Peter Steinhauer: Viet Nam

Photo © Peter Steinhauer -All Rights ReservedCurrently based in Hong Kong, Peter Steinhauer is a fine art, editorial and advertising photographer living and working in Asia since 1993, and has exhibited his work in numerous galleries and museums internationally. He published two books on Viet Nam, and in 2007 PDN awarded his second book "Enduring Spirit of Viet Nam" Best Photography Book of The Year.Peter's clients for his commercial work are Travel & Leisure, Prestige, Frank Muller, Dior, Chaumet, Periplus Books, Sofitel, Melia and Marriott. There are beautiful galleries on Peter's website, whether categorized as fine art or Viet Nam. I chose his Ethnic Minorities of Viet Nam to showcase here on TTP.(via Exposure Compensation blog)And...

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Posted in: Photographers,Vietnam

Brent Stirton: Papua New Guinea

Photo © Brent Stirton-All Rights ReservedBrent Stirton's work from Papua New Guinea is just superlative...have a close look at his series of images of PNG which highlights the uniqueness of its tribal culture and the ritual of dress and dance for which it is most famous. Brient is the senior staff photographer for the assignment division of Getty Images, New York. He specializes in documentary work and is known for his alternative approaches, and travels an average of nine months of the year on assignment.His work is published by: National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, The New York Times Magazine, The London Sunday Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The Discovery Channel, Newsweek, Le Express, Le Monde 2, Figaro, Paris...

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Posted in: Asia,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photographers: Travel

Manali: Rajasthani Young Woman

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedAfter one of my classes at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, Dar Yasin (a photographer from Kashmir) and I went exploring the small tented settlement of Rajasthanis in central Manali. Most of the settlers are transient, and if my understanding is accurate, they spend around the 4-5 months of summer in the milder climates of Manali. Most of those we spoke to were from Kota, and have established small tented temples where they hold daily pujas. The travel takes them about 4 days by train, and they are regular visitors here. In common with such situations, the locals probably resent the intrusion, but I haven't seen any overt signs of ...

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Posted in: Events,India

Jeffrey Chapman: Cambodia

Currently based in New York State, Jeffrey Chapman describes himself quite well by saying that he is a freelance cultural, humanitarian and world photographer. He also worked as a director for a World Bank project in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China, as an adviser to the Japanese government's JETRO office in Italy, and as an internationalization and strategy consultant working with corporate clients, presidents and prime ministers in Europe, Asia and North America.Jeffrey is currently a member of the senior staff at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in Utica, NY, working as an advocate for refugees (primarily Burmese/Karen, Somali and Iraqi) who are resettling in the United States.Most of Jeffrey's photographs...

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Posted in: Cambodia,Laos,Photographers: Travel,Vietnam

GAIA Photos

Gaia Photos is a platform and an opportunity for photographers to showcase their work to a broad audience, and it seeks to be a place to explore and discover the issues facing the diverse population and locations of the world. It also seeks to be where professional photo buyers will find international, in-depth, quality reporting from a vast pool of professional photojournalists who can also be contacted directly for commissioned work.One of its declared objectives is to promote quality and diversity in documentary photography, especially in a time of dwindling editorial budgets.Some of the photographers working with Gaia are Lisa Hogben, GMB Akash, M. Scott Brauer, Brent Foster, Alex Espinosa, Alex Masi and many others. Unfortunately, I haven't...

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Posted in: Innovative Stuff,Photojournalism

Sexual Warfare: Congo

The Sydney Morning Herald has featured a superbly produced multimedia project titled Sexual Warfare: The Democratic Republic of Congo. The multimedia is produced by Kimberley Porteousand Kate Geraghty.From its website, we learn that sexual violence is a devastating weapon in the war-torn North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congolese army and rebel groups systematically use brutal gang rape against their enemies, causing crippling injuries and spreading HIV.Aid groups estimate one in three women in North Kivu have been raped. Over 30 per cent of these have been infected with HIV.All across this devastated region – in every village, every camp and almost every home – a man-made plague is stealing and destroying the lives...

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Posted in: Africa,Multimedia

Chico Sanchez: Pok Ta Pok

"The Popol Vuh, holy book of the Quiché Maya, contains a story of a confrontation between good and evil, played out in the form of a ballgame. Throughout pre-Hispanic history, this ballgame has played an important yet mysterious and debated role in the cultures of Mesoamerica, sometimes taking the form of sacrifice ritual, sometimes a game of chance, always symbolic of a timeless struggle between opposing forces, with an outcome governed by supernatural powers in conjunction with human skill and honor."-(BBC)Here's a short audio slideshow by photographer Chico Sanchez documenting the ancient ballgame of Pok Ta Pok as played in Yucatan, Mexico. As the preamble above describes, it's a symbolic game between the forces of good and evil.Chico Sanchez...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photographers: Travel,Soundslides

Canon Pro Network: Editor's Choice

The Canon Pro Network has recently introduced an interactive feature that allows Canon photographers to submit their images for review by the world's top photo editors. All of the entries are then viewed and edited by a big name 'guest editor' who makes a selection of the best submitted images. The guest editor for the second edition Editor's Choice is Magdalena Herrera, director of photography at GEO France. She reviewed 4,471 photos submitted by 721 Canon photographers from around the world. You can now watch and listen to an in-depth explanation of her final picture selection by clicking he...

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Posted in: Events,Hard Gear,Photographers

My Work: Maghreb Still Life

Ancient cameras (Marrakech)-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedWater gourd (Ouarzazate)-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedAllah (Ouarzazate)-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedShelf & Door(Marrakech)-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedDoor (Essaouira)-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedHere's a collection of photographs made in the medinas of Marrakech, Essaouira and Ouarzazate, during my Gnawa Festival Photo~Expedition last month. Some of the old cameras are the very popular Kodak 55X Instamatic; one of which I still have in perfect working ord...

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Posted in: Morocco,Photographers: Travel,TTP Show Off

On My Way To Manali, India

I will be flying out of London today on my way to Delhi then on to Manali, India. The Second Foundry Photojournalism Workshop is being held at this hill station, located in the Vyas River valley, among the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, India, near the northern end of the Kullu Valley.I will have missed one of nature’s most awesome spectacles, a solar eclipse (here are some photographs of it) which was seen from India's (and China) various cities, especially in Patna, Bihar.Anyway, back to FPW. The small town of Manali was the beginning of an ancient trade route to Ladakh and, from there, over the Karakoram Pass on to Yarkand and Khotan in the Tarim Basin. Manali and the surrounding area is of great significance to Indian culture and heritage...

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Posted in: Events,India,Photojournalism

My Bags: Foundry Photo Workshop

I had a difficult time deciding what camera bag to take with me for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. I had the choice of a Swiss Army briefcase roller, a seldom-used Billingham 555 (or whatever the model is...the large one), a Lowepro Computrekker backpack, or a Lowepro Stealth Reporter shoulderbag. Having been used to my minimalist gear on my previous two international trips, I was loath to return to the heavy Swiss Army roller, the Billingham requires steel fingers to close its clasps, and the Stealth Reporter seems to auto-inflate in front of the Virgin Atlantic check-in desk. I was left with the Lowepro backpack, and the Domke F-8.The Domke F-8 could comfortably carry all my camera gear but my Mac laptop wouldn't fit (I have to take...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Matt Powell: Humanitarian Photographer

Matt Powell is a documentary photographer and a multimedia producer ( his bio tells us that he's also a budding documentary filmmaker), as a well as a writer, who works for the Christian humanitarian relief agency Samaritan’s Purse. It's a job which takes Matt all over the developing world, and nourishes his passion for visual storytelling and his desire to improve the world.Soon after his graduation, Matt undertook a 2.5 month trekking journey into some of the most remote terrain in South East Asia to perform an ethnographic survey of tribal minorities known to be living under severe religious and ethnic persecution. It was the adventure of his lifetime, and established his career as a humanitarian photographer.His subsequent assignments...

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Posted in: Africa,Multimedia,Photographers

Oliver Weber: Marrakech

Oliver Weber is a German photographer who currently lives and works on the Canary Island of La Gomera. He specializes in reportage, portrait and street photography. It was his 2007 photo exhibition “Humans” in Bredevoort, Netherlands, that Oliver Weber became more broadly known to an international audience, and his first book of photographs was published and nominated for the German Photo Book Award.His interest in street photography is based on spontaneity and the awareness of situations and moods. He seeks to grasp the right moment since once the moment is over, it's gone forever. His black & white street photography of Marrakesh interested me the most amongst his galleries, since I've just returned from there, and I've posted about the...

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Posted in: Morocco,Photographers: Travel

Justin Jin: 100Eyes Magazine

Justin Jin worked for more than than a decade as an independent photojournalist with leading magazines and newspapers, specializing in documenting people in hidden, harsh and sensitive situations, such as authoritarianism in Russia, exploitation in China or illegal immigration in Europe.Based for the last four years in Moscow, Justin is doing reportage andcorporate assignments in Russia, China and beyond. While some of his projects are commissioned, others are self-initiated. The beautifully produced 100Eyes Magazine features Justin Jin's edgy photo essay Made In China-Blues After Midnight which documents how workers in Chinese factories toil through the night scrubbing, spraying and tearing trousers to create the rugged look of blue jeans...

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Posted in: China,Innovative Stuff,Photojournalism

Terri Gold: World Imagery

Photo © Terri Gold -All Rights Reserved“I believe images that share our stories can have a positive impact on our world.” - Terri GoldTerri Gold is an award-winning photographer and artist based in New York City, and has built an impressive reputation for her rituals, rites of passage, festivals, celebrations and portraits from all over the world. Her ongoing personal project “Still Points in a Turning World” focuses on Asia’s vanishing tribal heritage, and has been widely exhibited.In January 2009, she was chosen as the Lightroom Featured Photographer in Photoshop User Magazine. She has won numerous awards and has been published on book covers for Random House, Penguin Putnam and Henry Holt. She is represented by Picture Arts and Archangel...

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Posted in: Asia,India,Photographers: Travel,Tibet

Phil Borges: Women Empowered

Here's an immensely worthwhile project that I'm very glad to share with you.Phil Borges, the acclaimed documentary photographer and CARE, the humanitarian organization that fights global poverty by empowering women and girls, are continuing a successful multi-year collaboration with the launch of the Women Empowered Project. Using Phil Borges’ photography and video, The Women Empowered Project spotlights some of the issues that women and girls in the developing world face while demonstrating practical, proven solutions to fighting global poverty.The new website, which was created in conjunction with liveBooks includes three mini-documentary films: Learning to Lead portrays the transformative power of education and leadership for girls and women;...

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Posted in: Events,Multimedia,Photographers

Pablo Corral Vega: Andes

Pablo Corral Vega is a photojournalist from Ecuador whose work is published in National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, the Smithsonian Magazine, the New York Times Sunday magazine, Audubon, the French, German, Spanish, and Russian editions of Geo, and other international magazines.His work has been exhibited in Perpignan, Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Tokyo, Seville, Washington, D.C., and Houston, and he has published six books of photography: Tierra Desnuda, Paisajes del Silencio, Ecuador: De la Magia al Espanto, Ecuador, Andes and Twenty Five. For the book Andes, published by the National Geographic Society, famed Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa wrote twenty short stories inspired by the photos.It is Andes that I choose to feature...

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Posted in: Bolivia,Central America,Guatemala,Mexico,National Geographic,Photographers: Photojournalists,Soundslides

Snobbism & The Photography Industry

Kochi (Kerala)-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved"Photography has its social classes, almost like a feudal society. It has its kings and knights ( in shinning armor, no less), its jesters and courtesans, and of course, a huge amounts of peasants. If you want to play in the court of the respected and approved, you have to follow some well established rules."And so writes Paul Melcher in his inimitable Thoughts of A Bohemian blog. As way of background, Paul Melcher brings more than 17 years of experience in technology breakthrough and leadership roles for world-renowned photography agencies and was named by American Photo as one of the "50 most influential individuals in American photography."Firstly, I'm pleased that this post seems...

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Posted in: POV

Dhiraj Singh: Nagas

Dhiraj Singh is a photojournalist and editorial photographer in Mumbai, whose work has appeared in various international publications including Newsweek, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC among others.He recently won the third place in the ‘war and disaster’ category at the China International Press Photo Award-2009 and third place in Spot News at “The Asia Media Award” which was held in conjunction with IFRA’s Publish Asia 2008. His pictures of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 were also part of a group exhibition titled, ‘Bearing Witness’ held in that city in 2009.One of Dhiraj's non-audio SoundSlides photo essay is on the Nagas. The Naga Sadhus are part of a mysterious society, and are worshipers of Shiva. The term Naga means...

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Posted in: India,Photographers: Photojournalists,Soundslides

Lens Culture Photo Contest

Lens Culture International Exposure Awards seeks to discover, recognize, reward and promote talented, new and emerging photographers from around the world, so it's looking for exciting images from every continent, and from diverse points of view: documentary, fine art, photojournalism, street photography, poetic, personal, abstract and human.An international jury of photography experts will review and judge every photo submitted. Four winning photographers will each earn cash prizes — plus photo features in Lens Culture, giving them access and broad exposure to an enthusiastic, influential worldwide audience.Additionally, 25 photographers will win Honorable Mentions, including the display of one single image each in the Winners' Gallery in...

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Posted in: Contests,Photojournalism

Andrew Sullivan; Samba da Bahia

Photo © Andrew Sullivan/Courtesy Burn MagazineSometimes I stumble on a photograph that just stops me in my tracks. I can't really explain the reason, but all I know is that it has that effect on me...and Andrew Sullivan's sublime photograph made me stop. The caption reads that a delivery man called the waitress on the right "belleza pura", and he's right, but it's not only her that makes the photograph. All of its elements work...the positioning of the people, the shadows, the look, the colors...it all works just so perfectly.Andrew Sullivan's photo essay Samba da Bahia is on the wonderful Burn magazine, which is amongst of the best photo websites I've seen in a while. Burn is curated by the legendary David Alan Harvey, one of the heroes of...

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Posted in: Brazil,Photographers: Photojournalists

Toni Greaves: Samburu Rites

I know...readers are thinking "enough already with this Gnawa work you've been hammering us with for the past weeks"...so I listened, and what better way of proving that I listened than by featuring Toni Greaves on the page of The Travel Photographer?Toni Greaves is a documentary, editorial and portrait photographer with a passion for storytelling. She has an extensive background in design, having worked for over a decade as an Art Director & Creative Director in both the USA and Europe. Toni was recently named one of the "30 Emerging Photographers to Watch" by PDN magazine, an impressive tribute to her deserving photographic work.She was awarded a New York Times Scholarship for her photojournalism work, was a finalist at the New York Photo...

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Posted in: Africa,Photographers: Travel

My Work: Multimedia GNAWA!

At long last, here's the multimedia photo essay on the Gnawa (or Gnaoua) Festival in Essaouira, which includes photographs made in situ during performances and processions. It includes audio clips of live recordings, as well as a short interview with a master "maalem".Just click on the above photograph or here. This will open a new window and automatically start the multimedia slideshow, so if at work, you'll need to turn down the volume of your speakers.I originally planned to have this posted in a few days, but the multimedia slideshow was recently "leaked" on Twitter...so as it's out there already, it also ought to be on TTP bl...

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Posted in: Morocco,Multimedia,Soundslides

Felice Willat: Gnawa Photo~Expedition

Photo © Felice Willat -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Felice Willat -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Felice Willat-All Rights ReservedI organized the Gnawa (or Ganoua) Photo Expedition in late June, which was joined by a number of talented full-time and part time photographers, whose principal objective was to photograph the legendary Gnawa musicians during the 12th Essaouira Music Festival.This is the third of a series of posts which showcase a sample of the participating photographers' work, and is by Felice Willat, founder and president of Tools With Heart, a company that develops products to enhance personal discovery and well being. A successful entrepreneur, it's clear that her photography is influenced by her background in network television...

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Posted in: Morocco,Photo Tours

Sunday Break: Gansevoort Street Fair

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedNew York City's Meatpacking District is alive this weekend for the Target High Line Street Festival, a free celebration of the opening of the High Line, New York's newest and most innovative green space. Aside from the gigantic lemonade stand, there's performances by various musical bands such Hungry March Band, Zona Del Barrio, and Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra, among others. Naturally, crowd-pleasers such as pretty girls and magicians were also on hand to entertain the crowds.The High Line is a 1.5-mile-long historic elevated rail structure on the West Side of Manhattan, and is the newest addition to New York City's parks.Here are some of the photographs:Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All...

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Posted in: Events,TTP Show Off

My Work: A Gnawa Smile

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedOne the highlights of the Gnawa Photo-Expedition was the procession of Gnawa troupes through the streets and alleys of Essaouira, which started at Bab Doukkala and ended at Mohammed El Qorry near Bab Marrakesh. The procession signaled the start of the 12th Festival of Gnawa Music.The procession started off by a Gnawa carrying a tray of incense, and was followed by the troupes, possibly in a certain order of hierarchy. There was quite a presence of administrators and police, but I wasn't prevented from photographing as I wished. I suppose they took me for an accredited photojournalist.The most prominent Gnawa troupes were the Houara de Taroudant, Ganga de Zagora, Ganga de Tamanar, and Gnaoua Agadir....

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Posted in: Festivals,Morocco

ViewBook Photostory Contest

Viewbook PhotoStory 2009 seeks to challenge conceptual and documentary photographers around the world to create compelling stories with a linear series of photographs in an online gallery. The annual online competition seeks to find inspiring, high-quality photo stories within the photography community and bring them to a broad audience, and by so doing will provide a platform for emerging talents. There are already a number of submitted essays, which are quite interesting to look at.Viewbook PhotoStory is initiated and organized by Viewbook.com in association with GUP magazine, backed by Blurb, Workbook and others.As in all and every photography contests, I strongly encourage all interested photographers to make sure they carefully read the...

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Posted in: Contests,Multimedia

One of Top Ten Blogs is TTP!

Tripbase Blog Awards 2009I checked into Bob Krist's wonderfully informative and entertaining Photo Traveler blog this morning as I do everyday, and to my surprise read that The Travel Photographer was amongst the top ten in the Travel Photography Blog division of the Tripbase.com competition! Actually, The Travel Photographer came in Fourth place. Way to go, me!Checking the Tripbase website, I read that its Travel award is only given to the blogs that are the top of their respective class and are some of the best in the field. These are selected based on how informative the blog is, the overall writing style, the actual blog appearance and how well that blog performs in its given category when compared and contrasted to other, similar blogs.Among...

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Posted in: Contests,Photo Events

POV: Afghanistan's "Holy" War?

Photo © Joe Raedle/Getty Images -All Rights ReservedThe Denver Post's Captured Photo Collection has featured a bunch of photographs led by the above image of a U.S. Marine of the 2nd Marine Exhibitionary Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines holding a bible during a Protestant church service on June 28, 2009 in Delaram, Afghanistan. The rest of the photographs are of U.S. Marines in action.I never quite understood (and never will) why similar photographs have appeared, and continue to appear, in the media. Is there a link between Christianity and our war machinery? Is it a conscious effort by myopic news editors to paint our wars as Crusades... sanctioned and even blessed by a Christian faith?? Is it to justify the inevitable loss of life, and...

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Posted in: Photojournalism,POV

Li Lu-Porter: Gnawa Photo~Expedition

Photo © Li Lu-Porter -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Li Lu-Porter -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Li Lu-Porter -All Rights ReservedI organized the Gnawa (or Ganoua) Photo Expedition in late June, which was joined by a number of talented full-time and part time photographers, whose principal objective was to photograph the legendary Gnawa musicians during the 12th Essaouira Music Festival.This is the second of a series of posts which showcase a sample of the participating photographers' work, and is by Li Lu-Porter, a Senior Program Manager with Microsoft in Seattle. While Li frequently travels the world on business and pleasure, including to South Africa on a learning tour for a NGO, this was her first photographic trip. As demonstrated by her photographs,...

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Posted in: Photo Tours,Photographers: Travel

Sandra Chandler: Gnawa Photo Expedition

Photo © Sandra Chandler -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Sandra Chandler -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Sandra Chandler -All Rights ReservedI organized the Gnawa (or Ganoua) Photo Expedition in late June, which was joined by a number of talented full-time and part time photographers, whose principal objective was to photograph the legendary Gnawa musicians during the 12th Essaouira Music Festival.This is the first of a series of posts which showcase a sample of the participating photographers' work, and is by Sandra Chandler, a photographer and interior designer from San Francisco. Sandy uses a Nikon D300 usually fitted with a 24-70mm 2.8 lens.Despite the difficulty of street photography in Morocco, I'm glad that Sandy managed to capture wonderful...

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Posted in: Morocco,Photo Tours,Photographers: Travel

Global Post: The Desert Festival

GlobalPost's mission statment is to redefine redefine international news for the digital age and states that it is relying on the enduring values of great journalism: integrity, accuracy, independence and powerful storytelling.Here's one of its many international articles, which features a movie on the Festival du Desert held every year in Essakane, two hours from Timbuktu in Mali.Peter DiCampo takes us there with his filming and his article, in which he writes: "The Desert Festival is billed as one of West Africa’s greatest cultural events, featuring the haunting chants of Tuareg music wafting across the dunes in a remote spot near Timbukt...

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Posted in: Festivals,Mali

Editor & Publisher Magazine: Photo Contest

Editor & Publisher Magazine, in association with Photo District News and IPNStock.com, is now accepting entries for the 10th Annual News Photos of the Year Contest.The grand prize winner gets $1,000, and other prizes include one-year subscriptions to PhotoServe.com, an $800 value. Winning entries appear in E&P's November issue and/or a special online gallery.The deadline for entries is Sept. 14, 2009. Lat year's Grand Prize winner was Shiho Fukada, a personal favorite photographer of mine, for her coverage of the Juyuan Middle School that collapsed during the earthquake in Sichuan province.As in all and every photography contests, I strongly encourage all interested photographers to make sure they carefully read the contests' terms...

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Posted in: Contests,Photojournalism

WSJ: Dalai Lama's Birthday

Photo © Saurabh Das/AP -All Rights ReservedAnother photograph from the must-see WSJ Photo Journal, in which performers wearing traditional ornaments waited to greet the Dalai Lama at a meeting held to celebrate his birthday in New Delhi earlier this week. The Dalai Lama turned 74, remarking lightheartedly that the prayers being said for him by his followers might help him live at least 100 year. The photograph is by Saurabh D...

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Posted in: Events,Tibet