Jimmy Nelson | Dying Tribal Life

Photo © Jimmy Nelson-All Rights Reserved

"I found a Dutch billionaire, Marcel Boekhoorn, a philanthropist who is in a position to reinvest his wealth, and he took this project on. The initial amount he committed was 400,000 euros." - Jimmy Nelson

I featured the work of Jimmy Nelson on my blog a few months ago, and it appears that a number of wide circulation newspapers such as The New York Times and the UK's Daily Mail have recently devoted intensive articles about the photographer and his book Before They Pass Away.

My initial post elicited a number of email comments as well as on my Facebook page; some very positive and complimentary as mine were, but others thought he had exploited the tribes he visited and photographed, and was making money by selling his book.

By the way, the price for the special exclusive collectors' book is around $8000. A more modest version exists and is priced at $142.

My personal viewpoint is that Mr Nelson has devoted a significant portion of his life traveling in difficult conditions, schlepping an archaic (and heavy) studio camera, to visit 35 of the world’s least known and most imperiled tribal peoples...and returned with magnificent photographs for us to enjoy and wonder at. can't judge how Mr Nelson worked in the field, and whether he was respectful or not...although from his images and the articles, it does appear he achieved a relationship with his subjects. In my view therefore, there's no question that he's deserving of the tangible and intangible rewards he may receive from his work. 

I've read both newspapers' articles, and my jaw dropped when I read that a Dutch philanthropist had funded the Before They Pass Away project to the tune of over $500,000. I was also amazed at the number of press and blog reviews...even my own post on The Travel Photographer blog is listed.

Most assuredly, this is the work of a powerful PR machinery. I don't think I've ever known such a large amount of press coverage for a book of that kind. Naturally, I've also never heard of a photographer being able to have such enormous funding from a private individual...philanthropist or not.

Contrary to naysayers, I'm thrilled that Jimmy Nelson's work has found such an enthusiastic support. It's probably too early to say if the book sales are taking off...but I hope they do.

Perhaps a little Pollyanna-ish, but Mr Nelson's view that his book is primarily a commercial project and not a political statement, and that he hopes it creates a greater awareness of the beauty and individuality of the tribes and foment a positive dialogue between them and the modern world is one that should be applauded.

POV: Sadhus, Charlatans or Not?

Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Yesterday's post prompts me to elaborate a bit more on the question whether the sadhus in India (and Nepal) are charlatans or a genuine aesthetics.

From my numerous travels in India over the past 10+ years, and from having met innumerable sadhus during my assignments and photographic expeditions, I'm reasonably comfortable in asserting that most of them are a cross between homeless charlatans and spiritual ascetics. The more difficult question is whether they became ascetics because of poverty or because of some form of inherent spirituality. Charlatanism is an integral part of many of them, but they may have resorted to this activity because of need.

With their tilak markings, and their orange cloths, they are certainly photogenic and some of them exploit their appearance to coax money from gullible (and sometimes, not-so-gullible) tourists. Others are more imaginative, and develop an aura of spirituality to generate religious respect and alms from lay people.

Naturally, there are a large number of sadhus who are authentic. For instance, the Naga Babas, whose ceremonial bathing at the Kumbh Melas is a sought after ceremony, belong to the Shaiva sect and are known as 'warrior ascetics'.

In 2006, I've come across authentic sadhus during an assignment in Varanasi. My fixer was from this ancient city, and knew it inside out. Upon learning that I was interested in sadhus, and seeing my disinterest in photographing the "tourist" sadhus basking in the sun on the ghats of Varanasi, he took me to a number of out-of-the-way ashrams for sadhus.

It's there that I met elderly sadhus, living in nothing more than cubicle-like tiny rooms and subsisting on small bowls of dahl and rice. These were true ascetics, who spent their days reading Hindu sacred scriptures, meditating and avoiding contact with lay people as much as possible.

I recall one of them had come to Varanasi because it was where he'd be eventually cremated and cast in the Ganges, thus achieving moksha. That in itself is not unusual, but what was unusual was his background.

He had spent his whole career with the Indian Railways (the largest employer in India), and upon his retirement he chose to become an ascetic, and left his family with their full consent, leaving all his worldly possession and his pension. He came to his ashram, and started to study herbal medicinal plants. Eventually, patients came to seek his advice, and the word spread amongst the poor in Varanasi that he was a healer. He dispensed his advice for free, and occasionally accepted some food as payment for his services.

During my visits to these ashrams, I was never asked for money...no one offered me ganja...and no one asked to pose for my cameras...and certainly no one spoke English. One of the sadhus (the one reading a scripture) never even looked up to acknowledge me as I was photographing him.

Mustafa Dedeoğlu | Istanbul

Photo © Mustafa Dedeoğlu-All Rights Reserved

In 1807, Napoleon would exclaim "Constantinople, Constantinople! C'est I'empire du monde!"

When I started photography in earnest some 12 years ago,  my first solo destination was Istanbul. I was attracted to its traditional architecture, its people, its food, its culture and above all its history. After all, my country of birth was part of the Ottoman Empire and there are many similarities between them.

Since that first trip, I went back twice...and the latest was during the 2010 Foundry Photojournalism Workshop where I taught a class on Multimedia. It was like seeing an old friend after a few years of absence. I ate hamsi (whenever I could find them), sardines, kunefe, then drank Efes, rode the ferry and the tram, and dropped by the Grand Bazaar. I could go on and on....

With the memories of Istanbul in mind, I feature the photographic work of Mustafa Dedeoğlu, who photographed his wonderful city, mostly in monochrome.

I also liked Mustafa's work on Anatolia, with many strong portraits, also in monochrome.

Mustafa started taking photos a few years ago ago, and is largely self-taught.  He uses the Nikons d700 and d800 cameras, and prefers wide angle lenses such as the Nikon 14-24 mm. He also used Nix Software's Silver Efex for black and white conversions. In common with many street photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson is his insipiration.

Arthur "Fuse" Osmanov | Hanoi

© Arthur Osmanov-All Rights Reserved

Ah, Hanoi! A city made for street photographers, as New York City and Old Havana (and many others) are. The Old Quarter especially replete with natural and impromptu life scenes that make street photographers' hearts jump out of their throats...I could lose myself in that city for days, just ambling about, and take pictures of daily life as it goes on. No one minds your camera...they're far too busy living and making a living to care. All one has to be careful of is the lava stream of whizzing scooters and motorcycles.

Arthur Osmanov Dreams of Vietnam is a collection of monochrome street photographs of Hanoi, which he describes as being a city where everything happens in public, and human interactions are not hidden behind closed doors of privacy.

Arthur is a web designer and a travel photographer who's living on the road for a second year after leaving NYC. He spent half a year in Hanoi working and living around Tay Ho area photographed with my Leica m9 and Fuji X100s.

He also has a gallery of color photographs made in the area of Tay Ho or West Lake.

John Horniblow | Imilchil Wedding Festival

The Imilchil moussem (festival) is held in Morocco's High Atlas, and is all about livestock and finding a partner. It's also known as Souk Aamor Agdoud N’Oulmghenni, which is a tongue-twister for most of non Berber speakers. It represents the annual meeting of the large and important tribal Berber families of Aït Haddidou, Aït Morghad, Aït Izdeg and Aït Yahia.

There are two versions of stories explaining the birth of the festival. The Berber version tells the legend of two young people from different feuding tribes who fell in love but akin to Romeo and Juliet, they were forbidden to see each other by their families. The grief of unrequited love led them to their deaths. The legend tells that they cried themselves to death, creating the neighboring deep alpine lakes of Isli (his) and Tislit (hers), near Imilchil.

Another version is that the lovers drowned themselves in the separate lakes. The Imilchil Marriage Festival was founded as a commemoration of the lovers' death, and provides the opportunity to unmarried Berbers, particularly women trapped at altitude for most of the year, to look over and mingle with prospective spouses. They sing, dance and flirt, and available men must wear white turbans and their female opposites wear the family silver.

Another version, but much less romantic explanation, is that Morocco's French past colonial administrators assembled the transitory Berbers to register their births, deaths and marriages.

John Horniblow tells us "small groups of young Berber women dressed in traditional finery and roughly, woven woollen robes distinctive to each family tribe, some with berber fibules (amulets), eyes rimmed with heavy black kohl, and intricately hennaed hands, amble through the commerce of the souk talking, flirting with or being approached by the potential bachelors trying to strike up meaningful conversation. The wary eyes of elder relatives, looking on, following them protectively at a furtive distance."

John Horniblow is the founder and editor of Photojournale and publisher of Photojournale Connections Across A Human Planet. John is both photographer and film maker with his photographic work featuring in Geo Mundo, Penguin books and People ( Time Inc.) . He also has worked on production managing and assisting Frans Lanting on assignment with National Geographic and has also produced directed and shot documentary and short films featuring on SBSTV , Channel Seven and at International Film Festivals.

Jason Florio | The Vodun Trail

Photo © Jason Florio-All Rights Reserved

I had a hard time choosing a photo essay out of Jason Florio's interesting and compelling work, but thought that his Benin: The Vodun Trail would suit this blog the best due to my own interest in featuring and documenting religious rituals.

The other photo essays that competed for my attention are The Ring (a photo essay on Muay Thai boxing in Chiang Mai) and Blackout Portraits-Mogadishu.

Benin is considered the cradle of vodun (one of its adaptations is voodoo) which is one of the ancient belief system essentially based on animism. Despite concerted efforts of Christian missionaries, this ancient belief system still has millions of adherents along West Africa’s former Slave Coast, from Ghana to parts of Nigeria, and especially in Benin. In 1996, Benin’s democratic government officially decreed vodun a religion, and ever since, thousands have openly practiced it. A significant percentage of Benin practice pure vodun. For more information, an article from the New York Times (with Jason's photographs) can be viewed here.

Jason Florio is a New York City based photographer and writer from London. He worked as a freelance photojournalist around the globe for publications including The New Yorker, New York Times, Outside, Liberation and The Times of London, working on stories that attempt to reveal the unseen and to provide an alternative point of view on people and places.

He spent the last 3 months of 2009 making a 930 km expedition by foot of The Gambia, West Africa to produce a series of portraits of African chiefs for which in part he was given fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society in London. His work on Afghanistan is in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, as well as a number of private collections.

Tom Parker | Departures Magazine

Photo © Tom Parker-Courtesy Departures Magazine

I occasionally leaf through Departures; a luxury magazine for American Express card members, and enjoy seeing the photographs by various travel-commercial/editorial photographers, whose work is clearly aimed at high-end magazine publishing. It's somewhat different from mine, since many of the photographs are carefully staged, involve styling, set up, reflectors, etc.

The latest Departures issue features a spread of photographs by Tom Parker, and it showcases the beauty of Ethiopia. The issue is only in print for the time being, but take my word for it, the photographs are beautiful. In fact, most of the issue deals with Africa and the photographs that are featured were well worth my taking the time to enjoy and learn from them.

I constantly learn not only from the work of travel-commercial/editorial photographers, but (as I previously wrote on this blog) from fashion photographers as well. If you browse through Tom's work, you'll note a preponderance of vertical (aka portrait) photographs, which are favored by magazine publishers. Landscape (or horizontal) formats are more suited to story telling photo journalism (whether travel photojournalism or otherwise.

Tom Parker is an English photographer who relocated to Nepal to write for an independent newspaper. Working as a reporter for BBC Radio 4, he photographed for London newspapers. In 2004 he based himself in Sri Lanka for 3 years and covered the tsunami as a photographer, BBC radio journalist and writer.

He then moved to Mumbai and travelled worldwide as a photographer, and later was appointed photo editor of Condé Nast Traveller India, launching Asia’s first edition of the magazine. He recently returning to the UK and is currently a contributing photographer for Condé Nast Traveller India and Architectural Digest India.

His work appears regularly in international publications including Condé Nast Traveller, Condé Nast Traveler, Departures Magazine, Vogue, GQ, GEO, House and Garden, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, WIRED, Guardian, Independent, Marie Claire and others.

Jessica Antola | Ethiopia

Photo © Jessica Antola-All Rights Reserved

"...what consumed me were the people - strong 

and loud in dazzling technicolor..." -Jessica Antola

Ah, Ethiopia! The country which added so much to many travel photographers' portfolios with its myriad photo opportunities, its handsome people with varying physiognomies and ways of life.

Here's the Ethiopian portfolio of Jessica Antola. Born in Los Angeles, she currently lives in New York City after living and working in Paris, Portland and Rome. In her decade long photography career, she has photographed advertising campaigns for globally recognized brands, features for international magazines and three books. She also produced images portraying people, cultures and landscapes from locations including: West Papua, Antarctica, Tibet, and Myanmar.

She was featured in AFAR magazine, and if you drop by her interesting Tumblr blog, you'll see a delightful photograph of a Yali man in his traditional koteka or penis gourd in West Papua, Indonesia.

Shuchi Kapoor | The Unreasonables

"Why would someone inflict pain on themselves?"

On the white eight-foot walls of a private building on the corner of Goubert Avenue, close to the statue of Dupleix, in the city of Chennai (India), Shuchi Kapoor is currently exhibiting a collection of super-sized photographs, titled ‘The Unreasonables’. These photographs question the sin cleansing rituals by those who are often labelled as ‘possessed’’ in various parts of India.

The initiative was taken by Pondy A.RT. and intends to fill a section of the sea-facing walls with insightful art which will focus on a theme or issue every month through the medium of photography. It follows the model of movie posters, which are often displayed to the public on walls.

Photo © Gayatri Nair-All Rights Reserved

Shuchi is a photographer currently based in Chennai; quite a distance from her native Gujarat, and who describes herself as a storyteller minus the frills. She worked for a decade in advertising until she found her calling in photography as well as in writing. Some of her stories have been published by Femina, The Sunday Guardian, Marie Claire, The Lonely Planet, Spiceroute, and TAXI.

She also assisted me in Ajmer last May during my Sufi Saints of Rajasthan & Kashmir Photo Expedition-Workshop, which aimed at documenting the Urs of the Sufi saint Moin'Uddin Chisti.

Rasha Yousif | Heaven's Gate

Rasha Yousif was on my Sufi Saints of Rajasthan & Kashmir Photo Expedition-Workshop, and documented the Urs of the Sufi saint Moin'Uddin Chisti which attracts thousands of devotees and pilgrims from the four corners of South Asia, including Pakistan and Bangladesh. She produced an audio-slideshow of the event, and titled it Jannati Darwaza; Urdu for Heaven's Gate.

There's the story, perhaps apocryphal, that whoever crosses the threshold of Jannati Darwaza seven times to circumambulate the saint's tomb, will secure a place in heaven...hence its name.

While most attending the event are of the Muslim faith, there are significant numbers of Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and members of other religious traditions who visit the shrine during this annual observance. 

Moinuddin Chishti is the more famous and revered Sufi saint of the Chisti order of the Indian Subcontinent. He was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE, and is believed to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammed. He interpreted religion in terms of human service and exhorted his disciples "to develop river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality."

Rasha is from Bahrain, where she works in the finance industry. She graduated from the University of Bahrain, and obtained her Masters in Finance from DePaul University.

She's a passionate and prolific photographer, and her work can viewed on her website, and on her Vimeo page.

Chris Sorensen | Sri Lanka

Photo © Chris Sorensen-All Rights Reserved

I've seldom featured work of Sri Lanka on The Travel Photographer Blog, and I wonder whether it's because professional travel photographers are not interested/active in this magnificent country, or if it's eclipsed by India.

So I'm glad to have found the work of Chris Sorensen whose website has a nice gallery of Sri Lanka. I've traveled more or less through all its western coast for about 2 weeks, and the gallery reminded my of its beauty. It also reminded me of photo shoot with the traditional stilt fishermen in the southern tip of the island. This is an ancient method of catching fish, quite primitive and one which give poor results, but it's a virtual icon of Sri Lanka...and the fishermen, although probably unable to make a living from it, do earn money from tourists and photographers.

A long pole is stuck in the seabed, not too far from the shore, and another shorter pole is tied to it in order to create a perch for the fisherman, who can stay there for hours catching fish during the incoming surf. I recall wading in the surf, waiting for the sunset to provide the right background to these fishermen.

Chris Sorensen is a portrait & travel photographer based in Hong Kong (another escapee from the corporate world!), and took up photography full time. He was the Grand Prize winner of the 2013 PDN Faces photo competition and a Finalist in the 2013 Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards. His work was also awarded Honorable Mentions in the Portraiture and Fine Art categories of the 2011 International Photography Awards, as well as Honorable Mentions in the Portraiture, Lifestyle, and Fine Art categories of the 2010 International Photography Awards. His photographs appeared in

Condé Nast Traveller (UK), Monocle, AFAR, Hemispheres, Hong Kong Tatler, The Financial Times, Australian Art Collector, SILKROAD, Belle,PDN, Die Weltwoche, Veckans Aff ärer, The Phoenix, Hospitality Design, Philips, Eurosport Asia, and Gansevoort Hotels.

Sivan Askayo | Viet Nam & Other Travels

Photos © Sivan Askayo- All Rights Reserved

There is a variety of talented travel photographers; some describe themselves as storytellers and documentarians (like I do, for example) and there are others who are more attracted to editorial travel photography which involves photographing for magazines.

Sivan Askayo's lovely work, whether of Viet Nam or Florence, is more of the latter type. She's a New York based freelance travel photographer and writer, whose work was featured in Travel +Leisure, Hemisphere, AFAR, Marie Claire Italia, and Resource Magazine. I particulalry liked her work from Viet Nam and Buenos Aires; places that I recently photographed.

Sivan earned a Master degree in Advertising and Marketing and was involved with the ICP, International Center of Photography, both as a student and a teacher assistant. She photographs what she loves; children, food, travel, street art and she seeks to capture the dynamics of the places she is in. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and she has been involved with emerging artists groups both in New York and in Tel Aviv.

Dede Pickering | Cuba

Photo © Dede Pickering-All Rights Reserved

Dede Pickering has been super busy for the past six months, having traveled to India, Cuba, Colombia, and Iceland. Having retired from the corporate world, she became a photographer, and traveled to Antarctica, Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, China, Cambodia, Peru, Patagonia, Kosovo, Albania, Rwanda, New Zealand, Guatemala, Cuba, South East Asia and has made multiple trips to Africa and India.

She recently updated her website with galleries of these travels, and I chose to feature one of Cuba 2013. Influenced by the work by travel photographer Nevada Weir and others, she is a member of the Explorers Club in New York

In 1998 Dede took on a full-time volunteer position with CARE, a global private humanitarian organization, to start the Women's Initiative, aimed at connecting American women professionals with women in the developing world. She served as chair of the Women's Initiative until 2004. Under her leadership the small group of volunteers raised awareness and a minimum of $150,000 annually to benefit poor women and their families. Dede was also a CARE Trustee and a member of the advisory committee for CARE's Campaign for Education.

Kris Bailey | Threads For Prayers

"The highest form of devotion is to redress the misery of those in distress – to fulfill the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry.” - Moin'Uddin Chisti

Here's a well made audio-slideshow of the annual Urs Festival commemorating the death of the Sufi Saint Khwaja Moin Uddin Hasan Chishti produced by Kris Bailey, a member in my Sufi Saints of Rajasthan & Kashmir Photo Expedition-Workshop. It's the third time Kris traveled with me...the first being on Kolkata's Durga Puja, and the second being The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition & Workshop.

The Sufi Saints Photo Expedition/Workshop's principal objective was to document the death anniversary held in Ajmer (Rajasthan) of Hazrat Shaikh Khwaja Syed Muhammad Moin'Uddin Chisti (1141- 1230 CE), the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order of the Indian Subcontinent. He introduced and established the order in South Asia. He is also known as Gharib Nawaz or ‘Benefactor of the Poor'.

Kris chose to produce the audio slideshow (converted to video) in monochrome to avoid the divergence in colors arising from the harsh sunlight and the shadows created by the canopies in the shrine.

Threads for Prayers is an apt title for this Sufi religious observance, and underscores the syncretic commonality between Hinduism and Islam in South Asia. A Hindu practices is to tie red threads known as kalava or mauli in temples for their wishes to be fulfilled, and it's one of the practices also observed in Sufi shrines.

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.

A number of her projects can be viewed on her Vimeo page.

Nevada Wier | Insights

"...all of us should have art in our lives...."

There is a small number of leading household names in the world of travel photography and visual ethnography, and one of the top world-wide recognized names is that of Nevada Wier.

As many of my readers know well, Nevada Wier is a multiple award-winning photographer specializing in documenting the remote corners and cultures of the world. She has been published in numerous national and international publications, such as the National Geographic, Geo, National Geographic Adventure, Islands, Outdoor Photographer, Outside, and Smithsonian. She is a Fellow of The Explorer’s Club and a member of the Women’s Geographic Society.

She also is a speaker for workshops, seminars, professional panels, and conferences, and has been featured in video promotions for Adobe Lightroom.

This an interesting insight in Ms Wier's craft and thought process that's behind it. She's currently involved in personal projects, and you'll see towards the end of the video that's she's keen on working with infrared imaging. Well worth your time to appreciate the vision of an experienced and wise professional travel photographer

The video can also be viewed on Vimeo.

Supranav Dash | Trades Portraits

Photo © Supranav Dash-All Rights Reserved

I very much like this type of project. 

Everybody who's been to India knows that many occupations, trades and services are to a large extent linked to the prevailing caste system. For a few hundred of years, members of specific castes were rigidly tied to occupations, and could rarely deviate from them. These occupations, crafts and trade know-how were passed from generation to generation; from father to son...but how long will this continue with the globalization and the erosion of the caste system.

The photographs were made in Kolkata by Supranav Dash between 2011-2013. Kolkata was, of course, the capital of British Colonial India and also the commercial hub of the Indian sub-continent. I came across this work on TIME's Lightbox blog, and learned from the accompanying article by that Ms Jyoti Thottam that Supranav was influenced by Eugène Atget and Irving Penn who documented the trades and professions of London, Paris and New York.

The first photograph on the Lightbox blog is that of a Brahmin with a deformed cow, and those of you who have visited Pushkar will certainly recall such itinerant individuals with similar cows, trying to make meagre earnings by parading these unfortunate animals. 

I seldom read the comments that accompany such projects, but this time I did...piqued by curiosity at how viewers will react to the monochromatic photographs of India. True enough, a commentator didn't like it and described the choice as strange. She proceeded to insult another commentator who disagreed with her. Well, I think these monochromes perfectly fit the subject matter.

Supranav Dash was born and brought up in Kolkata, India. He has a BFA in Photography (Honors) from the School of Visual Arts, NYC. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn. His areas of interest are Fine Art and Social Documentary.

If you're interested in viewing the portraiys along with ambient sound (presumably of Kolkata's streets), drop by Supranav's Vimeo page.

Ruben Vicente & João Maia | Hidden Gion

Here's a lovely multimedia piece (in video form) of photographs by Ruben Vicente and João Maia of the famous Gion neighborhood.

Gion is a district of Kyoto, Japan, originally developed in the Middle Ages, and built to accommodate the needs of travelers. It eventually evolved to become one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in all of Japan. The geisha in the Gion district (and Kyoto generally) do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko. While the term geisha means "artist" or "person of the arts", the more direct term geiko means essentially "a child of the arts" or "a woman of art".

I read that Gion's structures boast wooden lattice windows made of thin wooden beams in a grid pattern to create a lace effect, and its streets are lined with stores selling traditional Kyoto crafts, such as 'kanzashi' (ornamental hairpins), incense and kimono accessories.

Ruben Vicente is travel photographer based in Lisbon who, apart from loving photography, is a senior programmer in the telecom industry. João Maia is a part-time freelance photographer in Lisbon specializing in landscape, nature and travel. He is also a software architect with a major Japanese company.

Kares Le Roy | Asia In 6 Minutes

I frequently find wonderful work by photographers on my ZITE, and this remarkable video by Kares Le Roy managed to temporarily distract me a little from following the horrific events in Egypt. I hope it will have the same effect if you feel the same way.

Kares is a French photographer and graphic designer. More of his background can be found on his blog (scroll down for the English version). He traveled and photographed in Tibet, Nepal, India, Bali, Cuba, Cambodia and Morocco. He traveled through 56 000 km of land and humans: faces, smiles, eyes, monuments, cultures, events and this 6 minutes video masterfully provides a bird's eye view of the Asian continent.

I have featured the work of Kares on The Travel Photographer blog already, but Beware Magazine also has an interesting interview with him.

Drew Doggett | Omo Valley & Slow Road To China

Photo © Drew Doggett-All Rights Reserved

Idly thumbing the pages of a society magazine aimed at the residents on Long Island, I stumbled on an article about Drew Doggett's horse photography, which mentioned that the photographer had trekked in Nepal and Ethiopia.

I visited his website which showcases a couple of Drew's galleries that are a perfect fit to feature on The Travel Photographer blog. The first gallery is Omo: Expressions of a People...which in 2012 was accepted into the Smithsonian African Art Museum’s photographic archives. These monochrome photographs are influenced by the photographer's having trained in fashion photography as an assistant to Steven Klein and Mark Seliger, and is the second of several expeditions Doggett has planned as part of a ten-year project.

Slow Road to China is a photo gallery of the inhabitants and mountains of the Humla region of northwestern Nepal. Also in black and white, these images document a disappearing Tibetan culture.

Photo © Drew Doggett-All Rights Reserved

Humla is considered one of the most remote and isolated regions in Nepal, reachable only by foot or small aircrafts which irregularly land in the district head quarter, Simikot. It is situated high in the Himalaya, in the Karnali Zone bordering the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Its northern part is populated by a Tibetan ethnic group, referred to as Lama in the region.

Amos Chapple | Maxime The Pillar Saint

Photo © Amos Chapple-All Rights Reserved

I have no chance of being a Stylite saint...(or being a saint for that matter) since I feel uncomfortable with heights. Not to the extent of being acrophobic, but enough that I think twice before looking out of a skyscraper balcony or even floor to ceiling windows.

CNN featured a photo essay by Amos Chapple on Maxime, a monk who lives on a mountain pillar in the country of Georgia. To get to his aerie where he lived for 20 years, the 59-year-old scales a 131-foot ladder, which takes him about 20 minutes.

Maxime follows the ancient tradition of the Stylites (aka Pillar-Saints), a type of Christian ascetics who in the early days of the Byzantine Empire stood on pillars preaching, fasting and praying. They believed that doing so would ensure the salvation of their souls. The first Stylite was Simeon who climbed a pillar in Syria in 423 and lived there for 39 years until his death.

The monk told Chapple that it was up on his perch that he could feel God's presence. The pillar is called Katskhi pillar, and stood unvisited since the 15th century when the Ottomans invaded Georgia. No one had even been to the top for centuries until an alpinist climbed it and found the remains of a chapel and the skeleton of a Stylite in 1944.

Amos Chapple started as a newspaper photographer in New Zealand, including two years at the country’s largest daily, The NZ Herald, before moving to London and working full-time for a project to photograph all of the world’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. He now works freelance and, as of the past year, has been specializing in photographs of the world’s ”beautiful secrets”. It’s a kind of travel photography, but by making sure each site is little-known, and has an interesting back story, it is proving popular with newspapers and magazines throughout Europe