Bhutan: Field Report

I am sitting in the main town of Bumthang which has the rather evocative name of Jakar. The internet cafe here has four terminals, wifi and espresso. What else can one ask from life! I shall try to post a few photographs in the coming few days. The two festivals in Wangdue and Tamshing exceeded our expectations, and our collective image storage has run in the hundreds of gigabytes.

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The Globe & Mail: Behind The Veil

Canada's The Globe and Mail provides a rare insight into the lives of Afghan women through a week-long multi-media series, Behind the Veil.

In these series, 10 representative Afghan women in the Kandahar area speak about key issues in their lives. Aided by an interpreter, specific questions were asked from each of the women. The Globe & Mail is well-known for its edgy multimedia, having featured equally interesting and extremely well produced multimedia pieces before.

I haven't got the time to view this except for a few minutes, but I intend to return to it once I'm back from Bhutan.

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On The Road: Bhutan (Bangkok Report #2)

Chinatown (Bangkok)-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
The 8 participants of my Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul photo expedition are currently in Bangkok, and are collectively relieved to hear that yesterday's earthquake hasn't disrupted our plans, and having spoken to our agent in Thimpu, all indications are that its damage was restricted to the Mongar area in south-eastern Bhutan.

It'll be a short sleep for most of us here in Bangkok as we will be making our way to the airport for a check-in at 4:30 am. We should be in Pao airport at 9:00 am, and it'll be kuzuzangbo-la!!!

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On The Road: Bhutan (Bangkok Report)

The late afternoon in Bangkok saw Graham Ware, Kayla Keenan and I spending a couple of hours in Bangkok's Chinatown district, "de-rusting' our shutter fingers with some street photography.

While having dinner with some of the photo-expedition's members at The Irish Pub on Silom, news of the 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Bhutan reached me. The AP report said that the earthquake killed at least 11 people, damaging an ancient monastery and forcing hundreds to flee, with at least 15 people injured.

The afternoon earthquake was centered in Monggar, a little-populated eastern region of the tiny nation of Bhutan, close to Gauhati in Assam, India. The AP also reports that most buildings in that region are small farmhouses built from mud and stone.

At this time, all signals are green for the photo-expedition to proceed as planned. The quake-hit region is far enough from our routing that it shouldn't have any effect, however it may have caused landslides in the main road leading to Bumthang, which is our ultimate destination.

Further information will be obtained in the morning from our agent in Thimpu.

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On The Road: Bhutan Photo-Expedition

Well, I've packed my last few items in my bags and as you read this, I'm on my way to meet up with the rest of the Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul photo~expedition participants in Bangkok (after stopping en route in London) on September 21. The 8 photographers are all US-based, except for one who hails from Canada.

Being in Bangkok for a couple of days will allows us to get to know each other before getting to Bhutan, and perhaps take the opportunity to photograph in the city's Chinatown and other areas. What I do know for a fact is that I'll splurge on as much sushi and glorious Thai food as I can...Bhutan is not really a gastronomical destination, so tucking in goodies is always a good idea.

I will try to update the blog whenever I get the chance...certainly it won't be a problem in London and Bangkok, however it may be difficult to find the time and accessible internet connections in the Dragon Kingdom...so expect sporadic (but informative posts) on the progress!

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NPR: Traveling Down The Amazon

Here's Traveling Down The Amazon, an intelligently produced NPR multimedia feature that combines audio, stills and graphics to tell the story of transcontinental highway being built in Peru and Brazil which promises to bring economic opportunities, and also acute environmental problems, to one of the most remote places on earth.

NPR correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and staff photographer John Poole traveled the Peruvian route to produce this series.

I found this via a Twitter post (aka a "tweet") by Tracy Boyer, the editor of the excellent Innovative Interactivity blog, that deals with new multimedia and which she appropriately calls "a digital watering hole for multimedia enthusiasts".

Traveling Down The Amazon is not the kind of feature that one can watch in one sitting...it's too long and too dense to absorb in one go. So bookmark it for whenever you have the time to follow it properly.

I haven't had the time to watch except the first chapter The Road, and found it surprising that the producers of the piece haven't sync'ed the stills and the narration by Garcia-Navarro together. It hasn't bothered me much because I could return or go forward to the still photograph I was interested in, and still keep the narration going on.

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Black Rapid R-strap: Reinforcement

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
As reported here on The Travel Photographer's blog, I'm a fan of the Black Rapid R-straps and have used mine for over a year on my various photo-expeditions. Many participants in my photo-expeditions like and use them as well, however they're all wary about having expensive cameras dangling from their bodies.

One of the common fears is that the Fasten R which attaches the strap to the bottom of the camera's tripod mount gets undone. If that attachment/fastener is not tightly screwed in, it could get undone because as the camera hangs from one's body, it wiggles and swivels around; such movements can loosen the attachment. Naturally, if that were to happen, the camera and lens would fall to the ground with potentially ugly consequences. I make it a habit to check the tightness of the attachment/fastener every now and then, and a couple of times found it to require a turn.

The company produces the newer FastenR-2, but as I don't have it yet, I can't speak to whether it's an improvement or not in that respect.

Since I'm about to travel in the coming few days on my Bhutan Land of the Druk Yul photo-expedition, during which we'll be frenetically photographing the various festivals and rituals, I've decided to adopt the suggestions of many photographers...and tether a length of lanyard to the Canon 1d's eyelet (originally for the optional hand strap). I also replaced the L-shaped Fasten R with a 1/4"x 2" eye bolt from a hardware store. This makes me feel much more comfortable, since should the eye bolt get loose, the lanyard will keep the camera from dropping to the ground.

Does it look classy and elegant? No, but it's good insurance....and no, it doesn't impede my photographing vertically. Well, maybe just a little bit. Another advantage is that I can easily check and tighten the eye bolt (if need be) with one hand as I walk around.

I'm carrying my other camera (5d Mark II) in a Lowepro holster-style bag, so I don't need to retro-fit another Black Rapid strap in the same way. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't use the same method as 5D Mark II doesn't have an eyelet for a handstrap....but necessity is the mother of invention, and I'm bound to come up with a solution.

Naturally, if anyone has a better idea (or simpler), do let me know!

Note: My thanks to Alex Marino who introduced me to an alternative strap called Sun Sniper. However it's similar to the R-Strap, and has the same weak spots.

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Mansi Midha: Kashmir

Photo © Mansi Midha-All Rights Reserved
First things first. I believe if Mansi hadn't been involved with the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali this past month, it would never have succeeded as it did. She was the hidden (and frequently, visible too) energy behind all the arrangements, big and small, that are crucial to the viability of such a complex venture. Mansi's cajoling, threats and perseverance made the Foundry Workshop click, and she deserves ample recognition of this here.

Mansi also happens to be a damn good photographer. I chanced upon her as I was walking out of our small hotel on my way to Manali town, and saw her hard at work editing the beginnings of her project "Aditya" on her laptop; a poignant story of a disabled child and his struggling family.

However, for the purpose of this blog, I highlight Mansi's Srinagar, Kashmir project. Kashmir is a long term project for Mansi, and this is merely its start.

A graduate of the International Center of Photography in New York City, she also graduated with a BA in Communication Design. Currently based in New Delhi, Mansi's photographs have been exhibited in various venues in New York, India and China, and she was awarded a clutch of recognitions for her work.

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POV: Divine Plan

Photo © Rita Castlenuovo/The New York Times
The New Tork Times brings us a rather interesting photo-essay by Rita Castlenuovo, along with an article by Ethan Bronner, which starts like this:

"Of the hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, those who live in unauthorized hilltop outposts like this one, a hardscrabble unpaved collection of 20 trailers, are considered the most dangerous. They are fervent believers that there is a divine plan requiring them to hold this land."

Er...and I am a fervent believer in a divine plan requiring me to occupy a gorgeous $14,000,000 townhouse in the West Village that is not mine.

The caption accompanying the above photograph in Rita Castlenuovo's slideshow Fervent Believers published today in The New York Times would make me laugh, if it wasn't for the repulsive action of this zealot thug and the resultant humiliation of this unfortunate Palestinian woman. As alcohol, wine is anathema to observant Muslims, and having been drenched with wine must've caused her much grief.

The photograph's caption reads:

"A settler tosses wine at a Palestinian woman on Shuhada Street in Hebron. The approach of some settlers towards neighboring Palestinians, especially around Nablus in the north and Hebron in the south, has often been one of contempt and violence.

I've used a boldface to highlight what I call "diluting qualifiers" inserted by whoever is the editor of this caption to ensure that readers should not take from the article that it's all these settlers who frequently (or consistently) "approach" Palestinians with violence and contempt. I also chuckled at the choice of the word "approach"...instead of "commit violent acts or treat with contempt".

Sneaky wordsmithing which many readers will unfortunately not notice...but perfect timing by Castlenuovo.

See the The Practice of Domination on the No Caption Needed blog for a similar opinion.

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The Travel Photographer: GlobalPost

The GlobalPost's Full Frame features photo essays and conversations with photographers in the field, and it has just featured a slideshow of my photographs, along with an audio interview in flash format. The slideshow is titled Unusual Cultures, Unusual Places, and can be seen either by clicking on the arrow in the above image, or by clicking on the link.

GlobalPost has published nearly 3,000 stories, videos and photo galleries since January including numerous in-depth series on a very broad array of major international issues, and have nearly 20 syndication partners who have reached agreements to use GlobalPost content in print, on-air, or online.

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