Leonie Purchas: A Malian Family in Paris

Photograph © Leonie Purchas-All Rights Reserved
Today's feature is a change from the travel/documentary photography features I've posted this week. It's essentially a collection of social commentaries by the talented Leonie Purchas, a British photographer, who after taking an honors degree in the history of art, went on to work as a full-time assistant to the British photojournalist Tom Stoddard. She followed this with a diploma from the London College of Communications in 2003, gaining the first distinction to be awarded in five years.

Leonie is currently an artist in resident at Fabrica, Italy. Her work has been featured in a range of publications, including Portfolio magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine and Newsweek.

Out of her body of work, I chose the story of Tall Abdou, a Malian who had come to France in the 70's leaving his wife Tall Feinda in Africa. He legally married Tall Hamssatou after a few years living in Paris, who had already been married and had 8 children. A few years later his original wife Tall Feinda joined them in Paris and together they now have 15 children.

Be sure to read the introduction to the gallery, which examines the clash between French politics and African traditions.

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Posted in: Photographers: Photojournalists,Photojournalism

Couscous: The Movie

I don't normally mention movies on TTP, but I recently watched an outstanding French film called Couscous (or La Graine et le Mulet) directed by the talented Abdellatif Kechiche, and produced by Claude Berri.

It's the story of Slimane Beiji, an ageing North African immigrant in the southern port French city of Sète, who opens a restaurant on a discarded boat. Hafsia Herzi acts the part of Slimane's step-daughter, and steals every scene she's in...an incredible performance for which she was awarded a Cesar.

To fully appreciate this movie, one needs to be fluent in French since the sub-titles are never accurate...but what a treat! One of the memorable lines in the movie is said by an elderly musician who, when told that Slimane was trying to get the town's permit to open the restaurant, makes the point that provided it's not a mosque, it would be easily granted.

Here's a short review in The Guardian.

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The Rise of "Amateurs"...& "Tenacity"

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Alissa Quart has penned a topical and interesting article in the Columbia Journalism Review titled Flickring Out, which ponders as to what becomes of photojournalism in a digital age and "amateurs"?

So far, I haven't seen it mentioned in the photo-blogosphere, so here are a few excerpts:

Photographers have "been struggling with downsizing, the rise of the amateur, the ubiquity of camera phones, sound-bite-ization, failing magazines (so fewer commissions), and a lack of money in general for the big photo essays that have long been the love of the metaphoric children of Walker Evans."

" Some (but not all) photographers also complain about the insistence that they go “multimedia” and that their still images are sometimes getting overwhelmed and undone (although also sometimes improved) by the sound and moving images that accompany them. The most salient critique of this practice is not the rise of the slideshow, but how it is replacing the still image."

Instead, we will have amateur photographers—some lucky people at the right awful place at the right awful time (Nigerians who are at the next explosion of a pipeline, say). And I hope that innately gifted photographers will emerge as well—a Chinese Kratochvil, a Nigerian Gilles Peress.

We all know that the industry is in a state of dramatic flux, and that photographers are trying to swim against this overwhelming tide of change brought about by all that is mentioned in the first except. What I'm surprised about is that there still seems to be some of us who moan about multimedia...to me, embracing multimedia is one of the ways to survive. It's as simple and straightforward as that. As for the emergence of a Chinese, Nigerian or an Iraqi photographer unto the world stage like Antonin Kratochvil or Gilles Peress, I think (and hope) it's about time.

Elsewhere, Nevada Wier has written a post on how to become a professional photographer (without starving).

She stresses the need of having what she calls the "tenacity quotient". As she writes: "Photographers must want to be a photographer; they live to be a photographer, and they will die being a photographer." That's very true.

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Posted in: POV

BlackRapid R Straps

Over at David DuChemin's excellent Pixelated Image blog, there's an interesting review of BlackRapid R Straps. These are innovative camera straps which are adjustable, and that are worn diagonally across the torso from shoulder to hip.

A locking fastener connects the strap to the tripod socket on either the camera body or the lens. The camera then hangs upside down, "resting securely at your side or in the small of your back, with the lens pointing behind you".

It appears that David -like me- hates straps in general, but found the BlackRapid R Straps to be ideal for his style of shooting. Since I also shoot the same way, and my Op-Tech straps are getting grungy, I resolved that one of these straps would be on my Xmas gift list. I don't believe in Santa, so I'll write it in myself and just get it. I'll then test it and post a review as well, although I'm quite sure that my experience will be similar to David's.

Doing some research on the BlackRapid R Straps, I found that an enterprising soul had "borrowed" its concept and rigged up a DIY version of a "strap" with a fastener. Naturally, if your camera is expendable, go right ahead and follow his lead. If you value your camera, and want an innovative but safe strapping system, then check out the R Straps.

By the way, I had a Canon Mark II strapped over my shoulder as I entered Angkor Wat a couple of years ago...and it suddenly slipped off my shoulder and landed on the stone floor with a resounding thud. The camera was not damaged at all, but it was a heart-stopping incident...so make sure that your camera straps are sturdy and well constructed!

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Posted in: Hard Gear

David Lehman: Heart of India

Photograph © David Lehman-All Rights Reserved
A graduate of Columbia University, New Yorker David Lehman was on his way of becoming an attorney until photography interfered with his progression, and called him over. As one can see from his galleries, David has traveled the world and developed a specialty in candid travel portraiture.

His galleries are all of interesting faces, and he occasionally contrasts the smooth young faces with the wrinkles of the elderly. Faces of China, Mountains of Ecuador and Heart of India are three of his main galleries of portraits. However, don't miss his gallery Places, which is of architecture and architectural details...vivid hues and super saturated details!

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Posted in: China,India,Photographers: Travel

Royal Cremation In Ubud

Ubud Royal Cremation from Daniel Sato on Vimeo

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Posted in: Bali,Events

Susetta Bozzi: China

Photograph © Susetta Bozzi-All Rights Reserved
Susetta Bozzi is a freelance photographer based in Beijing. Following a career in graphic design, she turned to photography full-time. Her photographs have appeared in Vanity Fair, Capital, Io Donna, Corriere Della Sera, Gente Viaggi and L'Express.

Most of her portfolios are China-centric, but she also has a few galleries of India, the Phillipines and Thailand. Although I chose her above photograph from the gallery From Chamdo to Lhasa" for this post, I was fascinated by her photographs of Yiwu, a town in China which is a Muslim trading post. Its stores cater to traders who come from all over the Islamic world and beyond. It reminds me of the ancient Samarkand and similar legendary trading posts on the Silk Route, where caravans would stop to trade and rest.

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Posted in: China,Photographers: Travel