My Show Off: Lakhang Butter Lamps

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Here's an image made while I was entering the Wangdichoeling Lakhang in Jakar to photograph a prayer ceremony. I was hurriedly climbing a very steep set of wobbly wooden stairs to get to the lakhang's prayer room in time for the ceremony, and this scene of a woman lighting butter lamps unfolded in front of me.

In my view, little can surpass the pleasure of capturing a serendipitous scene such as this one, where all the elements fall into place for just a moment...a moment I happen to be right there, albeit somewhat out of breath.

For the techies: f2.8, 40mm, 1/30th, 100 iso (click for a larger view)

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Chico Sanchez: Day of the Dead

Photograph © Chico Sanchez-All Rights Reserved
Chico Sanchez brings us once again a nicely-done Soundslides feature of the El Dia de Los Muertos from the Mexican towns of Xochimilco and Toluca. He combined a well chosen ambient audio and music to create an interesting soundtrack to his photographs.

The Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated mainly in Mexico, and focuses on family gatherings and friends to pray for and remember loved ones who have died. The celebration occurs on the 1st and 2nd of November, in connection with the Catholic holy days of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Scholars trace the origins of the Day of the Dead to indigenous observances dating back thousands of years.

Chico Sanchez's other features on The Travel Photographer's blog are Lucha Libre, Lady of Guadalupe and Holy Week.

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Heather McClintock

Heather McClintock announced that her solo exhibition, The Innocent: Casualties of the Civil War in Northern Uganda, opens at Gallery FCB in New York City from November 13th until January 1st (Monday - Friday: 12-5pm). The artist’s opening reception Thursday November 13th from 6-9PM.

Gallery FCB is located at 16 W.23rd st between 5th & 6th ave on the 3rd floor.

The Travel Photographer blog had a post on Heather McClintock in November 2007. (Link)

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The Travel Photographer's 2009 Tours

Here's a post to plug my 2009 upcoming photo-expeditions-workshops, including my participation in the Foundry photojournalism Workshop in Manali, India.

For further information and details:

Theyyams of Malabar Photo Expedition

Gnawa Festival In Essaouira

Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul 2009

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop 2009

For a feel on how I conduct my photo-expeditions, and how they compare to others, drop by The Travel Photographer, and also read my previous posts on this blog.

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Foundry Photojournalism Workshop 2009

Further details on the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop 2009 have now been published. The workshop will be held in Manali (Manali-Kulu Valleys, Himachal Pradesh, India) from 26 July to 1 August 2009, for a total of 6 days.

Tuition is $900 for the workshop program, which includes six days of classes, all slideshows, panels, parties, portfolio reviews, and events during the workshop week. This does not include travel costs, lodging, airfare, food, etc. For South Asian photojournalists, tuition is $450. Scholarships will be also be available.

All classes will be limited to 10 students, and will be divided into multiple experience levels- intro, medium, and advanced/master class.

A number of world-class photographers have joined as instructors, and I encourage all emerging photographers who are interested to register. It's an opportunity not to be missed.

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1 on 1: Kirsten Luce

Photograph © Kirsten Luce-All Rights Reserved
The Travel Photographer blog occasionally posts interviews with both travel and editorial photographers. This interview is with Kirsten Luce, a freelance photojournalist working in New York City. Her work was published in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Houston Chronicle, Miami Herald (International Edition), AP, Bloomberg News and CARE International. She recently attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City, and her photo project featuring Clowns in Xochimilco received wide acclaim.

An enormously talented photographer and photojournalist, Kirsten recently took the time to respond to TTP's questions.

1) TTP: When did you decide to become a photographer? Who or what influenced your decision?

While enrolled in art school at the University of Georgia, I took a photojournalism class and promptly switched majors. my professor, Jim Virga, was a newspaper photojournalist turned educator. He took a practical approach to photojournalism that spoke to me. He taught us the basics: how to put together a portfolio to apply for jobs. I got my first newspaper internship with a portfolio compiled from these class assignments. If it weren't for the perspective that I gained from him and my classmates, I would not be a working photojournalist.

2) TTP: Do you have any formal training regarding photography?

I took 3 or 4 photo classes in high school/college and I interned at The Birmingham News in Alabama for six months.

3) TTP : If you had the choice, where is your favorite place to live and work as a photographer in the world and why?

I absolutely fell in love with Mexico. I won a grant to study journalism and lived in Colima, a small university city in western Mexico, and I have been consumed by the country ever since. I went there for a semester and ended up staying for several months longer, freelancing for the AP, and eventually taking a newspaper staff job in McAllen, Texas on the Mexican border. I very well may end up back in Mexico some day.

4) TTP: Describe your own favorite image, and describe how you went about creating it.

Photograph © Kirsten Luce-All Rights Reserved
One of my personal favorites is from my first few weeks in Mexico in 2004. I was at a carnival with my Swedish roommate and snapped some photos of a street performer. It doesn't have much news value but it makes me smile. It ran in a little Mexican newspaper that I would contribute to. They paid me $3 to use it.

5) TTP: Describe a day in your professional life.

My professional life was recently turned upside down. I chose to leave my staff job at a newspaper on the border to move to New York city and freelance. It's my self-designed grad school. I wake up, contact editors, brainstorm, edit recent projects and plan for future projects. If I have an assignment, I photograph, edit and FTP the images.

6) TTP: Tell your funniest, scariest, most bizarre, most touching story from a photoshoot!

Earlier this year, I accompanied a Mexican reporter to cover the aftermath of a shootout between suspected drug cartel members and Mexican soldiers in a small border town in Mexico. When we arrived, the situation was still very tense and at least three people had died. There were hundreds of people gathered in the streets to watch the story unfold. The chilling part was that no one would talk to us. No one wanted to be photographed, in fear that they would be identified as a witness. No one even wanted to be seen with us. It was my first glimpse of just how powerful the cartels are in Mexico and how intimidated the local population remains.

7) TTP: What types of assignments are you most attracted to?

I love photographing assignments that give me time and access to whatever it is I am covering. I prefer to work alone, as I don't like photographing things with other photographers or videographers present. At the newspaper, I would really enjoy photographing a 'day in the life' of a person or place. When you have the time and access, you can wait for the right light and moments.

8) TTP: How would you describe your photographic style?

Subtle, textured and quiet...but I am evolving.

9) TTP: Who or what would you love to photograph that you haven't already?

There are too many things. At the moment I am drawn to Arctic cultures. I have spent a lot of time working in the heat, and look forward to documenting people that live under vastly different environmental conditions.

10) TTP: Describe the photo gear, as well as (if digital) your computer hardware and software you use.

I photograph with Canon gear. I own a 5d, 17-35, 24 1.4, 70-200 and a 550ex strobe. I prefer to travel light. I miss my Mark II from the paper but adjusting to the 5d. It's a fine camera. I still use Photo Mechanic and Photoshop, but transitioning into Lightroom. I have a wireless internet card that makes my life a lot easier...so I can transmit images from virtually anywhere I am.

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WP: The Healing Fields

The Washington Post brings us a poignant feature titled The Healing Fields. It's about hundreds of uninsured and under-insured American citizens who come to an isolated county in Virginia every year to seek treatment at a field hospital operated by the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps.

I cannot understand how can anyone decry universal health-care in our country after watching and reading this feature (registration may be required by the WP)

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Ethiopia's Nomad Warriors: Salgado

Photograph © Sebastião Salgado-All Rights Reserved
Rolling Stone magazine published black & white photographs of Ethiopia's Nomad Warriors by Sebastião Salgado. The tribes of the Omo Valley such as Hamer, Mursi and the Sumer are featured in this essay of images by a master photographer. In my view, the images are too small to appropriately convey these people's beauty and charisma, and I look forward to perhaps seeing them elsewhere.

A Sebastião Salgado quote that always stays with me:

"If you take a picture of a human that does not make him noble, there is no reason to take this picture. That is my way of seeing things."

For a sample of my own images of the Omo Valley tribes, go here.

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Kumari: Nepal's Living Goddess

Photograph © Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
I read on the National Geographic’s website that Nepal has just chosen a new Kumari, the living goddess, a few days ago. The Kumari is essentially Nepal’s virgin goddess, whose body houses the spirit of Taleju (an incarnation of Goddess Durga).

There are stringent rules for a girl to be chosen as a Kumari. She must belong to the Shakya clan (a community of goldsmiths), her family must be extremely pious Hindus, she must have 32 characteristics of physical perfection (including a set of 40 teeth), and she has to prove her fearlessness by spending a night in a dark room with decapitated carcasses.

The chosen Kumari will be taken away from her family (it’s a huge honor), declared a living goddess, and installed in her royal chambers. She will not talk to ordinary mortals, her feet won’t touch the ground and she won’t venture out of her palace more than a handful of times a year. She loses her status with the onset of puberty, and returns to her family.

To me, taking a child away from his or her parents is cruel, but I can't judge whether the Kumari tradition constitutes child abuse or not. With many traditions that are not ours, Western sensibilities frequently over-react, and we view such practices through our own set of prisms. However, there are also a number of Nepali organizations that criticize the Kumari tradition, and I feel these are the best suited to do so and are the most qualified to establish a dialogue between traditionalists and modernists.

A National Geographic video can be seen here

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PDN + Canon?

I received my PDN November issue yesterday, and was surprised to see its cover was a Canon advertisement for the EOS 50D. Now, I'm all for magazines to make money from advertisers, but to have PDN's cover taken over by an ad is annoying, and a turn-off.

To be clear, PDN still has a regular cover, but it's covered by another cover: the Canon ad, and ripping it off damages the issue.

A note to PDN people: I like PDN (not always, but most of the time) and Canon is my brand of choice, but this is not a good idea and certainly not one that I'd like to see again. I have to thumb through enough pages of ads as it stands to get to articles and features...so another ad layer is not welcome. I don't know if this gimmick is only for subscribed issues or for all issues in circulation.

This is worse than the ads that appear before multimedia presentations because I paid for the magazine and this ad doesn't go away after 15 seconds. Since I really don't want to have a Canon ad in my face whenever I reach for this PDN magazine, I tore it off.

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