Fashion Photo Shoots: A Thought

© Raphael Mazzucco/Maire Claire Magazine-All Rights Reserved
I saw a recent post on PDN's Photo Feed about a fashion blog (Jezebel) that considered a photo shoot in Vietnam featured by Marie Claire (a fashion magazine for women) to be in poor taste, since the prices of the dresses being modeled, and shown of the magazine's pages, were far more than Vietnam's average annual per capita income.

So right off the bat, here's what I think. First of all, I'd be ecstatic if I was a photographer involved in similar photo shoots. The photographer of the Vietnam feature for Marie Claire is Raphael Mazzucco, and I'd pay money to be in his shoes...yes, I would. Beautiful women, beautiful locations...and photography. That can't be a job, can it?

Secondly, these photo shoots inject a lot of needed money into the local economies...the photo shoots require accommodations, transport, scouts, guides, local equipment, food supply, etc. We're talking a lot of money for just a few days.

Having said that, I also happen to think that the above photograph featuring a highly-paid model wearing expensive clothes, and a local Vietnamese woman sifting rice ought to ruffle our conscience. The juxtaposing of the two women in the same scene makes me uncomfortable. I'm certain that the Vietnamese woman was paid for her time...but the scene still doesn't really sit well with me. The cost of the model's dress is probably worth what the Vietnamese woman makes a year or two, and it's just a shame that there's nothing anyone can do about it.

So idealistically-speaking, while I agree with the Jezebel blog's socially-minded editors, I'd still be delighted to be the photographer on such photo shoots. Would I have photographed the same scene? Probably....but I would have made sure that the Vietnamese woman was paid for her help. But no matter what...it would have bothered me a little bit.

Whenever I travel for photography, whether on my own or on my photo expeditions, I (like many of you) face similar situations on a daily basis. I'm conscious that I carry gear worth months, if not years, of income for many people in the countries I visit, and that never fails to bother me. We all deal with this in our own way, and I hope the way I do is appropriate.

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Posted in: Rants

Christopher Wise: Shangri-La

Photograph © Christopher Wise-All Rights Reserved
Five years ago Christopher Wise needed a change from his job as graphic designer in New York, closed his design studio, and moved to Bangkok.

As well as shooting editorial assignments for travel magazines, Christopher has also been pursuing personal stories on the effects of tourism on locations where tourists and locals coexist on an ongoing basis. His images have appeared in Esquire, GQ, Travel+Leisure, Conde Nast Traveller, Gourmet, Departures and Men's Vogue.

Im view of the current events in Tibet, I chose chose Christopher's photo essay titled Shangri-La which includes images from Tibet, Zhongdian, and Litang in China. However, have a look at the rest of Christopher's galleries which include Angkor Wat and Pattaya. The essay on Angkor Wat in particular delves into "the corrosive effect of tourists on local communities, for the evidence demonstrates that "destinations" in the developing world reap little from tourism."

Christopher Wise's Shangri La

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Posted in: China,Photographers: Travel,Tibet

Ann Johansson: India's Lost Women

© Ann Johansson-All Rights Reserved
Ann Johansson is a freelance photojournalist based in Los Angeles, whose work has appeared in Newsweek, Time, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Stern, Paris Match, The New York Times as well as other publications in the United States and abroad.

In 2004 she was awarded first place in NPPA's Arts category for her backstage photograph of the Kirov Ballet. She is currently working on a project that is taking her around the world photographing for the Klimahaus, a museum that is being built in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Her websites exhibits galleries of Mexico, Palestine and Haiti, but it's her multimedia work on India which I found to be the most powerful. India has a low sex ratio, frequently attributed to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions, and this is the main topic of her QT movies on India's "Lost Women": Vanishing Gender, Quacks & Drugs, Girls Not Wanted, The Wife Trade and Meera's Death.

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Posted in: India,Multimedia,Photographers: Photojournalists,Photojournalism

Nikon: New Website

I've already bemoaned the fact that Canon is a laggard as far as updating its website. All its current websites are perhaps functional, but are also eyesores when compared to its competitors' web presences such as Nikon and Olympus.

Nikon just announced its new global website to celebrate its 75 years, which will showcase the best work from Nikon professionals across the globe; covering everything from weddings, to travel, sports and more.

Ami Vitale, one of my favorite documentary photographers is profiled in the Nikon site.

ps (03/4/08) Adding insult to injury, it's reported by c|net that Nikon is narrowing its gap with Canon in terms of sales of DSLRs.

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Posted in: Events

Kike Arnal: The Yanomami

website © Kike Arnal-All Rights Reserved
Kike Arnal is a photographer and videographer from Venezuela, now based in New York City. He covered stories in the Americas, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, and his photographs have been featured in The New York Times, Life, and Mother Jones, among other publications. His website galleries include his work on Bethlehem Christians, the Zapotecs, Afghanistan after the war, and Morocco.

For TTP, I chose Kike's video work on the Yanomami. He directed and produced video documentaries, including a film for the Discovery channel titled Yanomami Malaria about a malaria epidemic among populations of indigenous people in a remote area of the northern Amazon. A trailer can be seen on his website (just click on "Documentaries" on the menu)

The United Nations is hosting an exhibition of his photographs starting this Thursday. (Thank you Sara!).

Kike Arnal

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Posted in: Multimedia,Photojournalism

Palani Mohan: Vanishing Giants

Photograph © Palani Mohan-All Rights Reserved
Vanishing Giants - Elephants of Asia is a collection of images by Palani Mohan, who devoted 6 years and traveled to 11 Asian countries to create this intimate glimpse into the world of the Asian elephant, a creature which (even as its African cousin flourishes) is threatened as never before.

It's been described as "a tale of two species; that of the elephant, and the humans with which it shares its abodes. It's a love story, and a war story, a history of animosity and attraction, a study of shattered symbiosis. For all through Asia, it seems, a love-hate relationship thrives where elephants and humans co-exist.

Palani was born in Chennai, India, and moved to Australia as a child. His 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.

Palani Mohan's Vanishing Giants slideshow.

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Posted in: Asia,Multimedia,Photojournalism,Soundslides

Michele Westmorland: Papua New Guinea

Photograph © Michele Westmorland-All Rights Reserved
Following my post on Karen Huntt yesterday, here's one about her expedition partner, Michele Westmorland.

Michele is a freelance photographer who specializes in underwater photography as well as in wildlife, landscape and culture of exotic locations. She's been published in numerous national and international publications. She has been traveling to Papua New Guinea since 1991, and joined with Karen in the Headhunt Revisited, the project retracing the four-year sojourn taken by portrait artist Caroline Mytinger and her companion Margaret Warner in 1926 in the South Pacific.

Michele's work is generally more slanted toward the commercial side of travel photography, as well as underwater photography. There's no question that her photographs are technically superb, and she includes pictures of her clients photographing tribespeople during a Papua New Guinea 2007 photo tour which, in my view, is a shame as it commercializes the rest of her photographs.

Here's Michele Westmorland's website

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Posted in: Photographers: Travel