the VII photo agency, died last night in a Paris hospital. She was 45. Boulat suffered a brain aneurysm last June while living in Jerusalem, Israel. She was later transferred to Paris. Boulat was one of the most talented photographers of her generation. She was born in Paris in 1962 and was originally trained in graphic art and art history, at the Beaux Arts in Paris. She was represented by Sipa Press for 10 years until 2000. In 2001 she co-founded VII photo agency. Her news and features stories were published in many international magazines, above all Time, Newsweek, National Geographic Magazine and Paris-Match....

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Posted in: Photographers: Photojournalists

CS Monitor: A Village in Ghana

Image Copyright © Peter DiCampo/CS Monitor-All Rights ReservedAlthough the northern Ghanian village of Wantugu has high-tension power lines in place since 2000, its people are still lacking one key element: electricity flowing through those wires and into village homes. For most people in developed countries, living without electricity is unthinkable, but in Wantugu it is the norm, rather than the exception.Even without electric power, the 3,500 inhabitants of this rural farming community are active after dark, with young people get together to study English homework or the Qu'ran, while others gather to watch a film on the only TV in the village.The feature is photographed and reported by Peter DiCampo, who has used the Soundslides quite...

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Posted in: Africa,Photojournalism,Soundslides

Bali: Spirits Dance!

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedI've put together a slideshow of some of my photographs of Bali's indigenous dances such as Rejang, Arja and Kecak. Some are candid photographs, while others are of dancers I hired to pose for the members of my Bali photo-expedition in July.I decided against adding any sound recordings made while the dancers' performances...gamelan and kecak are somewhat repetitive, and I wanted to show the images on their own with no distractions.Bali: Spirits Danc...

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Posted in: Bali,Soundslides

Cambodia: Pchum Ben Festival

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedOne of the most important religious observances in Cambodia will start on October 11th. Prachum Benda, known colloquially as Pchum Ben, is the period during which the Cambodians gather to make offerings to their ancestors. The observance usually lasts an entire lunar cycle, constituting the fifteen days that ancestral spirits are given to visit their living relatives. Although Cambodians believe that most living creatures are reincarnated at death, some souls remain trapped in the spirit world. So each year, for these fifteen days, these trapped souls are released from the spirit world to search for their living relatives, meditate and repent. Pchum Ben is for the living relatives to remember...

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Posted in: Cambodia

Podcast: The Art of Tea

This is not really about travel or editorial photography...well, maybe it is. Jennifer Sauer, a photojournalist and photographer, decided to document the most intriguing tea lounges and tearooms in the San Francisco Bay Area, and to introduce you to the world's top tea experts, who explain how to judge quality teas, and explored tea cultures from around the world in a book titled The Art of Tea.In this podcast (courtesy of The Digital Story via Imaging Insider), Jennifer tells us how she thought of her project, how she put her photographs and text together...and gives us tips to publish such a book in the current publishing environment. It's well worth a listen.Podcast (m...

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Posted in: Podcasts

News Update: Myanmar

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedAccording to the Reuters, the U.N. envoy met with Myanmar junta chief Than Shwe and detained opposition Aung San Suu Kyi today, hoping to halt a bloody crackdown on the biggest democracy protests in 20 years.Although the streets of Rangoon are quiet, it's reported that raids on homes by pro-junta gangs are being carried out looking for dissident monks and civilians. The number of dead is unknown but is estimated at much higher than the figure reported by the government.It is also reported that about 4,000 monks have been rounded up in Rangoon over the past week and are being held at a disused race course and a technical college, and would soon be sent to prisons in the far north of the country....

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Posted in: Burma

Klavs Christensen: Women of Chah Faleh

Klavs is a Danish photographer who picked up photography as a hobby after graduating from The Royal Academy of Music. He started work as a freelance for various Danish magazines and organizations, and his work is based on social and cultural issues in his local neighborhood of downtown Copenhagen.A few years ago he decided to do more work on stories of international interest but still with a focus on cultural, social and political issues. These have taken him to Iran, Egypt and Syria. He began working with WpN in January 2007.I found his photographs of masked women from the village of Chah Faleh in south Iran to be most interesting. Many women in this region of Iran wear different kinds of masks. The tradition of these masks goes further back...

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Posted in: Iran,Photographers: Travel

Print Space (NYC)

A couple of weeks ago, I had some of my Bali and Bhutan photographs printed at Print Space, and chose to have them done on its Chromira printer. I had read that the Chromira exposes photographic paper or film at 300 pixels per inch (ppi) in 36 bit color using Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), and using ZBE's proprietary Resolution Enhancement Technology, the image is sharpened to a visual resolution of 425 ppi. What I like a lot about the large prints I got is that, unlike large format inkjet output, there here is no "dot pattern", and there are no inks used that can smudge or fade. I can vouch for the extremely nice staff and attentive service. I just walked in, asked a few questions and got my large prints the following day, and I'm absolutely...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Jonathan Hanson: Mexican Life

Image Copyright © Jonathan Hanson-All Rights ReservedJonathan Hanson worked for the Santa Fe Workshops after attending graduate school for commercial photography at Ohio University. In Santa Fe he he worked with photographers Jay Maisel and Arthur Meyerson who influenced his eye for color and light. He then moved to San Miguel in Mexico where he studied Spanish and Mexican culture. This paved the way for his skill with the use of bold color, composition and the subtleties of body language. As TTP readers probably know by now, I like highly saturated colors in photographs, photographs with a lot of shadows and I always try to introduce motion blur in images that need it...so it's not a surprise that I chose Hanson's photograph of this yellow...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photographers: Travel