TASCAM PCM iPhone App

I've just discovered this lovely app by browsing the web, and it's the TASCAM PCM Recorder, which is free and turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a portable stereo recorder.

It has input and output level faders with an “on-screen” meter to check levels, and includes high and low EQ and a limiter to prevent overload. Pretty neat, isn't it? I tested it very briefly at home, and intend to test when Hurricane Sandy is out of the way...perhaps with the musicians in Washington Square Park.

It records in WAV format, and these audio files can be uploaded to Soundcloud as well. It seems it's only for iPhone (iPad and iTouch as well) for the time being. TASCAM also produces the iM2W, a small microphone designed specially for the PCM, which effectively turns the iPhone into a field recorder. It retails for $59, and might provide better audio quality than the built-in iPhone mic.

This is certainly worthwhile to consider, especially for those who are interested in joining my photo expeditions-workshops and/or my class at the annual Foundry Photojournalism Workshop...especially the latter who often are on budgets.

I shall recommend this alternative to buying an entry-level recorder, provided those interested already have iPhones. I expect the quality won't be much different between the two devices.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with TASCAM other than being a consumer.

Terri Gold: Where Earth Meets The Sky

Photo © Terri Gold-All Rights Reserved

"No matter where I am, I am always happiest with a camera or three in my hands…"

Terri Gold is an award-winning photographer and artist based in New York City, and has built an impressive reputation for her rituals, rites of passage, festivals, celebrations and portraits from all over the world. She specializes in infrared imagery, which is her signature work.

She has just returned from Ladakh and has posted a new series of infrared imagery in a gallery she titled "Where The Earth Meets The Sky", which is just fabulous. He infrared treatment of her photographs gives the already ethereal moonscapes of Ladakh a unique look and feel. 

Ladakh is the mountainous region in northwest Jammu and Kashmir in north India and in the area known as the Trans-Himalaya. Called by some as The Last Shangri-La (although a fistful of other regions and areas have been called that as well), its capital (or major town) is Leh. Ladakhis people are equally mixed between Buddhist and Muslim, but the majority of the tourist attractions are in the east and relate Tibetan Buddhist culture.

Terri describes Ladakh as a different world...and that certainly is an apt description, especially with her imagery talents.

Elijah Solomon Hurwitz: Kashmir

Photo © Elijah Hurwitz-All Rights Reserved

Illegal transmigration through neighborhoods with unusual names such as Kumpkapi and Shapira, a doomed neighborhood called Tarlabasi, the Roma people, unfamiliar countries such as Romania, Moldova and the region Transnistria, as well as Kashmir and a drive through South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia, are all subjects and issues that Elijah Solomon Hurwitz captured with his photography.

I especially liked Eli's Kashmir gallery...an eclectic mix of documentary, landscape and travel photography.

Elijah Solomon Hurwitz is an NYC based photographer with special interest on documentary and street photography, and social and cultural issues. He has traveled in over 40 countries. 

Dani Planas Labad: Burma

Photo © Dani Planas Labad-All Rights Reserved

With its governmental reforms of 2011, Myanmar (Burma) has enhanced its "go to" status amongst Western tourists much farther than what it used to be, and travel photographers are now very keen to travel to this wonderful country to document a culture before it become too influenced by Western trends.

Dani Planas Labad is a Spanish travel photographer who's traveled and photographed in Morocco,  Cambodia, India, Nepal, Iceland, Burma, New York and his native Barcelona. He tells his audience that he discovered his passion for photography when he turned 30, and toured Asia for 5 months with a Nikon F80. He bought a medium format Seagull camera in a Chinese street market, and subsequently took up digital photography.

The young boy in Dani's photograph is wearing thanaka paste on his face; widely used in Myanmar for the past 2000 years, it serves as sunscreen.

Lovers of Myanmar will relish Dani's gallery with over 80 photographs of the people and landscapes of the country.

The Travel Photographer's Việt Nam Vignettes

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- All Rights Reserved

I realize that following my photo expedition-workshop to Vietnam, my blog has been perhaps overly focused on this wonderful country but that's what happens when things click, doesn't it? Whether photographically, culinary, culturally and people-wise...when a country clicks with me, it clicks.

No apologies whatsoever for the overloading...it's just that Vietnam was wonderful.

It's no secret at all that India is my favored photo destination, and that Bhutan and Indonesia come close...but Vietnam is now joining these two longstanding contenders.

So here's another photo gallery titled Vietnam Vignettes...the photographs are in color this time, and with an Alien Skin's Exposure 4 treatment. I used its Polaroid 669 film simulation, applied some added creamy effect and enhanced some vignetting.

It's essentially going back to my roots...sort of. All are travel photographs in the purest sense, with a few street photos included. No documentary photography...and no "travel photography meets photojournalism"...in these photographs.

And yes...one of the photographs is The White Honda & The Red Dress...one of my favorite street photographs of Hanoi. It's the third in four frames shot with the X Pro-1, and the woman's pose is just perfect.

They were mostly made with my Canon 5D Mark II and a 24-70mm 2.8 lens, but a few were made with the Fuji X Pro-1/Fujinon 18mm.

To view my Leica photographs of Vietnam, you may want to drop by my other blog The Leica File, and for black & white photographs made in Sapa and Bac Ha, you can view them on The Indigo People.

Maika Elan: The Pink Choice

"I want to show simply how they care and love each other in daily activities."-Maika Elan

According to the web edition of Thanh Nien, an influential newspaper in Vietnam, Maika has changed Vietnam’s entire conception of what it means to be gay and in love with her seminal work The Pink Choice.

Sensitive and compelling...that's The Pink Choice in two words.

I'm not going to rewrite what has already been written on Maika and her various projects, but I have to mention a couple of things: first off I had written a post on her work two years ago, much before I met her at subsequent photo events, and I ended that post with this:

"In my view, Maika has an extremely bright future in photography."

I was right.

I subsequently met her in Siem Reap where we were both attending the Angkor Photo Festival, and invited her to work with me in planning and setting up my Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop, which she did. She helped me during the 15 days of its duration and earned the heartfelt appreciation of all involved.

The Pink Choice will be exhibited from the 15th of November to the 2nd of December at the Goethe Institut, 56 – 58 Nguyen Thai Hoc, in Hanoi.

Do go see it if you're there!

POV: New Stuff

Oaxaca-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
(Click To Enlarge)

Hanoi-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
(Click To Enlarge)

I've mentioned the evolution of style over time in yesterday's post, and I thought I'd add my experience in that one's style evolves with one's exposure to, and the availability of, new imaging software...as well as to improved photographic gear.

I was always a sort of purist (if that's the right word) when post processing my digital images; resisting almost any modification in them except for some sharpening and exposure changes...and seldom, if ever, cropping my photographs (except when street photographing and shooting from the hip).

Having a phobia of spending more than a few minutes on Photoshop, I welcomed Lightroom's preset filters (that I still use) which allowed me with a click of a button to obtain the "look" I wanted for my images. I relied on simple and plain vanilla presets, eschewing the funkier ones that were, in my opinion, too extreme.

With the advent of Instagram and Hipstamtic filters on my iPhone, my limited tolerance for these funky filters turned into an embrace of sorts, which eventually widened my willingness to experiment with other software.

So it was with undisguised eagerness that I started using Alien Skin's Exposure 4 on my return from Vietnam. I had heard of it, but given my allergy of "manipulation", I never thought of trying it out before.

I used it to give a pseudo-Daguerreotype look to some of my photographs from Sapa and Bac Ha, and I was hooked ever since.  I now happily toy with its various options, especially the classic films, like Kodachrome, Polaroid, and Panatomic-X.  A click...a few nudges here and there, and I have the look I want.

The two photographs above; the top made in Oaxaca of a street festival in 2010, and the lower one made in Hanoi last month, were processed in Exposure 4, using the Polaroid 669 film simulation preset...one of my current favorites...enhanced with vignetting. Another milestone in my evolution.

Something else to report is that I recently got two Bip soft shutter buttons manufactured by matchTechnical Services. They're the outfit that manufactures the Thumbs Up for the Leica, which I have on my M9, and -as I previously posted a few times- like very much.

You can see them on my two cameras; one on my M9 (right) and the other on my X Pro-1. It's very smooth on the M9, but as I mostly shoot from the hip with the X Pro-1, I am finding that I have to get used to the different "travel" time of the shutter with the Bip on it.

In retrospect, I ought to have chosen red Bip for the M9.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with matchTechnical Services or with Alien Skin other than being a consumer.

POV: The Gotipua And Style Evolution

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I wrote how time flies in my yesterday's post, and that remark brought me back to 2004 when I traveled to Orissa via Chhattisgarh, and stopped for a short while in Raghurajpur, a small village near Puri.

This village is quite famous for being the centre for training Gotipua dance troupes. In the local language, “goti” means “single” and “pua” means “boy”, and this folk dance of Orissa has been performed for centuries by young boys who dress as females to praise Jaggannath and Krishna. The acrobatic movements in the dance is performed by the young boys, who are inspired by the life of Radha and Krishna. More information can be found here.

Looking through my image files of the time, I noticed how I still favored verticals back then. I now know that 90% of my photographs are shot in the landscape mode, principally because they lend themselves much better to multimedia storytelling.

In 2004, I used a Canon 10D (remember those?) which was my first digital camera. I used the venerable Canon 1D MarkII as my workhorse film camera. This image of this young gotipua must've been made with a 70-200 f2.8 lens...it was my favored lens back then. I seldom use it now.

I state the obvious but yes, time flies and personal styles evolve. I'm certainly not alone in this. On most of my photo expedition-workshops, I have photographers who are in the midst of their own evolution cycles. Some favor their 70-200 lenses, while others have already gone wider...and others are in the middle of the cycle.

I encourage the former to leave their heavy lenses back at our hotels, and use wider zooms or primes, and get closer...sometimes they listen..sometimes they don't.

In 2004, would I have thought that 8 years later I'd be principally using a Leica M9 rangefinder and a Fuji X Pro-1 on my travels? I don't think so.

Evolution comes slowly...at least for me. But one thing for sure...time flies.

Kris Bailey's Durga Puja: The Spirit of Kolkata

"Durga Puja is a celebration of the Mother Goddess, and the victory of the revered warrior Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura."

Kris Bailey recently sent me her audio slideshow made during my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition & Workshop™ which took place a little over a year ago (how time flies!!!).

It's Durga Puja time right now in the wonderful city of Kolkata. Kolkata, the city that to my mind epitomizes India more than any other city in India.

You ought to watch it as it encapsulate very well the tradition of this annual religious event and its rituals, especially as it is the most important observance in West Bangal. I had encouraged the participants in this workshop to produce monochrome photo essays, and Kris's work is unquestionably one of the best I've seen so far.

Apart from being an attorney in Northern California, Kris is a photographer who's keenly interested in South and South East Asia, and is particularly attracted to unusual rituals and religious festivals. She's already been on two of my most intense photo expeditions workshops, and that doesn't seem to deter her in the least.

You may want to drop by her Vimeo page where she has 4 videos of her audio slideshows, and by her blog, on which you'll find examples of her still photography in India and elsewhere.

Karl Doyle: Nomadic Souls

Photo © Karl Doyle-All Rights Reserved

Karl Doyle's Nomadic Worlds Series is the type and the quality of work you don't want to miss, especially if -like me- you're interested in ethnography and ethno-photography.

Karl Doyle is originally from Ireland, and relocated to London working with many visual artists. He traveled to Mongolia on the Trans-Mongolian Express train from Beijing to Ulan Bator, and spent weeks on horseback to capture the true essence of the Mongolian nomads. 

In this Nomadic Worlds gallery, he merges the Mongolian Nomads, and the Harajuku Girls of Tokyo and New York’s stylized sub-cultures into one continuing series...to highlight the diversity of their environment.

For larger projects, Karl uses a Sinar 4x5 for studio/interior settings, and a Wista for outside work.

The Travel Photographer's Hát Tuồng

© Tewfic El-Sawy (click to enlarge image)

One of the cultural highlights during my Viet Photo Expedition-Workshop was the Hát Tuồng performance we attended at the Vietnam National Tuồng Theatre in Hanoi.

The Hát Tuồng theatre came from China in the 13th Century when Vietnam was warring against the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. It's said that a famous actor named was imprisoned by the Vietnamese, and the imperial court asked him to spread his knowledge of Chinese theatre to the children of the elite, thus its origins were in the royal court. It was subsequently adapted to travelling troupes who entertained commoners and farmers.

Regrettably, there were only 12 or 13 spectators during the hour-long performance, out of which 10 were the photographers in my expedition-workshop. It's rather sad that Hát Tuồng, which is certainly an important part of Vietnam's rich cultural heritage, is not more popular amongst the Vietnamese themselves, as well as tourists. The performers are all proud professionals, and I believe are employed by the state which wants to retain this culture alive. That said, its music is somewhat of an acquired taste.

In any event, I had a ball photographing some of the troupe members using my Fuji X Pro-1/Fujinon 18mm f2.0 whose low-light capabilities are really astounding.

All the photographs were made without flash, at f2.0 and the iso set at 3200.

The rest of the photographs are on my Hat Tuong Backstage gallery.

David Michael Kennedy: American-Indian Dance

©David Michael Kennedy-All Rights Reserved

I infrequently blog about photography projects or galleries of American subjects on The Travel Photographer simply because it's not really one of my self-professed purviews, but once in a while I stumble on photographic work that easily transcends this reference point.

The work of David Michael Kennedy is one of those.

David Michael Kennedy is an art photographer from New Mexico who lived in New York City, specializing in portraits of musicians such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Muddy Waters for magazine and album covers. Having moved to New Mexico in the mid 80's, he focused on Native American culture, and more recently wandered back roads photographing preachers, craw-fishermen  RV-ers, buffaloes, longhorns, cowboys and mystics.

He wandered in a 1959 Airstream trailer outfitted with a wet darkroom, and took all his photographs with a handmade 4x5 camera using Polaroid positive/negative film, which he developed in the trailer then made contact prints using the archaic platinum palladium process.

Having worked with a 4x5 camera, he is now revisiting the square format with a Hasselblad.

An interesting interview with NPR is here.

POV: The Travel Photographer's Vietnam Mourners

click image for larger version

click for larger version

All Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

It's always a difficult decision to photograph moments and scenes of personal (and even public) sorrow for me (and certainly other photographers as well). 

Traveling in our bus during my Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop on our way back to Hanoi, and passing a small town, I saw a funeral by the side of the road and asked Maika to inquire whether we could photograph it. I made the decision to do so in a few seconds, principally because the funeral seemed to be public, not enclosed in a private space or in a home.

"The photographer in me wanted to stay as long as possible..."

The head of the family readily agreed provided I lit an incense stick and presented my respects to the memory of the deceased. This I did, and planted the stick at the shrine. The deceased was born in 1925, and his name was Cu Pham Van Bao. That done, I invited the rest of our group to join the congregation. Some did photograph, while others thought it would be too intrusive and didn't.

I was invited to drink green tea, and sat amongst the head table along with our host. The funeral rite is called le dua tang, and the mourning garb seemed to be made of very coarse white gauze...sort of what surgical bandages are sometimes made of. The women wore the cloth wrapped around their heads with straw crowns and a sash. The male mourners used walking sticks made of bamboo and acted as if they were limping and could fall without the stick’s support. These are indications of how overcome the mourners are.

I was surprised that there was a funerary band...and one of them seemed to be a professional wailer.

The photographer in me wanted to stay as long as possible...(had I been alone I probably would have), but while being allowed as a group into their midst by these Vietnamese mourners was immensely gracious, I also knew we were a distraction, and that our time was up after 15 minutes or so.

The Travel Photographer's "Cafe Dao (& Love)"

"No one in our village was as beautiful as she was...we liked each other since we were 12 years old..."

A foreign stranger suddenly walks up to you while you're relaxing on your front porch, with cameras dangling off his shoulders, asking to document your daily life. What would your reaction be?

Well, Thai Truang Dao happily said yes. Of course, Maika Elan was there to explain my purpose, but Mr Dao's hospitality went beyond the inherent politeness shown to a foreign guest. Allowing me into his home (and his life)...and at one point, gesturing me to go up the creaky stairs to photograph a now little used second floor, where his family's shrine and portraits were carefully laid out...is a testament to his kindness.

His candor during the lengthy interviews was natural, and brought Maika and I into their life which they shared for over 60 years.

Thai Truang Dao is a 92 years old Vietnamese, living in Hoi An with his wife, Thai Mo Ba. He established Cafe Dao in the mid forties, before the battle of Dien Bien Phu and much before the Vietnam War (known as the American War in Vietnam). He recalls Cafe Dao as being a meeting place for socializing, gossip and friendship, not only for good coffee.

Bao and his wife were school mates but after graduation didn't meet until she was 28 years old. Very unusually for a Vietnamese woman at that time, Ba hadn't married...waiting for Bao whom she loved but had never shown nor expressed. Meeting again by happenstance, they got married.

Bao wasn't drafted by the Vietcong during the American war due to his Chinese ancestry.

Snippets of their lifestory in just over 3 minutes.

You can also watch it in its native Soundslides format below (it's a better resolution).

©Tewfic El-Sawy- Maika with Mr Dao during the photo shoots.

©Maika Elan. Tewfic with Mr Dao at the end of the photo shoots

Initial Draft Story Board For Cafe Dao

Swiatoslaw Wojtkowiak: The Sufi Connection

© Swiatoslaw Wojtkowiak-All Rights Reserved

Swiatoslaw Wojtkowiak has been busy. He is authoring a blog, and from what I've seen of it so far, it's about his spiritual peripatetic peregrinations and pilgrimages in India and Pakistan. Hard-core Sufi pilgrimages...some that I haven't even heard of.

He recently walked from Delhi to Ajmer (in Rajasthan)accompanied by several hundred fakirs; real or charlatans, it doesn't matter. Accompanied by men (and possibly women) whose fraternity is based on "if you have one chapati, and there is two of you, share it in two pieces, if you are four, share in four, if there is eight, share for eight” …” Blessed are those who have nothing”.

Double exposures, blurs, Holga...nothing is orthodox in Swiatoslaw's photography, and in his journals. Read his entries, and you'll realize there's more depth there than you may have thought.

And Swiatoslaw Wojtkowiak is also an accomplished, and more orthodox, photographer as his travel photographs attest. He tells me his first name in Polish means 'praising the world', and he has lived up to it very appropriately.

Take a look at his work....exceptionally interesting, if unusual.

Abdul Waheed, The Music "Doctor"

Here's a delightful "human interest" audio slideshow featured on CityFM89 (a FM station in Pakistan, which promotes the rich musical heritage of the region while offering a wide variety from pop to world music, from jazz to house music) about Abdul Waheed, the owner of Waheed Music Shop in Karachi.

Waheed Music Shop is tiny store full of musical instruments; acoustic guitars, tablas, flutes and banjos are crammed on the floor, waiting to be sold or repaired. The piece tells us that Abdul Waheed has been doing this work for over 40 years, and has had renowned artists visit his shop for all their musical needs. I'm certain that the Pakistani qawwali musicians have found their way to his shop.

It can also be viewed on Vimeo.

While I can't speak Urdu as such, it gave me pleasure to hear a few words in Abdul Waheed's narration that I could understand...ustaz, muhtaram, janab...all Urdu words with strong Arabic roots, and virtually similar in pronunciation. It also reminded me of living in Karachi many years ago, when things weren't as complicated as they seem to be now.

Although I liked this audio slideshow very much, I thought the panning was excessive but some people seem to like it. To me, it's just superfluous and distracting.

My thanks to Sitwat Rizvi who sent me the link.

Ehrin Macksey: Hanoi, Calm After The Storm

As my readers know, I was in Hanoi about two weeks ago, and one of my favorite street photography haunts was the Hoan Kiem district, especially in the streets where vendors sold toys, lanterns, masks, and other gaudy decorations in anticipation of the mid-Autumn festival in early October.  The crowds were simply overwhelming in the late evening when young people congregated there to have fun.

Ehrin Macksey, a photojournalist/photographer and filmaker living in Hanoi, decided to photograph the streets of Hanoi the first morning of Tet, another huge festival in Vietnam...after the chaos and bustle at the end of each January or beginning of February that characterize the period leading to Tet.

As you'll see from Ehrin's video of his stills, the calm that replaces the preceding chaos is eerie. He describes Hanoi as being in a Valium induced state. The streets are empty and one can hear birds clearly while walking down some of the larger streets in the city like Dai Co Viet.

I recommend a visit to Ehrin Macksey's website; especially his South East Asia Travel Photography gallery...a lot of gems!

Cao Đài: iPhonegraphy

I thought I'd feature a collection of the portraits of the Cao Đài adherents made with my iPhone during our visit at their temple in Hue.

As I wrote in my post of September 19, I had wanted to witness and photograph a Cao Đài prayer ritual for quite a while, and it was by pure serendipity that I discovered that this new religious tradition had just completed building a temple in Hue.

Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in southern Vietnam in 1926. Its Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism. Its opposition to communism until 1975 was a factor in their repression, and its practice was forbidden until 1997 when it was granted legal recognition.

Caodism (as it's called) draws upon ethical precepts from Confucianism, occult practices from Taoism, theories of karma and rebirth from Buddhism, and a hierarchical organization (including a pope) from Roman Catholicism. Its pantheon of saints includes such diverse figures as the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, and Sun Yat-sen.

I can only stress how gracious the Cao Đài congregation was during our visit...despite our many faux pas during their time of prayer, and how receptive and welcoming they were to our photography. 

In Brief: The Fuji X Pro-1 In Vietnam

© Yep, Mine Alright.

There's no question in my mind that I am very fond of my Fuji X Pro-1 and satisfied with its performance, as I've used it quite a lot during my just completed Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop, especially in situations which warranted candid photography (aka shooting from the hip, for me) such as during the crowded Sunday market in Bac Ha.

Many photographs on my recently completed audio slideshow Hill Tribes In The Mist and The Indigo People were made with the X Pro-1...and I'm quite happy at the results.

However, not all is rosy. While viewing some of my image files at the market, I noticed that perhaps 50 or so of my images (out of probably 1000) were really blurry. Since these images were consecutive on the "roll", it meant I made an error and it happened accidentally.

I can't recall now how I rectified this, but I think it was by reverting the focus mode lever to Single AF which had somehow slipped to Continuous. Being on the latter setting meant that the camera's focus was continually adjusted according to the scene, and with the constant movement of people in front of the lens, it may have been this that resulted in blurry images...remember, I shoot from the hip (or from the waist).

Not good that. And irritating.

The other issues I have with the X Pro-1 are these: the Exposure Compensation Dial and the lens aperture ring can easily and inadvertently be knocked off my preferred settings without me noticing it until I look at the LCD monitor and view my images. By that time, I've missed my shots.

My Preferred Settings (Aperture & Exp Comp Dial)

I suppose a piece of black tape would keep the focus mode lever and the Exposure Compensation dial where I like it. But I would've hoped that the Fuji engineers had made these less prone to inadvertent movement.

Another peeve: I carried three batteries, and inserting them the right way took some head scratching. Should they go in this way or that? An easy fix would be to use some nail polish to mark the batteries in a way that eliminates the guesswork.

This I can do.

AikBeng Chia: Mobile Photography

Photo ©AikBeng Chia-All Rights Reserved

Having used my iPhone as a mobile camera quite a lot in Hanoi during the past few weeks, I'd like to feature the work of AikBeng Chia, who describes himself as a mobile photographer.

His photography was exhibited internationally in New York, Berlin, Italy and in the Apple Store in Sydney and San Francisco, along with other venues. He has also been featured as a mobile photographer in many online publications from the United States, Europe and across Asia, and became a member of the Mobile Photo Group with 11 of some of the world's most creative mobile photographers.

Along with many, I used to pooh-pooh the notion that an iPhone (or whatever other mobile phone) could make images that would fulfill my own aesthetic values, but I slowly evolved into joining the other camp...the camp that considers the iPhone as another image-making tool.  I downloaded a bunch of apps, including Instagram and Hipstamatic et al, and enjoyed myself tremendously in the Hanoi streets doing just that...clicking, snapping, and filtering.

I agree with John Stanmeyer who tells us that mobile photography and its accompanying image-modifying apps us are all about communication. He also says this: "Mark these words deep into your conscious — within the next five to tens years (likely less), most professional photographers will be primarily using a camera which is indeed located within something as portable and ubiquitous in our purses/pockets as an iPhone.

The Lady From Hanoi

"I miss the quiet streets of Hanoi..."

Here's a vignette of a story produced by Humanity.tv which caught my eye, especially as I've just returned from Hanoi and loved its people, its overall buzz, its incredible food, and most certainly the slaloming scooters and motorcycles that whizzed past me as I crossed the streets.

The short movie clip is about Ms Nahm, who seems to be longing for the calmer days in Hanoi. I say 'seems' because there's no dialogue (only a musical soundtrack and some ambient sound) to explain who Ms Nahm is. All we get to know is what we see...and that she appears to be an artist (or sells artwork), lives with an elderly person (possibly her husband) and likes to dance.

It would've been wonderful to hear Ms Nahm's voice, and some of her narration...and get to know her a little better. She seems to be quite a character. If I was still in Hanoi, I'd look for her and hear her story.

The Travel Photographer's Vietnam Daguerreotypes

Here's the second of my Vietnam-related projects following my recent photo expedition-workshop....Vietnam In Daguerreotypes. This one is a gallery of stills, modified with Alien Skin Software to look like daguerreotypes. I recently installed the software and I'm amazed at its versatility and range of options.

I expect processing photographs with this software comes with some destructive element to it, but according to my very brief research, there are web tutorials that show you how to process photographs and keep their integrity intact.

The photographs were made with a Canon 5D Mark II (mostly with a 17-40mm), a Leica M9 (with a 40mm Voigtlander f1.4) and the Fuji X Pro-1 (18mm f2.8 XF Fujinon).

Very labor-intensive, the (real) daguerreotype is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. Exposure times for the earliest daguerreotypes ranged from three to fifteen minutes, making the process nearly impractical for portraiture. Modifications to the sensitization process coupled with the improvement of photographic lenses soon reduced the exposure time to less than a minute. 

In comparison, the processing of a still photograph using the Alien Skin Software takes less than a minute, if that.

My first Vietnam project is an audio-slideshow titled Hill Tribes In The Mist, which is on my Vimeo Channel.

POV: Avedon Would ROFL

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

On my final full day in Hanoi, I walked over to Hoan Kiem lake with the intention of photographing people enjoying this popular and scenic area, and came across a group of young photographers (seemingly all hobbyists) surrounding the woman seen in the above photograph. After a few words of halting English, I understood they were members of a photo club or group, who were photographing one of their friends...perhaps as an assignment or just for fun.

I asked her (and her friends) if I could also take a picture, and they all readily agreed. Using my M9 with a Voigtlander 40mm set at f 1.4 to enhance the bokeh, I made a few frames and left.

A few days later, I posted the photograph on my Facebook page with this lighthearted title: "Here's My Future Career Plan: Hang A Shingle In Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake....And Photograph The Pretty Ladies."

In fact, I had seen a number of local professional photographers taking pictures of people with Hoan Kiem lake as backdrop...and wondered how they made a living, now that almost everyone had a digital camera of some sort.

Whilst some two dozen FB friends liked the photograph and commented on my post, two seemed to have been offended by it, and left comments which, in essence, criticized it because it "sexualized women".

Yes, I kid you not. A lighthearted post...self-deprecating perhaps...leads two of FB friends to accuse me of sexualizing women. Of course, once I asked them to remove their comments, they claimed they were being lighthearted as well. Sure they were.

Brilliant intellect it's not of course...but this is where we are. We give ourselves the right of interpreting and criticizing other people's intentions and actions (even if we don't know them personally).

I take a walk in Hanoi, take a picture or two of a woman (only after her permission, as well as that of her friends), write a lighthearted post of the experience...and I get a couple of cheap and vulgar shots in return.

I wonder what would Avedon have said in reply to these puerile comments...how would David Bailey have reacted if these two had said the same about his portraits of Jean Shrimpton? I'm hardly comparing myself to these two giants of fashion photography...but the fact remains that they are men making photographs of beautiful women. Is that the problem?

In any event, the silly comments were quickly removed by their authors...but I urge everyone who's on Facebook (or any other social media) not to ignore comments that may impugn their reputation...comments that are made intentionally or innocently and especially if, as they said, the comments were made"in a lighthearted way".

Don't let it go...ever!

POV: Highlights Of Vietnam's Photo-Expedition/Workshop

Looking back at my recently completed my Vietnam: North of the 16th Parallel Photo Expedition/Workshop, here are my main favorite photographic experiences.

But before listing them, let me make the point that it's the people one meets on such trips that make them memorable. In my case, it was spending a few hours listening to Mr Dao's life story in Hoi An, with Mr Nguyen Bao in Hanoi and with Mamei near Sapa.

 1. Street Photography in Hanoi:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Hanoi is a dream come true for street photographers. Its residents virtually live their lives in the streets...conducting their daily routine in the open, eating and interacting with each other in the open. This obviously gives rise in innumerable opportunities for amusing and ironic life vignettes. I could easily spend days upon days wandering Hanoi's streets and alleys; especially those of the Old Quarter.

Actually, street shooting in all the cities and towns on the itinerary was the highlight of the trip. Whether it was Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An...walking in the streets with a camera in hand is just a sublime experience for those who like this style of candid photography like I do. The only problem? Too many scooters parked on the sidewalks!

2. Cao Đài in Hue:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Driving into Hue from Da Nang, I had noticed an unusually looking structure and saw a sign that proclaimed it to be a Cao Đài temple. I just could not let this opportunity go by, especially as I thought the only  temple was in Vietnam's delta. Following telephone calls and my visit with Maika Elan, we secured the approval of the head priest to photograph its daily prayers. I can't emphasize enough how gracious and welcoming the congregation was...despite our many faux-pas during their prayer ritual.

This was a big deal for me as I always wanted to witness the rituals of this new indigenous religious tradition.

3. Model Photo Shoot in Hoi An:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Many of the walls of Hoi An are painted yellow-ochre, which symbolizes wealth. The town is a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, and is a delight to walk through. With Maika, I set up a photo shoot with one of her acquaintances who posed for us along one of its photogenic streets.

I'm not a fan of frozen and posed portraits, but the exercise in itself is both fun and educational. The best for me was to capture unposed moments such as this one when a child looked out of a window while the model adjusted her ao dai.

4. The Hilltribes of Sapa & Bac Ha:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I greatly enjoyed wandering in the markets of Sa Pa and Bac Ha...especially the latter where the Hmong and Dzao, and a handful from over 10 other tribes, attend Bac Ha's famous Sunday market to buy, sell, barter and eat. I'm still scratching my head as to the genetic mystery behind this Hmong child's blond hair. 

I wandered in these markets for hours...occasionally using my Canon 5D Mark II, but relying more on my Fuji X Pro-1 in my street photography style...shooting from the hip to capture as much candor in my photographs as possible. 

An audio-slideshow was born from these wanderings, and can be viewed on my Vimeo page.


5. Halong Bay:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Being cooped up on a boat...even for 24 hours...and even if it's a luxury cruise...is not my kind of thing. However, I must agree that Halong Bay is visually gorgeous, and amply deserves its World Heritage listing. I only include it as a highlight because its land-seascape is beautiful.

As I wrote elsewhere, I included this 24 hours cruise on our itinerary in the hope that the group participants would use the time to complete their audio slideshow projects. Some did and others didn't.

6. Vietnamese Buddhist Funeral:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

On the way back to Hanoi from Halong Bay, we encountered a funeral. Both Maika and I went ahead to seek permission from the family to attend it and to photograph the rituals. I wasn't optimistic, but the head of the family readily agreed provided I lit an incense stick and presented my respects to the memory of the deceased. This I did, and planted the stick at the shrine. The deceased was born in 1925, and his name was Cu Pham Van Bao.

I was invited to drink green tea, and sat amongst the head table along with our host. The funeral rite is called le dua tang, and some of the mourners (presumably close relatives and families) wore coarse veils of gauze.

Being allowed into their midst at a time of sorrow by these Vietnamese mourners is a testament to their graciousness and kindness.

7. Catru: Vietnamese Religious Music:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

We attended a Catru concert held at an old building in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarter. High-brow and very traditional, this musical genre was already played during the 15th century during ceremonies at the Vietnamese court, but during the 1950s fell in disrepute due to its association with opium and similar nefarious activities.

The musician/singer in the above photograph is Ms Pham Thi Hue, a famous practitioner of this art form, who performed beautiful musical pieces during the hour-long session. 

8. The Vee Sign:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Perhaps it's moving from the high brow (above) to a low brow topic, but many people hate the V-sign that Asians seem to do when being photographed. The V-sign was flashed as soon as young Vietnamese women asked me to take their pictures while celebrating the pre-Lunar festivities in Hanoi streets. They also did it when they posed for photographs with me. Not only are the Vietnamese youths camera-friendly (very friendly!) but they also know cameras. I was frequently stopped and asked about the X Pro-1 and the M9...but not once about the 5D II which many of them already have.

But I got used to the V-sign, and always expected it...I won't go so far as to say it's charming, but it certainly was part of the scene all around me when photographing the celebratory activities where I call the "street of the gaudy decorations". I got different interpretations for it. Some said it was a way to say "Hi"...and others said it was the peace sign. 

9. Meeting A Vietnamese Star:

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- All Rights Reserved

Ms Ngô Thanh Vân is a top Vietnamese actress, and was filming a movie in Hoi An. It's by total serendipity that we saw her. Very approachable, she was charming and we exchanged a few words. NTV (as she's known in Vietnam) asked me where I was from, and what was I doing in Hoi An.

I naturally took as many photographs as I could of her on the set without interfering with the going-ons.

If this brief encounter is not a highlight, I don't know what is.

The Travel Photographer's "Hilltribes In The Mist"

Following my Vietnam: North of the 16th Parallel Photo-Expedition/Workshop, here's a short audio-slideshow documenting some of the hill tribes of North Western Vietnam in Sa Pa and Bac Ha. Mostly Hmong and Dzao, and a handful from over 10 other tribes, they attend Bac Ha's famous Sunday market to buy, sell, barter and eat.

There are 10 Montagnard groups that live around Bac Ha: the Flower H’mong are the most visible (and seen in the slideshow), but other groups include Dzao, Giay (Nhang), Han (Hoa), Xa Fang, Lachi, Nung, Phula, Thai and Thula.

The still photographs were made with a Leica M9, Canon 5D Mark II and the Fuji X Pro-1. When using the latter, I mostly shot from the hip. The audio was recorded on a Tascam DR-40. The images were post-processed using Alien Skin Software.

The audio-slideshow can also be viewed on my Vimeo site.

Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop: The Verdict

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

In order to properly sum up a verdict about my Vietnam: North of the 16th Parallel Photo-Expedition/Workshop requires me to separately analyze its expedition and workshop components...and here's why.

In my view, the photographic opportunities during the trip were endless. Whether Hanoi's teeming street life, or the misty beauty of Sapa/Bac Ha, or in Hoi An and Hue...there was so much photogenic scenes ready for the taking, that it'd be difficult not to rate this photo expedition as a success.

Add to this that the travel logistics (as set up by Ms Xuan Tran of Eviva Tours Vietnam) were virtually flawless, that the hotels chosen were all up to my expectations (especially the Golden Silk Boutique Hotel in Hanoi), that the weather cooperated in every locale (we missed a disruptive landslide on the mountainous road from Sapa to Lao Cai by a day) , that the participants were all self-starters...so yes, the photo expedition was a success. The emails I've already received from the group participants confirm this.

Vietnamese photographer Maika Elan's daily help and assistance were indispensable to everyone in the group, and I thank her for her talents and in being so conscientious...and for having such unique peoples' skills.

That said...I'm less sanguine about the workshop's actual results, and my verdict on the multimedia workshop rates an "incomplete".

The objective of the expedition/workshop was "Emulating real-life photo assignments, the aim of the workshop is to assist its participants produce multimedia bodies of work ready for publishing."

I started it off hoping/expecting the participants would be able to produce two projects: a travel-themed documentary and another based on a human interest story. Due to a multitude of reasons, only two group participants met this rather high bar of expectation. Two other participants completed one project each, but these needed some additional tweaking...one participant completed the still imagery of a project but not the audio for a multimedia project...while the remaining three participants had the stills and audio inventory but did not produce projects.

I do recognize that applying my stringent class objectives during the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop on the Vietnam Photo Expedition/Workshop's participants was asking too much of non-photojournalists...especially because of the structure and pace of our itinerary.

As the trip was based on a "touring" itinerary, its pacing and the relative short stops in each destination may not have allowed enough time to the majority of participants to complete their projects. Although I did anticipate this at the planning stage of the trip, and included 24 hours in Halong Bay...thinking that being cooped on a cruise boat with nowhere to go would help...it clearly wasn't enough.

So would I set a photo expedition/workshop to Vietnam again? The answer is an unqualified yes...but this time, it would be based on a destination-event specific itinerary and program...and not on an overly ambitious touring itinerary.

And would I amend my future workshops' objectives? No is the short answer.

 Photo © Maika Elan. All Rights Reserved

For those who are interested in gear; my usage (estimated) statistics on this trip were:
Cameras:

Fuji X-Pro1 : 60% of the time (mostly because of street photography in Hanoi, Hoi An and Bac Ha)
Canon 5D II: 30% of the time
Leica M9: 10% of the time (for specific portraiture photo shoots)
iPhone 4S: Whenever I thought of it.

Lenses:

XF 18mm for the Fuji X Pro1.
Voigtlander f1.4 40mm for the M9
Canon 17-40mm f/4 L