Leonid Plotkin | Sacred Mountains of China

Photo © Leonid Plotkin-All Rights Reserved

Travel photographers...brace yourself for a collection of compelling cultural and religious photo essays.

Out of Leonid Plotkin's many photo essays, I chose to feature his lovely work on the sacred mountains of China, which he photographed over several months. The mountains are important pilgrimage sites since ancient times, and total thirteen. The sacred mountains of China are divided into several groups. The Five Great Mountains refers to five of the most renowned mountains in Chinese history, which were the subjects of imperial pilgrimage by emperors throughout ages. In addition, there are The Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism and The Four Sacred Mountains of Taoism.

Apart from this photo essay, there are many others; one more interesting than the other. Bolivia, Chile, India, Nepal, Thailand, Bangladesh, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia...need I to add more?

Another interesting thing...Leonid photographed the Urs of Nawaz Gharib in Ajmer while I was there in May...and yet we don't seem to have run intp each other. I'm not totally surprised of this in light of the crowds, but it's still unusual as there were almost no non-Indian photographers beyond those in my workshop, and 2 or 3 others.

Leonid is a freelance documentary photographer and writer. His work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The Observer, The Economist, Penthouse Magazine, Student Traveler, Budge Travel, Discovery Magazine, MSN.com and others. 

Li Xinzhao | Through The Unknown Tashkurgan

I had never heard of Tashkurgan. You probably haven't either.

It turns out that it's an area on China's western frontier (Xinjiang Province), located in the eastern part of the Pamirs and on the so-called "roof of the world", and it has a long history as a caravan stop on the Silk Road. In the Uyghur language, tash kurgan means 'stone fortress'.

Li Xinzhao is a fine art photographer, who documented the inhabitants and way of life of the region since 2009. She stayed in Tashkurgan for several months photographing the Tajik nomads using a Hasselbald large-format digital camera and Profoto lighting. Being driven in an old pickup truck by a Tajik driver, she traveled the sparsely populated landscape searching for the nomads, staying with local families along the way.

She studied at the University of the Arts London, China Central Academy of Fine Arts and the International Center of Photography in New York, and began her photography career in 2007. Since then, she has completed projects in England, United States, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Cambodia, Nepal, Thailand, Tunisia, Kenya and others. She has won a number of awards and contests.

Photo © Li Xinzhao-All Rights Reserved

You can also watch the above video on Vimeo. It's posted by Photographie.

NPR | Lisa Ross' Sufi Shrines in China

Photo © Lisa Ross-Courtesy NPR

Here's another Sufi-related blog post following the one of yesterday. It features the work of Lisa Ross, which recently appeared in NPR's The Picture Show. These photographs document the shrines created for and during pilgrimages by the Muslims of Western China, many of which have been maintained over several centuries.

Some of my readers will know that this is not a haphazard coincidence, but relates to my forthcoming Sufi Saints of Kashmir & Rajasthan Photo Expedition in May.

An important distinction to note is that orthodox Sunni Islam (as with Saudi Arabia's Wahabism) prohibits the worship or recognition of saints, and the erection of shrines or tombs for anyone is not allowed. This austere version of Islam forbids grave markers or tombs in burial sites and the building of any shrines. However, the burial practices (and the recognition of saints) varies from one Islamic country and sect to the other. Sufism, the more liberal of Islam's doctrines, does recognize saints, and sees no shirk (the sin of idolatry or polytheism) in such a practice.

I recall being in the Muslim area in Ahmedabad (Gujarat), and having been to Hindu temple a few days earlier, had around my wrist the red threads granted to those who make an offering or visit. A Muslim shopkeeper told me that wearing it was shirk. My facial expression in response was one of "get a life, buddy".

Sufi shrines are known as mazar, an Arabic word meaning ‘a place for visit’ or a ‘place of paying homage’. Its equivalent Persian word is ‘dargah’. In India and Pakistan, to name but two in South Asia, shrines are built on the graves of sufi saints.

Lisa Ross is one of the few foreign artists permitted access to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region since it fell under Chinese rule in 1949. Via Ross' relationships with an Uyghur anthropologist and a French historian studying Central Asian Islam, she was allowed to explore the province for the past eight years as it modernizes and transforms.

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

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.

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.

Nicole Tung | Old Kashgar

Photo © Nicole Tung-All Rights Reserved

Beijing has been pouring billions of dollars into Kashgar, which was designated as a special economic zone back in 2010, and one of only half a dozen such zones in China, with the intent of transforming it into the transport hub of old - opening up markets in Central Asia and beyond. In the process, many of its historic buildings were demolished....and an old way of life is fast disappearing, raising the anger and discomfort of local the Uighur community.

I thought of featuring Nicole Tung's Old Kashgar Renewed photo essay, which is about 3 years old, which perfectly captures the spirit and ambiance of Kashgar. I haven't come across any recent photographs of the impact of Kashgar's "Sinification".

Kashgar is a important hub on the Old Silk Road, a vibrant Islamic centre within Chinese territory, where over a thousand years ago, traders from all over Asia, sold and bought their goods on its streets. It is the largest oasis city in Chinese Central Asia and 90% of its population are Uygur.

Nicole Tung graduated from NYU after studying journalism and history, and freelances for The New York Times and other international newspapers. Her work has been recognized by the International Photography Awards, the Maybach Foundation, the Hearst Foundation, and the NYPPA. She won the PX3 silver award (war reportage professional category) for her work in Libya in 2012. She was also widely exhibited in various international venues.

A recent interview with Ms Tung on her work from Syria was published here.

Colin Corneau I China

Photo © Colin Corneau-All Rights Reserved

So I'm returning to this blog's roots and raison d'être today by featuring the work of Colin Corneau, and specifically his photographic work of China, which he showcases in both color and monochrome.

His website will please those who -like me- appreciate images that fill up the real estate of large monitors. For instance, the image I feature on this post is truly spectacular in its large size....almost as if the viewer was actually in the same location as the monk and the prayer wheels.

Colin Corneau is a Manitoba based photographer who's interested in using photography to connect with, understand and convey other people. His interest is centered on – but not limited to – film-based, black-and-white photography. He has exhibited his photographs in shows at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon University and galleries in Winnipeg and Edmonton.

You may also want to drop by his iPhone blog, C-this-C-that, on which he posts various photographs of daily life. You'll see he uses the new Hipstamatic Tinto 1884 filter as well.

Muhammad Fadli: The Wa People

Photo © Muhammad Fadli-All Rights Reserved

I stumbled on the website of Muhammad Fadli, an Indonesian travel and documentary photographer, whose various galleries include photographs made in Taiwan, China, India, Singapore, and his native country.

I favored his work from Wengding, a Wa minority village in Yunnan which he titled Wa Frontier. Wengding is about 20 miles from Cangyuan county seat. The village is made up of 98 families who've kept primitive Wa residential architectures and ethnic culture. It has been the best-conserved primitive ethnic community and the must-see tourist site in Lincang Municipality.

You'll see images of buffalo skulls in the gallery, and that's because the Was used human skulls in their religious rituals, which included sacrifice to the God of Rice. These have been replaced by buffalo heads which are a symbol of wealth.

As for the woman with blackened teeth in the above photograph; blackened teeth is relatively common amongst ethnic minorities and tribes in Vietnam, China, Laos and Cambodia. Most of us have noticed that some Asian women cover their mouths when talking or laughing. This is a remnant of a superstition that exposing teeth is uncivilized savagery, and that's the reason behind blackened teeth. In Vietnam for example, the original rationale for blackening of teeth at puberty was the assurance that one would not be mistaken for an evil spirit!

Monica Denevan: Burma

Photo © Monica Denevan-All Rights Reserved

I'm glad to have found Monica Denevan's website with its gorgeous photographs of Burma and China. Trust me...you will find that her some 120 photographs are indeed luminous and gorgeous.

Monica travels with her medium format Bronica, one lens, and a bunch of plastic bags filled with Ilford Delta 400 film. She tells us that her photographs are printed from negatives in her traditional darkroom and selenium toned.

Classic photography in the full meaning of the word, and the farthest thing from the Instagram and Hipstamatic fad.

Born in San Francisco, Monica studied photography at San Francisco State University. She started visiting parts of Burma and China for many years, and always had her Bronica along. Her work was published in ZYZZYVA, Communication Arts Photo Annual, SHOTS, Black and White Magazine, The Photo Review, The Sun, and Artvas-The Photo (Korea) among others.

She is represented by Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco, Duncan Miller Gallery in Santa Monica, Capital Culture Gallery in London, and Tao Evolution Gallery in Hong Kong which produced a small catalogue of her work. Monica’s photographs are in the permanent collection of UCSF Medical Center.

Kevin WY Lee: The Return of Hundred Daughters

Photo © Kevin Wy Lee-All Rights Reserved

"...a fortune teller told my grandparents that demon gods wished harm upon their first-born son. So when my father, the only son in the family, was born, they named him Pak Noi – Hundred Daughters – to fool the demon gods."

Kevin WY Lee is a photographer based in Singapore, whose creative work was honed in Australia and Singapore for more than 15 years. He's the founder of Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA); a well known multi-faceted platform for Street Photography & Visual Journalism in Asia. He also participated as a judge for various creative and photography awards including Singapore Creative Circle Awards, Angkor Photo Workshop, and KLPhotoawards.

Kevin's just recently featured a fascinating photo essay which chronicles the return of his father to his  ancestral home in Zhaolong Li (mainland China) after a prolonged absence of almost 56 years. He was accompanied by his wife, his sisters and families as well as his only son, Kevin...who documented this incredibly touching and intimate experience, and recorded it for posterity.

Because of a fortune teller's tale, Kevin's father was named Pak Noi (Hundred Daughters), and it's utterly appropriate it's also the title of this very well done photo essay.

As I'm fond of stressing in my multimedia classes, a photo essay of that type is always successful if it has two main ingredients: access and intimacy. The Return of Hundred Daughters certainly has both.

I only wish it had an accompanying audio track to it...but perhaps not having one was a conscious decision by the photographer.

Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado: Opera Of Sichuan

Photo © Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado-All Rights Reserved

I was glad to see that Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado, a Brazilian photographer and a member of my class Introduction To Multimedia Storytelling at the Buenos Aires Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, has recently updated his website with six photo galleries.

Mauriã's documentary photography is centered on Asia, and particularly on Tibet and China. I highlight his gallery Sichuan Opera, which documents a troupe whilst preparing for a performance, and the actual performance itself.

Sichuanese opera is a type of Chinese opera originating in China's Sichuan province around 1700, with Chengdu being its main home. It's well known for its singing, which is more free than the popular Beijing opera form. Sichuan opera is more like a play than other forms of Chinese opera, and the acting is very professional. The music accompanying Sichuanese opera utilizes a small gong and a two stringed traditional "violin".

Li Wei: The Earth (Mongolia)

Photo © Li Wei-All Rights Reserved

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

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

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

Asia Society: Hutongs

Click Link Below For Movie

I always have the highest of hopes for the Asia Society's web site, but it always manages to underwhelm me. Its web site seems somehow anchored in the nineties, with timid multimedia features, and its navigation is confusing. It almost seems to me as if I ventured in a government web site, with dry, clinical and unimaginative display of its many events.

Having said that, it has featured an interesting collection of videos on the Hutongs, the traditional narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing. Hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences. Many have been demolished to make way for high rise buildings, and the few remaining are threatened.

Hutongs were created during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) when Kublai Khan founded Beijing as the capital. All closed courtyards were built in a neat layout, and the hutongs were originally all 30 feet in width, allowing plenty of sunshine. During the dynasties, small hutongs were formed within the existing ones, making them overly crowded.

Don't miss the still photographs slideshow of old hutongs!

Joseph F. C. Rock: Western China

Photo © Joseph Francis Charles Rock

Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American explorer, botanist, and anthropologist. For more than 25 years, he traveled extensively through Tibet and Yunnan, Gansu, and Szechuan provinces in China before finally leaving in 1949.

His travels in Western China is featured by On Shadow, and I thought I'd show the gallery of his more than 275 photographs made in the 1920s. It's always fascinating to me to view photographs made during these early years of photography, which required lugging heavy cameras and large amounts of developing chemicals. What we present-day photographers carry is a mere trifle of what these photographers had to schlep. They certainly had porters to do it for them, but imagine the difficulties this still was, as well as having to develop the films in situ.

For those of you who are patient and interested enough to scroll through the 275 images, you'll notice one that is captioned as "Lamas with trumpets, drums, and cymbals chanting the prelude to the Black Hat Dance in front of the main chanting hall at Cho-ni Lamasery" and was taken in December 1925. Compare it with contemporary photographs of Bhutan's Black Hat dances at its tsechus, and you'll realize that not much has changed.

On Shadow is primarily run by Nicholas Calcott, and was founded in January 2008, originally as the blog arm of the publisher 12th Press. It presents projects and essays from invited scholars and artists.

Robert Gauthier: China Journal

Photo © Robert Gauthier-All Rights Reserved- Courtesy Los Angeles Times

As I'm still "suffering" from the afterglow (albeit, and regrettably, only a second-hand one) of the momentous events in Cairo, and from the visual overload of my 2 weeks photo expedition in Gujarat, it was about time to feature photographic work from a different part of the world...

The Los Angeles Times' Framework featured Robert Gauthier's Behind The Lens: A Photographer’s China journal.

I find similar behind the scene journal entries by photographers and photojournalists very interesting, as these provide insight as to what worked, what didn't and what went through their minds as they go about doing their business....whether it was jubilation at getting a "money shot"...or the disappointment at not getting what was expected.

Gauthier writes:

"Here’s the money shot,” I thought. As a photojournalist, I try to anticipate moments that help illustrate the thesis of the story. In my mind’s eye, I pictured Li, arriving home after months away. Children scrambling into his arms, a loving wife’s long embrace, tears of happiness streaming from everyone’s face.


Zonk! Instead, a hesitant father politely introduces his reluctant wife as the children stay outside. We all stand awkwardly in a dimly lighted living room. Li nowhere near his wife. No Norman Rockwell moment here. This is how stories like these generally go. You have to expect the unexpected."

We have all experienced this very same feeling. We build our expectations up; partly because we are wishful thinkers when it comes to our photography, and imagine the "perfect" scenes before we get to them...and partly because we frequently misinterpret how other people react.

Yes, indeed. We have to expect the unexpected...and be realistic in our expectations. I know...that last bit of advice is silly. We can never do that.

In Focus Does Lantern Festival

Photo © Jason Lee-Courtesy In Focus-All Rights Reserved

The new photo blog In Focus by Alan Taylor for The Atlantic featured about 33 photographs of the festivities on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. The Lantern Festival (known as Yuan Xiao Jie) was observed yesterday in China and wherever there are Chinese communities. It's the last day of the Chinese Lunar New Year festivities.

The blurb accompanying the photographs informs us that it's the most important annual celebration in China, and welcomes the Year of the Rabbit...which is a year of caution and calm.

Calm and caution? I guess the Arab nations revolting for their freedom are unconcerned with the Year of the Rabbit!!

I sense In Focus will soon be one of the favored destinations for those of us who appreciate photojournalism at its best...especially as I just noticed that it offers two choices for its image size: 1024 or 1280 pixels! Nice touch...very nice touch!

Katharina Hesse: Human Negotiations (& Interview)

Katharina Hesse is a photographer who currently works in China and Asia, and has been based in Beijing for the past 17 years. She graduated in Chinese and Japanese studies from the Institut National des Langues et Civilizations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris.

She has recently uploaded some of her gripping photographs of Bangkok's sex industry unto a 6 minutes-movie which she titled Human Negotiations (above), and during which she also talks about her project in a Skype-interview with Elisabetta Tripodi, and which appeared on the blog e-photoreview.

Human Negotiations is an experimental two-year collaboration between Katharina and writer Lara Day, using images and text to explore the lives of a community of Bangkok sex workers. I cannot begin to fathom how Katharina managed to gain the trust and confidence of her subjects to such a degree...and she says as such in her interview, and that the most important task in her project was to gain the trust of the sex workers and their clients. All serious photographers agree with her advice, since only full and complete mutual trust gained over months and months can make such intimate projects possible.

Katharina's has an impressive background. Not only is she a self-taught photographer (always a huge plus for me), but she initially worked as an assistant for German TV (ZDF) and then freelanced for Newsweek from 1996 to 2002. In 2003 and 2004 she covered China for Getty’s news service. Her images were featured in numerous publications such as Courrier International, Der Spiegel, D della Repubblica, EYEmazing, Zeit Magazin, Glamour (Germany), IO Donna, Die Zeit, Marie-Claire, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Neon, Newsweek, 100Eyes.org , Reporters without borders(yearbook 2010, Germany), Stern, Time Asia, Vanity Fair (Italy/Germany), and Wired (Italy) among others.

Katharina's photographs of Xinjiang, Kashgar and Urumqi are probably the best I've seen of that region....so go to her website after you watch the above movie.

Tatiana Cardeal: Ancient China

Photo © Tatiana Cardeal-All Rights Reserved

Tatiana Cardeal is a photographer, a visual artist (and a dreamer). She's a Brazilian independent photographer based in Sao Paulo, who spent her early career as an art director and graphic designer for international magazines. In 2003, she shifted her focus to photography and started to document social, cultural and human right issues where she made her mark.

Her particular interest is in South American indigenous people, but she just featured really terrific photographs of China in this portfolio which she titled Ancient China. I suspect that it's brand new as some of its captions are yet incomplete.

Clients and publications of her images include work with Amnesty International, Childhood Foundation, OXFAM International, Fundación AVINA, The UN Institute for Disarmament Research, Forum Syd, World Pulse and the medias The Independent, WOZ newspaper, National Geographic Channel, Deutsche Welle, and the magazines The New Internationalist, Courrier International, Max, Plenty, Tomorrow, Oryx In-Flight, AFAR, WIENERIN, Annabelle,The Big Issue and YES!

Female Imams In China

Here's a multimedia feature on Female Imams in China by Sharron Lovell, a freelance photographer currently based between Tel Aviv and Shanghai, and represented by Polaris. She prefers storytelling over single images, and has covered a number of issues in China from HIV/Aids, Islam and internal migration.

Sharron also completed assignments on Afghanistan’s first elections and the commercial sex caste in Pakistan. Her work was featured in National Geographic, The Guardian, Le Monde, Newsweek, Global Post, Politiken and various UNICEF campaigns.

NPR informs us that China has an estimated 21 million Muslims, who have developed their own set of Islamic practices with Chinese characteristics. The biggest difference is the development of independent women's mosques with female imams, something scholars who have researched the issue say is unique to China. In most of the Muslim world, women pray behind a partition or in a separate room, but in the same mosque as men.

It seems the Qur'an does not address this issue, and it's debatable whether the practice in the Arab world is reflective of true Islam, and not the result of patriarchal (misogynist) interpretations of religious texts.