Back Story I The Rajasthani Gypsy

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Dinesh Khanna's statement (see my previous post) of "color is almost a language in India" reminded me of one of my favorite color photographs.

So I thought of featuring it here with its short back story. It was made in 2003 with a Canon 10D (remember those?) and is of a Rajasthani gypsy couple I had met at the Phulad train station, which is near the small town of Jojawar, located between Jodhpur and Udaipur. I recall they had been waiting for a train to Pushkar.

I made a number of sequential frames of this couple, who were quite pleased to pose for as long as I wanted. Another frame (not shown here) is of the man hugging his wife with a broad grin on his face...I actually sold a number of the two versions to various magazines and travel catalogs in the UK.

Would you agree that it's the color vibrancy of the photograph rather than the expressions of the Rajasthani couple that made it attractive to these magazines, especially with the blue background?

But let's also view it in monochrome ( using a quick conversion method).

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Not as attractive as the color one, but still not bad. It being in monochrome perhaps focuses the viewer's attention to the couple's expressions...the squint of the man's eyes, and the women's awkward facial demeanor...and there's no blue background or pink turban to distract us....all we have left are the expressions and the man's regal allure. 

So in this particular case, I think the color photograph trumps its monochrome version...but as we know, black & white can be (and is) frequently more compelling than color. During my The Cult of Durga Photo Expedition for example, the group produced Durga Puja stories in black & white, to exploit the grittiness of Kolkata's streets...and in such an environment, perhaps shooting it in color would have been a distraction.

But wait! What about some artsy processing of the photograph by converting it to a "wet-plate" or "tin type"?

Does this artsy conversion trump the color version? I leave it to you to decide. As for me, I believe it certainly adds visual interest to what is a static portrait. It might qualify as "trickery"...but isn't photography itself a trickery of sorts?

I was very much against the concept of applying filters or manipulating photographs... even preferring not to crop or alter much at all from what I had captured in camera. But I've mellowed a little bit recently, and although 99% of my photographs will remain unaltered...there's room to do and enjoy stuff like the "wet plate" look.

Dinesh Khanna | Kolkata

Photo © Dinesh Khanna-All Rights Reserved

I am surprised that I haven't featured the work of Dinesh Khanna since my post in March 2007. After all, he's the one who is quoted in having said "" Color is almost a language in India. It's in food, clothes, on walls, in architecture."  

He also happens to be one of the major forces of photography in India, and as a co-founder and Managing Trustee of Nazar Foundation, set up to promote photography as an art-form in India, he mentors young photographers. He is also a co-founder and one of the Creative Directors of the Biennale ‘Delhi Photo Festival,’ whose first event was extremely successfully in Oct. 2011...and will be in its second iteration in fall of 2013.

His resume is as long as it is diverse. You'll be as surprised -as I was- to read that he worked as a calculator salesman, garment quality checker and a busboy in New York's East Side before becoming the successful photographer that he is now.  But prior to that shift, he spent over a decade in advertising until he experienced what is sometimes termed "burn-out" at the age of 33. It was then he took up photography, and spent two decades creating images for the advertising, editorial and corporate fields, achieving a well deserved notoriety. 

Not content with these achievements, he produced two books – Bazaar and Living Faith..the culmination of over a decade of travelling through the traditional markets and religious centres of India. He's also working on his next book, Benaras: Everyday in Eternity which will be published in 2014.

I chose to feature his work of Kolkata; one of my very favorite cities in India. As you can see, his  photographs are remarkably well composed, extremely colorful and lovingly saturated...and emit the color of India...the pow! he so well describes. 

No question. A guru of photography.

Denver Post | Victims of the Taliban

Photo © AP/Muhammed Muheisen

It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone following international news to realize that the real danger to Muslims around the world is the terror, intimidation, repression and genocide committed by fellow Muslims. Whether it's Sunni violence against Shi'a Muslims (or vice versa), or Sunni Muslim against fellow Sunnis...whether its by the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Jamjaweed or the Mali Islamists (to name but a few), it is Muslims who suffer the most.

The Denver Post's photo blog featured poignant portraits of a handful of Pakistani victims maimed by the Taliban. Their stories are rarely heard in Pakistan, but they're all against any reconciliation with the Taliban, and the mere idea of negotiating with people responsible for their pain is abhorrent.

The photographs are by photographer Muhammed Muheisen.  He was born in Jerusalem in 1981 and graduated with a degree in journalism and political science in 2002. He is currently based in Islamabad, as the Associated Press chief photographer of Pakistan.

Since 2001, he has been covering major events in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Iraqi conflict, as well as events in Saudi Arabia, China, Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, and France. He received several international awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News in 2005, a POYi in 2007, an APME Journalism Excellence Award, and first prize in the 2012 National Headliner Awards.

The Other Hundred

Here's an worthwhile open call for photographs from The Other Hundred, which is an initiative of the Hong Kong-based Global Institute for Tomorrow. The intention of the open call is to to tell the story of people who are far from being the world’s wealthy, but whose lives deserve to be celebrated.

The Other Hundred is interested in photo submissions from all corners of the globe, and hopes to attract both professional and amateur photographers so the project can consist of as many contributors with as different perspectives as possible.

The Other Hundred will be published as a book of 100 photo essays featuring the hardships and triumphs experienced by extraordinary but simple people that remain anonymous and unknown.

The book is due for publication in October 2013, and will use images from world class photographers as well as from open submissions via the internet.  Proceeds from the publication of the photobook will be donated to organisations dedicated to addressing social issues and inequality across the globe.

The winning entrants whose photographs are published in the book will receive a US$300 honorarium, and the deadline for submissions is April 1, 2013.

The jury is made of Ruth Eichhorn, Richard Hsu, Stephen Wilkes, Chandran Nair, Simon Cartledge, and Stefen Chow.

Jens Lennartsson | The 100 Days

Photo © Jens Lennartsson-All Rights Reserved

Here's an extremely interesting and useful travel photography resource which ought to be bookmarked by aspiring (and established) travel photographers. It's Jens Lennartsson's 100 Days.

Jens' objective is to share his extensive knowledge of travel photography with his readers and followers, and seeks to help photographers to tell and share their experiences in photography.

Every day, a short 'lesson' is updated on 100 Days...it could be about wide lens or it can be about Pushkar...it can be about Havana old taxis or the technique in panning...it can be about food or women. Some can be of basic techniques, while others can be more esoteric.

For instance, here's the intro to the lesson of day 85:

"My wide-angle lens is far from my most used one. But I always carry it in my bag because when the right moment occurs, I wouldn’t want to be without it. The wide angle will help you create a feeling of presence."

Jens Lennartsson works as a travel and lifestyle photographer represented by Wonderful Machine, and he's based in Malmö, Sweden.

Be sure to visit his travel and lifestyle photography website, and don't miss The Ethnicity Project.
 

Back Story | The Dzao Of Sa Pa

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Here's the lastest addition to my Digital Wet Plates series of portraits.

The main square in Sa Pa (or Sapa) in northern Vietnam is the main hub of the town, and it hosts a large number of Red Dzao (pronounced Zao) and Hmong women who sell their handicrafts to local and foreign visitors. This market can remain well into dusk. I recall being engulfed by mist (or a low moving cloud) in the early evening whilst photographing the vendors.

The Dzao are the 9th largest ethnic group in Vietnam with a population of just under half a million. They are believed to have started migrating from China in the 13th century, and wear colorful costumes characterized by black trousers embroidered with flower or small star patterns. Their jackets are either red or black usually with embroidered borders.

The women wear a black or red turban together along with silver jewelry. As can be seen in the above photograph, the Dzao women shave off their eyebrows and foreheads (some shave their whole heads) as this is regarded as a sign of beauty in their culture.

The woman in the above photograph was busy embroidering a piece of fabric she hoped to sell to visitors. Note the threaded needle stuck in her headdress.

Michael Yamashita | Tea Road To Lhasa

Michael Yamashita of the National Geographic Magazine will share his images and stories from his newest publication, Shangri-La: Along the Tea Road to Lhasa at the Asia Society on February 21st, 2013 in New York.

His journey starts in Jiuzhaigou (The Valley of Nine Villages), whuch is considered by Chinese photographers as the most photogenic place in China. It was here that Yamashita first heard of the ancient trade route, the Tea-Horse Road. This route was established roughly 4,000 years ago when Chinese merchants began trading tea to Tibetans, in exchange for horses, much in need for China's constant battles against mounted Mongol invaders.

Often mistakenly known as the Southern Silk Road, the Chamagudao has also served as a major channel for cultural exchange between China and Tibet. More recently this region has become plagued by many new environmental challenges such as a booming trade in chongcao, catetpillar fungus, a Chinese medicament much in demand which has lured whole villages to dig destructively through virgin lands.

There'll be a free live webcast of the talk on the 21st of February.

Photo © Michael Yamashita-All Rights Reserved

Denver Post | India's Brass Bands

Photo © REUTERS/Mansi Thapliyal- All Rights Reserved

The photograph of the Indian brass band at the Kumbh Mela prompted a quick search on the 'internets', and I landed on the recent Denver Post photo blog with a whole photo story on an Indian brass band.

It seems the proper name for such bands is Baja, and they have become part of the Indian culture. These bands play an essential role during high (and low) profile events such as weddings, religious festivals, elections and so forth. They can be seen marching through towns and villages dressed in ill-fitting military outfits...the gaudier the better.

There are usually two trumpeters in each band along with drummers and musicians who play wind and pipe instruments. The best time for the Baja bands is the wedding season in India... particularly in the large cities, whether Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata. Moreover, the annual religious festivals such as the Kumbh or animal fairs in Pushkar offer gigs to these musical bands, whose members usually have another job for the rest of the year.

Interestingly, there are (or used to be) similar bands with the same purpose in Egypt...and they're called hassaballa. They also wear ill fitting gaudy military outfits, with tarnished gold trim, gaiters over sandals or old shoes, et al. They would play at weddings, birthdays...even during religious holidays. 

But back to the Indian Baja bands...the photographs on the Denver Post photo blog are by Mansi Thapliyal. Mansi attended the Chiang Mai Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in 2012.

Kevin WY Lee | Carnival of Life

Photo © Kevin WY Lee-All Rights Reserved

In my previous post, I asked the somewhat rhetorical question as to what is real at the Kumbh Mela, and lamented the fact that such massive religious festivals attract charlatans, fake sadhus, self proclaimed mystics and religious con-men (and women)...as well as the devout pilgrims and the faithful. I also recognize the necessity for such large pilgrimages to generate money flows to the host cities (this one is in Allahabad), to its businesses and to itinerant vendors and the like.

After all, the Muslim Haj to Mecca was originally based on commercialism and trading...many other pilgrimage sites do the same.

That said, I have seen countless imagery from this year's Kumbh Mela...identical work showing the sadhus bathing, etc. but the one that I thought was singularly different was by Kevin Wy Lee.

In his Carnival of Life photo essay, I stopped at the above photograph of a traditional brass band at the Kumbh Mela. These street bands can be seen performing at weddings, politicians' elections, anywhere that calls for a celebration. Out of all the photographs I've seen, this one stands out as the best of them. 

Sure, it might be an eclectic choice because it doesn't tell us much about the Kumbh Mela, but to me it does. It's the back story to the Kumbh..and that's why I deem it to be a terrific photograph...Are they fathers and sons? Exhausted, tired feet, bloodshot eyes, they're cold, probably hungry... resigned that it's their karma to be street musicians. Have they made enough rupees to eat their evening meal? We don't know...but what we know is that they'll be walking in the muddy alleys of the Mela grounds for days to come...until the pilgrims go home.

Kevin WY Lee is a photographer and creative director based in Singapore working in film and photography. He has worked as a creative professional and photographer in Australia and Singapore for over 15 years. In 2010, he founded Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA), a platform which has grown to become a leading advocate platform for Photography & Visual Arts in Asia.

POV: What Is Real At The Kumbh Mela?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy

If you're thinking...two POVs from The Travel Photographer in as many days is unusual, you'd be right....but I chanced upon Eric Lafforgue's tweet that said "Story behind a portrait you saw everywhere, Kumbh Mela".

Naturally I went to the link it pointed me to, and I saw he had posted a lovely portrait of a young Indian girl wearing colorful makeup during the current Kumbh Mela. I guess one could call it "religious" make up for a lack of better description.

Eric writes that the girl is wearing the make up of a goddess, and that her face adorned the pages of many magazines as all pro photographers took pictures of her.

Well, the back story to this young girl is that she, and her sisters, were made up in that way to solicit tips and donations from Kumbh pilgrims and tourists, under the supervision of their father.

With disarming candor, Eric also writes this: "More and more i have to deal with those situations: we make nice stories with sometimes "fake" people."

And that's exactly why I view the Kumbh Melas of this world with (unfortunate) skepticism and cynicism. I visited the Maha Kumbh Mela of 2001, which was probably the largest of its kind, and was astounded by the number of charlatans and fake sadhus who were surrounded by photographers and tourists gaping at them.

That said, it's pictures such as the one of the young girl and fake sadhus that seem to capture the attention of photo editors in international newspapers and magazines...so what are the photographers to do?

If they try to focus on serious back stories with a human interest, they won't get the photo editors' attention and their stories in all likelihood won't get published.

So, as Eric says, they have continue to make nice stories with sometimes fake people.

POV: Are Ethnic Props Ethical?

 


Aaah! The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is a big deal to some red-blooded males who wait for its publication with impatience...or so I'm told.

Be it what it may, for its 2013 issue, the magazine photographed models on all 7 continents, and its photographers used locals to appear next to these gorgeous women. Using ethnic people with colorful and indigenous costumes as extras for fashion shoots background is a popular gimmick used by photographers.

I have mild but still conflicting views about this. There's the extreme view as expressed by Jezebel, a blog which describes itself as the home for "celebrity, sex and fashion for women", that clearly finds this very offensive....and there's another view on the opposite side of the scale that sees this as nothing more than an innocent (and practical) gimmick used by photographers to add realism to their off location shoots.

Frankly, I don't find it offensive provided the local individuals who, in essence, are co-models should be told of the purpose of their involvement in the shoots, should be paid a decent salary for their time and should treated with the same respect than the models themselves. Recognizing their worth as co-models rather than 'props' is my stance on this issue.

Naturally, a "decent" salary is an elastic term...does it mean a salary or fee based on local tariffs...or does it mean decent by Western standards? I don't know what movie producers pay for their local extras, but I would hope that the "ethnic props" ought to be paid very handsomely by their country's standards.

It's not the first time I write about this matter, and haven't changed my mind since this blog post, which involved Jezebel and Marie-Claire magazine.

So food for thought...do you think Jezebel's stance is too extreme...is too political correct? Is it really exploitation...bad taste...even racist? What would you do if you could decide what to pay?

How Hwee Young | Mongolian Shamans

Photo © How Hwee Young-All Rights Reserved

Shamans are people (they can be of either gender) who are considered to have access to the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits. Shamans typically enter into trances during their ritual, and practice divination and healing.

My experience with a shaman was in Bhutan...not far from Paro, where he was holding a ritual to cleanse a child from evil spirits. The ritual took place in a very modest farmhouse...in its main room with the family and neighbors attending. The process involved the shaman to eventually "host" the spirit in his body whilst in a trance, then running out of the house to expel it. 

So I am glad to feature Mongolia Shaman Brothers; a photo essay by the talented How Wee Young. 

Mongolian shamanism is an all-encompassing system of belief that includes medicine, religion, a cult of nature, and a cult of ancestor worship. Male shamans in Mongolia are called boo (isn't that funny?), and they consider themselves to be an intermediaries between the visible world and the hidden world of spirits and gods.

In Mongolia, shamanism merged with local Buddhist traditions, and it’s often impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.

How Hwee Young is a staff photographer with the european pressphoto agency b.v. (epa) based in Beijing, China. Her career began in 2001 where she joined Singapore's leading newspaper The Straits Times as a photojournalist. Over the last ten years, her images have been published on front covers and featured in major newspapers and magazines including the NewYork Times, British Times, the International Herald Tribune, the LA Times, the Sydney Herald, the Telegraph, Time magazine, Der Spiegel, GEO Magazine, South China Morning Post, Bangkok Post, amongst others.

In Focus | Rio's Carnival 2013

Photo © Felipe Dana/AP-All Rights Reserved

In Focus, the photo blog of The Atlantic is on a roll. Following its featuring of the 2013 Sony World Photo Awards a few days ago, it now features gorgeous photographs of Rio's Carnival of 2013.

In Rio, more than 72,000 spectators watched the spectacle of samba school floats, dancers, and extravagant costumes during Carnival. More people took part in the numerous street parties, dancing and drinking for hours.

Attending Rio's Carnival is on my bucket list for as long as I remember. While living in Barcelona many years ago, I saw a beautiful billboard with an advert for Varig (at the time the only international airlines in Brazil) encouraging people to travel to Rio for the Carnival....and this reminded in me of my appreciation for Brazilian music...mostly bossa nova and samba. Some years before, I had watched -more than once- the French movie 'Un Homme Une Femme"whose one of its songs was the beautiful Samba Saravah (aka Samba da Bencao by the legendary Vinicius de Moraes), and even before that, I would listen to the music of Baden Powell, Stan Getz, Jorge Ben, Gilberto Gil...and of course, Joao Gilberto.

Carnival was introduced by the Portuguese to Brazil around 1850. The elite settlers from Europe would throw class and custom aside, dressing in the poorer clothing of commoners, while the commoners donned the fine garments of royalty. Native Brazilians eventually joined the festivities, and early 20th century, the beats of the samba joined the melting pot of music from several European cultures.

Mathias Braschler/Monika Fischer : The China Project

I noticed the work of Swiss photographers Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer in the always-interesting The New York Times LENS blog (co-edited by James Estrin). This time their work is of epic scope since it involved going to China on a road trip to visit its 33 provinces and regions to make portraits of the people.

The result is The China Project. The project includes notes made during the trip: a sort of blog entry for every city and town where the portraits were made.

The duo traveled across China, got arrested a few times and lugged a a 4x5 camera with a flash, and soft box to make the portraits. The portraits are of yak farmers, gynecologists, television personalities, village chiefs, singing gondoliers, prostitutes, aging revolutionaries, circus stars, bank employees, beggars and trash collectors.

I recalled having featured the work of these two talented photographers in a 2009 blog post relating to their similar work on climate change, and which was shown in Vanity Fair magazine.

NYT: Worshipping At The Kumbh Mela

The New York Times is featuring a documentary movie on the Kumbh Mela, which is believed (and hyped) to be the largest religious gathering on earth. The Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years on the banks of the spot where the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati meet.

The Kumbh Mela alternates between Nasik, Allahabad, Ujjain and Haridwar every three years. The one celebrated this year in Allahabad is the largest and holiest of them. It's erroneously reported and described by many media outlets as occurring every 144 years...this is false (even the BBC is mistaken). The Maha Kumbh Mela is the one that occurs every 144 years, and the last one was held in January 2001....so the Maha title definitely not this year's.

I attended the Maha Kumbh Mela in 2001 (I have a gallery on my website), and it was a mind-blowing experience which I describe as "rubbing shoulders with ascetic, sadhus, mendicants, mystics, charlatans, pilgrims, gurus and yogis".

I also read in The New York Times that unfortunately as many as 30 pilgrims were killed during a stampede at Allahabad train station. I recall the station well as I photographed some of the pilgrims arrivals and departures as well.

Global Post | The Year Of The Snake

Photo © Hoang Dinh Nam - AFP/Getty Images

恭禧發財!!!

The Year of the Snake starts from Feb. 10, 2013 and lasts to Jan. 30, 2014...and some Chinese traditional astrologers expect some political turbulence during the year, since in Chinese mythology, snakes were often associated with monsters, or with incarnations of monsters. Others believe that much-needed liquidity will be injected into struggling world economies, and that babies born over the next 12 months will be agile.

In China, an estimated 200 million people have already traveled to be with their families in what is considered the biggest mass human migration on Earth. And for another staggering number, it's estimated that more than one billion people worldwide celebrate Lunar New Year.

Global Post's PlanetPic is one of the first photo blogs to feature photographs of this celebration.

Roy Gunnels | Cairo's Al Muizz Street

Photo © Roy Gunnels-All Rights Reserved

Almost every morning, I scour news websites for updated news on Egypt...my birth country that is experiencing an extremely painful transition from authoritarianism to a sort of chaotic "democracy".  Every day, I read of (and see) examples of incompetence in governance, anarchy, street level anarchy, human rights abuses, violence, economic melt-down, emergence of black markets, capital flight, political paralysis, religious zealotry and antediluvian ideology, sexual harassement, discrimination, civil disobedience, institutional rot and corruption...the list is too long, where do I stop? It has gone for bad to worse...and the end is not in sight.

And yet, Egypt has -over the eons of its existence- survived it's ups and downs...but this time it seems that its luck may have run out. It was better when I grew up there...but it was still better than that when my parents grew up, and it was even better than that when their parents grew up...it's a downward spiral.

I recall walking reasonably recently in Al Muizz street in the medieval section of Cairo...a literal stone's throw from the famed Al Azhar, the Muslim center of learning...so I was glad to have found Roy Gunnel's photographs of that particular street titled A Pastiche of The Street . The street is about one kilometer long and houses shops of traditional wares.

Its full name is a mouthful...it's named after  El Moez Lel Din'ellah, a Fatimid (969-1171) ruler famed for his enlightened rule, and was renowned for his drive to build monuments, mosques and other buildings.

As my readers will see, street photography here is incredibly rewarding and rich of daily life. Another of my favorites (apart from the one above) is the one of a antique store keeper rubbing his toes, with his back turned to an ancient gramophone.

Roy Gunnels is a documentary and fine-art photographer from Fort Worth. He worked the past few years in the Middle-East and Africa while based in Cairo, Egypt. He was profiled and his work from the streets of Cairo featured in The Guardian, as well as the Egyptian Midan Misr newspaper, and the Atlantic Council’s ‘Egypt Source’. His images from the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 have been recommended for exhibit at the World Peace Center in Verdun, France.

In Focus: 2013 Sony World Photo Awards

© Ali Asadi, Iran, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

© Gali Tibbon, Israel, 2013 Sony World Photography Awards

In Focus, the wonderful photo blog of The Atlantic has just featured some of the shortlisted images from the 2013 Sony World Photo Awards. The beauty of this particular blog is that it features its images in large sizes; 1024 pix or 1280 pix, which certainly enhances the viewers' enjoyment.

This year's contest attracted more than 122,000 entries from 170 countries. The photographs are being judged in six different competition categories, including Professional, Open, and Student Focus. Winners are scheduled to be announced in March and April.

I thought I'd feature my two favorite photographs out of the 40 that are shown on In Focus, and see if either make it to the winners' circle.

One of my favorite is by Ali Asadi of Iran. It shows an Iranian woman mourner, presumably during Ashoura, marking the death anniversary of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. He is one of the most revered and loved saints of Shi'a Islam. One of the rituals observed during this anniversary is for the mourners to cover themselves with mud.

The other is by Galli Tibbon; one of my favorite photographers/photojournalists. It shows a female worshiper (said to be infertile) being lowered into a baptism pool by a rope held by Ethiopian priests. It is in Bet Maryam, a church dedicated to Mary, and it's deep square pool is said to have miraculous properties, and is where infertile women dip themselves in its algae-covered waters at certain times of the year, particularly at Christmas. Lalibela is famous for its 13th century monolithic churches, carved out of the living rock.

POV: The So 'God' Made A Farmer Advert

I have no interest whatsoever in American football, so I didn't watch the 2013 Super Bowl last Sunday...however I noticed how the media and blogosphere subsequently erupted with praise for an advertisement for the Chrysler Ram truck, which I guess appeared at halftime.

I must say that it's praise well received from an aesthetic standpoint, since it used gorgeous still photography to fashion a sort of hybrid audio slideshow.

I found, as did many others, that the photographers (Andy Anderson, William Allard, Jim Arndt, Daniel Beltra, Mark Gooch, Andy Mahr, Kurt Markus, David Spielman, Matt Turley and Olaf Veltman ) did a wonderful job, despite the seemingly tight schedule to produce it. The only name I recognize in this group is William Allard, and I thought I could recognize his thumbprint on some of the stills before realizing who the photographers were.

Did God make only white farmers?

That said, it honestly didn't dawn on me (until Paul Rigas -a photographer and a Facebook friend- commented about it) that the ad barely showed non white farmers. According to this The Atlantic article, the Department of Labor's National Agriculture Worker Survey has found that over the last decade, around 70 percent of farmworkers in America were born in Mexico, and yet very few Hispanic workers are featured in the ad.

I suppose that it's a question of target audience and demographics...and it's possible that hard working Hispanics do not buy Ram trucks. I just don't know...or they don't attend or watch Super Bowls.

I did like the narrator's magnificent voice, and was told that it belonged to the late Paul Harvey, who was a radio broadcaster with CBS.  I didn't have a clue as to who he was...thinking the narrator was a contemporary actor or something similar. My quick search revealed that he was an ardent conservative, and his political views would have certainly annoyed me to no end...but he still has a great voice, and his speech was well crafted...rustic verbal imagery compounding the well chosen visual imagery.

But whether God made anything...well, I leave this to your judgement.

But back to our potatoes...this is an incredibly well done ad from an aesthetic standpoint, and possibly the first one I see that involves such a technique...stills made into a movie/video...rather than just videography .

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop: Scholarships!!!

Readers of The Travel Photographer Blog must be well aware of the forthcoming Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which will be held in Sarajevo from July 14-12, 2013. So if your dream is to be coached by some of the best photographers and photojournalists available, you'd be well advised to enroll at the earliest.

The list of confirmed instructors for the Sarajevo workshop consists of Andrea Bruce, Allison Morley, Maggie Steber, Thorne Anderson, James Whitlow Delano, Eros Hoagland, Kael Alford, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Paula Bronstein and Tewfic El-Sawy.

While there are no age restrictions for the workshop, students must have less than three years experience as a professional photographer. However, this restriction does NOT apply to regional photographers from Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Moldavia, Romania, Macedonia, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Cyprus. Anyone from one of these countries, regardless of experience, can attend.

There are a number of full and partial scholarships available, and the full details on how to apply and submit one's portfolio can be found on the Scholarships page. Don't delay since the deadline is set for March 1, 2013.

Krister Halvars | Laos

Photo © Krister Halvars. All Rights Reserved

Laos is another country which I haven't featured often on the pages of The Travel Photographer Blog. I've traveled to Laos a few years ago, but it hasn't clicked with me photographically-speaking...despite its many attributes. Over the two weeks of my visit, I managed to photograph in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, and Vang Vieng but my favorite experience were the few days I spent on Khone Island.

So I was glad to encounter Krister Halvars' website which showcases Laotian photographs. The Laos gallery (you have to wait a few seconds for the galleries to appear) has 17 images of which, in my view, the one above of the Mekong fisherman is the most striking.

In his sparse biography, Krister tells us he was a fighter pilot in the Swedish Air Force, then a commercial pilot on SAS.

Laos is a single-party socialist republic, and its mainstay export is by generating electricity from its rivers and selling the power to its neighbors  namely Thailand, China, and Vietnam. That said, both Vietnam and Cambodia urged it to halt construction of a $3.5 billion dam on the Mekong because it threatens the livelihood of millions who live downstream.

Bill Newsinger | Memory Twenty Two

This is a little gem. No, make that a large gem.

Not only from an aesthetic standpoint, but because it made me (and I hope you) think out of the box.

It's a stop motion project titled Memory Twenty Two by a musician, photographer and videographer Bill Newsinger (Tumblr and Vimeo) who hails from Leicester in the United Kingdom.

It was created from photographs taken with the Hipstamatic Tintype Pak; in particular and the Tinto 1884 lens, and D-Type film....which is absolutely my favorite. It consists of 4500 photos in all, and the music is his own composition.

Let me repeat this...4500 photographs!

Judging from the number of videos on his Vimeo page, Bill is a prolific photographer/videographer...he spends almost everyday shooting in his hometown, and conjuring up short movies, whether it's with his iPhone, GoPro HD or Canon 7D.

Back Story | Widows of Varanasi

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy. All Rights Reserved

Working on my new fetish....The Digital Wet Plates...is giving me the impetus to work on another book which would group all these 50+ (and still growing) portraits, and add back stories to each. I have my notes from most of my trips, and it'd be easy to find a paragraph or two to accompany each photograph.

Diana Eck,  Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University, accurately said that Varanasi (or Benares) is where “the atmosphere of devotion is improbable in its strength.” 

These two portraits were made a few years when I was documenting the plight of widows in Varanasi and Vrindavan...and although both cities are deemed to be sacred by Hindus, I certainly was more impressed by Varanasi, whose very ancient pores seemed to ooze spirituality and devotion.

These portraits, amongst many, were made in an ashram on the banks of the Ganges. The ashram is dedicated to harboring widows expelled from their family homes following the death of their husbands, and those who left of their own volition because of their sense of "uselessness", and to avoid being an extra mouth to feed.

The widows subsist on thin dahl and chapattis, and earn a few rupees by either chanting bhajan or by fashioning wicks for the oil lamps used during aartis on the banks of the holy river.

Getting access to the ashram wasn't easy because of Water, a film on the plight of the widows, had been scheduled to be filmed in Varanasi in 2002, but 2,000 protesters stormed the ghats where the set had been erected, and it had to continued elsewhere. Any mention of widows was viewed with suspicion, however my fixer was 'connected' as they say.

I produced White Shadows, an audio slideshow, depicting the widows' life in Vrindavan a couple of years ago.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy. All Rights Reserved