RAMAYANA TATTOOS: Multimedia

Showing posts with label Multimedia. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Multimedia. Show all posts

Alfonso Moral: Machine Man: 69th POYi

"Allah has said that a woman should behind 5 fences"

Alfonso Moral and Roser Corella were awarded POYi's First Place Award for Long Form Multimedia Story with their Machine Man, a documentary dealing with modernity and global development, with men (and women) as machines.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, men and women undertake hard physical tasks with machine precision and routine: they load their bodies with heavy materials; they manufacture bricks; they separate plastics and they drive rickshaws. They are the machine men, a mass of millions of people who become the driving force for the city.

There's a lot of powerful work by a variety of photographers on POYi 69th which has announced its winners. However, I decided to feature the work of Alfonso Moral (photographer ) and Roser Corella (editor) on this blog, not only because Machine Man is a very well done documentary, but because they're freelance.

I might take some flak for this, but the photographers and photojournalists backed by powerful newspapers, magazines and other media such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and the National Geographic getting awards have a considerable edge over others who don't enjoy this backing. It's therefore refreshing to see that POYi chose freelancers for this category.

Alfonso Moral is a Spanish photographer, who worked for a while with El Norte del Castiliano newspaper. He later moved to Syria and began focusing on the Middle East from where he covered Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq in addition to elections in Afganisthan and the Hezbollah movement in Southern Lebanon. Apart from winning a photojournalism grant for his work on the Palestinian refugees, his work was featured in El Pais and Newsweek amongst other publications. He is currently based in Barcelona.

Labels: Bangladesh, Multimedia, Photographers: Photojournalists

Richard Van Lê: Cao Dai

I've recently found this updated short movie on Cao Dai by Richard Van Lê, which fits my current mindset, as I am thinking of a photo expedition-workshop to Vietnam in the near future.

Cao Dai (Cao Đài) is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, in southern Vietnam, in 1926. Its first disciples claimed to have received direct communications from God, who gave them explicit instructions for establishing a new religion. It's a blend of elements from Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, and Animism.

Its saints' list is rather an eclectic one; with Buddha, Confucius, Victor Hugo, Joan of Arc, William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur, and Jesus.

More background on Cao Dai can be found here.

Richard Van Lêis a New York City-based photographer, filmmaker, and multimedia designer. He is the founder of 138 Media LLC.

Labels: Multimedia, Photographers: Photojournalists, Vietnam

Alex Webb: Streets of Chicago

"I did not have a goal in mind. In fact, I do not have goals in mind when I photograph. I respond to what I see before me."

Reading Alex Webb's interview on The Leica Camera Blog, I gasped (figuratively) when I got to these phrases. How refreshing to read something said by a photographer that is so devoid of pretension! No bullshit here. He responds to what he sees. He doesn't pretend to see a La Pieta (as some did in Samuel Aranda's World Press winning photograph) in any of his frames...an honest guy and comfortable in his own skin, this Alex Webb.

Perhaps uncharacteristically for many street photographers, he chose to photograph Chicago's character in color. Having mostly worked in color since 1979, Alex tells us he respond to color, and that black and white for him at this time isn't an option. He sees in color and feels in color, so works in color...for him, it's that simple.

That's an interesting statement. When I walk the streets of New York with my camera, I see in color as well, and certainly photograph in color. However, when I return home and view the resulting images, there are some that work better in monochrome than in color. This is the advantage of digital photography, which allows us to alternate between the two. Purists may disagree and will extol the incomparable qualities of Tri-X film and others...but there's no denial that we currently have the best of two worlds.

Since buying a Leica M9, I've been working on a long term project which will involve producing an audio slideshow of my street photographs of New York City. Alex Webb's Streets of Chicago certainly will inspire me to complete my project. I haven't yet decided whether my photographs will be in color or black & white, but after viewing his work, I am inclined towards color.

Labels: Multimedia, Photographers, USA

POV: The Dove Whisperer & Storytelling

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Regular readers know that I've joined a new storytelling website called Cowbird, and have already posted a couple of mini-stories.

I've just started a few days ago, and I've realized a couple of interesting things. First off, the community of Cowbird are not professional photographers...there are some, but the majority describe themselves as storytellers not as photographers. Secondly, haphazardly eyeballing members' pages, tells me that the majority of them reside in the United States, and by definition tell local stories.

But here's what's interesting as far as I'm concerned. The most popular story among the four I've published so far is The Dove Whisperer. I think there's a number of reasons for that. It's very brief, it's simple and it's touching...and it was one of the 'recommended' stories on Cowbird.

In my multimedia workshops, I stress that stories need to be brief, simple and compelling. So it's not surprising that The Dove Whisperer is more 'magnetic' than the rest of my stories.

And one more thing...and I also stress this in my classes, choosing a title that resonates with one's audience is almost half a battle won. We all know that a title that is mysterious, compelling, unusual but also descriptive is extremely important to the success of one's project...be that a book, article, multimedia slideshow or movie.

I don't know how Cowbird, which is still in its infancy, will evolve and mature....but the possibility of reaching a large (or I should say, a different) audience for my stories through its platform is exciting.

Finally, The Dove Whisperer was a forgotten moment experienced in Bhutan in September 2009. I was shooting in a small monastery in Jakar when this elderly man appeared with a dove under his arm. I asked what he was doing, and was told he was a bird healer. He was known to tend birds that had broken wings, and released them once they could fly.

The whole thing didn't last more than five minutes, and yet when I was thinking of a story for Cowbird, I remembered it, searched for the photograph and it was on Cowbird in less time.

It's funny how things remain in the recesses of one's mind, and pop out at the right time.

Labels: Bhutan, Multimedia, Photographers: Travel

Anthony Pond: The Ring Train of Yangon

Whether in Myanmar (Burma), India, China, Viet Nam or elsewhere, trains or trams are wonderful to meet local people, and photograph them.

In Yangon (Rangoon), a local railway line does a loop from the city’s main station through the inner city, suburbs and outlying villages, before returning to the station some 3 hours later. The "circular" is a train for local people, offering hard (and worn) wooden seats, sputtering fans, and with occasionally stuck windows, but it's a fascinating insight into local life.

Anthony Pond has just produced another audio slideshow of black and white (toned with Silver Efex Pro 2) photographs, and which were made during a ride on the circular train of Yangon. My very favorite is the one of the elderly nun.

Anthony worked for more than two decades in the criminal courts in California as an attorney for the Public Defender’s Office. Now pursuing his passion for travel and photography, he traveled repeatedly to South East Asia and India, amongst other places, to capture life, the people and the culture.

He is joining me on my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™ in a few weeks, and I certainly look forward to be working with him during it.

Labels: Burma, Multimedia, Photographers: Travel

Teerayut Chaisarn: In Search of Sufis Movie

Teerayut Chaisarn is an emerging photojournalist/photographer from Chiang Mai in Thailand, and participated in my In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™ in January 2011. He recently completed a 14 minutes movie of his experience during the photo expedition, and posted it on YouTube.

Teerayut started photographing about 5 years ago, and is largely self-taught. He started work as a photographer on the magazine staff of his hometown, but preferred to become a freelance photographer. He also applied his Photoshop post processing expertise to assist various Thai professional photographers, and processes their portfolios.

Labels: India, Multimedia, Photo Tours, Photographers: Travel

The Travel Photographer Is On Cowbird!

I've just uploaded my first Cowbird story titled The Sufi Itinerant of Qutb Uddin.

While working on the photograph of Miskine, the Sufi in my post of yesterday, I realized I had a recording of him briefly telling me his life story. Coincidentally, I was invited to join Cowbird, which describes itself as "...a small community of storytellers, focused on a deeper, longer-lasting, more personal kind of storytelling than you’re likely to find anywhere else on the Web."

Cowbird seeks to feature incredible stories by some of the world's finest storytellers, and present them in the most beautiful storytelling environment on the Web. Its community consists of journalists, photographers, writers, artists, filmmakers, designers, explorers, and many others.

"incredible stories by some of the world's finest storytellers"

It allows members of its community to produce multimedia stories, incorporating text, photos, sound, subtitles, roles, relationships, maps, tags, timelines, dedications, and characters, thus mixing elements of traditional storytelling with elements of technology.

I'm excited to have joined Cowbird, and will upload new single image stories as time permits. I've seen that Aaron Huey, a fantastic photographer has also joined Cowbird, and already has a number of stories on it. This one of Zahoor is especially wonderful!

Readers of this blog who feel, as I do, that this is an exciting venue to display their storytelling talents, request an invite from Cowbird...as I did.

Labels: Innovative Stuff, Multimedia, TTP Show Off

Tony Smith: Kolkata's Cult of Durga (In Motion)

I'm glad Tony Smith has now produced an audio slideshow of his work during the Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition/Workshop. The software he used to produce it is ProShow Producer, rather than SoundSlides that I normally use on my workshops. His audio slideshow is divided into chapters or segments which coincied with the different phases of the Durga Puja festival.

Tony is an Associate member of the Royal Photographic Society, and he traveled to Nepal, Bhutan, India, France, China, Spain, Morocco the USA and Canada and the West Coast of Ireland. He has attended Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and Gypsy religious and secular festivals..

He worked quite hard during the Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition/Workshop to produce his audio slideshow on the festival; however and much to my disappointment, he has not added to it his narrative skills which are enhanced by his precise enunciation. Perhaps that'll happen in a forthcoming iteration?

In the meantime, I suggest you view his blog entry on his experiences at the Durga Puja during the workshop, which also has a number of his photographs of the festival.

Labels: Festivals, India, Multimedia, Photo Tours, Photographers: Travel

It's Thaipusam Time...

"The Hindu festival of Thaipusam is about faith, endurance and penance."

Thaipusam is to occur today 13 kilometres outside the Malaysian capital city, Kuala Lumpur in a sacred Hindu shrine called the Batu Caves...and if my network intelligence is accurate, a group of Asian photographers, such as Mervyn Leong, Maika Elan and Hai Thanh (to mention only a few) are already in place to document it..

The festival of Thaipusam was brought to Malaysia in the 1800s, when Indian immigrants started to work on the Malaysian rubber estates and the government offices. The festival is celebrated mostly by the Tamil community, and commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a spear to vanquish the evil demon Soorapadam.

On the day of the festival, devotees shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of heavy burdens, while others may carry out acts of self mortification by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with skewers and sharp hooks. Not for the faint of heart.

This Thaipusam trailer's direction, cinematography and editing is by Dick Chua, the production coordinator is Kah Hooi Lai, the production assistants are Gary Chuah and CH Tan.

Labels: Festivals, Malaysia, Multimedia

Anthony Pond: On Yangon's Wharf

Here's an audio slideshow of black & white stills by Anthony Pond on the porters at Yangon's wharf. It's his first attempt to use SoundSlides and Audacity, and I am impressed.

Anthony Pond worked for more than two decades in the criminal courts in California as an attorney for the Public Defender’s Office. Now pursuing his passion for travel and photography, he traveled repeatedly to South East Asia and India, amongst other places, to capture life, the people and the culture.

His photography website has galleries of his work from Laos, Nepal, India, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cuba, Mexico and Cambodia, as well as others.

Anthony is joining me on my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™ this coming March, and I certainly look forward to be working with him during it.

Labels: Burma, Multimedia, Photographers: Travel

Amy Helene Johansson: 88 1/2

I'm extremely pleased to feature Amy Helene Johansson's evocative new work titled 88 1/2; a 5 minutes film which revolves around Jack O'Connell, an eccentric film director who lives in Manhattan and who recalls his days with the greats...Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni.

Reminiscent of the fabulous New York Times' One In 8 Million series (which sadly have been discontinued), Amy's terrific short film has captured the very essence of this film director...she directed, filmed and produced it after spending 3 weeks with Jack in New York this past fall, and tells me she has much more material to work on.

Amy Helene Johansson studied film and theatre theory before earning a BA in fashion design. Witnessing the power of photography to tell the stories of people without voices, Amy ditched her pencil and paper and bought her first ever professional camera and embarked on a successful career as a photojournalist.

She was published in leading broadsheets and magazines in the UK and Sweden, including the Sunday Times UK, Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Amelia and Omvärlden. She also picked up first prize in Asian Geographic Magazine “Faces of Asia Award”, and won the “Foundry Emerging Photojournalist Award. Her work has taken her all over the world covering topics as wide-ranging as Burmese refugees to the Cabaret culture in Denmark. Her work has been displayed in solo and collaborative exhibitions in Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the UAE. She is currently exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

What's with these alum of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop??? Both Amy and Agata (yesterday's post) produced brilliant work!

Labels: Multimedia, Photographers: Photojournalists, USA

Agata Pietron: War Songs (Part 1)

Here's the powerful, technically well-made and intelligent multimedia work by the talented Agata Pietron. It's about teenagers who live in one of the most dangerous places in the world: in the two Kivus in East Democratic Republic of Congo, where war lasted for two decades. These young men and women experienced the influx of Rwandan refugees into their homeland of South and North Kivu, which caused political instability, genocide and eventually civil war.

These young people want to rebuild their lives by embracing hip-hop, rap and R&B as musicians, and take American monikers such as Dangerous, Young Boys, B2K, Kashmal, Lille Cent, Peace Life, Victory etc. They speak in French, but the audio slideshow is subtitled in English. Excellent pacing, top notch audio...enviable resolution.

Agata Pietron is an independent photographer and journalist, currently based in Warsaw. She graduated from Cultural Studies at University of Warsaw, studied at European Academy of Photography and Academy of Film and Television. Now she works mainly on social projects. Her works has been exhibited in Poland and abroad. Her clients (among others) are: Orange, Unicef, RR Donnelley, Sotis, Lego, Natura, Lyreco, Fundacja Pomocy Dzieciom Niepełnosprawnym, Fundacja Synapsis.

She's also an alum of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop...which she attended a number of times; last of which was in Buenos Aires. She worked in the DRC; covering many social issues that put her safety at risk on more than one occasion.

A real pro. What else can I say?

Labels: Africa, Multimedia, Photographers: Photojournalists

Sandy Chandler: Videos & Book...Kolkata & Durga Puja

Sandy Chandler has been busy the past few months. No, make that real busy.

She participated in my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition & Workshop™ in October, and having produced a highly commendable black & white audio-slideshow (at top) during the workshop, also returned home with a trove of images and audio tracks recorded live during the two weeks in Kolkata.

Back home, she produced a more light hearted view of the festival which views it from what she calls "Another Side of Durga Puja", and features its mixture of spirituality and commerce.

As she describes it, "the annual Durga Puja festival in Kolkata celebrates Durga, archetype of Great Goddess Mahadevi of the Hindu Pantheon. The festival sees huge, elaborately crafted sculptures installed in homes and public spaces all over the city. At the end of the festival, the idols are paraded through the streets accompanied by music and dancing and then immersed into the Ganges river."

Sandy is currently working towards her MA in Art & Religion at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology (Graduate Theology Union) in Berkeley, and these slideshows are part of her projects for this degree.

Others would be resting on their laurels, but she also self-published an 80 pages book titled Durga Puja which can be bought from Blurb.

Sandy Chandler is an award-winning and passionate travel photographer. Her photography captures the souls and spirit of the land, its culture and people. Her previous photography books are Carnevale: The Fantasy of Venice and Calling the Soul:The Spirit of Bali Cremations.

Labels: Books, India, Multimedia, Photo Tours

Kolkata's The Cult of Durga

My main project that came to be from the Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition & Workshop™ which I led and organized is The Cult of Durga.

In contrast to my previous audio slideshows that on average are 3 minutes in length, The Cult of Durga is long...it's just over 5 minutes. I also broke a few of my own rules with it. Using the Ken Burns effect on a couple of occasions is one of the most obvious. I decided against a tighter edit, thinking that reducing the number of photographs would've eliminated some important components. So I left it as I produced it in Kolkata.

Durga Puja is an annual Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. It's the most important religious and social event in Kolkata. It involves a series of rituals which start from the production of effigies, building of the pandals, offerings of flower and worship, and then finally immersion of the effigies in the Ganges.

The Durga Puja event is celebrated over no less than ten days, but it's the last four days – Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami – that are celebrated with considerable joy and fanfare when the ten armed goddess riding the lion and slaying evil is worshipped with immense zeal and devotion.

This documentary audio slideshow starts with the fashioning of the effigies of Durga which is supervised by certain rites and rules, which include that the clay used for these effigies must be collected from the banks of the Ganges. It then follows the transport of the effigies to the pandals and homes. I also photographed the dhakis, the traditional drummers who accompany the effigies to the pandals, then it was the "kala-bau" snan processions to the Ganges where banana plants are cleaned and draped in a cloth along with nine types of leaves, and on to the last day of the festival when the Durga effigies are brought back to the river for their final immersions symbolizing the goddess' return to her abode in the Himalayas.

And for those who are interested in that kind of stuff, I used a Leica M9, a 5D Mark II and a 7D. The audio was recorded with a Marantz PMD 620.

Labels: Festivals, India, Multimedia, TTP Show Off

Venice By FKY

For a complete change of pace this Sunday, I feature a wonderful short movie on Venice produced by FKY, presumably a French videographer from Nantes.

What hooked me to watch this movie was the opening song by Charles Aznavour "Que C'est Triste Venise"...a romantic but sad song whose lyrics start:

Que c'est triste Venise,
Au temps des amours mortes,
Que c'est triste Venise,
Quand on ne s'aime plus.

Charles Aznavour is is an Armenian singer, songwriter, actor and a public activist. He's one of France's most popular and enduring singers, is known for a gravelly voice and is also one of the best-known singers in the world.

The camera used in the movie is the Canon 5D Mark II with Canon 50mm f/1.4, 100mm f/2.8L - 24-105mm f/4L and the 70-300mm f4-5.6L lenses with a Rode Videomic pro.

Labels: Italy, Multimedia

David Hagerman: The Ferry Boats of Istanbul

Photo © David Hagerman-All Rights Reserved

David Hagerman attended The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul and produced an evocative audio slideshow titled The Ferry Boats of Istanbul, which he just published on his blog.

Yes, Istanbul is the city of Sultanahmet Camii, the Aya Sofya, the Kapalı Çarşı, but it's also the Bosphorus ferries that characterize it. These ferries provide vital links between different areas of that magnificent city, connecting the European and the Asian coastline. The first steam ferries appeared on the Bosphorus in 1837, were operated by private sector companies and currently carry approximately 61 million passengers yearly.

It is these that Dave decided to document. The audio slideshow with its glowing images and ambient sound will transport you in such ferries...the sound of the turnstiles, the sirens, the voices of the passengers, and even the clink of the spoon in tea glasses that are served on ferries...all ambient sound intelligently selected to provide a complete visual and aural experience of these Istanbuli fixtures.

David Hagerman is a photographer based in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, whose work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Asia, Saveur, Budget Travel, Travel & Leisure SEA, The Chicago Tribune, South China Morning Post, Time Out KL, and Lonely Planet guidebooks. His work is also featured on the very popular Eating Asia blog.

Labels: Multimedia, Photographers: Travel, Turkey

Alice Smeets: Voodoo

I thought I'd continue my posts on photographic essays that deal with religious syncretism and feature the compelling work by Alice Smeets on Haitian voodoo.

Every year, thousands of Haitian pilgrims converge into the basin of Saut D'Eau's sacred waterfall to pray. They throw their clothes into the cascading waterfall where the faithful believe the Virgin Mary (known as Erzulie in Haitian Voodoo), appeared in the 1800s.

Haitian Voodoo was created by African slaves who merged their ancestral religious traditions with Roman Catholic practices, allowing them to continue observing their ancient beliefs under the scrutiny of the French colonialists. Today, many move freely between the two beliefs...the very essence of syncretism.

Alice Smeets is a photographer based in Belgium. She's interested in documenting social and cultural issues, with a special focus on Haiti and modern witchcraft.

Her clients include Geo, The New York Times, Sunday Times magazine, Le Monde, Internazionale, Days Japan, PBS, De Morgen, Glamour Magazine, ZDF. She has worked for charities like the Kindermissionswerk and UNICEF.

via Erica McDonald's DevelopTube

Labels: Haiti, Multimedia, Photographers: Photojournalists

Ruben Salvadori: Tales Of A Ritual

Warning: Some Brief Scenes Are Graphic.

A village in the Southern Italian region of the Calabria region is the backdrop for an ancient ritual that is claimed to represent a people’s identity; an identity that struggles to keep its tradition unaltered through time.

"Tradition is the pump that pushes the blood of identity".

During the Holy Week prior the Easter celebrations, the village experiences an intense spiritual and practical preparation for a weekend ritual. The statue of the Virgin Mary is taken out from its shrine to take part in the ritual of Vattienti. These are flagellants who beat their legs with two pieces of cork, one of which has 13 fragments of glass in it, and represent the sufferings of Jesus, and who must endure the pain of religious mortification in the name of spiritual cleansing.

Ruben Salvadori is an Italian photographer, whose biography tells us that he's to graduate with dual majors for a BA in International Relations and Anthropology/Sociology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He uses photography as an academic aid for his anthropological research, and mixes his academic background with a visual documentary-style approach to gain in-depth, empirical research results through his images.

Further information on the Vattienti:

This sacred popular custom centres around two figures; the “Ecce Homo” and the “Vattiente”, barefoot and tied to one another with a rope about two and a half metres long. The first wraps a cloth around his hips and holds a cross made of wooden slats covered in red bandages, as a symbol of blood and martyrdom; the other wears a black shirt with black shorts and a crown of barbed thorns on his head. Once they are dressed, the “Vattienti” rub and slap their calves and thighs with the “rosa”, a cork disk soaked in a warm rosemary infusion, in order to make the blood rise to their capillaries. They then use the “cardo”, another cork disk with 13 glass shards embedded in it, to beat the reddened parts of their skin. Rivulets of blood run down their legs, while red wine is poured onto their wounds to disinfect them and prevent fast clotting. Once they have marked the door of their house and those of their friends and relatives, as a token of good luck, each Vattiente goes to meet the Madonna Addolorata. This is the final climax of the rite when the flagellation reaches its height and becomes even more agitated and dramatic. (From Tour Calabria).

Labels: Italy, Multimedia, Photographers: Photojournalists

The Rickshaw Wallahs of Kolkata

Following my two weeks Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition & Workshop™, I have now completed two photo essays centering on the rickshaw pullers of that quintessential Indian megapolis. About half of the photographs were made using a Leica M9, while the rest with a Canon 5d Mark II. The audio was recorded with a Marantz 620PMD.

The first photo essay is an audio slideshow of about 30 black & white photographs of rickshaw pullers, supplemented by a soundtrack made up of Kolkata's traffic sounds, short narrative clips by the pullers themselves and live instrumental music played by Satyananda Das, a traditional Baul musician.

It can be seen either as a Vimeo movie (above) or as a regular SoundSlides multimedia, which is recommended because the quality of the photographs are much better, and are much larger.

The second photo essay is a gallery of still photographs... essentially the same as those in the multimedia products above, but the gallery is better suited for those who prefer to view them without any multimedia influence.

Documenting the rickshaw pullers was a secondary objective of the workshop, but was an important one. The government of Bengal had announced plans to completely ban the rickshaws, saying that the grueling work violates the pullers human rights, the argument was rejected by the rickshaw pullers with huge protests. Almost all of the pullers I spoke to were from the state of Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. Mohammed was one of those...an older man, a Muslim from Bihar with a dark bunion on his forehead from genuflecting five times a day. Past his prime, he said that he made about 400 rupees a day...the equivalent of $9 or so.

Having experienced first hand Kolkata's incredible 24-hour traffic jams, I believe those who claim that rickshaws are the only mode of transport who can circulate its narrow streets and alleys. The rickshaws carry business people, live poultry, school children, the sick to the hospitals, fruit to the markets, and even prostitutes. Without them, Kolkata could risk coming to a standstill, especially during the monsoon rains when roads can be impassable...and let's face it, Kolkata without the rickshaw pullers wouldn't be the same.

Many Kolkata intellectuals have said that while we can refuse on moral grounds to be carried by another human being, we have no right to take away their livelihood. There's also the hope that rickshaw pullers can be provided with an alternative employment.

Labels: India, Leica, Multimedia, Photographers: Travel, Soundslides, TTP Show Off

Khari Baoli: The Porters of Spice

Khari Baoli is a street that runs from the Fatehpuri Mosque on Chandni Chowk to the western edge of the old city of Delhi, and is its wholesale spice market. Little has changed there for centuries. Enormous jute sacks of herbs and spices are brought to the wholesalers on long, narrow barrows or carried by porters. From ginger to chilies, from lentils and rice to jars of chutneys, pickles, nuts and tea...all kinds of spices and hers can be found here.

The market itself is on the south side of Khari Baoli, and was built by wealthy merchants in 1920s. It is now Asia’s largest wholesale spice market. It's an important and busy commercial district, and caters to the vast spice market of North India, including states of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and even as far as Madhya Pradesh, making it perpetually crowded with traders, and shoppers.

However, my focus was on the porters who carry the loads of spices from and to the market. Mostly from Rajasthan and Bihar, they're extraordinarily tough and strong.

Khari Baoli: The Porters of Spice can either be seen on Vimeo (above) or as an audio-slideshow (much better quality).

Labels: India, Multimedia, Photographers: Travel, TTP Show Off

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