Robert van Koesveld: Thaipusam in Penang

Photo ©Robert van Koesveld.-All Rights Reserved
Robert van Koesveld's biography tells us he has set aside “at least the next 2 years” from his career as a psychotherapist to focus on his crafts of photography, making and traveling.

Considering himself an image-maker rather than a picture-taker, Robert has worked with alternative processes and darkroom printmaking and considers that the digital ‘lightroom’ is an extension of that practice. He returned to photography about ten years ago, and has always been an enthusiastic traveler, traveling with his wife to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, India, Malaysia and Bhutan. They also travelled to Mali for the Festival au Desert in Timbuktu and explored the Silk Road in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kashgar. They are returning to Bhutan soon where they will travel the West-East traverse to deepen their connection to this country. Together, they are working on photographic essays and articles arising from their shared travels.

Robert's submission to The Travel Photographer blog is a well put together SoundSlides of Thaipusam, with many "in your face" imagery and accompanying soundtrack. Some 800,000 Hindu Tamil and Chinese devotees of Muruga (also called Subramaniam), the Hindu God of War, gathered in Penang (Malaysia) to celebrate Thaipusam, where Robert was at the time.

Apart from his travel website, Robert maintains a fine art photography website well worth one's while to browse around.

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Posted in: Festivals,Photographers: Travel

WHNPA's Picture Story Award

I've just learned that The Washington Post photographer Andrea Bruce was named 2009 Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association for her recently published feature on female circumcision in Iraqi Kurdistan.

I already expressed my shock at The Washington Post's decision to publish Bruce's photographs showing the face of the young girl being circumcised. I wrote this:

"On the other hand, I'm shocked that The Washington Post editors decided not to preserve Sheelan's privacy and dignity. Here's a 7 year old whose mutilation, a terribly humiliating and painful experience, is now seen on the internet. Would the editors be so cavalier in invading the privacy of a 7 year old in New York City for instance?...or is it because Sheelan and her mother are impoverished Kurds that they ignored their basic rights??"

I wholeheartedly support any effort to eradicate this barbaric tradition, but showing Sheelan's face in Bruce's photographs is what outrages me. By all means, publish the feature to enlist support against the practice, but grant this young girl the same dignity as we would to someone in the United States or Europe. Or is it just cheap sensationalism at the expense of Kurds who don't know any better?

Perhaps some will argue that the White House News Photographers Association chose well, and I certainly have no quarrel with Bruce's talent, but I wonder if its members would have voted the same way had these photographs been of their own daughters? But we'll never know, will we?

In the meantime, we remain tone deaf and naively wonder why we are disliked by so many.

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Posted in: Photojournalism

Manuel Librodo: Faces of Rajasthan

Photo ©Manuel Libres Librodo, Jr.-All Rights Reserved
Manuel "Manny" Libres Librodo, Jr. is a photographer from the Philippines, who teaches Psychology and History to high school students in Bangkok, Thailand. He professes to "shooting from the heart" and self-describes his work as lyrical. Passionate about travel, he started photography about six years ago as a way to document his travels. He prefers naturally-lit portraiture, and has established himself as a portrait photographer as well.

Manny's photographs are exhibited and published internationally, most recently as a UNICEF's 2008 desk diary and as cover of its 2009 wall calendar. Recent awards include 1st Place in Dusk to Dawn Category for the Digital Camera Magazine (UK) Photographer of the Year Competition 2008, Special Mention in Life Category as well as finalist in Joy of Travel Category for 2008 Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY).

Here's Manny's wonderful Faces of Rajasthan, and his Bhutan gallery. Explore his other galleries on his website...you'll be amazed by his talent.

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Posted in: Bhutan,India,Photographers: Travel

Bob Krist: Shooting Locally

Photo ©Bob Krist-All Rights Reserved

Do we hang up our cameras and wait out the recession? Take up another passion till the economy turns the corner ? No, that would be like an athlete giving up practices in the off season… You’re going to get so far out of “shape” that you’ll find your photographic chops will get really rusty. No, the answer is to keep shooting travel, but for a while at least, we’re going to have to shoot it in our own backyard.

-Bob Krist

Not only does Bob Krist, the acclaimed photographer, author, educator and writer, appear on Scott Kelby's blog as guest blogger with a post titled Think Globally: Shoot Locally, but he also authors a brand new blog called Photo Traveler.

So visit what promises to be an interesting and educational blog, and bookmark it for future reference. Bob has already shared his lighting techniques for a photo shoot on Easter Island.

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel

British Museum: Shah 'Abbas Exhibition

Being in London for over a week provided ample opportunity to take a well deserved break from photo expeditions, and imbibe as much culture as possible. The British Museum's splendid exhibition Shah 'Abbas: The Remaking of Iran was truly the week's cultural highlight, and a highly recommended event if you're in London.

The exhibition examines the achievements and the legacy of Shah Abbas, a Safavid ruler of Iran who lived 400 years ago, and who established Iran as a formidable competitor to the powers of the Ottoman Turks and the Mughals in India. The exhibition is beautifully set in the Museum's old Reading Room, whose interior dome I initially took to have been specially erected to match Shah Abbas' contemporary architecture but is its actual structure. I was fascinated to learn of the interconnections between Safavid Iran, Ottoman Turkey, Mughal India and Elizabethan England through this exhibition, and how Iran's political, religious and commercial influences spread to its neighbors, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

I left the Museum with two thoughts. If only the Bush administration had read the history of Shah 'Abbas, perhaps the Iraq fiasco would've been averted...I know, a silly thought. The other thought was whether the New York's Metropolitan Museum would have the courage of mounting a similar exhibition extolling Iran's past glory...I guess that's another silly thought.

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Posted in: Events

Theyyams of Malabar: Verdict Part Two

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
In my previous post, I gave my verdict on my Theyyams of Malabar Photo-Expedition from the logistics/objectives standpoints. This post is about what worked and didn't work as far as my photography was concerned.

As I much prefer natural light, I seldom use flash on any of my travel assignments or group expeditions, and I haven't used it much this time either. For one thing, using a flash on the Theyyams themselves was discouraged by our fixer. This was an upfront and quite reasonable request by the organizers of these temple rituals, since the Theyyams (whose bodies are inhabited by various gods during the rituals) mustn't have flashes distracting them from uttering their oracle-like pronouncements. Doing otherwise would've been not only disrespectful, but potentially blasphemous to the local folk.

Some in our group used flash photography during the initial makeup sessions, as well as during some of the evening rituals, but with noticeable moderation...always avoiding the Theyyams themselves. I used it a few times with a diffuser, but to be honest I wouldn't have missed it had I left it in my hotel room.

This photo expedition saw the real inaugural use of my Canon 5D Mark II. Being used to the comparative dinky display of my Canon 1D Mark II, I initially struggled with the 5D's extra-bright LCD display, and sought to underexpose my shots until I realized that the camera's exposure was spot-on most of the time. I used its High Definition video capability during the Theyyam rituals, and the little I've seen of the movies so far has been impressive. I wasn't successful in finding an extra battery of the Canon 5D Mark II before leaving to India, but found that I didn't need it even after 6-8 hours of almost continuous photographing! However, I used my Canon 1D Mark II as well so the 5DII did get some respite. What I really liked was that its battery got fully recharged during the time it took me to have dinner.

I used my 28-70mm and 70-200mm lenses virtually all the time. The 24mm f1.4 did not come out of my bag, although it could have been useful in certain settings. My 17-40mm was used once or twice, but no more.

I think the new sound recorder Marantz PMD 620 performed very well. I recorded many tracks to include Qawwali in the Sufi dargahs of Delhi, the Theyyam rituals in Kasaragode, The Vedic chants and the Kathakali performance in Thrissur, and I'm quite happy with the results. When I have a chance to edit the tracks, I'll try to post a more thorough review of the recorder. My thanks to Benjamin Chesterton of duckrabbit multimedia who shared a very worthwhile tip for this device...it made it so much easier to operate!

Prior to my departure, I solicited advice from photographer Alessandra Meniconzi as to her environmental portraiture, and I'm ashamed to admit that I completely forgot to apply one of her tips whilst photographing. I'm tempted to blame jet-lag for the memory lapse, but it was a "senior moment".

Two things I forgot to mention on my previous Verdict post: I should have allotted more time for the photo shoot at the Vedic school since the ambient light was just phenomenal (see above photograph), and I should have timed the walk-about in the streets of Mattencherry in the late afternoon.

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Posted in: Photo Tours

Theyyams of Malabar: Verdict

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
It is my custom to write on what worked and what didn't following each of my photo-expeditions. It's certainly a subjective exercise, and many readers may peruse this post and conclude it's just a self-pat on the back. It may well be that, but it's well deserved in my view...and that's what's important to me in the end...(see? that's why I get to have "opinionated" in the title of this blog.)

There were three main components (or objectives) to the Theyyams of Malabar Photo Expedition. The first objective was to photograph Theyyam rituals in the area of Kerala's Kasaragode over a period of 4-5 days. The second objective was to photograph the drama-dance of Kathakali in Thrissur; from the start of the makeup sessions to the culmination of the performances, and the third was to photograph a Vedic school.

Each one of these objectives were met and more. Our expectations were dwarfed by the pageantry of the Theyyam rituals, and by our unfettered access to the performers of this ancient religious rituals. We had a private Kathakali performance all to ourselves, which included 4 solid hours to photograph the dancers' makeup sessions and preparations, followed by a unique performance by some of the best practitioners of this art form in Kerala. The third and last objective was to photograph inside an ancient Vedic 'gurukul' in Thrissur, and we did so with the courteous assistance of its faculty and administrators. We were treated to a demonstration of this way of teaching sacred scriptures in the ancient 'gurukul'.

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Other highlights of the photo expedition was photographing at the sufi shrine of Nizzam Uddin in Delhi on a Thursday evening, when the traditional Sufi music of qawwali is performed...another was photographing the backwaters of Kerala, the Chinese fishing nets of Kochi, and the 500-year old Arab godowns of Mattencherry with its nutmeg, ginger and tea stocks.

The logistics of the expedition worked well however, should I decide to repeat it next year, I will reverse its routing. We drove from Mangalore south to Kochi and Allepey, but it would have made more sense if we flew from Delhi to Kochi, and then drove north to the Kasaragode area for the Theyyams. In my view, it's always preferable to have the main highlight of the trip at its end than at its outset.

All of the hotels on our itinerary were fine, well appointed and offered the best accommodations in the area. I didn't particularly like the final night's hotel in Delhi despite its proximity to the airport, and should there be another similar photo expedition, I will have the agent choose another one.

Much of our success at the Theyyam rituals was due to Vinay; a local schoolteacher who was instrumental in identifying and getting us access in the temples where these rituals were held. He counseled us as to what we needed to watch out for, and suggested that we minimized the use of flash while photographing the Theyyams themselves. Otherwise, we were free to circulate as we pleased. We were welcomed with generosity and kindness...and were often given fresh coconuts to drink and tasty bananas as gifts.

I was interviewed by Malayala Manorama newspaper while photographing the Theyyams, and it was a thrill to see a picture of us at work on the pages of this important daily newspaper...it's the largest regional circulated newspaper with a readership of over 16 million.

I was extremely surprised to notice that there were no foreign tourists and photographers at the Theyyam rituals. The first foreign tourists we saw on this trip was in Old Kochi on the last 2 days of the itinerary...otherwise, the Theyyams of Malabar photo-expedition was completely tourist-free. Always an immense plus in my books!

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Posted in: Photo Tours