Jeffry Plomley: Havana

Photo © Jeffry Plomley-All Rights Reserved

I caught Jeffry Plomley's work on The Leica Camera Blog, and was immediately drawn to his Havana gallery, which features excellent street scenes that are very nicely toned. A Canadian photographer, he has the ability of traveling to Cuba as freely as he wishes; something that we here in The United States cannot do as freely.

Jeffry tells us in the Leica Camera Blog that he considers Havana to be one of the world’s meccas for street photography. This is not an exaggerated statement, but one that I wholeheartedly endorse since I visited the island and its capital (legally) in 2000. In the first part of Jeffry's post, he also describes his choice of gear, packing two M9s and two M7s, with 21mm Elmarit Aspherical, 28mm Summicron Aspherical, 35mm Summicron Aspherical, 50mm Summicron, and the 75mm Summicron Aspherical. Phew!

There's also a wonderful gallery of Cuban boxing action, which I recall was a huge attraction to the photographers who were attending the workshop I enrolled in.

I suggest you choose the slideshow option, but watch it in full screen. Don't miss the one (#13) of an elderly Cuban patting a dog...grest shot!

The Revolution Thru The Lens of Lobna Tarek, An Egyptian Photojournalist

I've started to feature the work of young Egyptian photojournalists working for the local newspapers, who not only documented the Tahrir uprisings, but who also participated in the revolution.

For why I'm doing this, you can read my earlier post The Revolution...This Time Through The Lenses Of Home-Grown Egyptian Photojournalists.

This is the third part in the series, and is the work of Lobna Tarek, an Egyptian photojournalist who just started to work for El Shorouk Newspaper a few months ago. She holds a degree in Communications from Cairo University, and at just 22 has taken up photojournalism as a full time career.

Imagine having just joined the profession and being plunged in a historic and momentous event within weeks of starting her career!

For each slideshow in the series, I chose the popular "Enta Omri" or "You Are My Life" from the repertory of the legendary Um Kulthum, the Egyptian singer who was the incomparable voice of her country. I owe the idea to a wonderful multimedia essay titled Spring by Shirin Neshat in the New York Times, who also used it as a metaphor for the revolution.

My Work: The Jains of Palitana

The Jains of Palitana is an audio-slideshow on the Svetambara nuns who walk the 3800 steps to the Jain temples on top of the Shetrunjaya hills in Gujarat, as well as scenes of a Jain puja at the topmost temple.

The still photographs were made during my recently completed In Search of Sufis of Gujarat photo~expedition, during an overnight stop in Palitana. There's a cluster of over 1000 Jain temples densely packed together on the hillside overlooking the town. These temples date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, and are the focus of Jains' pilgrimage or tirtha. From the foot of the hill to the top there are about 3,800 stone steps, and it is these steps that Jains have to climb to reach the main temple on top of the hill.

Some Jain nuns and monks walk up and down these 3800 steps continually for at least three days while abstaining from drinking and eating. The Jain temples of Mount Satrunjaya are considered to be the holiest of all pilgrimage places by the white robed Svetambara community.

I posted on my experience walking up and down these steps here.

The Travel Photographer's 2011 Tripbase Award

www.Tripbase.com

The Travel Photographer blog was selected for a Tripbase 2011 Blog Award for Photography!  Tripbase's panel of judges reviewed hundreds of sites selecting the best ten for each travel category, and my site is one of those.

An excerpt from the Tripbase website:

"Listed below is a comprehensive list of the best blogs dedicated to travel photography. They exhibit beauty and creativity as well as a plethora of knowledge for the new and experienced travel photographer. They tell stories of where they have been the amazing sites they were able to see."

Let the good times roll!

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!

My Work: Journey In Style

Leica M9/Elmarit 28mm-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

It certainly looks like it's a Leica posting day! I'm trying hard to acquire the habit of carrying the M9 wherever I go, and keep an eye for interesting street scenes. New York City is certainly heaven for street photography, and this scene of contrasts presented itself to me on Fifth....just like that. An elderly man (a Santa look-alike) resting on a bench looking exhausted, in front of a hip clothing store, with an advert of an energetic young man in the store's window. I thought the contrast between the young and the old...the real and the posed...but both wearing jeans... to be interesting. (Click to enlarge it).

I had pre-focused the Elmarit 28mm, so it took only a couple of seconds to compose and press the shutter. I tried it in black & white, however it doesn't work as well. I think the orange text adds a lot to the shot.

Leica & Magnum Announce Photo Essays Series!

Two names, well-known to all photographers and photojournalists, Leica and Magnum are collaborating to produce a series of multimedia essays that will take a deeper look into the stories behind the photographs.

The first installment in the series is “Leica & Magnum: Past Present Future”, and examines the legacy of Magnum photographers and Leica users from the Spanish Civil War to the present including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Bruce Davidson, Elliot Erwitt, Constantine Manos, Susan Meiselas, Alex Webb, Gueorgui Pinkhassov and also features photos from Inge Morath, Gilles Peress, Stuart Franklin, David Alan Harvey, Rene Burri, Dennis Stock, Burt Glinn, Paul Fusco, Alex Majoli, Paolo Pellegrin, Alec Soth, Jonas Bendiksen and George Rodger.