Berwisata Air Dengan Jetski.

Jetski merupakan kendaraan bermotor yang kemungkinan anda melaju di permukaan air,baik laut, danau, bendungan Dll.sebenarnya kendaraan ini merupakan pengembangan dari speedboat dan keluaran merk dari pabrik kawasaki di tahun70-an.seiring waktu kendaraan ini mengalami penyempurnaan banyak merk besar mengeluarkan produk ini.selain sebagai sarana rekreasi jetski juga digolongkan sebagai olahraga air.

Jetski tidak bisa anda kendarai sendiri tapi kalau anda udah mahir dalam mengendarai jetski ini bisa melakukannya sendiri ,harus di dampingi instrukturnya mengingat laut banyak terdapat laut.salanjutnya kalau anda sudah mampu bisa melakukan di tengah laut sepuasnya sementara instruktur cuma memberi instruksi sambil berboncengan.

lokasi untuk jetski ini lumayan cukup banyak di antaranya di pantai-pantai wisata bali ( kuta,legian dan sebagainya ) untuk wilayah jakarta di ancol,sementara di daerah pulau bangka di pantai tenggiri dan daerah anyer untuk banten.

Ondel-Ondel Budaya Jakarta.

Ondel-ondel adalah kesanian khas dari jakarta.kesenian ondel-ondel ini sudah tidak asing lagi bagi masyarakat betawi penduduk asli jakarta dan masyarakat indonesia pada umumnya.ondel-ondel sendiri sering kita jumpai waktu ada upacara adat betawi seperti acara pengantin,penganten sunat,peresmian gedung dan acara lainnya. Ondel-ondel ini boleh dikatakan boneka raksasa karena boneka ini ukuran tumbuhnya berdiameter 80 cm dan ukuran tingginya sekitar 2,5 meter lumayan besar untuk ukuran boneka.rangka tubuhnya di buat dari bambu sementara wajahnya terbuat dari kayu. Boneka ondel-ondel selalu dibuat sepasang laki-laki dan perempuan.ini mengibaratkan pasangan suami istri.ondel-ondel laki-laki wajahnya di cat merah dengan kumis melintang berjenggot tebal dan cambang.sementara untuk ondel-ondel perempuan wajahnya di cat putih kalu gak kuning,bibir dirias dengan warna merah,bulu mata lentik dan alis lancip.kadang-kadang diberi tahi lalat juga.

Douglas Menuez: The Orphans of Uganda

Douglas Menuez began his career photographing for the Washington Post, then moved to Time, Newsweek, Life, People and Fortune Magazine and many other publications worldwide over the past twenty years.

He’s covered major news stories including the famine in Ethiopia, the destruction of the Amazon, the AIDS crisis, drug wars, presidential campaigns, the Olympics, five SuperBowls and the World Series.

Transcendent Spirit: The Orphans of Uganda follows the journey of 20 orphans who overcame tremendous hardships to form a dance troupe and become cultural ambassadors for their troubled country. They have brought their intense energy and joy to audiences across the US over the past ten years, which have resulted in their support of more than 700 orphans in Uganda. Rising from the extreme poverty and devastation wrought by AIDS and civil war in Uganda to receive standing ovations while touring the best theaters in the US, these exceptional children bring good news from Africa.

For further work from Menuez, go here.

Soundslides Full Screen!

The fullscreen playback Soundslides Plus has just been released in (beta). According to the release notes, the highlights of the new beta release are:

- Full screen playback (Plus only)
- Multiple jpeg image import now available under the Slides tab's "Add image" button
- Re-importing shorter duration audio no longer resets timing points. All timings are preserved now.
- Application now correctly reads the EXIF image rotation data from imported JPEG files and rotates accordingly on import
- Application now creates a .ssproj project file, this file will launch the associated project in Soundslides or Soundslides Plus when double clicked or dragged to the application icon
- Application displays a warning dialog if quit with unsaved changes
- "Clear recent menu" item added to the File menu
- Project folder name now appears in title bar
- Fixed potential compatibility issue with the video plug-in on OS X Leopard
- Improved error handling when importing images and audio

It can be downloaded from here

Thanks!

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Thank you to the 640pixels blog for including The Travel Photographer in its
5 Websites Every Photographer Should Visit Often listing. It puts my blog in very august company.

I thought the above photograph of an Indian woman at a Varanasi shrine, and offering prasad as a gesture of thanks, is appropriate for this post.

My Show-off: Pankawallah

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
This is my second photograph for the Show-Off feature with an example of my personal photography on The Travel Photographer's blog. Click on the photograph to view it larger size. I used Lightroom 2.0 to accentuate the photograph's saturation. It was photographed with a Canon 28-70mm 2.8L at 28mm 1/60 sec at f 7.1

This is Muhammed Jashem, a pankawallah and one of the more colorful caretakers at the Nizzam Uddin dargah, an ancient and popular Muslim shrine in Delhi. The dargahs (there are a few in Delhi) are my favorite haunts for environmental portraiture.

A pankawallah is someone who works a ‘pankah', a large cloth fan on a frame, and in this specific case, fans the dargah's devotees while they're performing their prayers, or listening to qawwali songs. The dargah pankawallah does not expect tips, but gladly accepts if these are offered. Muhammed is also in charge of lighting wood coal for the burning of incense at the shrine.

Here are more of my photographs of Indian Raga.

PDN Photo Annual 2008

Photograph © Shiho Fukada-All Rights Reserved
PDN has done a gorgeous job with its Photo Annual's website. No one will agree with all of the judges' choices, but most of the awards were certainly well deserved.

I'm gratified that Shiho Fukada was recognized for her work on the brothels of Bangladesh, especially since I've often posted the work of this talented New York City-based photographer on The Travel Photographer blog.

Here's PDN Photo Annual 2008

World Press Photo Interviews

World Press Photo has posted 22 interviews with the 2008 (and 2007) award winning photographers, such as Tim Hetherington, Stanley Greene, Brent Stirton, Balzazs Gardi and Vanessa Winship among others.

A very nicely produced feature with a small flash movie as an inset with each photographer's interview, and a loupe (a la Lightroom and Aperture) to magnify details of the photograph being discussed. Nice touch.

WORLD PRESS PHOTO INTERVIEWS

POV: Hug Your Audience

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Mike Fox has an excellent article on Black Star Rising titled Building Your Brand Online, in which he outlines recommendations for photographers and photojournalists -established and emerging- to brand themselves. It's a must-read for those who need reaffirmation that the Internet is the most useful medium for self-marketing.

As the article asserts, branding oneself is a multi-pronged effort; it includes setting up a Facebook or MySpace account, putting up a Flickr site, author a blog, and use the myriad of other tools that are readily available.

There's no doubt in my mind that authoring The Travel Photographer blog was one of the wisest decision I've made. It takes time and effort, but it's certainly worth it. The Travel Photographer blog was an excellent (and cheap) way to publicize my name, my photography work and photo expeditions to an infinitely larger audience than the one originally reached through my website. The blog effectively allowed me to hug my audience, and each post I write maintains that hug.

I also compound the reach of my blog by crafting my periodic email newsletters that carry news of my photography projects and photo expeditions. Email newsletters are phenomenal tools to directly reach your contacts. My mailing list went from a handful of names at its outset to currently over 500 registered members....and more join every week. This in itself is a key target audience...and the newsletters allow me to hug that audience.

So my advice to established and (especially) emerging photographers is to create and maintain a blog...it doesn't have to be updated daily, but it must be well crafted and interesting...and weekly posts are perfectly acceptable. Blogging about one's work and describing how a specific photograph was made is always interesting to your audience. If one relies on the passive approach of just having a website, hoping and waiting for eyeballs...the wait will be long.

However, if one starts a blog, it must be updated on a consistent basis. Posting on an erratic or irregular basis defeats the purpose of maintaining a regular line of communications (aka the hug) with your target audience, who should be anticipating your forthcoming blog post...very similar to the arrival of a magazine in one's mailbox.

Dispatches Magazine

Dispatches magazine which debuted on Monday, is edited by journalist and author Mort Rosenblum and photographer Gary Knight. It's a quarterly compilation of analyses of world events, with each issue grouped around a theme and featuring the work of well known journalists and authors.

From its website:

"Dispatches took root on an olive farm in Provence, flourished on a Kashmiri houseboat, and was toasted into reality with champagne at the East Gate of Angkor Wat. Its founders are a photographer who believes his lens should not filter out humanity, a reporter who feels real news can only be seen from up close in its historical perspective, and a pharmaceutical executive who thinks entrepreneurs should do more than make money.

Mort Rosenblum and Gary Knight shaped a rough concept after covering badly understood conflicts together in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. At a photo workshop, Simba Gill told Knight of his own idea for a magazine. After an hour-long conversation in Paris, the three partners established dispatches with no more than a handshake. They hired Amber Maitland, a multilingual administrative assistant who they dubbed Girl Wonder, and worked out details over long crab lunches in a pounding monsoon near Danang, Vietnam."

Hidden In Plain Sight: A Benefit Event

Kloie Picot is inviting attendance to Hidden In Plain Sight: A Benefit Event for Iraqi & Palestinian Children on May 25, 2008 at the BLISS Livehouse (148 Sec 4 HsinyiRoad, Taipei, Taiwan). The event's objective is to establish a Community Learning Center in the Middle East, and providing refugees with work related skills and training workshops.

The following photojournalists have donated photographs to the event: Abed Omar Qusini, David Bathgate, Gabor Treveli, Kloie Picot, Katharina Hesse, Laura El-Tantawy, Liz Coetzee, Lisa Hogben, Ricardo Garcia, Rony Zakaria, Paolo Picones, Susetta Bozzi, Tewfic El-Sawy, And Tobie Openshaw.

Canon Rebates

Canon's 2008 spring rebate program may be late, but they seem substantial enough to offset the recent across-the-board price hikes. The rebate program--instant this time around--will be effective May 18-July 19. Since they're instant, there are no forms or coupons to clip.

Rebates, which are for DSLRs and accessories, range from $300 for an EOS 5D and $200 for an EOS 40D. Maybe, just maybe...this will clear the shelves for a new 5D II????

Camera Bags Part Two

In my previous post on Camera Bags, I neglected to mention that while in the field, I've opted for the Lowepro Street & Field belt system to carry my cameras without straining my back or shoulders. Yes, it's a gunslinger look, but I've used it since I photographed the unforgettable Maha Kumbh Mela in 2001, and it proved to be a winner for me.

I use the Lowepro Toploader 75 AW for either of my two cameras; the one I plan to use the most frequently dangling from my right shoulder, and the back-up in the holster bag. The Toploader is attached to a Lowepro Street & Field Deluxe Padded Waistbelt to which I also attach a pouch for my digital recorder.

If and when my right shoulder complains, I'll get a second Toploader and I'll really look like a gunslinger.

Note: As my readers know, this blog is ad-free so I'm not bound to plug any brand over the other. It just so happens that I've used Lowepro for quite a while, and I'm satisfied with its products' reliability and design. Tamrac is another company that has an equally good product line. It's basically a matter of personal preference.

Mali: Festival au Desert

Photograph © Kevin Moloney/NY Times-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times brings us another world music-related feature with its Mali: Festival Au Desert slideshow. There's no narration in the slideshow (but some good riffs), but further information is available in the accompanying article authored by photographer Kevin Moloney.

The first festival was started in January 2001, and is held every year in Essakane, two hours from Timbuktu in Mali. This year, the festival was held on the 10th, 11th and 12th of January. The festival has its origin in the large traditional Tuareg festivities, such as Takoubelt in Kidal and Temakannit in Timbuktu. These festivities were used as gathering points for the exchange of information among different communities. Originally, there were songs and Tuareg dances, poetry, camel rides, games, etc.

The 2009 Festival au Desert will be held 8-9 and 10 January.