My Work: Baneshwar Pind Daan

One of the highlights during my Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™ was a few days spent photographing in Baneshwar during its annual fair, or mela. The Baneshwar mela is popular tribal gathering held in the Dungarpur district in south Rajasthan. The gathering is followed by a fair held at a small delta formed by the river Soma and Mahi. It's a relatively modest event, without the hype and the attendance of the Kumbh Melas, but it's nevertheless a deeply religious gathering with simple and traditional rituals. Bhil and Garasia tribals come from the neighboring states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat to offer prayers to Lord Shiva, to perform pind daan, and to socialize.Here's Baneshwar: Pind Daan, an audio-slideshow of photographs...

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Posted in: Festivals,India,Photographers: Travel,Soundslides

Ryan Pyle: Chinese Turkestan

Here's a feature by photographer Ryan Pyle on Chinese Turkestan, which touches on the Uyghur people and their efforts to preserve their cultural and religious practices in China.Chinese Turkestan is now known as Xinjiang, and is an autonomous region of mainland China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural gas-producing region. Its major ethnic groups include Uyghur, Han, Kazakh, Hui, Kyrgyz and Mongol.It also has a documented history of at least 2,500 years, and a succession of different peoples and empires vying for control over the territory.Ryan Pyle obtained a degree in International Politics from the University of Toronto,...

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Posted in: China,Multimedia,Photojournalism

The Travel Photographer's 2011 Photo~Expeditions™

I am planning my forthcoming Photo~Expeditions™ for 2011, and thought I'd write a heads-up concerning the direction these will take in the next year.After some deliberation, I've decided to further accentuate the travel-documentary thrust of my photo~expeditions, and reduce the maximum number of participants to only 5 (excluding myself) on each trip. My recent expeditions have become so popular that they've swelled up to 9-10 participants, and generated long waiting lists. As of 2011, participation will no longer be based on "first registered first in", but will be based on a portfolio viewing and other criteria. I intend to maximize the photo-journalism and travel-documentary components of my photo~expeditions even further, and largely focus...

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Posted in: Photo Tours

Jan Sochor: Nukak-Maku

Photo © Jan Sochor-All Rights ReservedJan Sochor has documented the Nukak Maku people, a nomadic indian tribe from the Amazon, who were driven out of the jungle by the Colombian guerrilla and paramilitary squads. More than half of the Nukak population have died of western diseases like flu. In refugee camps, the Nukak are taught from (mainly Christian) aid workers concepts and habits that were never part of their tradition.Jan is a freelance photographer, working between South America and Europe. He lived and worked in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain and the Czech Republic during the past five years. His photographs and stories have appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers and websites, including Sunday Times, National Geographic, Reuters,...

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Posted in: Brazil,Multimedia,Photographers: Photojournalists

Gloria: Maestra de la Guelaguetza

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedDuring the Oaxaca Mini Photo~Expedition™ last week, we attended a Guelaguetza performance at one of the town's old hotels. I managed to get our group in the dancers' dressing room just before the performance, where we were introduced to Gloria, an experienced dancer who was dubbed "La Maestra" by the rest of the dancers.Although heavy-set, Gloria had the flexibility, energy and liveliness of dancers half-her age, and she deafened us with her rhythmic whistling during the most frenetic parts of the dances. A real professional, with a wicked sense of humor.La Guelaguetza is a perfomance of traditional dances from the...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photo Tours,TTP Show Off

Canon 5D Mark II: ATR6250 Microphone

Further to my post on microphones for the Canon 5D Mark II, and having decided to add one to my audio equipment, I walked over to B&H (see note below) today and bought the Audio-Technica ATR6250 Stereo Condenser Video/Recording Microphone. This is an extremely affordable stereo microphone, and I thought it would be ideal for use either on my Canon 5D Mark II or with my Marantz audio recorder. It has a bunch of accessories, most of which I don't think I'll use, except for the hot shoe adapter.In my earlier post, B&H recommended a couple of microphones such as the Rode VideoMic, Stereo VideoMic, and the Sennheiser MKE 400. The latter in particular seems to be quite popular with photographers, however it costs $200 whereas my new ATR6250...

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Posted in: Hard Gear,Multimedia

CNN: Haridwar Kumbh Mela

CNN brings us this short video, which was produced by Alex Zolbert, who traveled by train north of Delhi to witness and photograph the Dvitya Shahi Snan, or Second Royal Bath, on March 15, at the Ardh Kumbh Mela. Photographs by Palani Mohan are included in the piece. Palani's photographic career started at the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, and since then he has been based in London, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and now Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.As I wrote on my earlier posts about the Hardiwar Kumbh Mela, exuberant hyperbole (and imaginative press releases) describe it as the largest gathering of humanity. It is not. The distinction belongs to the Maha Kumbh Mela which occurs after 12 'Purna Kumbh Melas', or after every 144 years. It was held at Allahabad in early 2001, and was attended by over 60...

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Posted in: Festivals,India,Multimedia,Photojournalism

POV: Children Should Never Go Hungry

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedThe Zocalo, with its cultural activities, is the very heart of Oaxaca, and is a daily magnet for locals and tourists alike. It also attracts vendors of various trinkets, as well as poor children (all of them indigenous...possibly Zapotecs) who attempt to make a few pesos by selling chewing gum. Approaching the restaurants' tables occupied by tourists, these children sometimes shyly ask for left-overs. In fact, that's what three little girls did one evening. We gladly gave them whatever was on our table, and one of us even asked our waiter for a bag to give them half her pizza.During a festive Guelguetza dance festival of schoolchildren, I looked beyond the colors, music, laughter and frenetic motion,...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photo Tours,POV

The 500th Google Follower

I saw that my list of Google Followers have now grown to 500! This list is distinct from my Twitter and Facebook followers and friends, or from my subscribers to my newsletters.To commemorate this milestone, here's an introduction to the work of Karina Joseph, who is my 500th Google Follower. Karina Joseph is a freelance photographer working in Mumbai, and from what I've seen of her excellent photographs on Flickr, specializes in commercial photography. She also does street photography, as can be seen in this following photograph.Photo © Karina Joseph-All Rights ReservedI will keep an eye on my Google Followers, and whenever possible I will post the work of every 100th follow...

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Posted in: Events,Photographers

Best Of Photojournalism: Dhiraj Singh

It gives me singular pleasure to learn that Dhiraj Singh was awarded Honorable Mention (Feature Audio Slideshow) in the NPPA's Best of Photojournalism 2010 for his My Name Is Dechen.Dhiraj attended my MultiMedia class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali last summer, and not only received a standing ovation on showing his audio slideshow (Soundslides), but was also awarded Top Award For Photography by the workshop's instructors.A well-deserved honor to this immensely talented photographer and photojournalist...and he's a very nice guy as well.I don't think Dhiraj will mind me plugging the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in this post...so if you are still on the fence about your participation in the Istanbul workshop, you may want...

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Posted in: Contests,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photojournalism

The Travel Photographer's Pouches

Photo © Some Hot-Shot Photog I Forgot The Name OfHere's the exclusive opportunity that you've all been waiting for! I announce the "availability" of The Travel Photographer's Pouches which are for sale at the incredible price of only $89.99 a piece...or, if you're inclined to save, only $181.00 for two pouches. Yes, please do the math.The pouches are (probably) made in China of rugged black canvas, and have two pockets. The Travel Photographer logo is embroidered in the trademark bright teal color, using the Arial font, and with a thread exclusive (possibly) to me. The logo was embroidered using the latest techniques in the lovely town of Oaxaca, using a cranky Japanese machine. The cost? Well, I bought the pouch for about $5 at a nearby US...

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Posted in: Hard Gear

Asim Rafiqui: The Kerala Journeys

Photo © Asim Rafiqui -All Rights ReservedA few weeks ago, I had just returned from my Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™, and felt that I hadn't done enough in terms of street photography in the Kutch area of Gujarat. I, rather ludicrously, expected to photograph non-stop in its small villages that had seen few (if any) foreign tourists and when that didn't happen, I had to content myself with a some frames here and there. Back in New York City, and still cursing my bad luck, I chanced on a post by Asim Rafiqui, in which he describes his street photography in Lucknow as follows:"And in the rare moments when something close to a photograph does appear I keep ruining it with poor timing, inappropriate angles or by being club...

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Posted in: India,Photojournalism

Oaxaca: La Guelaguetza

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedOur "almost-a-week-long" Oaxaca Mini Photo-Expedition™ was replete with daily serendipitous photo opportunities. Lynn Padwe, Carl Meisel, Li Lu-Porter, Maria Dikeos and I roamed the streets of this wonderful town in search of photographic scenes, and we weren't disappointed. Naturally, it was the Zocalo...the throbbing heart of Oaxaca, that offered the most in terms of photo ops, and we made the most of it. It's always a wonderment that Oaxaca (and certainly other similar towns in Mexico) always has something going on in its main square. During our 5 days there, every evening saw some sort of cultural event; a classical performance by the Oaxaca orchestra, a performance by a wide-throated Mariachi...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photo Tours,TTP Show Off

Ashley Gilbertson: Bedrooms of the Fallen

The New York Times Sunday Magazine has featured The Shrine Down The Hall: Bedrooms of America's Young War Dead, a powerful photo essay in slideshow format by photographer Ashey Gilbertson (VII Network), which looks at some of the empty bedrooms of the over 5000 U.S. military personnel killed in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. Dexter Filkins starts his accompanying article with the words "Just kids". The ages of these military fallen range from 19 to 25...indeed, just kids.George McGovern in 1969 speaking about Vietnam said:"I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in".Now of course, it's also women who die in combat, as indeed Karina Lau did. Her bedroom still has a stuffed teddy bear and floppy-eared rabbit...

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Posted in: Afghanistan,Iraq,Multimedia,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photojournalism

Foundry Photo Workshop: Scholarships

Eric Beecroft of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop issued a press release announcing the winners of the Workshop 2010 Scholarships.It was difficult to choose amongst the plethora of so many superb and powerful entries from extremely talented photographers, especially from those whose work was somewhat outside the "traditional" photojournalism concept. The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop is amazed at the level of unexposed talent it has seen so far, and it is the hope that all who applied continue to pursue their passion for visual storytelling. There will be more scholarships for Foundry, from sponsors - some general and some regional specific- so keep watching. The FPW Scholarship of the Year 2010 is awarded to: Doni MaulistyaThree full...

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Live From Oaxaca

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedAfter suffering the trauma of temporarily losing my checked-in luggage between Newark, Mexico City and Oaxaca, I was delighted to be reunited with my belongings a mere 4 hours later. Not too bad Mexicana Click!! Of course, I jumped the gun and bought toothpaste/toothbrush and some other essentials (even a t-shirt) just in case, but that story ended well.So here I am typing/blogging away in the patio of the delightful Hotel Aitana in the Centro Historico de Oaxaca, after a morning replete with photo ops in the two main markets of the town. We were glad to photograph a Guelaguetza rehearsal of young boys and girls at the Zocalo, who were prepping for a main event next Saturday. We are waiting for one...

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Posted in: Kashmir Photo Tours,Mexico

On The Road: Oaxaca

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedAs you read this, I should be on my way to Newark to catch my flight to Mexico, where I'll be conducting a short photo-expedition/workshop on street photography in the always delightful Oaxaca. Our small group will be staying at the Hotel Aitana, which will be our base for these 5 days. Although the hotel has internet facilities, I'll be posting somewhat sporadically during that time, giving myself a break as far as daily blogging is concerned. Perhaps I'll be updating my Twitter page instead...we'll s...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photo Tours

A Journey Through Asia: Canon 5D II

a journey through asia from ivan vania on Vimeo.Here's a short movie shot with a Canon 5D Mark II titled "A journey through Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The photography/videography (and editing) is by Ivan Vania, a filmmaker from Italy. The lens was a 24 mm-70mm 2.8, while the software was Final Cut Pro. Simple and effective...and an increasingly important component of travel photography. I think that ambient audio (instead of the current soundtrack) would have strengthened it considerably. And better titling would have been nice too.My thanks to Ralph Childs for sending me th...

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Posted in: Asia,Multimedia

Peter Turnley Does Rio's Carnaval

Photo © Peter Turnley -All Rights Reserved..."I became aware of the value of turning my attention away from the main event. So often, the temptation is to look where everyone else is looking. But, time after time, I have chosen to observe what’s going on by looking in the other direction—before, or after, or at the edges of the main attraction." - Peter TurnleyAnd that he did. Turnley's just featured On the Fringe of the Rio Carnaval photo essay on The Online Photographer is unusual because it doesn't concentrate on the scantily-clad gorgeous women of the Rio's Carnaval as many other photojournalists do, but it rather takes us away from the glitz of the main event to the less glamorous side show...to the fringe as he calls it.The photographs...

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Posted in: Brazil,Photographers: Photojournalists

Dog Meets World: A Worthwhile Project

Giving a personal photograph to a stranger is one of the best, easiest and kindest things people can do for one another. It is an incredible vehicle for person-to-person diplomacy. Dog Meets World Founder, Carolyn LaneIn late 2008, Dog Meets World was founded to fulfill a dream to photograph the children of the world. To seek children in their own settings, print their image to keep for a lifetime. The dream of Dog Meets World is to empower travelers to make real connections to people in other cultures, in essence to become photo-diplomats. A picture makes anybody a "somebody". DMW is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. So get involved and join the moveme...

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Posted in: Events

Chico Sanchez: The Way North

Photo © Chico Sanchez -All Rights ReservedOne of the most recent slideshows by Chico Sanchez is The Way North, which documents the plight of the hundreds of people from South and Central America as well as Mexico's poorest regions who pass through La Lecheria, a small factory town just outside Mexico City, on their way to the borders of the United States.Chico Sanchez is a freelance photographer based in Mexico City. Chico worked in Venezuela, collaborating with Reuters, European Pressphoto Agency, Agencia EFE, and freelances for various newspapers and magazines.Many of Chico Sanchez's documentary/travel photography slideshows have been featured on The Travel Photographer blog and can be found here.A number of photographers, some of whom attended...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photographers: Photojournalists,Soundslides

Oaxaca Mini-Photo~Expedition

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedI'm getting my gear ready for my Oaxaca Photo~Expedition, scheduled for March 17-March 21. It's a short trip, a sort of mini photo~expedition...and will concentrate almost exclusively on street photography in this lovely small city in south Mexico. Walking the streets of the old historic center of Oaxaca is always a wonderful experience, and it cannot get better than waiting for decisive moments in the Zocalo. We'll also do the Zapotec weavers of Teotitlan, and the weekly market in Ocatlan.I plan to resort to my Minimalist set up, but also schlep my Canon Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS which hasn't seen much action in India a few weeks ago. Hopefully it'll come in useful should we decide to attend Guelaguetza...

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Posted in: Mexico,Photo Tours

Karim Sahai: India

Karim Sahai is a photographer and feature films digital visual effects based in Wellington, New Zealand. Born in Guadeloupe, he worked on blockbusters such as Avatar, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, among others.I was hoping that his portfolio would include a wide variety of photographs from his birth country, but unfortunately he has only posted 5 images of Guadeloupe, a magnificent archipelago located in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Hopefully, more will be sho...

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Posted in: India,Photographers: Travel

Frommer's Rights Grab

Bob Krist is mad...fighting mad.It sems that Frommer's have launched a photography contest calling for photographers to submit images to win the chance of seeing their work gracing the cover of a Frommer's future guide book. The winner will receive $5,000 while 4 runners up will receive Frommer's Prize pack containing three Frommer's Day by Day travel guides and a selection of Frommer's Lug travel accessories. I've always advocated potential contestants or individuals considering such contests to really read the fine print with care, whether the organizers are well-known in the world of photography or travel or not, in an effort to highlight that most (if not all) of photography contests are rights grabs.The Frommer's contest rules contain...

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Posted in: Contests

Maynard Switzer: Dogon Mask Dances

Photo © Maynard Switzer -All Rights ReservedMaynard Switzer has recently returned from Mali, where he attended and photographed a Dogon mask dance. These dances are performed at several times during the year, and serve to celebrate the start of the rainy seasons to bring about abundant rainfall, at the end of the harvest seasons to ensure plentiful crops, and also as funerary rituals to commemorate the dead.Photo © Maynard Switzer -All Rights Reserved The dances involve dozens of dancers representing figures from the animal world, male and female powers, and the after-world, while the masks represent spirits, women, midwives, witchdoctors, snakes, antelopes and other various representations. Maynard tells me that the masks are made by boys...

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Posted in: Africa,Mali,Photographers: Travel

My Work: Wadha Girl

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedI'm almost done with editing my images made during my Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™, and have added some images (including the one above) to the gallery Traversing The Kachchh. So drop by the gallery to see these new additions.This young Wadha girl was determined to be photographed with her pet goat. The Wadha are largely pastorals, and the particular tribe we visited are also involved in making and selling wood charcoal.I've been asked about my editing workflow, and it's a rather simple one. I initially get a quick bird's view of my RAW images via Canon's DPP, which is somewhat clunky, but it's uncomplicated and I got used to it. I do have a copy of Photo Mechanic somewhere,...

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Posted in: India,Photo Tours,TTP Show Off

Tiana Markova-Gold: Haiti

Photo © Tiana Markova-Gold -All Rights ReservedHere's another post on Haiti.Tiana Markova-Gold is a documentary photographer based in Brooklyn, and graduated from the full-time Photojournalism Program at the ICP, where she was the recipient of a New York Times Scholarship. She traveled extensively in Latin America, Asia and Africa working on social documentary projects.Her work was recognized by New York Photo Awards, PDN Photo Annual, American Photography and International Photography Awards. She also traveled throughout nine Asian countries on a photography fellowship from Johnson & Johnson, documenting various social issues.Here, I feature Tiana's work on Haiti which depicts scenes from Souvenance and Saut d'Eau. In Souvenance, Holy...

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Posted in: Haiti,Photographers: Photojournalists

Beken: Haiti's Troubadour

Photo © Todd Heisler/The New York Times -All Rights ReservedHere's a touching piece of multimedia that has Todd Heisler's fingerprints all over it. Heisler is the photographer of the "One in 8 Million" New York Times series that profiled 54 New Yorkers in weekly episodes from January 2009-January 2010.Profiled in the same fashion is Beken, born Jean-Prosper Deauphin, who sings songs about despair and redemption that resonate deeply with Haitians, especially in its recent times of tragedy. Beken, who lost his right leg at a young age in a car accident, sings in Haiti’s troubadour tradition, and plays a guitar, connecting with his audience in songs of lament, humor and sometimes politics.Singing The Suffering of Haiti is the title of the multimedia...

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Posted in: Haiti,Multimedia,Photojournalism

Peter Turnley: The Williams Club (NYC)

On March 11th at The Williams Club in New York City, Peter Turnley will step out from behind the camera for a "show and tell" on the images that have made him one of the preeminent photojournalists of our times.The event titled Man With A Camera: An Illustrated Conversation With Peter Turnley is sponsored by the Williams Club and the Jeffrey O. Jones '66 Journalism Fellowship, which was established last year by a group of friends, classmates, and family of Jeff Jones, to honor his memory and celebrate the profession he practiced with distinction over the course of his lifetime.Peter Turnley has photographed world conflicts in the Balkans (Bosnia), Somalia, Rwanda, South Africa, Chechnya, Haiti, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq (2003), the...

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Posted in: Events,Photojournalism

Sharon Johnson-Tennant: Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat

Photo © Sharon Johnson-Tennant -All Rights ReservedHere are three photographs by Sharon Johnson-Tennant, one of the participants in my Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo~Expedition, which I think exemplify her distinctive multi-faceted photographic style.Photo © Sharon Johnson-Tennant -All Rights ReservedSharon is a published photographer, who has traveled and trekked to various corners of the world, on remote expeditions and private explorations in the pursuit of uncommon cultures, unusual places and off the beaten path experiences. Her travels have taken her to Malaysia, Burma, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and the Philippines. Her work has been published in various Los Angeles galleries, by Sony Pictures and featured in the movie...

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Posted in: India,Photographers: Travel

NGM's Top Ten Photo of 2009

Photo © John Stanmeyer -All Rights ReservedChris Johns, the National Geographic Magazine's Editor In Chief, has listed the magazine's Top 10 Photos of the Year, which starts off the process by which its best 2009 photograph is picked. The photos cover a broad range of subject matter, from unexplored caves and endangered freshwater dolphins to the global food crisis and vanishing cultures. In 2009, National Geographic’s photographers took more than one million images from which only 1,000 could be published in the magazine. From 1,000, these 10 were singled out for lasting significance. The photographers are John Stanmeyer, James Nachtwey, Nick Nichols, Martin Schoeller, etc.I'm always at a loss at understanding (or rationalizing) photo editors'...

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Posted in: National Geographic

Aaron Huey: Mali's Dogon Country

Photo © Aaron Huey/NY Times -All Rights ReservedThe New York Times features a slideshow of Aaron Huey's photographs of the Dogon area of Mali. The Dogon, one of Africa's most isolated ethnic groups, live in the central plateau region of Mali, south of the Niger bend near the city of Bandiagara in the Mopti region. The population is estimated at between 400,000 to 800,000.The Dogon are best known for their mythology, their mask dances, wooden sculpture and their architecture. Partly because Dogon country is one of Mali's major tourist attractions, there has seen significant changes in their social structure, culture and belief system. Joshua Hammers' accompanying article makes a great read, especially as it is spiced with passages such as this...

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Posted in: Mali,Photographers: Travel

8th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest

Photo © Matty Karp -All Rights ReservedPhoto © Amit Kumar Chatterjee -All Rights ReservedThe 8th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest is scheduled to begin on March 1, 2010. Contestants can enter photographs in five categories—Altered Images, Americana, The Natural World, People and Travel—that represent subjects of special interest to the magazine. Fifty finalists will be selected, ten for each of the five categories. Smithsonian will notify the 50 finalists by February 28, 2011. From these 50 finalists, five category winners and a grand prize winner will be selected. The entries of all winners and finalists will be published on the magazine's Web site on March 1, 2011.In the meantime, the 7th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest Finalists have been...

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Posted in: Contests,Photographers

Clive Evans: Morocco

Timeless Morocco - Images by Clive EvansBorn in England, Clive travels the world (especially Europe) from his homes in Southern France and Ireland. His years of traveling and documenting Europe and its people result in images expressing individuals, their cultures, and their environments--often with a visual twist. Clive is also a founder member of Lumen, an international photographer's cooperative with members in Norway, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany and Estonia. His website, hosted by Photoshelter, has 20 galleries but I chose the one of Morocco, which usually provides enormous difficulties to street photographers wishing to capture its people. One of the photographs in the gallery (#5) perfectly expresses the reaction of people when a photographer attempts to take their picture....

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Posted in: Morocco,Photographers: Travel

Aaron Joel Santos: Vietnam

Photo © Aaron Joel Santos -All Rights ReservedAaron Joel Santos is a freelance editorial, travel and documentary photographer based in Hanoi, Vietnam. His photographs have been published in a number of international magazines, as well as galleries in the United States, Vietnam and Malaysia. He was an attendee in the 2009 Eddie Adams Workshop.via The Cli...

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel,Vietnam

Alfredo Bini: Monlan Festival

Alfredo Bini has always taken photographs, and found his own personal form of expression in reportage photography. He concentrates on documenting stories of social relevance, and hopes that his images increases public awareness on these issues.I thought of featuring Alfredo's work of the Monlan festival at the time when China is publicly positioning the Panchen Lama as the legitimate representative of Tibetan Buddhism, and to undermine the popularity of Tibet's exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. Monlam is also known as The Great Prayer Festival, falls on 4th-11th day of the 1st Tibetan month. It is greatest religious festival in Tibet, when thousands of monks gather to perform religious rituals at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.Alfredo's reportage "Water and Land in Sahel the case of Burkina Faso",...

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Posted in: China,Multimedia,Photographers: Travel,Tibet

Mark Coughlan: Ardh Kumbh Mela

Photo © Mark Coughlan -All Rights ReservedA number of photographers (and others are still on their way) have attended the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, despite the restrictions on those who didn't have a Journalist visa and press credentials. I am told that the restrictions were only applied on the main bathing ghat, and that there were ample opportunities to photograph the spectacular characters who attend such religious gatherings, and who I described (during the Maha Kumbh Mela in 2001) as "ascetics, mendicants, mystics, beggars and charlatans". Mark Coughlan has just posted his work from the Haridwar Kumbh Mela on his website Image The Earth, which documents the fervor of the devout Hindus who traveled for miles and days to attend it, as...

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Posted in: Events,India,Photographers: Travel

Foreign Policy Magazine: Photo Essays

Photo © Antonin Kratochvil/VII -All Rights ReservedI didn't realize that the website of the venerable Foreign Policy Magazine was following in the footsteps of other media by featuring large sized photographs. These photo essays generally follow FP's international focus, such as The Shooting War, an exclusive collection of work by well-known conflict photographers who explain how they captured the photographs.While I'm getting tired of repetitive and predictable war photographs, whether from Iraq or Afghanistan, I thought this collection did a good job in featuring a handful of photographers who've been published in various publications over the past few years. The captions add some meat to the bones...inasmuch as they give some insight into...

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Posted in: Afghanistan,Iraq,Photographers: Photojournalists

Grenville Charles: Tribes of West Papua

Grenville Charles is a freelance photographer, whose main body of work is in TV and film stills for the BBC and Granada Television amongst others. Passionate about tribal cultures led him to travel to Asia where he photographed the Vietnam Hill Tribes of the central highlands, and to the remote jungles of West Papua to document the Dani, Korowai, Mek, Kombai and Asmat tribes. His portfolio of the Tribes of West Papua is featured on ZoneZero.He was shortlisted in 2004 and was the runner up in 2008 for the Wanderlust Travel Photographer of the Year Award. In 2008, he was one of only 22 photographers selected from international applications to participate in a 5 day Magnum Workshop led by Magnum photographers Carl De Keyzer, Mark Power and David...

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Posted in: Asia,Indonesia,Photographers: Travel

Traversing The Kachchh

One of the galleries of photographs made during my Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™ is here.The Kutch or Kachchh district is in the Gujarat state of western India. It's the second largest district of India. It is inhabited by various nomadic and semi-nomadic ethnic groups and minorities. Many of these reached this area after centuries of migration from Western Rajasthan, Sindh, Afghanistan and further. We came across some of these groups, such as the Leva Patel, Rabaris, Meghwals, Ahirs, the Wadha, Mutwas and the Jats. A few are more difficult than others to photograph, while some refuse point-blank any attempts to do so. A couple of the more interesting tribal groups live semi-nomadic lives at a distance from passable...

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Posted in: India,TTP Show Off