WLIW21: In The Footsteps of Marco Polo

I missed In The Footsteps of Marco Polo, a delightful and unusual travelogue on WLIW21, most probably because I was traveling and not in New York. However, I now have the chance of watching it on its website, and it promises to be a great televised yarn.

The series chronicles the journey of two men – Belliveau, at the time a wedding photographer, and O’Donnell, an artist and former Marine – as they set out to follow Marco Polo’s route. Equal parts travelogue, adventure story, history trek and buddy movie, the 90-minute film weaves footage from the duo’s often perilous voyage with Marco Polo’s descriptions and experiences. Richly enhanced with Belliveau’s photographs, the program details their highs and lows as they retrace Polo’s path, trying to see what he saw and feel what he must have felt.

Read more »

Posted in: Asia,Events,Middle East

Sarah Caron: Alliance Française-NYC

Image © Sarah Caron-All Rights Reserved
The French Institute in New York City is hosting a couple of events for Sarah Caron's work. An exhibition of her photographs, a documentary film on her by Patrick Chauvel and a panel discussion.

Sarah Caron is a French photographer, who travels the world, working both in journalism and on projects. Her assignments have taken her to Thailand, Cuba, Burma, and Mexico. In 2006, she received a Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography to complete The Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades– The Balata Sentinels, a series exploring the martyrdom culture in Palestine. Her work has been published in international publications, including Le Monde, Le Figaro, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and Elle.

Sarah Caron has also photographed the Indian widows in Vrindavan, titling her gallery "Les Veuves Blanches" or "The Widows In White". The gallery is of black & white photographs, and seems to have been photographed very recently. In fact, I believe I recognize a few faces amongst the widows which I photographed for my own work White Shadows.

The French Institute's events on Sarah Caron

Sarah Caron's Veuves Blanches

UPDATE: I dropped by the French Institute/Alliance Française today (February 14), and I must say that the exhibit was disappointing. Three of Sarah Caron's photographs were large enough, but the remainder of the exhibit were of photographs not much larger than 8x10 at most. The three large photographs were intelligently chosen. Since there were no captions, I'll describe the photographs as best I can. One was of was I believe is of 3 men and a woman carrying rifles and handguns...probably belonging to some sort of militia in Arizona which patrols the border between the US and Mexico. The middle one was of Pakistani mustachioed bodyguards (possibly those of Benazir Bhutto) holding Kalashnikovs, and the third is of a masked Palestinian insurgent loading a RPG unto a rifle. The juxtaposition of these three photographs was obviously done on purpose.

Read more »

Posted in: India,Middle East,Photographers: Photojournalists

The Gaza Ghetto

Image Copyright © Ibraheem Abu Mustafa-Reuters-All Rights Reserved
I think this is one of the more poignant photographs of the Palestinan exodus from Gaza over the past few days. Egyptian officials estimate that about 120,000 Palestinian have crossed into Egypt since the border was toppled by Hamas militants on Wednesday. Palestinians have been returning with consumer goods that have been lacking since Israel closed its own border with Gaza last week — everything from cigarettes to televisions, generators, washing machines, milk, cheese, sheep, goats, cows, camels, diesel fuel and gasoline.

Maybe the Nobel Peace prize winner, Elie Wiesel will speak out; after all, he's the one who said "..."...to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all..."

From the Washington Post's Gazans Break Border Wall

Read more »

Posted in: Middle East

New York Times: Georgian Warriors In Iraq

Image Copyright © Joao Silva/New York Times-All Rights Reserved
The 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 which shows Georgian soldiers kneeling and being sprinkled with holy water by their Eastern Orthodox priest during a ceremony in Iraq, marking the formal start of their mission a few days ago. I wonder what Iraqis feel when they see such photographs....do they see liberators or crusaders?

Read more »

Posted in: Middle East,Photojournalism

New York Times: Gaza's Youth

Image Copyright © Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times sometimes has an intellectual and moral spine (I think it's vestigial, but that's an argument for another post), and it did the right thing this week by featuring a multimedia slideshow on the plight of young Gazans who pay the price for Israeli security. Narrated by Steven Erlanger in an appropriate compassionate voice and intonation, and produced in collaboration with Cornelius Schmid, it features still photographs by Ali Ali, Amir Cohen, Emilio Morenatti, Edi Israel and Shawn Baldwin.

Here's how the accompanying article starts:

The three Abu Ghazala fathers were in mourning, in the Palestinian way, sitting with their relatives recently in a shaded courtyard, open to the fields of watermelon and eggplant in which their children had died. Israeli fire has killed 18 Palestinian youths in Gaza recently. The children — Yehiya, 12, Mahmoud, 9, and Sara, 9 — were tending goats and playing tag on Aug. 29 when an Israeli shell or rocket blew them apart.

Dangerous Ground

Read more »

Posted in: Middle East,Multimedia,Photojournalism

New York Times: Yom Kippur

Image Copyright © Rina Castelnuovo/New York Times-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times brings us a short slideshow of photographs by Rina Castelnuovo of the preparations for Yom Kippur in Jerusalem. It's an interesting feature which provides us with a tiny glimpse into how Orthodox Jews prepare for the Day of Atonement, considered to be one of the holiest and most solemn days of the year, and whose central theme is atonement and repentance for sins against both God and one's fellow man.

Jewish oral tradition calls for observant Jews to refrain from eating and drinking, wearing leather shoes, bathing, annointing oneself with perfumes, and marital relations for a day before Yom Kippur. Another tradition is the ritual slaughter of chickens known as kapparot, where the sins of a person are symbolically transferred to a fowl, which is swung around a person's head three times before being slaughtered. The fellow in the above photograph is swinging a hen over the heads of his sons, presumably to free them from sin.

All religions have 'unusual' traditions and rituals...the fasting, the sacrifice of animals, wearing special clothes, abstinence...are all traditions that are common to all religions.

By the way, for those of us who live in New York City...Yom Kippur means that B&H is closed.

Yom Kippur in Jerusalem

Read more »

Posted in: Middle East,Photojournalism

Ramadan For Palestinians

Image Copyright © Nasser Shiyoukhi/Associated Press -All Rights Reserved
The New York Times brings us a slideshow of still photographs by Musa Al-shaer, Nasser Shiyoukhi, Emilio Morenatti, Jamal Aruri, Marco Longari, Muhammed Muheisen, Thaer Ganaim, and Sebastian Scheiner on the prevention of Palestinians from worshipping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jesrusalem on the start of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

One of the captions: Only men above the age of 45 and women above the age of 35, who had also obtained special permits, were allowed to enter Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine of Islam, said police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby.

Here's Ramadan Begins in Jerusalem in the New York Times.

Read more »

Posted in: Middle East,Photojournalism

NY Times: Turning The Tribes

Image Copyright © Benjamin Lowy/New York Times-All Rights Reserved
In one of its rare serious reportage photographic essays, this week's New York Times Magazine is featuring a photo-documentary in slideshow format on the efforts by the US military in Iraq to 'turn' the Sunni tribes, and to have these form alliances of convenience with it. The somewhat grating narration is by Michael Gordon, a reporter for the Times and the impressive photography is by the talented and experienced Ben Lowy.

From a political standpoint, I must say that these images and the narration reaffirm what many of us have known all along...we cannot win in Iraq. Are we now forming alliances with minority Sunni tribes by offering protection and funds (wasn't that what Saddam Hussein was doing during his terrible regime?), and ignoring the fact that these very Sunnis are insurgents, have fought against US troops, have killed US troops (and continue to do so) and are unwilling to be governed by the Shi'a government we helped install in the first place...but one that we currently don't like because they're close to Iran? The mind boggles.

Having watched the slideshow many times, I was consistently humbled by Lowy's and Gordon's immense courage and dedication in obtaining such material.

The NY Times' Turning The Tribes.

Read more »

Posted in: Middle East,Multimedia,Photographers: Photojournalists