Brazza In Congo

Photo ©James Estrin/The New York Times-All Rights Reserved.The New York Times just featured a review of the exhibits "Brazza in Congo" and “Brazza: A Symbol for Humanity” that are being held in Manhattan. These are the kind of exhibits that capture my imagination, particularly since one of my favorite historical figures is Sir Richard Burton, the British...

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The Guardian's Greensdale: Circumcision Photos Outrage

Roy Greensalde is Professor of Journalism at London’s City University and has been a media commentator since 1992, most notably for The Guardian newspaper. In his column Outrage at Circumcision Pictures appearing this morning on the Guardian newspaper's website, Mr Greenslade has endorsed the position I've taken on the issue of publishing photographs...

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POV: Why Aren't You Shooting Multimedia?

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved.Over at Black Star Rising, Stanley Leary, to the understandable chagrin of many videographers, has posted his opinion that still images to which audio has been added can be more effective than video. His opinion is summarized by his following points: * Nearly 70 percent of the audience learns visually;...

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Julie Aucoin: Travelography

Photo ©Julie Aucoin-All Rights Reserved.Following the unpleasantness of the subject matter of my POV: And The Outrage post of two days ago, it's a relief to feature Julie Aucoin's travel photography on The Travel Photographer blog.Julie who's based in Nevada, describes herself as a passionate photographer, an adventurous traveler and experienced stage...

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My Work: Katha'kali

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved.Here's my Katha'kali gallery...images from a private photo-shoot at a Kathakali school in Thirssur during the Theyyam of Malabar Photo~Expedition. I plan to create a multimedia slideshow of these and other Katha'kali images shortly.I scheduled the private photo-shoot because I'd had the experience of photographing...

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POV: And The Outrage Continues

The onward march of the tone-deaf myopic lemmings continues! The National Press Photographers Association has announced that Andrea Bruce of the Washington Post has been awarded second place in the International News Story with her photo essay on a young girl in Kurdistan being circumcised.Readers of this blog will recall reading the reasons for my revulsion at this photo essay, which I expressed here and here. The NPAA's contest judges now join The Washington Post editors (who...

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New EOS Rebel T1i DSLT

Canon U.S.A. has introduced a new addition to its Rebel lineup, the EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR camera, the first in the Rebel line to feature full HD video capture. The new Canon Rebel T1i SLR incorporates some of the technologies from the EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II models. With a 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor and HD video capture, along with the DIGIC...

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NPPA: Best of Photojurnalism 2

Image © Sigit Pamungkas-ReutersThe National Press Photographers Association is continuing to announce winners of ‘The Best of Photojournalism 2009’ award in various categories, one of which is Enterprise that is described by NPAA as "A photograph of a ‘found situation’ that features strong human interest elements, or a fresh view of an everyday scene....

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One Shot: Arun Bhat

Photo ©Arun Bhat-All Rights Reserved.Arun Bhat is a travel photographer and writer based in Bangalore. He has been traveling all over India for past five years, especially the mountain regions, photographing the country's diverse culture and landscapes. He's also the author of The Painted Stork travel blog, and rides a Royal Enfield Bullet Thunderbird...

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John Kenny: Africa

Photo ©John Kenny-All Rights Reserved.Here's a treat for those who love Africa and black & white portraiture! John Kenny is a British photographer whose work with remote African societies is recently receiving substantial press coverage. Imagery from the previous 2007 exhibition, 'Light, Land and Water: Beauty in Africa', has been published extensively...

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PDNedu Student Photo Contest

PDN has announced the results of its Student Photo Contest which saw more than 1,350 submissions. The judges were Jen Bekman, David Laidler and Jill Waterman.The Travel category was won by Alessandro Penso from Italy, The Fashion|Portraiture by Kimberly Halverson of Minnesota, the Documentary by Michael J. Mullady of California, Fine Art by Felicia...

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NPAA: Best of Photojournalism

Photo ©Tomasz Gudzowaty/Courtesy NPAA-All Rights Reserved.The National Press Photographers Association just announced the winners of ‘The Best of Photojournalism 2009’ award in eight categories: Natural Environment, Sports Picture Story, Olympics Feature, Olympics Action, Sports Feature, Sports Action, Conceptual Photographic Illustration and The Art...

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One Shot: Fabiano Busdraghi

Photo ©Fabiano Busdraghi-All Rights Reserved.I haven't posted a One Shot feature in quite a while, and Fabiano's work in Antarctica seemed just right for it.Fabiano Busdraghi is a Milan-born Italian photographer. He has a master in Physics at the University of Pisa, and another in Oceanography and Meteorology at the University Pierre et Marie Curie...

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POV: Gulf Photo Plus

I'm pleased to see that Gulf Photo Plus is set for March 30 to April 4, 2009 in Dubai. This event promises to be an exciting venue for Middle Eastern photography in an area that, frankly, is not known for being in the forefront of visual arts and photojournalism.However, what makes me really glad is to see that my friend Asim Rafiqui is scheduled to participate in the event by giving a workshop titled The Working Photographer-A Primer. The four and half days with Asim will concentrate...

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Report: Nagas, Hidden Hill People of India

As promised in an earlier post, I dropped by the Rubin Museum of Art yesterday to see its new photographic exhibit: Nagas: Hidden Hill People of India by Pablo Bartholomew. Pablo Bartholomew is an independent photographer based in New Delhi, who worked as a photojournalist recording societies in conflict and transition. His works have been published...

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New Canon 500D?

1001 Noisy Cameras reports of rumors/buzz that a new Canon 500D Digital Rebel will probably be announced on March 25. The specs are a 15-megapixel sensor, full high definition video recording, ISO 12800, DiGiC 4, and 900k+ dots LCD.Do I care? Not really. I've had such great results from my new Canon 5D Mark II that I'm deliberating whether to buy a...

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POV: Simple or Flash?

Photos/Layout ©Anna Wolf-All Rights ReservedI recently read an interesting article on Photopreneur which deals with what catches the eyes of photo editors.The point made by the article reaffirms my belief that the simpler the website the better. With photographers' websites so easy and cheap to create, how do photo editors choose which online portfolio...

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British Museum: Between Assam & Tibet

I neglected to mention that during my visit to the British Museum a few weeks ago, I dropped by its exhibit Between Assam & Tibet, which displayed a collection of cultural artifacts and photographs of two tribes from the remote Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, the Apatani and the Monpa.The Apatani live in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh, and are...

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NY Times: Inside Peru's Cocaine War

Photo ©Moises Saman for The New York TimesIn a very well produced slideshow (but non multimedia), the New York Times featured Moises Saman's photographs of the Peruvian military's war against drug producing and trafficking in Inside Peru's Cocaine War. In a remote corners of the Andes, Peru's army is battling a resurgent rebel faction of the Shining...

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liveBooks: Art Wolfe: New Business Model

liveBooks, the company which provides custom photography websites has featured an interview with Art Wolfe, described as a conservation and fine art photographer, who is reinventing his business model by selling his stock images directly through his liveBooks website and a Photoshelter account linked to it. The quality of the recording is not that good, as it's recorded in the open air but one gets the sense how Art Wolfe decided a few years ago that he had to diversify away...

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Theyyams: Incarnate Deities

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved.As the regulars readers of this blog know, the Theyyams of Malabar Photo Expedition was a resounding success in terms of both imagery and logistics, but who (or what) are really the Theyyams?The term Theyyam is the corruption of the Malayalam word Daivam or deity. It may also be derived from the Sanskrit word...

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Theyyams of Malabar: Victoria Olson

Photo ©Victoria Olson-All Rights Reserved. A sand bagger on the shores of Mangalore, KaranatakaThe Theyyam of Malabar Photo Expedition was joined by a number of talented full-time and part time photographers, whose primary objective was to photograph the Theyyam religious rituals as well as the Kathakali dance-drama, both indigenous to Kerala.This...

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William Dalrymple: Nine Lives

By pure chance I landed on the website of one of my favorite authors, William Dalrymple, whose new book – Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India – will be published by Bloomsbury in October. I've copied this excerpt of the accompanying blurb from the Amazon UK website: "Nine people, nine lives. Each one taking a different religious path,...

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2009 Sony World Photography Awards

© Wojciech Grzedzinski (Courtesy Sony World Photography Awards 2009)The Independent featured winners of the 2009 Sony World Photography Awards as revealed yesterday. Each of the photographers on the list, along with the runners-up in the professional categories, will be exhibited at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony at the Palais des Festivals...

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Theyyams of Malabar: Rosemary Sheel

Photo ©Rosemary Sheel-All Rights Reserved. After the ritual, this Theyyam is no longer inhabited by the goddess. Pullikunnu, KeralaThe Theyyam of Malabar Photo Expedition was joined by a number of talented full-time and part time photographers, whose primary objective was to photograph the Theyyam religious rituals as well as the Kathakali dance-drama,...

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Smithsonian 6th Annual Photo Contest

Photo ©Wahid Adnan-All Rights ReservedThe Smithsonian Magazine selected the finalists from their 6th Annual Photo Contest. There are ten for each of the five categories; People, Americana, Altered Imnages, Natural World and Travel. From these 50, five category winners and a grand prize winner will be chosen. Viewers can determine the winners by voting...

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Theyyams of Malabar: Alia Refaat

Photo ©Alia Refaat-All Rights Reserved. Final makeup touches on a Theyyam, Thrikannad Temple, North KeralaThe Theyyam of Malabar Photo Expedition was joined by a number of talented full-time and part time photographers, whose primary objective was to photograph the Theyyam religious rituals as well as the Kathakali dance-drama, both indigenous to Kerala.This...

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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,...

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Theyyams of Malabar: Beverly A. Sanchez

Photo ©Beverly A. Sanchez-All Rights Reserved. An entranced Theyyam approaching the devotees, Kasaragod, North KeralaThe Theyyam of Malabar Photo Expedition was joined by a number of talented full-time and part time photographers, whose primary objective was to photograph the Theyyam religious rituals as well as the Kathakali dance-drama, both indigenous...

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RMA: Nagas, Hidden Hill Tribes

The Rubin Museum of Art in New York City's Chelsea area has just announced a new photographic exhibit: Nagas: Hidden Hill People of India by Pablo Bartholomew running from March 13 to September 21, 2009. The accompanying blurb reads:Residing in the low Himalayan hills of northeastern India and Myanmar (Burma), the Nagas are a people faced with both...

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Holi: The Festival of Colors

Photo ©REUTERS/K.K. Arora-All Rights ReservedI've been waiting for the Boston Globe's The Big Picture to feature its choices of large format images of Holi, and I didn't have to wait long.Holi, which usually falls in the later part of February or March, is a traditional festival celebrated in India and elsewhere such as Nepal and Bangladesh. The main...

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Robert van Koesveld: Thaipusam in Penang

Photo ©Robert van Koesveld.-All Rights ReservedRobert van Koesveld's biography tells us he has set aside “at least the next 2 years” from his career as a psychotherapist to focus on his crafts of photography, making and traveling.Considering himself an image-maker rather than a picture-taker, Robert has worked with alternative processes and darkroom...

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WHNPA's Picture Story Award

I've just learned that The Washington Post photographer Andrea Bruce was named 2009 Photographer of the Year by the White House News Photographers Association for her recently published feature on female circumcision in Iraqi Kurdistan.I already expressed my shock at The Washington Post's decision to publish Bruce's photographs showing the face of...

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Manuel Librodo: Faces of Rajasthan

Photo ©Manuel Libres Librodo, Jr.-All Rights ReservedManuel "Manny" Libres Librodo, Jr. is a photographer from the Philippines, who teaches Psychology and History to high school students in Bangkok, Thailand. He professes to "shooting from the heart" and self-describes his work as lyrical. Passionate about travel, he started photography about six years...

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Bob Krist: Shooting Locally

Photo ©Bob Krist-All Rights ReservedDo we hang up our cameras and wait out the recession? Take up another passion till the economy turns the corner ? No, that would be like an athlete giving up practices in the off season… You’re going to get so far out of “shape” that you’ll find your photographic chops will get really rusty. No, the answer is to...

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Theyyams of Malabar: Verdict Part Two

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedIn my previous post, I gave my verdict on my Theyyams of Malabar Photo-Expedition from the logistics/objectives standpoints. This post is about what worked and didn't work as far as my photography was concerned.As I much prefer natural light, I seldom use flash on any of my travel assignments or group expeditions,...

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Theyyams of Malabar: Verdict

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedIt is my custom to write on what worked and what didn't following each of my photo-expeditions. It's certainly a subjective exercise, and many readers may peruse this post and conclude it's just a self-pat on the back. It may well be that, but it's well deserved in my view...and that's what's important to me...

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World Press Photo 2009 (via Lens Culture)

The World Press Photo 2009 awards required its jury to review and screen over 97,000 entries, and choose just 64 winning images (or series) representing the best visual reporting of 2008's global events. Quite a monumental task considering the effort I put in reviewing my own photographs following one of my photo-expeditions.The high-resolution slideshow...

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