Update 1: On The Road: London

As much as I love London, I must say that it's quite dreary at this time of year, so I'm glad it's only a short stop over this time.

I flew Virgin Atlantic's morning flight from Newark to London, and had two small carry-ons with me. My small Domke and a canvas laptop shoulder bag. I "linked" both with carabiners, and had them stuffed with all my photo gear as well as my Acer netbook. All my cables and electronic "support system" were in my checked-in luggage, including my 70-200mm lens.

The security check was polite, fast, efficient and thorough. My Domke bag was singled out for a quick swab by a TSA agent since it had all the gear...and within a minute, I was cleared.

On arrival, I checked my main bag and found that the TSA had opened it and left me a note saying that it had done so. My TSA-approved locks were there as I had locked them. And nothing was missing.

Efficient and professional.

The second test as to my carry-on configuration will be tonight as I check in to my Virgin flight to Delhi. I expect the lines at Heathrow's security will be long.

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Quinn Ryan Mattingly: Puja

Puja from Quinn Ryan Mattingly on Vimeo.

Quinn attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali last summer, and photographed (and videographed) one of the rituals occuring right at the heart of this northern Indian town. Rajasthani families descend on Manali during the summer season looking for work and to escape the torrid heat of their state. Naturally, they bring their own rituals, which include daily prayers when some the devotees enter into trances, transported by the music and the chants. His multimedia essay merges stills and video, and brings you to the scene extremely well. I have seen the ritual first hand, and I must say that it's almost as if I was there again.

Quinn Ryan Mattingly is a documentary photographer currently based in Saigon, and most of his work aims at giving voices to those who are unable to be heard, and is working with former and current street children in Saigon.

Some of his other documentary stories are from Vietnam, and Nepal (as well as a book on Blurb). His photography essays can be seen here, and he also has a blog that chronicles some of his photography as well.

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NGS: India's Nomads

The National Geographic has just published an online feature on India's Lost Nomads. I consider this to be a highly auspicious coincidence as I am about to embark on the Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™, whose objectives is to document some of these tribes in a similar geographic area of India.

The informative article is by John Lancaster, who was East Asia bureau chief for the Washington Post, with pictures by Steve McCurry. Here's an excerpt:

"Gadulia Lohar (their name comes from the Hindi words for "cart," gaadi, and "blacksmith," lohar) are among the best known; others are herders, such as the Rabari, famous throughout western India for their bulky turbans and familiarity with all things camel. Some are hunters and plant gatherers. Some are service providers—salt traders, fortune-tellers, conjurers, ayurvedic healers. And some are jugglers, acrobats, grindstone makers, story­tellers, snake charmers, animal doctors, tattooists, basketmakers. All told, anthropologists have identified about 500 nomadic groups in India, numbering perhaps 80 million people—around 7 percent of the country's billion-plus population."

80 million people in 500 nomadic groups??? Our CF cards will melt from the overuse, and we'll run out of storage space!

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The EVIL Cameras

WIRED's Gadget Lab blog has a fresh article titled 5 Reasons To Ditch Your DSLR, which essentially reaffirms my prediction as in my earlier post POV: Travel Photography Adjustment.

To paraphrase the WIRED article, the 5 reasons are smaller size, great quality of images, interchangeable lenses, speed of operation, low-profile, but are expensive.

By the way, EVIL stands for Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens. It also seems that with an adapter, these cameras can accept many DSLR lenses.

I am extremely interested in these cameras, particularly the Lumix GF1 (above), and will certainly look into on my return from India.

(Via the always informative The Click.)

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On The Road: Rajasthan & Gujarat

I'm completing my packing today, cramming the last few items in my bags as best I can, hoping that my checked in luggage won't burst at the seams with all the cables, chargers, and photo paraphernalia that just won't fit my carry-on.

Tomorrow, I'll be on my way to meet up with the rest of the Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™ group in Delhi (after stopping en route in London). I'll be in Delhi on January 20.

I'll be in Delhi for a couple of days before the official start of the photo~expedition, and will meet with some of my photographer friends (some alums of the Foundry Photojurnalism Workshop and others), as well as undertake a few personal projects. I plan to attend a qawwali evening in Nizzam Uddin, as part of my Sufi project.

I will try to update the blog whenever I get the chance...it won't be a problem in London and Delhi (where we will be staying in a posh hotel), however it may be difficult to find the time or accessible internet connections during the rest of the trip...so expect sporadic but entertaining posts.

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POV: No To Walking Billboards?

Here's a lighthearted tongue-in-cheek post.

In the midst of packing my stuff for about 3 weeks on the road in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and at the risk of being tarred and feathered by the various manufacturers of photographic soft accessories such as Think Tank, Domke, Lowepro etc, I thought my readers would be interested in my alternative choice to the high priced pouches that are marketed and sold by these companies.

With the exception of my Domke camera bag (which I love dearly because of its ruggedness and quality), I prefer not to carry products that have prominent logos/names for a variety of reasons; some reasons are legitimate and others just silly and whimsical.

As an example of the logo-less products, I bought no-name pouches for less than $6 each from an Army Surplus Store in the West Village. They are made of rugged canvas, have belt loops, with metal fasteners, and are perfect to carry my sound recorder, mic & a small gorillapod, or a small lens and other stuff, while in the field. Sure, they're not as sleek or modular as those sold by any the above-mentioned manufacturers, but they're cheaper, and are certainly as resilient. At these surplus stores, one can find bags and pouches (easily adapted for cameras), apparel and a myriad of other stuff a quarter to one-half the price of logo brands.

With this in mind, why should I be a walking billboard for manufacturers who charged me top dollar for the product(s) anyway? Heck, I can even have these canvas pouches printed/embroidered with a The Travel Photographer logo. With my own exclusive line of photo pouches, I'd go in business and be a millionaire in no time!

The logo shown in the picture is photoshopped...so don't get too excited (yet).

But first, I'd better learn how to photograph products better. The picture above is so bad that I can't get myself to put my copyright notice under it!

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WSJ Photo Journal: Magh Mela

Photo © Rajesh Kumar Singh/Associated Press-All Rights Reserved
The preponderance of religious bathing festivals in India is really confusing. The Wall Street Journal Photo Journal featured the above photograph of a Hindu holy man drying his clothes after a ritualistic bath in the River Ganges during the annual Magh Mela in Allahabad. However, the Ardh Kumbh is also being held in Haridwar from January 14 to April 28, 2010...so there are two overlapping religious festivals with the same rituals.

Magh Mela is observed during Magh and Falgun months (Hindu calendar) for nearly 45 days, and this year ends on February 12, 2010. The ritual of bathing at the Prayag Sangam in Allahabad has a great significance, and attracts millions of devotees to the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

It is believed that bathing in sacred rivers during these festivals breaks the circle of life & death, and liberates Hindus to attain moksha.

Personally, I'd much rather attend the Magh Mela over the Haridwar Ardh Kumbh. Of course, neither can come close to what I experienced during the 2001 Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, but Haridwar (despite the relative proximity of Rishikesh) is a pretty awful town, hence my bias.

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Dialects at the ICP

Mansi Midha's photography work, along with that of 26 other talented photographers and photojournalists will be seen at the International Center of Photography in an exhibit running from January 15 to March 28, 2010.

The venue is held at the ICP's Education Gallery on 1114 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street with an opening reception on January 15 from 6:00–8:00 pm

Dialects presents recent work by the 27 photographers from What We Saw, the collective formed upon their graduation from the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism Program at ICP in 2008. The group is made of members from 15 countries including the United States, Mexico, South Korea, India, South Africa, Turkey, Australia, Germany, and Brazil.

I hoped to go see what promises to be an interesting event, but I've too much to do before traveling next day.

Mansi was the hidden (and frequently visible) energy behind all the on-the-ground arrangements for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali, and I believe she's also involved in the one in Istanbul this coming summer.

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Haiti's Tragedy: f/8 And Be There

Photo © Tequila Minsky /NYTimes-All Rights Reserved
The old adage (sometimes attributed to Arthur Fellig aka Weegee) of "f/8 and be there", meaning that being on the scene is more important than anything else, was borne out with the story in The New York Times that Tequila Minsky, a freelance New York City photographer, was in her hotel in Port-au-Prince when the horrific earthquake hit this capital city of Haiti.

Ms. Minsky transmitted some of the first photographs of the earthquake in Haiti, pictures that instantly conveyed the awful human toll.

The LENS blog of The New York Times bring us that story, along with its harrowing images, including Ms Minsy's own voice describing the scenes.

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Kevin German: Mount Everest

Not many people have their 30th birthday at a base camp of Mount Everest, but Kevin German is one of them, and Luceo Images showcases his photo essay here.

Kevin German studied photography and journalism at Washington State University, and worked for newspapers from California to Florida. In 2008, he moved to Vietnam to focus on humanitarian documentaries, where co-founded the collective Luceo Images. He has won numerous awards, and his clients include Bloomberg News, CNN Traveller, Forbes, International Trucking, Monocle Magazine, National Geographic, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal Asia, Time, Vanity Fair, and others.

His photo essays on Vietnam such as In The Footsteps of Ghosts and Forgotten are particularly compelling. Also have a look at the short video Voice of Hope about the undocumented Vietnamese living in Cambodia.

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