NYCPhotoWorks: Portfolio Review Event

On October 22nd-24th, NYCPhotoWorks will be hosting a Portfolio Review event at the newly renovated Sandbox Studios in lower Manhattan that will bring together more than sixty photo editors.

Participating publications include Time, People, Stern, Vanity Fair, Conde Nast, Details, Forbes, ESPN, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Adventurer, Redbook, and many more. Photographers must apply to be accepted into the event in order to ensure quality of work. If accepted, the photographer will be given the chance to meet with 14 photo editors 1-on-1 over two days, plus a third day of workshops taught by the Directors of Photography for Conde Nast Traveler, People and Redbook.

Further details available at NYCPhotoWorks

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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.

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Human Rights Watch: Burma Defenders

The Human Rights Watch feature Burma Defenders is timed to coincide with the first elections to be held in the repressed country in more than 20 years. Burma has been run by a junta of army generals who have silenced any opposition to their brutal regime with human rights abuses and by silencing any dissent.

Political observers are awaiting the elections and wondering if civil unrest flare up after what is widely perceived as a sham election on November 7, and whether Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, be released when her sentence ends on November 13.

Human Rights Watch and photographer Platon have teamed up to photograph opposition members, former political prisoners, and journalists who have sought political refuge in neighboring Thailand.

Platon is a photographer who attended London's St. Martin's School of Art, holds a BA in Graphic Design and a MA in Photography and Fine Art from the Royal College of Art. Now living in New York, he continues to shoot portrait, and documentary work for a range of international publications, including The New Yorker, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, and The Sunday Times Magazine.

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Jimmy Williams: Music Makers

Photo © Jimmy Williams - All Rights Reserved

I couldn't find much in the way of background on Jimmy Williams except the brief biography on his website which tells us that he's a narrative storyteller. That is true, but to me he also captured the essence of the remarkably talented southern music makers.

The series began with an assignment and led to an organization named the Music Makers Relief Foundation which supports musicians who are the true representations of southern music, whether blues, bluegrass, gospel and so forth.

A wonderful section of Jimmy's website groups all the musical genres, and is narrated by him. It will thrill all of us who love authentic blues and its derivatives.

I've promised myself that I would fly down one day to Clarksdale, Mississippi and spend time with blues musicians, and document their music making...yes, an item on my bucket list, if you will.

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Greater Middle East Photo

Photo © Manal Al Dowayan-All Rights Reserved
Finally!

Someone came up with the timely idea to publish a photography blog titled the Greater Middle East Photo blog, with the commendable intent to provide space for photography from a region which is sadly under represented.

This new blog hopes to be a facilitator of great photos, great photographers, and great minds discussing photography from the greater Middle East. I hope so as well. The Middle East has been lagging behind in terms of photography, and this blog will perhaps be an added venue to showcase more of its talent.

The photograph above is by Manal Al Dowayan; a photographer who lived for most of her life in a semi-enclosed compound in Daharan in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Much of her work is about female identity in the conservative Muslim Middle East. The photograph above is titled "I am an educator", while the writing on the slate reads "ignorance is darkness" repeated many times. Her work is featured on the Greater Middle East Photo blog.

Note: My apologies for the shorter blog posts in the coming few days as I'm behind schedule in preparing my class material and presentations for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul this coming week.

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The 500th Google Follower

I saw that my list of Google Followers have now grown to 500! This list is distinct from my Twitter and Facebook followers and friends, or from my subscribers to my newsletters.

To commemorate this milestone, here's an introduction to the work of Karina Joseph, who is my 500th Google Follower.

Karina Joseph is a freelance photographer working in Mumbai, and from what I've seen of her excellent photographs on Flickr, specializes in commercial photography. She also does street photography, as can be seen in this following photograph.

Photo © Karina Joseph-All Rights Reserved
I will keep an eye on my Google Followers, and whenever possible I will post the work of every 100th follower.

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8th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest

Photo © Matty Karp -All Rights Reserved

Photo © Amit Kumar Chatterjee -All Rights Reserved
The 8th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest is scheduled to begin on March 1, 2010. Contestants can enter photographs in five categories—Altered Images, Americana, The Natural World, People and Travel—that represent subjects of special interest to the magazine. Fifty finalists will be selected, ten for each of the five categories.

Smithsonian will notify the 50 finalists by February 28, 2011. From these 50 finalists, five category winners and a grand prize winner will be selected. The entries of all winners and finalists will be published on the magazine's Web site on March 1, 2011.

In the meantime, the 7th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest Finalists have been announced, and I am extremely impressed by the quality of the photographs chosen. I've featured two of the finalists' work which gives an indication of the quality of the submissions; one is from the Travel category whilst the other is from the People category.

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Greg Du Toit: The Waiting Game

Photo © Greg du Toit- (Courtesy The Daily Mail) -All Rights Reserved
Here's an interesting story reported by The Daily Mail (a UK newspaper) which tells us that Greg du Toit, a wildlife photographer living in south Kenya's Great Rift Valley, spent 3 months submerged in a wild lions watering hole for three months, just to get what he deemed to be the perfect photograph of these lions drinking.

The photographer had tried to get the right photograph for a year, but failed to get "it", so he waded into the murky pool with his camera where he spent 270 hours and ended up contracting several tropical diseases, including the potentially deadly Bilharzia.

There are some inconsistencies in this story as the Daily Mail's article mentions that the photographer spent 3 months in the watering hole, and then mentions 270 hours. Obviously, the hours (or days) he spent in there were not consecutive, but notwithstanding, it's a testament to Greg's single mindedness. Why he didn't wear a wet suit to protect him from waterborne diseases is another question which is not addressed in the article.

Yes, photography is a waiting game. I think travel photography, in particular, requires infinite patience, certainly not to the extreme lengths this photographer seems to have gone to, but nevertheless persistence and tenacity are needed. "Parachuting" in a remote Indian village hoping to capture a bunch of wonderful images in an hour or two is -unless one is very lucky- an overly ambitious goal...a holy grail kind of thing. For that, one has to spend the time, establish the requisite connections and know how to engage people honestly, respectfully and with kindness.

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Sean Gilligan: Morocco

In my experience, Morocco is one of the most difficult places for people photography. One not only needs the technical skills of photographing quickly and unobtrusively, but also have an enormous reservoir of patience. I think that Sean Gilligan managed to pull it very well with his gallery titled God, King & Country . The title is from the 3rd image of the gallery which shows a mound of dark sand in which the words God, King, Country are inscribed in white.

Sean Gilligan is a photographer based in New York City, whose objectives are to document cultural diversity, unexpected beauty, intimacy, landscape, and individuals personalities. He has a deep connection with Africa and Ireland and has, over the years, been documenting traditional life as it coexists with modern living.

His work has been featured by CNN, Wall Street Journal, Adidas, Fortune, ESPN, Forbes, among others.

His website has been recently updated and apart from his Morocco gallery, features galleries of Paris, Mexico, Namibia and Ireland.

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Anamitra Chakladar: Kushti

Photo © Anamitra Chakladar-All Rights Reserved
At the outset of my Tribes of Rajasthan and Gujarat Photo~Expedition, I spent a few days in Delhi where I had the immense good fortune to meet with Anamitra Chakladar, a friend who attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali last July.

Along with Terri Gold and Wink Willett (participants in the photo expedition) we visited a Kushti akhara (a traditional Indian wrestling arena), and spent a couple of hours photographing the wrestlers.

Anamitra was born in Kolkata, and expected by his parents to be a teacher or an accounting executive/CPA (he graduated with an accounting degree), but chose to be a photographer instead.

He joined an established newspaper as a trainee photographer, then moved on to television joining NDTV, and saw more than his share of world conflicts including the first Gulf War, the ongoing conflict over Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the coups in Nepal and Bangladesh...and getting shot at during the 2001 attack by Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists against the Parliament of India in New Delhi.

Anamitra published his photographs of the Kushti training on Photojournale.

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Book Event: 100 New York Photographers

The 100 New York Photographer book, in which my biography and four of my travel photographs of Ethiopia, Bhutan, and Burma are prominently featured, will be the subject of a book signing event at Rizzoli Bookstore at 57th Street in New York City on January 22, 2010.

The book's author Cynthia Maris Dantzic and special guests (presumably some of the photographers in the book) will be at the event. Unfortunately, I will be in India at that time, so I had to convey my regrets to the publishers.

The book groups the work of 100 New York celebrated photographers to include Vincent Laforet, Jay Maisel, Mary Ellen Mark, Joel Meyerowitz, Annie Leibowitz, Jenny Jozwiak and Pete Turner.

If you are in New York City and have the time, I'm certain that it'll be a worthwhile event. Click the above picture for a larger version.

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Book: 100 New York Photographers

As previously announced on TTP, I am chuffed in being featured in Cynthia Dantzig's new book: 100 New York Photographers, which is a 442-page review of contemporary New York photographers and their diverse and divergent images.

So here I am in the august company of well-known photographers such as Annie Liebovitz, Jay Maisel, Amy Arbus, Hugh Bell, Arnold Crane, Bruce Davidson, Carrie Mae Weems, Elliott Erwitt, Lee Friedlander, Joel Meyerowitz, Mary Ellen Mark, Pete Turner and others (including Jenny Jozwiak, who joined my Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul Photo-Expedition).

Four of my photographs were chosen. One from the Omo Valley, two from Bhutan and one from Lake Inle in Burma.





This handsome book is available from major bookstores such as B&N and Amazon. Despite the considerable technological advances in displaying photographs on the web, the thrill of seeing one's work the old fashioned way...on a printed page...is still something else!

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Book: 100 New York Photographers

I am featured in Cynthia Dantzig's new book: 100 New York Photographers. I haven't seen the book yet, but I expect to have a double-spread page, and perhaps even two full double pages. A number of my photographs of Bali, Ethiopia, Bhutan, Burma and India were chosen, and I'm impatient to see which made it to the book's pages.

Cynthia, a professor at Long Island University, just published 100 New York Photographers, a 442-page review of the great range of contemporary New York photographers and their diverse, surprisingly divergent, images. It presents their subject matter and their very definitions of photography, darkroom and digital. Their photographs have been seen in publications, galleries, and museums.

Included are such iconic figures as Annie Liebovitz, Jay Maisel, Amy Arbus, Hugh Bell, Arnold Crane, Bruce Davidson, Carrie Mae Weems, Elliott Erwitt, Helen Levitt, David Gahr, Lee Friedlander, Arthur Leipzig, Builder Levy, Duane Michals, Joel Meyerowitz, Jamel Shabazz, John Loengard, Tony Vaccaro, Mary Ellen Mark, Pete Turner, Burke Uzzle, Deborah Willis, and others, as well as many less familiar but no less brilliant photographers. I expect I'm one of those!

The book will be available in September 2009, and will have price tag of $60.00

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Peter Steinhauer: Viet Nam

Photo © Peter Steinhauer -All Rights Reserved
Currently based in Hong Kong, Peter Steinhauer is a fine art, editorial and advertising photographer living and working in Asia since 1993, and has exhibited his work in numerous galleries and museums internationally. He published two books on Viet Nam, and in 2007 PDN awarded his second book "Enduring Spirit of Viet Nam" Best Photography Book of The Year.

Peter's clients for his commercial work are Travel & Leisure, Prestige, Frank Muller, Dior, Chaumet, Periplus Books, Sofitel, Melia and Marriott.

There are beautiful galleries on Peter's website, whether categorized as fine art or Viet Nam. I chose his Ethnic Minorities of Viet Nam to showcase here on TTP.

(via Exposure Compensation blog)

And my thanks to Penelope Gan for reminding me that July has 31 days not 30 days.

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Canon Pro Network: Editor's Choice

The Canon Pro Network has recently introduced an interactive feature that allows Canon photographers to submit their images for review by the world's top photo editors. All of the entries are then viewed and edited by a big name 'guest editor' who makes a selection of the best submitted images.

The guest editor for the second edition Editor's Choice is Magdalena Herrera, director of photography at GEO France. She reviewed 4,471 photos submitted by 721 Canon photographers from around the world.

You can now watch and listen to an in-depth explanation of her final picture selection by clicking here.

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Matt Powell: Humanitarian Photographer

Matt Powell is a documentary photographer and a multimedia producer ( his bio tells us that he's also a budding documentary filmmaker), as a well as a writer, who works for the Christian humanitarian relief agency Samaritan’s Purse. It's a job which takes Matt all over the developing world, and nourishes his passion for visual storytelling and his desire to improve the world.

Soon after his graduation, Matt undertook a 2.5 month trekking journey into some of the most remote terrain in South East Asia to perform an ethnographic survey of tribal minorities known to be living under severe religious and ethnic persecution. It was the adventure of his lifetime, and established his career as a humanitarian photographer.

His subsequent assignments took him to Indonesia, Cambodia, PNG, Viet Nam, India, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda, to mention just a few.

I'm greatly impressed by Matt's commitment and talents, and feature his Portraits portfolio, however I also encourage you to explore his work beyond this gallery, and check the rest of his galleries and informative blog .

It's immensely refreshing to meet an altruistic photographer, and Matt Powell is it.

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Phil Borges: Women Empowered

Here's an immensely worthwhile project that I'm very glad to share with you.

Phil Borges, the acclaimed documentary photographer and CARE, the humanitarian organization that fights global poverty by empowering women and girls, are continuing a successful multi-year collaboration with the launch of the Women Empowered Project.

Using Phil Borges’ photography and video, The Women Empowered Project spotlights some of the issues that women and girls in the developing world face while demonstrating practical, proven solutions to fighting global poverty.

The new website, which was created in conjunction with liveBooks includes three mini-documentary films: Learning to Lead portrays the transformative power of education and leadership for girls and women; Vigilantes de la Vida shows how childbirth can lead to heartbreak rather than happiness when adequate maternal health care is not available, and Strength in Numbers illustrates how African women can turn tiny amounts of money into sustaining capital through village savings and loan programs.

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Phil Borges in his Seattle home, and had the pleasure of traveling with him to Dharmasala, and photographing in this Tibetan-In-Exile Nothern Indian enclave.

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Eric Tourneret: The Honey Gatherers

Photo ©Éric Tourneret-All Rights Reserved.
The Rai (aka Raji) people live in the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal, and are known as the honey hunters. Twice a year, Rai men gather around steep cliffs that are home to the world's largest honeybee, and as they have for generations, these men are to harvest its honey. The harvest ritual usually starts with a prayer and sacrifice of flowers, fruits, and rice. A fire is then lit at the base of the cliff to smoke the bees from their honeycombs.

The honey hunters then descend the cliffs, harnessed to a ladder braided bamboo well over 250 feet above ground. With the rest of their teams securing the ropes, and providing tools up and down as needed, the honey hunters fight the bees as they cut chunks of honey from the comb.

This is the work of photographer Éric Tourneret, who after traveling to Djibouti for his military service, began a career as photojournalist for a number of French magazines. Examples of his fascinating photo reportage include the indigenous sorcerers and healers of the Ivory Coast, the “Transvestites of Islam” in Pakistan, and his work on bees.

Éric Tourneret's "The Honey Gatherers of Nepal".

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The Art of Photography Show 2009

The Art of Photography Show 2009 is an international exhibition featuring all forms of photographic art -- images shot on film, shot digitally, unaltered shots, alternative process, mixed media, digital manipulations, montages, photograms, etc. The Art of Photography Show will be exhibited at the two-level Lyceum Theatre Gallery, in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.

The exhibition's dates are August 29 – November 1, 2009 and entry deadline is May 22.

As with any such event, all interested photographers are advised to carefully read the rules and regulations, especially those pertaining to copyright issues, and use of images.

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New Blog: Photocrati

I've just joined Photocrati, a unique photographers’ blog consisting of a group of professional photographers from diverse fields; wedding, corporate, travel, humanitarian, nature and wildlife, and specialized studio.

Photocrati is the brainchild of Erick Danzer, who is both its founder and editor, and along with him are Steve Buchanan, John E. Marriott, Bill Millios, Booray Perry , Fred Troilo and myself. More photographers are expected to join this eclectic mix of image professionals.

Photocrati will bring a collection of tips and how-to articles covering everything from photographic technique to gear to starting and running your own photography business, insider knowledge from fellow professionals in your field for dealing with common challenges, knowledgeable commentary about what’s happening in various fields of photography, and random thoughts and ruminations from others who share your love of photography and share the challenge of making a living from it.

I will be posting my personal take on travel photography, and I look forward to read your comments on Photocrati. You can read one of my initial posts here: Kathakali: Dance-Drama

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