Short Hiatus

The Travel Photographer Blog will enjoy a brief respite from daily blogging....probably a week or so.

Frequent readers know that I'm leading a two-week photo-expedition to Bali starting July 15, so I'll be busy with its last minute arrangements, travel and will sneak in a few days of downtime.

See you soon!

Tewfic

Gilles Perrin: Tibet

Copyright © Zone Zero/Photography by Gilles Perrin
Gilles Perrin was born in Paris, and has a master in photography. Since 1972 he works as an author-photographer, specializing in large format photography (4x5" and 8x10"), and in panoramic and panoscopic cameras. He also works in commercial photography in the fields of still life, portraits, industrial reportage. He taught photography at Paris VIII University for over 20 years.

Gilles traveled to Tibet in 2004 and 2006. He tells us that he witnessed the impact of Chinese and western tourism in many ways, particularly with the introduction of the train Beijing-Lhasa, on the Tibetan culture. The Chinese colonization is evident in both cities and countryside, bringing with it the development of increasing transit infrastructure.

The traditional ways of Tibet so cherished in the western psyche will eventually die out. The economic and tourist exploitation of Tibet will obliterate its ancestral cultures, and will impose a new political and cultural order. These social, artistic and religious traditions will degenerate into folkloric shows organized for Chinese and “western foreigners”.

It is for these reasons that Gilles Perrin wanted to record the Tibetans' way of life before it disappeared altogether. For this series, he used a 4”x5” folding camera on a tripod and had his subjects pose for him. All photographs were taken at a low shutter speed (from one second to 1/8 of a second).

A remarkable and a timeless piece of work, the photographs of Tibet are part of an attractive flash-based slideshow produced by the incomparable Zone Zero.

Gilles Perrin's Tibet

NY Times: Bali

Image Copyright © Frank Pinckers for The New York Times
The New York Times decided to publish this mini-feature on Bali in a slideshow, presumably because it's currently high season for tourism. Quite a few photographers believe that the newspaper's weekly Travel Section is aimed at consumer photography, ie. how to take better vacation snaps of sunsets, etc. I don't go that far, since it also publishes wonderful incisive travel photo essays with remarkable work from first-class creative photographers...but I suppose features like this one are designed to sell space for travel ads.

Unfortunately, this feature on Bali doesn't qualify as anything much. The only reason I'm posting it here is to show what photography without soul and direction looks like. I can't blame the photographer at all...it seems that this is an editorial decision. This feature is aimed at individuals who join package tours, stay in luxury hotels and like shopping.

To each his own....

Bali

POV: Quick Tip

Popular Photography magazine (the web editions) usually has a plethora of reheated tips and techniques...but in light of my forthcoming Bali Photo Expedition, I though this one was both timely and relevant.

In the article Conquer the World (How to bring home pictures the way top travel photographers do), Jad Davenport writes:

"The greatest peril in travel photography is also the easiest to avoid -- the cliche. When asked adventure photographer Cory Rich how he freshens up familiar subjects, he said, "I shoot 360 degrees around my subjects, and then I hold the camera up overhead and shoot down. When I'm done with that, I lie on my back and shoot up at them."

Peter Guttman has another trick. I watched him set his battered Nikon on autofocus and self-timer, then clip it to a rickety tripod. He extended it out over the bow of the ship as it crunched through ice for a shot of the ship that only a puffin could take.

As I expect to photograph numerous religious festivals and celebrations in Bali, the "360 degrees" tip is very relevant. The frenetic activities at such events will surround me, and the most interesting action may not always be the one that's happening in front of me, but along the peripheries.

Susana Raab: Mongolia

Image Copyright © Susana Raab- All Rights Reserved
Susana Raab is a photojournalist based in Washington DC whose work regularly appears on the pages of the New York Times. Her work has received recognition from PDN, the Camera Club of New York, the White House News Association, the Ernst Haas/Golden Light Awards as well as the Sante Fe Center.

Her latest work, a feature on Aveiro (a village in Portugal) appeared on the pages of the New York Times, however having visited her website, I chose her feature on Mongolia. It's a mix of travel and editorial style photographs...as Susana chose not to add captions to her photographs, I can only guess that some of the latter images must have been made in orphanages and hospitals.

Susana Raab

LA Times: A Step Back In Time, Cuba

Gail Fisher for The Los Angeles Times-All Rights Reserved
Here's another multimedia feature from The Los Angeles Times. This one is on Cuba, and the photographs and narration are by Gail Fisher, who's the Senior Photo Editor for the newspaper.

Gail has spent the past twenty years of her career traveling extensively throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South and Central America covering social issues, and has won numerous awards.

I expected much more from such a renowned photographer/editor, but the feature verges on a 'ho-hum' collection of photographs of Cuba that any photographer without Gail's experience and access could have easily captured. A few photographs stand out (like the one above), but the large majority are pedestrian. Although Cuba receives over 2,000,000 tourists a year, only 40,000 are from the United States and are generally not tourists but journalists and human rights staff, so who is the target of this consumer-oriented travel feature...our Canadian neighbors?

As Gail says, Cuba has a legendary mystique which makes it a great tourist destination. Yes, we know and most of us want to go! As I wrote in an earlier post, how can anyone justify political isolation, impose economic sanctions and literally prevent its citizens to visit this enchanting island because of trumped up political ideology is beyond comprehension.

Here's Gail Fisher's A Step Back In Time, Cuba

LA Times: Uganda

Francine Orr for The Los Angeles Times-All Times Reserved
I don't read The Los Angeles Times often, but it is rapidly joining the ranks of the daily newspapers that offer multimedia slideshows from top photojournalists on a variety of topics. This post features Horror In Uganda, a four part slideshow photographed and narrated by Francine Orr.

Francine is a photographer at the Los Angeles Times since 1999. She traveled and worked extensively in Asia and the Pacific, and in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Angola, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has received numerous awards for her photography and writing.

Uganda has been home to some of the more gruesome atrocities in modern African history since its independence in 1962, particularly under Idi Amin, but since 1987 things have consistently improved. A major concern in the northern part of the country, is the Lord's Resistance Army, which although now appears to consist of less than two thousand combatants, the government has been unable to end the insurgency to date. The LRA have been known to kidnap children, and forced to become child soldiers, porters and sex slaves.

I found the last part of the series, The LRA's Victims, to have the most powerful and compelling, but disturbing, imagery.

Here's Francine Orr's Horror In Uganda

David duChemin: Kashmir

Image Copyright © David duChemin -All Rights Reserved
I chanced upon the glorious travel photography website of David duChemin, who has travelled and photographed in Russia, Peru, Ecuador, France, the U.K., Haiti, Ethiopia, DRC, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, India, Nepal, and across North America.

Specializing in travel photography and photographing children, the vulnerable and oppressed, David has a bachelor's degree in children and youth leadership and a lifetime of working with children and families in education, social work and recreational settings. A multiple award winner, he has photographed for a growing list of commercial and non-profit groups.

David's statement on his website says: "Anyone can take a picture of poverty; it's easy to focus on the dirt and hurt of the poor. It's much harder - and much more needful - to pry under that dirt and reveal the beauty and dignity of people that, but for their birth into a place and circumstance different from our own, are just like ourselves.

Have a look at David's Kashmir gallery, which I found to the best among his other excellent galleries.

What The Duck

Courtesy of What The Duck

Crusades?

Image Copyright Scott Nelson/World Picture Network, for the New York Times
From the New York Times' feature of today, Baquba's Deadly Houses

The caption reads:

During the operation, Specialist Paul Goodyear wore a headband bearing a passage from Psalm 91: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust."

This reminds me of the green headband with Qura'nic script worn by some of the Islamic fighters-insurgents as a religious talisman.

It also brings to mind what Georges Bush said on September 16, 2001:

"And we understand. And the American people are beginning to understand. This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while."

SnapVillage: Microstock

SnapVillage, empowered by Corbis, announced the beta opening of a fresh, interactive and innovative online marketplace for user-generated photography at www.snapvillage.com. The new website has no membership fees and is now accepting submissions from photographers anywhere in the world and offering image licensing in the United States.

SnapVillage’s pricing structure claims to give photographers greater control and flexibility in managing and maximizing their photography and income. "The SnapVillage ‘Pick Your Own Price’ model gives photographers the ability to set image price levels at five increments of $1, $5, $10, $25 and $50. Photographers are able to change prices on their pictures at any time. SnapVillage does not have any type of exclusivity agreements and pays a royalty rate of 30 percent across the board for all flat price image sales, and 30 cents a download on all subscriptions sales. All photographer payments are made via PayPal."

Working photographers will see this as further evidence that their livelihood is under threat.

For further details: SnapVillage

Aina Photo

From Aina Photo:

Aina Photo, the first Afghan photojournalism school, is currently is in the stage of creating a world class photo-agency for Afghan photojournalists to be presented in Perpignan festival in September.

Aina Photo is in need of assistance from the international community to help its Afghan photographers with image editing, caption and keyword correction. It would like to have the international volunteers work in Kabul. While it doesn't provide a salary or airfares, it will provide the volunteers accommodation and food for as long as they stay. In return, volunteers will get experience with a internationally recognised photo agency, and will have an opportunity to help out Afghan photojournalists.

Another option is to have volunteers work from home. Aina can provide them with access to its database and they can edit and correct from their own country. Since the current security situation and lack of financial support from Aina may lead some people to choose not to travel to Afghanistan that option may be favored by some.

Either way Aina Photo is in great need of assistance, so if anyone in the industry is interested in coming to Kabul to work at the school, or work some hours per week from their own country, please get in contact with Travis Beard Chief Editor at the earliest. The school wants to raise Afghan photojournalist up to international standards, but cannot do this without help from the global community.

If interested, contact: Travis Beard Chief Editor Aina Photo, Aina Media Centre Malik Asghar (Crossroads Next to Ministry of Economy), Kabul, Afghanistan.

Aina Photo

Miami Herald: Latin American Hip Hop

Image Copyright © Noelle Theard-All Rights Reserved
The Miami Herald just produced a brilliant multimedia feature on the hip-hop culture in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. The feature is part of a larger many-layered and equally brilliant feature titled A Rising Voice: Afro-Latin Americans which examines social and racial tensions in Nicaragua, Cuba, Honduras (just listen to the beat of the Garifuna music!), Dominican Republic and Brazil.

The Latin American Hip Hop feature is a Soundslides production, with the photographs of Noelle Theard, a Miami-based photojournalist, whose talented lenswork and great sense of color/movement allows us to enter the hip hop world in these Latin American countries. The able narration is by Alvaro Cuello who describes for us how hip-hop creates a cultural bond above race and social class.

A highly recommended multimedia feature, here's Miami Herald's Latin American Hip Hop.

Noelle Theard's website is here

POV: Full Time vs Part Time

Much has been written and said on what constitutes a professional photographer (in contrast to an amateur). The common definition of a “professional photographer” is someone who makes most of his income from photography, be it sales of photographs in print or in digital form.

Although this definition may sound sensible, I disagree with it on many levels. For one thing, it's a minority of photographers (especially at this time of flux in the industry) who derive all or most of their income from the profession of photography. The majority have jobs or careers that pay for their photography. Another reason is that many people consider 'professional' and 'amateur' to be synonymous with 'serious photographer' and 'photographer for fun'. The former implies quality work, while the second doesn't...and is often not the case. I also abhor the term 'hobbyist' which I hear being used in Britain.

I much prefer the terms 'full time photographer' (or 'working photographer') and 'part time photographer' which are more precise definitions. The quality of the work also matters a lot, and we all have seen work by so-called 'pros' that doesn't hold a candle to what an 'amateur' produces. The advent of photo sharing websites such as Flickr proves this very point. The amount of top quality photography on Flickr is nothing short of astounding, and these images are not all generated by working photographers, but by part-timers.

One of the gripes that I hear from working photographers is that while many part timers are good enough to make income from their work, they either sell it at below market prices, or even give it out for free....and that destroys the photography market. The part timers, on the other hand, make the point that they need to publish their photographs at whatever price (or none) to get recognition....especially since they feel shut out by long established full time photographers who have the contacts, the marketing, the track record, etc.

It is a dilemma...and many full timers will disagree with this, but the part timers are justified provided they get paid something, whatever that is. Since I believe in free market forces, I accept that I may lose a sale because another photographer (whether a full timer or part timer or beginner) has similar imagery at a lower price.

Oh, and why did I choose this photograph of this elderly Rajasthani in Jaipur for this week's POV? Well, it was photographed about 9 years ago as I started to take photography seriously, and using a Canon Elan IIe and a cheap Canon zoom...the hallmarks of an "beginner". It sold for various travel catalogs and brochures, and that gave me the start I needed.