RAMAYANA TATTOOS

"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.

Photo © Christopher Thomas-All Rights Reserved

Today's post is at 180 degrees divergence from the one yesterday, as it features the beauty of the La Serenissima or the Most Serene; term that was applied to the Republic of Venice. I believe its Carnavale (its most internationally known festival) will be celebrated in less than two weeks, and is a perfect time to feature the phenomenally beautiful photography of Christopher Thomas.
Christopher Thomas is based in Munich, and graduated from the Bavarian State Teaching Institute for Photography. He works internationally as a renowned advertising photographer., while his photojournalism for Geo, Stern, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Merian, and other magazines received many international prizes.

Pilgrimage Home (Ladakh)- © Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

Kitchen , Stok Monastery-© Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

Morocco-Photo © Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

Morocco- Photos © Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

di·aph·a·nous/dīˈafənəs/

Adjective:  Light, delicate, and translucent.

Here are a number of photographs by Sharon Johnson-Tennant, a multi-faceted award winning photographer in Los Angeles and a participant in my 2010 Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo~Expedition.

These photographs are part of a larger number she sent me in connection with her forthcoming exhibition named DIFFUSION; a compilation of 9 years of Sharon's work from travel all over the world. She describes the photographs in this exhibition as "images that seem to have stopped in time, things in plain sight but not always seen" such as the two top ones made in Ladakh, a remote area of India. Apart from India, her travels have taken her to Malaysia, Burma, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and the Philippines.

Photo © Tsolmon Naidandorj-All Rights Reseved

Despite my antipathy for photography contests, I always keep an eye on two; TPOTY (The Travel Photographer Of The Year) and The National Geographic.

The winners of The National Geographic Photo Contest were announced this week, with the grand prize awarded to Shikhei Goh for his capture of a dragonfly riding out a rainstorm in Indonesia. As usual, National Geographic has featured winning photos from this year's contest on its website. The contest judges this year were National Geographic magazine photographers Tim Laman, Amy Toensing, and Peter Essick.

I had a look at the submissions and the results, and (although not a nature photographer) agree that the photograph of the dragonfly is worthy of a recognition, but I do not agree with judges' choices for the finalists of the People category.

Had I been a judge, I would have chosen the Kazakh Hunter by Tsolomon Naidandorj as one of the finalists in the People category.  It's exotic, it's dynamic and it's powerful and well composed.

Winners of the National Geographic Photo Contest are also featured on In Focus, the photo blog of The Atlantic.

Photo Courtesy The Afghan Box Camera

I was very glad to have stumbled on The Afghan Camera Box Project website a few days ago. For quite a while I had given up on posting anything to do with Afghanistan, since the photographs published in various media were either repetitive, unimaginative, stereotypical or plain silly....but this website touches on culture and photography.

The purpose of the Afghan Box Camera Project is to provide a record of the kamra-e-faoree (which in Dari and also in Arabic means 'instant camera') which as a living form of photography is on the brink of disappearing in Afghanistan. It's one of the last places where photographers continue to use a simple type of "instant camera" to make a living. The hand-made wooden camera is both camera and darkroom, and generations of Afghans have had their portraits taken with it, usually for identity photographs.

The project is the work of Lukas Birk and Sean Foley.

The railway station of the Cairo suburb where I grew up had a wooden camera photographer, and I recall (dimly, I admit) had a brisk business. I also came across a wooden camera photographer in Havana, Cuba who showed me how he developed the photograph he made of me.

Two of my friends, Divya Dugar and Frances Schwabenland have produced work on wooden cameras being used in Jaipur in Rajasthan, while Rodrigo Abd has produced Mayan Queens with a 19th century wooden camera of the indigenous women competing to become the National Indigenous Queen of Guatemala.

Photo ©  Miguel Ángel Sánchez-All Rights Reserved

Since elections are going full steam ahead in Egypt, The New York Times' Lens blog has featured Portraits of Egyptians, a series of wonderful photographs by the talented Miguel Ángel Sánchez.

I absolutely love seeing photographic work of that nature...ethnographic to a large extent, and produced by borrowing the techniques of the Old Masters. Miguel Ángel Sánchez photographed 110 residents of Cairo in his studio; these included musicians, painters, politicians, writers, bloggers, shoeshiners, doormen, and the vendor of flowers above, which is absolutely my favorite amongst all of them. My least favorite is that of Zahi Hawass, the ex-Minister of Antiquities, not because of the image but because of the man himself. I don't know the man, but I developed an antipathy for his brash behavior and loudness in National Geographic television specials (as an example).

You will not find the photograph of the flower vendor on the Lens blog, but rather it's on Miguel Ángel Sánchez website. The flowers she's seen selling are jasmine, which are popular in Egypt for the powerful sweet smell. I believe the jasmine flowers sold on string strands are called "fol", and are popular in Egypt to deodorize one's car or to gift to one's sweetheart while strolling the city's gardens.

But back to the LENS blog...a comment was rather critical of the photographer for choosing to depict the Egyptians in Renaissance settings. I disagree. In choosing the lighting and poses similar to those we have seen so many times in museums and galleries the photographer creates acceptability for his subjects to the Western eye.

I am pleased that Chico Sanchez (whose work has been featured on this blog many times) has now self-published a book of his wonderful photographs of Mexico. Chico's photographs of religion, faith and spirituality are published here in full color. It shares his journey through Mexico, a country of faith, mysticism and religiosity.


He has also announced another self-published book, Saints. In this book, Chico documents the celebrations and rituals honoring Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and all the Saints in Spain. The first part of the book features images from Andalusia, while the second is of images of the Way of Saint James pilgrimage in northern Spain.

Chico Sanchez is a Spanish photojournalist based in Mexico City since 2007, who worked in Venezuela for six years with Reuters, EFE, EPA and various newspapers.

As I mentioned in earlier posts, Delhi Photo Festival is progressing steadily, and now includes an  array of workshops, lectures, portfolio reviews, gallery walks and seminars.

I am very pleased to be participating in the festival, where I will teach a short multimedia module on October 15 aimed at photographers and photojournalists to produce audio-slideshows that rivals in quality and content then the more elaborate multimedia productions.

On the morning of the same day, I will be reviewing portfolios of non-working photographers at the same venue, the Habitat Learning Centre.

The above image is the official poster for the 'Delhi Photo Festival'. Feel free to make copies and disseminate to photo enthusiasts as widely as you can.

Photo © Charles W. Cushman

I don't know why The Daily Mail, as a British newspaper would feature an extensive gallery of New York City photographs made in the 1940s and later by Charles Weever Cushman, but it did and these show us how much (and how little) has changed in this wonderful city.

Charles Weever Cushman was an amateur photographer and Indiana University alumnus, who bequeathed approximately 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to his alma mater. The photographs in this collection bridge a thirty-two year span from 1938 to 1969.

Most of these places shown in the photographs have either been demolished or altered, except for one or two in the East Village. My favorite is the one above of Chinese store windows in Chinatown made on October 7, 1942.... I wonder where that is.

Which brings me to street photography. I read a day or two ago that Scott Strazzante got into trouble because some random guy took umbrage to his shooting from the hip, and shoved him. You can read of the incident here.  I also got some grief when an older fellow, whom I was photographing quite openly, hurled the vilest of epithets at me but he wasn't physical. You can read about it here.

The guy who shoved Scott said that photographing people from the hip was "intellectually unfair".  I don't know what he meant, except perhaps he thought that it wasn't really photography, and for it to be fair, people being photographed had to be aware that Scott (or I and other street photographers who shoot from the hip) were photographing them...otherwise it was a sort of surveillance photography.

Scott actually thinks that "shooting from the hip is kinda creepy".  I don't disagree (which isn't quite the same as saying that I agree) with this notion, but I would qualify it by saying that it depends who the subjects are.  For example, if provocatively dressed young women are being photographed
surreptitiously with a different intent than pure street photography, then it's creepy. Otherwise, shooting from the hip is no different than shooting candid portraits with a long lens.

Photo © Platon-Courtesy The New Yorker

The month of Ramadan has dawned on the Islamic world, and I thought I'd mark the event by posting Platon's images of the Egyptian revolutionaries, and in so doing wishing the Egyptian people a future they want and certainly deserve.

Be sure to view the accompanying short videos. You'll first have to suffer Goldman Sachs adverts, but just close your eyes while they play.

According to the news, Hosni Mubarak, his two sons, former interior minister Habib el-Adli, six of his aides and businessman Hussein Salem, are all charged with being involved in the killing of protesters during the 18-day revolt.

I'm not optimistic that the trial will be a speedy one, nor thorough. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's postponed for a myriad of reasons...but the Egyptian people will eventually get justice. They must.

Indu Antony attended the Buenos Aires Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which just ended a few days ago, and chose the incomparable Maggie Steber as her instructor. A wise decision...and one which speaks volumes about Indu's passion for photojournalism.

She also chose me to review her phenomenal portfolio...which I did, spending a very long time doing so, forgetting I had other photographers waiting for me. Her multimedia photo essay on the destitute and the homeless in a Bangalore shelter is so compelling and sensitive that I watched it twice...slowly. You will too.

"Indu, you should marry a dentist and open a dentist clinic and have two boys who will be successful dentists too!". I decided to disobey her and follow my dream of being a photographer. I have been chasing colour purple ever since through my images."

Indu hails from Bangalore and is drawn to documenting the unprivileged, the homeless and those who lack a voice.  Her It's A Beautiful World Outside was photographed in a Bangalore shelter which mainly houses psychologically ill people who, like us, have dreams and wishes.

From the sight-impaired to the physically handicapped, all believe they will one day walk out from that shelter into that beautiful world "Outside". In her multimedia piece, Indu fused their portraits to photographs of their dreams, and recorded their voices telling us of their hopes and wishes.

Powerful...emotional...and sensitive.

The pre-ordained order of my posts was upended!

It's been a while I haven't ranted, and I was a little worried I had lost my acerbity. But the gods of mean answered my prayers, and the provocation for ranting appeared in the form of an email...perhaps not as good as a live real event, but close enough.

And since nothing turns me on as much as an opportunity for a juicy rant, here's the story in some detail...

A few days ago, I got an email from a book publisher (its website claims it's the world’s leading publisher of books on visual arts) asking me to feature a just published book of images by a photographer, enclosing a bunch of pictures of the book, and some background material.

Now, I occasionally receive such requests from book publishers who inquire whether I'd like to receive a book, review it and then post comments. This time...nothing of the sort....no book to review, no freebie of any type...just do it because it would make the corporate publisher and photographer happy. Truth be told, I've seen the work of the photographer ad nauseam, and if I had been sent the book, it would end up being a door stop...or prop a rickety desk...if not worse.

That being said, I figured that it was perhaps an opportunity to make money....and with whatever paid, I'd sponsor a deserving photographer to attend the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. So I drafted a sweet short email that went like this...

"thank you for the email. i'd be glad to consider it against payment for ad space. you can choose either a post about the book, or a side bar advert. Let me know if you want me to send you my rates."

The response came in rather promptly, and it said that the world’s leading publisher of books on the visual arts didn't have any budget for advertising at the moment. 

Funny, huh? No, not funny at all. They ought to be ashamed of themselves....because they do and must have the budget. If not, they wouldn't be the world’s leading publisher of books on the visual arts.

For those who love analogies as I do, here's one that seems perfectly suited for the situation. I own a small modest building, and a large for profit conglomerate asks me to stick an enormous billboard for one of its products on the side of my building, and wants me to tell my tenants what a great product it is...and wants me to do it for free....and perhaps because they think I'm a sucker,  or because they believe they're entitled to exploit others, they won't pay for the privilege of using this space and for my time. An apt analogy, I think.

I should have suggested an alternative to the world’s leading publisher of books on the visual arts. In consideration of my hyping its book on my blog, it could market my own books, and peddle them on its own website and online stores. You see, it's because The Travel Photographer has no budget for advertising...just like you.

For all other buyers who are interested, my two books Bali: Island of Gods and Darshan can be found here. By the way, sales of these two books have exceeded my expectations (and were achieved without the support of the world’s leading publisher of books on the visual arts).

Photo © Aaron Joel Santos-All Rights Reserved

Aaron Joel Santos is a freelance travel and documentary photographer based in Hanoi, Vietnam. He is represented by Wonderful Machine in the United States and by Invision Images in Europe and Japan. His clients include The Wall Street Journal, Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, The Daily Telegraph and The Boston Globe. He is available for assignments across Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Most of Aaron's galleries are of projects in South East Asia, and include documentary travel, as well as commercial work such as photographs of hotels and resorts. I particularly liked his Ha Giang black & white gallery. Ha Giang is a province is in the northernmost part of the country, and it shares a long border with China's Yunnan province. It has many cultural festivals due to the presence of more than 20 ethnic minority groups.

Aaron also uses PhotoShelter to host his image archives, and you can see his collection of images of Laos, from the World Heritage town of Luang Prabang to the waters of Vang Vien and the capital of Vientiane.

Photo © Khalil Shah-All Rights Reserved

I don't post much from Flickr unless it virtually hits me in the face...and this magnificent portrait of a Pakistani Sufi singer (or minstrel) by Khalil Shah did exactly that.

I was perusing Sobia Ali's article Voices of Pakistan in the Huffington Post, and one of the photographs included in the article was the one of this Sufi singer.

"...many so-called "non professional" photographers (some with little experience) can give well known photographers a run for their money."

There's no doubt in my mind that this portrait is as good, if not better, than those I've seen published so many times by well established photographers in the National Geographic or GEO, to name but two magazines. It also reinforces my long held opinion that many so-called "non professional" photographers (some with little experience) can give well known photographers a run for their money...and sometimes more. And let's not forget that many do not have the resources that the professionals have in terms of photographic tools, fixers and research assistance.

Khalil Shah is an art professional with experience in conventional and contemporary forms of art including web and graphic designing. He started photography in 2005 at a digital photography workshop at the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan.

Photo © Brandon Stanton-All Rights Reserved

Here's a really great project!

As many of us who follow photography and photojournalism remember, and still frequently refer to, The New York Times' series of One In 8 Million were superb multimedia visual narratives about interesting New Yorkers...and photographer Brandon Stanton has followed with his compelling Humans of New York; portraits of New Yorkers of all stripes, shapes and background.

Brandon's goal is to gather 10,000 street portraits and plot them on an interactive map. More than 2000 portraits have been gathered so far, and even include stories about some of the fascinating people photographed.

One of the stories I especially liked was the one about The Poet. I have seen this guy a few times...and saw his sign.

Ah, if only these stories were also captured by using a handheld sound recorder!!! The audio could then be added to the portraits, and we'd be in incredible multimedia paradise!

According to Brandon Stanton's biography, he has had a colorful background. He currently lives in New York, where he’s on a mission to find every interesting person in the city, and take their photograph.

Photo © Alinka Echeverria-All Rights Reserved

Alinka Echeverria is a Mexican visual artist who was recently named 2011 winner of the HSBC Prize for Photography given by the HSBC Cultural Foundation of France. Her work for this prize showed 300 of the 6 million pilgrims that make their way to the Guadalupe Basilica, near Mexico City, bearing statues of the Virgin.

Her website has two interconnected galleries: the first is the black & white The Pilgrims, of portraits made in the Temple of Tepeyac, La Basilica de la Virgen de Guadalupe in Mexico City on the anniversary of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the indigenous Mexican Juan Diego.

The second gallery is of color photographs, titled Road To Tepeyac, and is of backs of 300 Mexican Catholic pilgrims on their journey to the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City. The photographs of the pilgrims are cut out from the rest of the scene, leaving us their backs and their religious images and icons.

The hill of Tepeyac is the site where the saint Juan Diego met the Virgin of Guadalupe in December of 1531, and received the iconic image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Photo © Li Wei-All Rights Reserved

Li Wei is a freelance photographer based in Beijing, who was born in Hohhot,Inner Mongolia, and who graduated from the Communication University of China.

His photographs of Inner Mongolia are those of an insider...no tourist stuff here, nor are the photographs the type one sees in glossy magazines advertising Mongolian lifestyle.

Inner Mongolia (distinct from the country of Mongolia) is an autonomous region of China, located in the northern region of the country. It shares an international border with the country of Mongolia and the Russian Federation. Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group, constituting about 80% of the population, followed by Mongols.

Regular readers of The Travel Photographer blog may have noticed the small PhotoShelter ad on the right sidebar. Yes, PhotoShelter has become a sponsor of this blog because I believe its products are tremendously useful to photographers and photojournalists and this is reflected by its impressive list of clients....some of who are friends and acquaintances.

I, too, have now joined PhotoShelter not because I needed another website, but because I wanted an online archive and lightboxing system, and a sales mechanism for my images. I know that the many photographers and photojournalists who constitute the bulk of my readership will benefit by joining and using PhotoShelter if they haven't already.

The PhotoShelter ad will appear in the sidebar of this site, any paid signups that occur through links on The Travel Photographer will generate a commission**, and I will occasionally write a post about how and when PhotoShelter has worked for me.  The site will remain editorially and fiercely independent as always.

If you’ve ever considered signing up for online archive and purchasing system, click on the link on the sidebar. It only costs $1 to get started on PhotoShelter on a 2-week trial.  You will be doing your photography business a favor.

** All commissions will be donated to the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and aimed right back at helping emerging and aspiring photojournalists.

Photo © Luis Fabini- All Rights Reserved

Born in Uruguay and currently based in New York city, Luis Fabini is a photographer who spends his time between South America, the United States and Europe.

Having had a camera thrust in his hands as a child, Luis hasn't felt the need formal training in photography, and initially worked as a travel guide/photographer in South America. He produced documentary films and is now a fashion and travel photographer.

He has been working on his project "Horsemen of the Americas" since 2004, which is on his website.

In the United States and Canada, these horsemen are known as cowboys; in Mexico they are called charros, in Ecuador as chagras, in Colombia and Venezuela as llaneros, in Peru as chalanes and qorilazos, in Chile they are called the huasos, Brazil has its pantaneiros and vaqueiros, and Uruguay and Argentina’s they're known as gauchos.

The above photograph is of Brazilian vaqueiros dressed in handmade protective leather clothing. Such clothing is necessary for roping cows amidst the bush's sharp thorns.

via PDN Photo of the Day.