Marc Riboud: Magnificent Traveler

Afghanistan 1955 Photo © Marc Riboud- All Rights Reserved

Annick Cojean, journalist at Monde, says it well about Marc Riboud:

"This man is free. This man is passionate. He's a magnificent traveler which the world continues to amaze. He loves life and intensely photographs it", which underscores what Riboud says of himself: "Rather than a profession, photography has always been a passion for me, a passion closer to obsession."

Born in Lyon, Riboud takes his first photographs in 1937 at the Paris Exposition Universelle with a Vest-Pocket (I never heard of this camera?)**. Having fought in 1944, he studies engineering during the late 40s and works in a factory, but decides to take up photography full time in 1948. He's later on invited to Magnum by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa.

In 1955, he travels by road to the Middle East, Afghanistan and finally India where he stays for a year, then on to China. He travels to the Soviet Union, covers the war of independence in Algeria and between 1968-1969 worked in North and South Vietnam.

Marc Riboud published a large number of books, and was awarded many prizes and recognitions from the Overseas Press Club, a Time-Life Achievement award, a Lucie Award and the ICP Infinity Award.

They certainly don't make them like Marc Riboud anymore.

** Gerald Beetham graciously emailed saying that the Kodak Vest-Camera was an older bellows roll film camera smaller than most contemporary cameras (hence the Vest Pocket name). Beginning around 1915, they were manufactured under many different models reaching popularity in the 30's and 40's.

Enrico Martino: Tango Soul

Here's a wonderful multimedia essay by the talented Enrico Martino on the ageless, eternal and graceful dance of Argentina, the tango. Originating in Spain or Morocco, the tango was introduced to the New World by the Spanish settlers, freed African slaves and gauchos in Buenos Aires around the 1880s.

Tango is not a dance, but a particular way of seeing and enjoying life...it's a way of life, where seduction by both sexes is disguised by dance moves and steps. But no one is fooled...in my view, tango is another word for seduction.

This multimedia will be one of  the pieces that I shall use as examples for my future students at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop...in Buenos Aires. I especially liked the man's voice-over...soulful, melancholic...and also virile and passionate. Perhaps the Ken Burns effect is used a little too much for my linking, but the sequencing of the black & white photographs is wonderful all the same.

At one point, the narrator tells us that no foreigner can write tango. Yes, I absolutely agree.

Enrico Martino is an editorial, geographic and documentary photojournalist specialized in travel and cultural assignments requiring in-depth research. He's a contributor to Italian and international magazines, to include Meridiani, "D"-Repubblica, Epoca, Espresso, Panorama, Focus, Gente Viaggi, In Viaggio, Airone, Panorama Travel, Sette, Traveller, Tuttoturismo, Elle, Marie Claire, Merian, Spiegel, Die Zeit, Jeune Afrique, Altair, Rutas del Mundo.

Dilla Djalil-Daniel: Kolkata's Durga Puja

Photo ©Dilla Djalil-Daniel- All Rights Reserved

Photo ©Dilla Djalil-Daniel- All Rights Reserved

Photo ©Dilla Djalil-Daniel- All Rights Reserved

Photo ©Dilla Djalil-Daniel- All Rights Reserved

Photo ©Dilla Djalil-Daniel- All Rights Reserved

Dilla Djalil-Daniel is a photographer currently living in Jakarta, and just returned from Kolkata where she photographed the city's exuberant festival of Durga Puja.

Although she travels around the world for her photography, especially in Asia and has a large portfolio that ought to be shown on her own personal website, Dilla has yet to have one. It's a shame really...but to make up for it, here's a selection of her Durga Puja work.

Durga Puja is the biggest festival in Bengal, and it's also known as Dussehra and Navaratri in other parts of India. Durga is the goddess of divine power against all evils. The festival traditionally starts when thousands offer prayers to their ancestors at the city's ghats, and drummers with ceremonial drums descend on the city. During the festival, thousands of pandals (structures to carry the religious icons and idols) are on display all over Kolkata, and are visited by throngs of people. On the final day of the festival, these pandals with the idols are carried in processions, and immersed in the Ganges.

In Support of Joao Silva

The New York Times contract photographer Joao Silva, one of the major conflict photojournalists of our time, stepped on a mine while on assignment in Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago, and as a consequence his legs have had to be amputated below the knees. He is now recovering at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC.

His friends have set up a new website to raise funds for him by selling some of his prints. So please consider helping him by buying a print, by making a donation,  or by forwarding/tweeting this post.

LATimes' Framework: Chhath Festival

Photo © Narendra Shrestha/EPA

 The Los Angeles ' Times large image photoblog Framework has featured a number of lovely photographs from around the world this past week. I liked this one by EPA photographer Narendra Shrestha of a Nepali woman staring while offering fruits and coconuts to the setting sun during the Chhath festival in Kathmandu.

The Chhath festival is observed by Hindus in India and Nepal, and it's performed in order to thank the Sun god Surya for sustaining life on earth, and to ask for the granting of wishes. The rituals include bathing, fasting and abstaining from drinking water, standing in water for long periods of time, and making offerings to the setting and rising sun.

Next Week on The Travel Photographer

For the week starting Monday November 14,  apart from off-the-cuff posts, the following is in the pipeline:

1. A photographer's multimedia photo essay on the Sami people of the Scandinavian Arctic.
2. A photographer's gallery of his freshly-minted photographs of East Africa.
3. The work of a Vietnamese photographer of his homeland.
4. Another interesting edgy documentary on illegal emigrants from Central America.
5. Hard-hitting images from a photojournalist out of Haiti.

POV: Face Covered, Women Only...Must Be Islamic!

Photo © Gali Tibbon/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

 But it's not. The caption as per the WSJ Photo Journal is this:

"A member of the religious group Women of the Wall wore the traditional Jewish prayer shawl of men called the tallit during a prayer service at the women’s section of the Western Wall in Jerusalem Monday."

So the traditional Jewish prayer procedures at the Western Wall call for the separation of women from the men, and for women to cover their heads and faces?

Huh? You mean like in traditional Islam?

Gosh.

WSJ Photo Journal: The Haj

Photo © Hassan Ammar/Associated Press

The Wall Street Photo Journal is one of the first of the large picture blogs to publish a photograph to commemorate the Haj (or Hajj, as it spells it). The caption reads "Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims prayed inside the Grand Mosque, during the annual Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The Islamic pilgrimage draws three million visitors each year, making it the largest yearly gathering of people in the world."


I think the qualifier that it's the largest yearly gathering of people is appropriate since the religious gatherings of the Kumbh in India surpass it....however the Kumbhs are not yearly pilgrimages.

The Guardian newspaper's website has also featured a fresh slideshow of the Haj rituals. Some lovely images there.

Mohamed Hassan: Photojournalist

Photo © Mohamed Hassan- All Rights Reserved

Mohamed Hassan Abd El Aal (Mikko Hassan) lived and worked in Cairo, and graduated from the Akhbar El-Yom Academy with an honor degree in Journalism. He worked as a press photographer in the daily newspaper El-Shorouk El Gedid. Apart from covering political issues, protests and demonstrations, he was interested in documenting the traditional manufacturing processes in Old Cairo. One of these features gleaned him first prize in the 2009 Annual Press Photography Competition of Egypt.

I met Mohamed (aka Mikko) at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul. He wasn't in my class, but approached me, rather shyly, and expressed his pleasure in seeing that one of the instructors was of Egyptian heritage. He told me that although he had seen my name on the roster of instructors, but had taken it for Lebanese. Mohamed participated in Guy Calaf's class, and had been awarded a scholarship.

I reviewed Mohamed's portfolio which, as he wrote in his biography, had photographs of his explorations in the deepest corners of Old Cairo. He did them during his one day week-ends, on his own time, deriving nothing of it except his own pleasure and self-improvement. I sensed his enthusiasm for photography, saw his talent and his eye for composition, and predicted to him that he'd be one of Egypt's best photojournalists.

It was not to be. His trajectory was very sadly cut short because of a fatal freak accident a few days ago. He will be missed by many.

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop family reacts: Eric Beecroft, the co-founder of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, announced that a permanent full scholarship in Mikko's name will be made available, and his work is featured on the FPW's front page.

Erika Larsen: Lavvos & Reindeer

Photo © Erika Larsen- All Rights Reserved

Erika Larsen is a photographer and film-maker who's recently been doing work in the Scandinavian Arctic with families of Sami reindeer hunters.

She worked as a magazine photographer since 2000 specializing in human-interest stories, cultural issues and the daily life of people connected to the natural world. She's recognized by World Press Photo, American Society of Magazine Editors, Society of Photographers, New Jersey State Council of the Arts and is a Fulbright Scholar.

The Sami peoples are also known as Lapps (although this term is considered as outdated, and often derogative), and are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, but also in the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. They traditionally survived by hunting and fishing, and in more recent years, by herding reindeer, which have also become their staple food. Reindeer meat is most commonly eaten fried, or is is often dried for later consumption.Lavvos is the name for the Sami's tents.

Next Week On The Travel Photographer

For the week starting Monday December 6,  the following posts are in the blog's pipeline:

1. The work of a photographer/photojournalist, whose website is a delight. I chose his work on Italian traditions...I seldom showcase European subject matters, so this one will partially make up for this.
2. The work of another photographer with an interesting reportage on the Sea Nomads.
3. The diverse portfolio of a travel photographer...large images!
4. Interesting photographs by an Indian photographer of Mexico..
5. An interview with a Bangladeshi photographer will be featured.

Will another hint as to my forthcoming photo~expedition be disclosed? Maybe. And I should be receiving the first copy of another book of my photographs...all black & white...made during my long love affair with India...I'll keep you posted. Oh, its title is Darshan.

Plus other posts "shot from the hip" as the week goes on.

My Book: Bali Island of Gods Update 2

I've received the full version of my book Bali: Island of Gods from Blurb, and I'm happy with it. The variations in tone have been evened out, and the photographs are much better looking than in the sample I got last week. Phew!

I will have two versions of the book (82 pages of black & white photographs) on Blurb's bookstore. A large (13x11 inches) landscape hardcover version that'll be more expensive aimed at those who like me a lot, and a standard (10x8 inches) landscape hardcover version aimed at those who like me a little less. Those who are indifferent don't have to buy either...but wishing me luck with it would be nice.

Both versions will be available in a few days....and will be announced here.

The BBC Celebrates Sir Wilfred Thesiger

Wilfred Thesiger in Ethiopia 1934 (Courtesy The BBC)

For historical buffs and admirers of adventurers/explorers, here's a BBC feature that will please you.

Sir Wilfred Thesiger took nearly 40,000 photographs during his eight decades of travels throughout Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The BBC, in commemoration of his centenary of his birth, has featured an audio slideshow of his photographs.

Thesiger is best known for two travel books. Arabian Sands (1959) narrates his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins, while he Marsh Arabs (1964) is an account of the indigenous people of the marshlands of southern Iraq. 

From an article 'Gentleman Thrillseeker 'in the Independent newspaper:

Since 1930 Thesiger had documented his journeys in photographs, diaries, and letters to his family. Many of his finest photographs were taken, after 1945, in Arabia and Iraq; he took thousands more, just as fine, in the mountains of Asia, Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania. Thesiger's photographs have long been regarded as works of art in their own right; they also preserve a unique and imperishable record of vanishing tribal societies.

Thesiger was an intriguing man...to say the least. There are plenty of articles and opinions pieces about him and his life.

The Big Picture Blog: Best of 2010

Photo © Goran Tomasevic (Reuters)

Boston Globe's The Big Picture Blog is featuring the first part of three sets of photographs, which define 2010. The first set consists of 40 photographs...with some gems from Emilio Morenatti, Finbarr O'Reilly, while this one from Reuters' Goran Tomasevic is probably my favorite so far.

It shows U.S. Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, protecting an Afghan and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province on February 13, 2010.

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!

The Haj In 1885 And Now

CNN has featured an interesting clip of images and audio dating from 1885 of Mecca and of the Haj ritual. It's accompanying article tells us that Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages, and an advisor to the colonial government of the Netherlands East Indies, visited Mecca in 1885 taking photos and making sound recordings. He had converted to Islam, and was therefore allowed to gain entry to the city.

The article is an interesting read, especially since it seems Snouck had to leave his camera equipment behind to a local Saudi, who continued making pictures, possibly becoming Mecca's first home-grown photographer. (My thanks to Gul Chotrani who sent the article to me).

Contrast the scenes in the CNN clip (it has an annoying advert at its start) to the following photograph; one of the many posted by The Boston Globe's The Big Picture of Muslim pilgrims circling the Kaaba at the center of the Grand mosque in Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.  (Click it for larger photograph).

Photo © REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

New Website: The Travel Photographer

As announced in my Next Week In The Travel Photographer post, I've completed (well, almost) the face-lifting, liposuctioning and tightening of my website, and it's now ready to brave the outside world. It's based on a WordPress blogging theme which I deem to be just right for my style of gallery categorization.

The 18 galleries are categorized as in photo essays, and each has a thumbnail with a short description. It makes sense, it's easy to navigate and is simple and intuitive.

One caveat: The Photo Expeditions link is intentionally not working...and that's because I have yet to announce the details of my next one in October 2011...so be patient. It'll be announced in a few days.

Here's the current link.

And it's iPad-friendly as well...by the way, iPad's Mobile Safari can't manage a HTML file with more than about 6MB of images on it, so I had to take this into consideration when building this portal. The individual galleries are iPad-readable but not all images will download on Mobile Safari...this will be fixed either by using a work-around trick, or just reducing the resolution of the images.

Vincent Prévost: West Papua

Photo © Vincent Prévost-All Rights Reserved

 I occasionally receive emails from photographers such as the one from Vincent Prévost that make the work of maintaining The Travel Photographer blog feel really worthwhile.

Vincent tells me he's been a regular reader of The Travel Photographer blog for about 2 years, and that it has been a source of inspiration to him. He cites my two posts on Grenville Charles and Diego Verges, who documented tribes of West Papua,  as triggering his own photo expedition "Highlands Encounters" to this remote part of the world.

That's what this blog is all about...to inspire photographers to explore other unfamiliar areas, to try new techniques and to document endangered cultures.

He has been teaching French in South Korea since 2002 and is also a freelance editorial photographer who fuses fine art and journalism. While most of his work is in color, he also enjoys black & white photography, and travels with compact audio equipment to add a further dimension to his visual work.

West Papua is an Indonesian province that borders the independent nation of Papua New Guinea and forms the western half of the world's second largest island. The indigenous people of West Papua are of the same ethnic origin as those in the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. Ethnically and culturally, they are also related to other Melanesian peoples of the Pacific.

National Geographic Photo Contest 2010

Photo © Chan Kwok Hung- Courtesy National Geographic

The National Geographic 2010 Photo Contest winners were announced. More than 16,000 photographs were submitted from around the globe, and 3 earned top honors in the people, places, and nature categories.

The winner in the People category is photographer Chan Kwok Hung of Hong Kong, who captured the photograph of an Indonesian farmer and his buffalo charging through the mud in a buffalo race called "makepung".

I also liked the photograph of a Xhosa boy crying during a circumcision ceremony by Robin Utrecht which garnered the Honorable Mention in the People category.

Sam Chadwick: Cuba & More

Photo © Sam Chadwick-All Rights Reserved

Sam Chadwick is a travel photographer and a Hell's Kitchen (NYC) resident where he works on a variety of photographic projects and planning his next photographic travels.

He started photography as a main means of documenting his 5-day ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro. Since then, he traveled to over 50 countries, creating a large collection of images of people, cultures and environments. In 2007, he reached the semi-finals of the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and his images have appeared on Reuters.

You can see his many galleries on his website, from Guatemala, Belize, Nepal, Costa Rica, East Africa and my favorite Cuba.

Wendy Marijnissen: A Year In Pakistan

Based in Antwerp, Wendy Marijnissen is a freelance documentary photographer from Belgium, who has a career in looking for, and reporting on, stories with a social context. She completed a long term reportage in Israel and Palestine, using music to show a different part of daily life in this stressful and violent region. She's currently working on a new project about childbirth and maternal mortality in Pakistan, of which some of her compelling photographs can be seen in the above movie.

Another of Wendy's compelling photo essays is on the dai. A dai (or dayah in Arabic) is a traditional midwife or birth attendant in the Middle East, and Pakistan. Midwifery skills are usually passed on from generation to generation and most practitioners have had no formal training.

The unhygienic conditions in which the dai work, their lack of education and the delayed referral to hospitals in case of complications are the major cause for the high maternal mortality rate in Pakistan.

Samih Güven: India & More

Photo © Samih Güven-All Rights Reserved

Samih Güven is a Turkish photographer currently residing in Paris. Despite degrees in political sciences and Turkish language/Oriental civilizations, he practiced photography for over 20 years. His recent voyage to Asia is encouraging him to become a professional photographer, and to take up formal training in photojournalism.

He is also a founder member of a French collective called Phrawup.

Take a look at his India color portfolio from which the above photograph is taken, as well as those of Burma, China and Nepal to name but a few. His galleries are both in color, and black & white.

POV: Photo-Workshops Are Useful, But....

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Scott Bourne, who publishes and writes Photofocus since 1998, has posted an article on photo workshops titled Don't Listen To The Trolls in which he encourages people to attend workshops led by photographers who have work they find inspiring...an encouragement that is both reasonable and logical.

However, let's take this a step or two further because, simply put, there are photographers who market their workshops (and there are many these days) whose work may be phenomenally beautiful and inspiring, but who are unable to lead, who can't/won't teach and are unable/unwilling to share. It's simply not enough that the photographer's work is good...not at all. There are many more factors that come to play in one's decision in choosing a photo workshop.

Obviously, the price of the workshop is one of the first determinants. Celebrity photographers command a hefty premium, and while some are worth it, others are not. In the case of travel photography workshop, I've come across workshops of 10 days starting at $8000, excluding international travel costs and meals. Knowing full well that the real costs of these workshops are in the range of $2000-2500 tells me that the profit margins for such photographers may be in the $5000-6000 range...per participant.

Many believe (or hope) that taking part in such high-priced workshops is worth the price because of the technical knowledge acquired; because of the bragging rights from rubbing shoulders with the famous photographers, and because the quality of their "during and after workshop" image inventory will justify the expenditure.

Maybe. Maybe not.

On the other hand, let's be cautious and do our homework (what bankers and business people call due diligence) by eliminating as many uncertainties as possible before shelling out thousands of dollars. Ask for references and opinions from previous attendees, compare workshops' details to one another, compare itineraries if these are travel photography workshops, ask who really leads the workshop: the photographer or assistants (trust me...the higher up the totem pole the photographer is the more assistants there will be...and the less you'll see of the photographer), figure out how much individual face time the participants will have with the photographer, who responds to your email and/or calls, who created the itinerary if it's a travel photography workshop, is it in a well-trodden tourist circuit or it an off-the-beaten path itinerary, how many participants in the workshop...and lastly what percentage of clients are repeaters.  And let's throw this in as well: if the workshop is marketed by a company because the hot-shot photographer is too busy to do it, that company will get a big bite off the price tag....and naturally you end up paying for it.

Personally, if I wanted to go on a workshop I'd rather go with a grunt...not a celebrity/famous photographer. I'd want to be taught rather than patronized...I wouldn't like being palmed off to an assistant nor do I want to be intimidated. I'd rather be given a candid assessment of my abilities and limitations in plain simple English rather than in a mealy-mouthed babble ....and finally, I want to enjoy myself.

But that's me.

(Photograph made at the Wangdicholing Monastery, Jakar, Bhutan)

Next Week On The Travel Photographer

For the week starting Monday November 8,  the following posts are in the pipeline (not in this order though):

1. A photographer's mini-portfolio of black & white images of the Durga Puja in Kolkata.
2. A wonderful multimedia essay of Tango in Buenos Aires.
3. A The Travel Photographer Point Of View on photo workshops. which may raise hackles (aka piss off people) as my POVs are designed to do...we'll see.
5. A multimedia project on the Day of The Dead...Filipino-style.
6.  Magnum's new Fund for emerging photographers.

PS. Don't you just hate this winter time fall-back?? Daylight Savings Time just sucks.

Book: 'To Cambodia With Love' Is Now Available

Finally! To Cambodia With Love,  the book with my photographs of Siem Reap and its environs has been published. It's available from a long list of booksellers all over the world.

It's described on Amazon as "From a tarantula brunch in the remote Cambodian countryside to a leisurely cyclo ride through the streets of Phnom Penh, To Cambodia With Love is a true collaboration, containing personal essays by more than fifty writers. Among them you will find Angkor Wat expert Dawn Rooney, acclaimed memoirist Loung Ung (First They Killed My Father), and Lonely Planet’s in-the-know Nick Ray. Each essay is paired with a practical fact file so that travelers can follow in the writer’s footsteps. In addition, the book is illustrated with vibrant, full-color photographs."

I am hugely chuffed that a book with my vibrant, full-color photographs is on major booksellers' websites, even if my name is misspelled. It's correctly spelled on the book's cover, which is all I care about. What's a Twefic from Tewfic? Just a W that doesn't know where it ought to be.

I hope readers of The Travel Photographer blog interested in Cambodia will buy this book. If I get free copies, I will come up with a contest of some sort and give away copies to winners.