Mohammad Moniruzzaman | The Spellbinders

Photo © Mohammad Moniruzzaman-All Rights Reserved

Here's The Spellbinders, a series of photograph depicting the traditional circus troupes in Bangladesh, which were once the major entertainment attractions during the rural fairs or melas in this South Asian nation.

With the advent (and in some areas, proliferation) of other forms of modern entertainment modes, such as television and movie theaters, as well as encroaching urbanization, the traditional circus troupes are facing an uphill struggle to survive. According to the photographer,  In 2011, there was only 6 or 7 circus troupes available, and since then, a few more have closed down their operations. 

I don't really know what the situation is for Bangladeshi circus troupes, but in India these are often accused of illegally employing Nepalese girls, and often being fronts for sex trafficking.

Mohammad Moniruzzaman is a Bangladeshi photographer involved in image making since 2007. A photographer by passion and a microbiologist by profession, he moved to the United States to obtain a PhD degree in microbiology. 

Kauser Haider | A Hall Full of Cinema

Photo © Kauser Haider-All Rights Reserved

The Manoshi Cinema Hall in Old Dhaka is a 70+ year old crumbling old building with torn plaster walls and decrepit chairs. It features three shows a day; mostly of action films that appeal to lower income segments of Dhaka's population. Mingling with genuine cinema buffs, are drug addicts, prostitutes and other similar denizens of this capital city, while its staff of about 25 work around the clock to operate the obsolete machinery needed to project the films.

Kauser Haider is the photographer who brings us A Hall Full of Cinema. It has been featured on various blogs, but it was nominated as a 2012 Photostory choice. A well deserved accolade for such a visually interesting subject. Brilliant and very large photographs!

Kauser Haider is a Bangladeshi documentary photographer who prefers to work with social issues, humanitarian focus, and travel photography . He enrolled in Pathshala South Asian Media Academy for BA in Photography, and subsequently participated in various international workshops conducted by Philip Blenkinsop, Shannon Lee Castleman, Shorab Hura, Abir Abdullah and Munem Wasif.

A Hall Full of Cinema was exhibited internationally in Angkor photo festival and Delhi Photo festival .  

Amy Helene Johansson: A Lost Revolution?

"My heart is beating for this project and it would be wonderful if as many people as possible see it and get enlightened about the situation. " -Amy Helene Johansson

Prior to the boom in the garment industry, almost no women in Bangladesh worked outside of their family or marital homes, and had few opportunities to earn money. However today, the female garment workers are the backbone of the Bangladeshi economy in an industry that generates billions of dollars each year. It should be a women’s revolution, but is it?

While academics and economists agree to some extent that Bangladeshi women are in the midst of a revolution, they are still not empowered financially or socially. And are not strong enough to demand a fair remuneration. Multinational companies such as Nike, Levi Strauss and H&M are generally unaware of the life situation of sewing machine operators; their housing conditions, family structures, and food provisions.

Amy Helene Johansson is a photojournalist who studied film and theatre theory before earning a BA in fashion design. However, after a decade of working for H&M as a fashion designer, she discovered photography. Her work has been published in leading broadsheets and magazines in the UK and Sweden, including the Sunday Times UK, Dagens Nyheter and Sydsvenska Dagbladet. Her work has been awarded Asian Geographic Magazine ‘Faces of Asia Award’, the Foundry Emerging Photojournalist Award and the Swedish Picture Of the Year ‘Multimedia Category’ and been shortlisted for ELLE commission award and a National Geographic award.

She's also a Foundry Photojournalism Workshop (Manali, India and Istanbul) alum. A Lost Revolution was produced in collaboration with the Bombay Flying Club. 

Miguel Candela: Living In Darkness

Photo © Miguel Candela-All Rights Reserved

“If I could go to another place, marry someone who would know nothing about my past, maybe I could escape this shame that I feel”

In Bangladesh, on the banks of the Padma River, is Faridpur. It is here that the largest brothels in the country thrive. The sex workers have usually been kidnapped by gangs, sold by their families or step families or tricked with promises of good jobs. It's estimated that there are 100,000 women selling sex in Bangladesh despite Muslim strictures on sex outside marriage.

Brothels: Living In Darkness is a photo essay by Miguel Candela, a Spanish documentary photographer currently based in Hong Kong.

One of the most touching captions underneath an equally compelling image of a sad young woman is this "Society has forced them to live in darkness while men love them and hate them in equal measure, demanding their services while trying to get rid of them permanently."

Miguel Candela is interested in documenting the human drama of life, and to that end has traveled extensively to various countries in order to photo-document the people and their community way of life in Mali, Kenya, the Philippines, Bangladesh and across China, and in his current base of operations in Hong Kong.

His photographs have been published in CNN, CNNGo, South China Morning Post (SCMP), Grupo Vocento, Piel de Foto, La Voz de Galicia among others.

Lisa Wiltse: Daulatdia Brothel

Photo © Lisa Wiltse-All Rights Reserved

In Bangladesh, on the banks of the Padma River, is the village of Dauladtia. It is here that the largest brothel in the country thrives , with over 2000 servicing 3000 men every day. The sex workers have usually been kidnapped by gangs, sold by their families or step families or tricked with promises of good jobs. It's estimated that there are 100,000 women selling sex in Bangladesh.

It is here that Lisa Wiltse photographed her photo essay Daulatdia Brothel, and documented the atrociaous practice of procuring a drug called Oredexon, a “cow-fattening” steroid to underage girls, in order to make them plumper and look older, despite the dangerous side effects on their health.

Lisa Wiltse is an American photographer who moved to Sydney, Australia where she worked as a staff photographer for the Sydney Morning Herald until 2008, when she moved to La Paz, Bolivia to pursue her freelance career.

Her photography has been recognized by Photo District News, the National Press Photographers Association, Sony awards, and is the recipient of The Walkley award in Australia, among others. Her work been published in The Sydney Morning Herald,The FADER, Time Magazine, Internazionale, Private photo review, The Sun magazine and The Australian Financial Review.

Alfonso Moral: Machine Man: 69th POYi

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jana Asenbrennerova: Shipbreakers of Chittagong

Photo © Jana Asenbrennerova-All Rights Reserved

“The workers look like little ants next to these gigantic ships, and they are just as vulnerable.”

Jana Asenbrennerova's work on the ship breakers in Chittagong was recently featured on the CNN Photo blog....however her photographs are better viewed on her own website.

The CNN essay also informs us that about 80% of the world's out-of-service ships are recycled in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, according to NGO Shipbreaking Platform.  The largest ship breaking yards at Gadani in Pakistan, Alang in India, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Aliağa in Turkey.

The majority of the ship breaking workers come from the poverty stricken northern region of Bangladesh where there are limited employment opportunities, with the larger proportion of the labor (40.75%) are between the ages of 18-22 years old, and children (under the age of 18) represented about 11% of the workforce.

Jana Asenbrennerova visited Chittagong’s ship-breaking yards in summer 2010 to document what life was like for the people who work there. The ship breaking yards are notoriously difficult to access, but Jana was helped by a local photojournalist.

Jana is an award-winning Czech photojournalist based in the United States. Her work focuses on Southeast Asia. After studying directing and screenwriting at Film Academy, she worked in Prague’s film and theater industry for several years, then studied photography at City College of San Francisco, and photojournalism at San Francisco State University.

David Lazar: Myanmar Redux

Photo © David Lazar-All Rights Reserved

I featured David Lazar's work on The Travel Photographer blog a few months, and having learned that he had uploaded two new galleries unto his website,  I was eager to take a look. I was not disappointed.

The first gallery is titled Return To Myanmar, and features about 45 portraits and set up photographs made in this beautiful country. These are heavily processed and over saturated, perhaps following the style of many South East Asian photographers who like such effects.

The other gallery is titled Bangladesh In Portrait, and has just under 50 facial portraits and environmental portraits made of Bangladeshis. A far different photographic approach than that of the so-called Bangladeshi school...which is usually black & white, edgy, gritty and super contrasty.

David Lazar is a musician and photographer from Brisbane, and who loves traveling and capturing moments of life through photography. He has won a number of awards and recognitions for his photography which include Shutterbug Awards 2011, Kumuka Travel Photo Contest 2010, Lonely Planet Photo Competition 2010, Asian Geographic - Poetry in Motion Competition 2010, Intrepid Photography Competition 2009...and many more.

Pierre Claquin's Photo Workshop In Bangladesh

Photo © Pierre Claquin-All Rights Reserved

Pierre Claquin's photo workshop is a unique opportunity for 7 photographers to visit and document various and different aspects of Bangladesh during the period of September 06 - September 19, 2011.

In the itinerary, photographers will explore the the mangrove forests and wildlife of the Sunderbans (a UNESCO heritage site), the busy life on the rivers, an old Hindu temple inside the deep forest of the Sunderbans, the Buddhist vestiges of Mainamati, the tribal life in Sreemongol and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the tea gardens, and the urban chaos of Dhaka and Chittagong. The occasional monsoon rains will provide a unique lightning and effects.

Pierre is no stranger (or a "parachuting" photographer) to Bangladesh. He's a photographer,  a medical epidemiologist and a public health doctor who worked and lived for more than 16 years in Bangladesh between 1972 and 2011. He devoted his professional life to Africa and South, South East and Central Asia. He had several photo exhibitions: "Borrowed faces" (Dhaka- October 2000; Chittagong Feb 2001); "The Eastern Gallery of the Berlin Wall" (Dhaka April 2001); "1972-2002: The changing faces of Shariakandi" (Dhaka and Shariakandi - April 2002); "Surviving Dreams: the struggling circus of Bangladesh" (Dhaka Chobi Mela II - November 2002). He also published a book of 120 black and white photographs on the circuses of Bangladesh.

I have immense respect for Pierre's abilities, and I am very glad to have met and worked with him at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul last summer.

All details for the Bangladesh Photographic Workshop are here.

GMB Akash: Survivors

Open publication - Free publishing - More galleria

SURVIVORS: "The invincibility of human determination to struggle and survive against all odds" is a book by Galleria di Porta Pepice of the photographs by GMB Akash.

GMB Akash is an extraordinarily gifted Bangladesh photographer, and is the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands, and received numerous international and national awards. His work has been featured in over 45 major international publications including: Time, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Geo, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, Marie Claire, The Economist, The New Internationalist, Kontinente, Amnesty Journal, Courier International, PDN, Die Zeit, Days Japan,and Sunday Telegraph of London.

Amy Johansson: Transcending Pain Through Faith

Photo © Amy Helene Johansson- All Rights Reserved

This is the second post on The Travel Photographer blog for Amy Helene Johansson, who is a Dhaka-based photojournalist covering South Asia. Amy's work was published in leading broadsheets and magazines in the UK and Sweden, including the Sunday Times and Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Amelia and Omvärlden. Her work has been displayed in solo and collaborative exhibitions in Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the UAE.

She has recently joined Kontinent, a Swedish Photojournalist Agency working worldwide, and has featured Transcending Pain Through Faith on its website.

The accompanying text for the photo essay describes the Ashura observance amongst Shia Muslims quite well:

"The crowd is heavy with grief and pulsing with intensity. In the heat of night, the faithful mourn the death of Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, by flagellating themselves with swords and whips until blood runs down their bare backs. For these Shiite Muslims in Bangladesh, the Day of Ashura is a day of remembrance and self-sacrifice. The wounds epitomize the deep sorrow caused by a martyrdom that took place over 1300 years ago. By inflicting such pain, it is believed by some that all sins will be absolved. For others, it is a time to submit to their faith and show devotion to their brethren."

Ashura is held on on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram. This commemorates the death of Hussein Bin Ali in the battle of Karbala at the hands of Yazid I, the Ummayad Caliph of Syria.

Jashim Salam: Celestial Devotion

Photo © Jashim Salam-All Rights Reserved

Jashim Salam is a Bangladeshi photographer, who's currently working for Driknews international photo agency. He was recognized with a Jury Special Award in the 6th Humanity Photo Awards 2009 Contest, sponsored by the China Folklore Photographic Association, the Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee and UNESCO. He also received awards in the 69th International Photographic Salon of Japan (Asahi Shimbun) in 2008, a honorable mention in the USA Legatum Center Photo Contest in 2009, a special award in the People & Planet photo contest 2009 in Australia, and otjers.

Jashim's atmospheric photo essay Celestial Devotion is featured by the website SocialDocumentary.net, and is about an an orphanage and Islamic school in Chittagong. The orphanage/school claims to have mentored thousands of youngsters to memorize the Qu'ran since it was established in 1970. It currently hosts some 200 orphans who share very basic facilities. According to UN statistics, 6 million students are enrolled in the madrasa system in Bangladesh.

Madrasas have received (some deservedly) a bad reputation in the West, and being synonymous with fundamentalist teachings. Some are just that, but the larger majority seem to be nothing more than institutions providing social assistance to orphans and the poor. This is not a novel concept, but one that is shared by many other religious traditions such as Buddhism, and Hindu Vedic schools as an example.

Elizabeth Herman: Durga Puja

Photo © Elizabeth Herman-All Rights Reserved

Elizabeth Herman is a photographer and a recent graduate of Tufts University. She's currently residing in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she is a Fulbright Fellow. At Tufts, Elizabeth intertwined her studies with her passion for photography through "Exposure", the Tufts’ student-led documentary studies group.

Whilst in Dhaka, Elizabeth documented the annual Durga Puja. The annual event is an Hindu festival in South Asia that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. As far as Bangladesh is concerned, Durga Puja is its largest religious festival for Bengali Hindus.

As an aside, Durga Puja will be the objective of my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo-Expedition/Workshop in early October 2011.It's sold out but a standby/waiting list is available.

While logged on to Elizabeth's website, be sure not to miss her Women Warriors, a visual project focusing on Vietnamese women who fought in the war with the United States.