Frans Lanting: LIFE

Here's a seamless, smooth and utterly professional multimedia production entitled LIFE: A Journey Through Time with the gorgeous photography of Frans Lanting.

Lanting is hailed as one of the great nature photographers of our time, and his photographs appear in books, magazines, and exhibitions around the world. He documented wildlife and nature from the Amazon to Antarctica.

This is museum-quality multimedia, with "new age" type of music by Philip Glass and you'll need time to savor its many ingredients. It's not travel nor editorial photography but I found it so well produced that I had to mention it here on TTP. I'm sure it'll be a favorite for years to come.

Rick Sammon & On-Location Portraits

Photograph © Rick Sammon-All Rights Reserved
Rick Sammon is a prolific travel photographer, author and instructor who has just written an interesting article in Layers magazine titled The Art of the On-Location Portraits.

This sentence caught my eye: "For me, the key to getting a good on-location portrait is to fall in love—photographically—with the subject. That’s exactly what I did when I saw this young woman. Out of the 50 or so people who lived in this particular village, she caught my eye immediately.

I couldn't agree more. The key to a good portrait (in fact, I'd argue it's the same whether on location or in a studio) is to establish a rapport with your subject. I've posted about this very thing in June last year in a post titled POV: Better Travel Photography . The foundation of successful environmental portraiture and ethnographic photography is the establishment of a relationship between the photographer and subjects....it's a no-brainer. When I lead my photo tours, I always sound like a broken record, and the mantra is "connect with your subject(s)...befriend them and start a conversation". Not only will the photographers make much better photographs, but they'll have background stories to go along with them. You'll be surprised at how long these memories stay with you.

So yes, absolutely...do what Rick Sammon says, fall in love photographically with your subject!!!

Via David duChemin's excellent Pixelated Image blog

IHT: The Virgins of Albania

© Johan Spanner for The New York Times-All Rights Reserved
Some two weeks ago on the pages of TTP, I was critical of a New York Times slideshow on the Virgins of Albania, and how I was disappointed that the 6 photographs photo essay -erroneously described as multimedia- had no audio, and could not do justice in telling the life stories of these interesting women.

So I was excited to find the International Herald Tribune's audio slideshow on the Albanian Virgins, and initially pleased that the gods had seemingly read my post. But no...they hadn't. The audio slideshow was almost as disappointing as the New York Times' silent photo essay, and such a classic example of how not to produce a multimedia slideshow, that I would use it in my classes of Multimedia Storytelling.

While adding narration to the slideshow was a step in the right direction, it didn't add sufficient depth/texture to the subject matter. The narration is by Dan Bilefsky, the writer of the original article, and he more or less reads it aloud. Yes, there are more photographs in the IHT production than in the NYT one...but the heavy-handed overuse of the Ken Burns effect is irritating and meaningless.

I don't mean to be disparaging to the producers, but a monotonous voice reading off a script, while the slideshow is punctuated by unwarranted Ken Burns effects, is not good multimedia. For one thing, the Ken Burns effect ought to be used sparingly, and used to bring the viewers' focus to something in particular...to emphasize a detail, for instance.

The second problem is also easy to fix: I can read the accompanying article which has the facts, so why have the writer narrate what he wrote? Why not have the Albanian Virgins speak instead, and have the writer translate what they said in a voice-over? At least there'd be some dynamism in the piece.

Ah, well...certainly a step in the right direction, but still a waste of a good idea. Third time lucky, NYT/IHT??

Microsoft ProPhoto Summit

PDN Pulse reports on the 3rd annual Microsoft Pro Photo Summit held July 9-10, 2008. This is a two-day event that brings together renowned professional photographers and industry leaders on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington, to discuss the top issues affecting the industry.

Microsoft Pro Photo Summit

Claudia Wiens: Egypt

Image © Claudia Wiens-All Rights Reserved
Claudia Wiens has been based in Cairo, Egypt as a freelance photographer since 2000, and immersed herself in this populous Arab and Islamic nation, getting as close as possible to its people. She's represented by Getty Images

Claudia attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop (FPW) in Mexico City, and I initially met her while lunching over a few tacos near the workshop's center. She was wearing a red t-shirt advertising "SAVO", an Egyptian detergent that I remembered being used years ago when I lived there. I asked her if she had visited Egypt, and she shocked my socks off by replying in flawless Egyptian that she actually lived there in a neighborhood I knew well, and this was said in as good a pronunciation as mine, and truth be told, it sounded less rusty! We continued most of our conversation in Egyptian...it was certainly fun to be speaking my native language with a German in Mexico City.

Her project in Mexico City for FPW was documenting the female professional wrestlers known as luchadoras, a project which earned her much attention and compliments.

She has recently published some of her work on the Luchadoras on the BBC website.

If I'm not mistaken, the above photograph by Claudia is of the famed Cairene coffeehouse known as "El-Feshawy" where I had my first (and probably last) sheesha or hubbly-bubbly water pipe. If any of my readers have nostalgic memories of Cairo, have a look at Claudia's photo essay on Groppi.

Tours around Tbilisi (9): Birtvisi Canyonland

Tours around Tbilisi
Tbilisi offers a wide range of 1- day tours.
Georgian Tourism Association (GTA) has tested some of them.

Please note: GTA does not sell tours, the service is for information only and we do not take responsibility for any inconvenience that people might encounter during the proposed tours.

FOR GUIDE SERVICE & BOOKING CONTACT GTA-MEMBER COMPANIES

Tour 9: Birtvisi Canyon & Fortress

Hike with optional Canyoning in a true Lord-of-the-rings’- setting!

Description
Hundreds of rocks, some more than hundred meters high and crowned with remains of an old fortress peak through a forested Canyonland, that you’d never expect to find yourself in at the beginning of the walk.

The walk options from the Canyon base are whether on the left side (following the dried out creek upstream) or on the right (just left from the big wall dominating the Canyon base) and then up. If you don’t feel like searching your way, take a local guide.

Adventure option
If you take the complete right and follow the river downstream, a small Canyoning experience awaits you, with nice toboggans and pools once the water reappears. (Good boots and a small rope may prove useful here). Follow the river to find yourself back on the road near village Tbisi (2-3 hours).

Camping
The Canyon base is an ideal place to pitch your tent and stay for a night or two. Bring all equipment.

The place is quite popular with locals (a chance for unforgettable evenings!) but if you want your tranquility it is easy to find a nice campspot a few hundred meters up the Canyon.

The Canyonland of Birtvisi is definitely one of the most spectacular hikes in the vicinity of Tbilisi.

How to get there
With own transport or Taxi, via Asureti and Jorgiashvili, to Tbisi (60km, 1h 10min drive). When you see the earthen dam of Algeti Reservoir follow the road that goes up and after approx. 200m turn right on small track and drive up to the houses and park your car there. At the end of the forth house a path goes up at the end of a fence. Cross a meadow and enter the woodland, follow the clearly marked path along the ridge.

Best season
Possible almost the whole year.
In summer: start your walk early!

Difficulty
Moderate (good sense of orientation is required)

Duration
approx 1 hour to reach the Canyon Base, 1,5-2 hours for left top (return), 30min-1hour for right top (return), 2-3 hours for Canyoning

More information
see Peter Nasmyth: “Walking in the Caucasus”

Tours around Tbilisi (10): Armazis Khevi

Tours around Tbilisi
Tbilisi offers a wide range of 1- day tours.
Georgian Tourism Association (GTA) has tested some of them.
Please note:
GTA does not sell tours, the service is for information only and we do not take responsibility for any inconvenience that people might encounter during the proposed tours.
FOR GUIDE SERVICE & BOOKING CONTACT GTA-MEMBER COMPANIES


Tour 10: Armazis Khevi

Hike through a beautiful forest gorge up to the ruins of Armazi Fortress

Description
Cross the railway line directly in front of the restaurant "Armazis Zqaro" and find a small path that leads along a waterpipeline on the left side of the valley. Follow the path, crossing the small river several times. A signboard shows a path up to a ruined church “Ghvtis Mschoblis” one
of many good picnic spots.

To reach the fortress, hike down again into the valley and follow it until the path climbs up steep on the right side and reach the fortress in a few minutes.

Adventure option: Follow the canyon at the bottom of the Fortress, climbing up a few small waterfalls and hike up the trail that on your right leads up to the back of the fortress.

(If you follow the canyon further you’ll reach village Karsani.)

Restaurant:
The restaurant Armazis Zqaro is a fascinating shadowy place to have a good Georgian meal on the terraces above the river after your tour.

How to get there:
From the bridge over Mtkvari River before entering Mtskheta follow the road that leads upriver, past the trainstation, approx 2 km to a restaurant named Armazis Zqaro (Sign in Georgian) on the right side of the road. If you drive, park your car in the yard of the restaurant.

Best Season: April - November

Difficulty:
Easy/Moderate, frequent crossings of small creek can be difficult after heavy rainfall
or thunderstorm (!)

Length:
approx 1,5 hours one way, less than 500m of ascent/descent.

Lumix Festival : Steve McCurry & Others

Image © Steve McCurry-All Rights Reserved
On the 18th – 22nd of June 2008, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover organized the first Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism in cooperation with the German photojournalist union FreeLens. Universities, photo and journalism schools as well as professional photo reporters up to the age of 35 from all over the world were invited to participate in the festival.

Streaming videos of lectures given by Steve McCurry, Antonin Kratochvil, Vanessa Winship and others, recorded live are availble on Lumix's website. I chose to watch Steve McCurry's lecture which runs for 122 minutes out of which, inexplicably, the initial 14 minutes are wasted in filming attendees entering the lecture hall...no editing, Herren Lumix?

The lecture by McCurry had nothing new...no new photographs, with an accompanying narrative that was monotonous, and which told us absolutely nothing about the whys and hows of each image. Nothing about techniques, nothing about the culture of South and South East Asia...in all, a trite presentation. Maybe I'm being uncharitable after wasting almost 15 minutes of nothing, so you be the judge.

Via Rob Galbraith: Lecture by Steve McCurry

Holly Wilmeth

© Holly Wilmeth-All Rights Reserved
Born and raised in Guatemala, Holly Wilmeth was slated to teach at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico, however she had a last minute conflicting photo assignment preventing her from joining the faculty. She's a freelance photographer based in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and traveled to over 45 countries.

Her work has been published in National Geographic Adventure, Houston Chronicle, CARE, USAID, PBX, Christian Science Monitor and Time Magazine.

I found her photographic style to be eclectic and diverse, and her work straddles both photojournalism and travel. Her above image of the elder smoking his pipe at the 99 houses village in China is a lovely environmental portrait, and there are many more like it on her website.

waterfall sedudo

waterfall sedudo

cation: village ngliman district sawahan

distance from city nganjuk: 32 km
province: east java
accomodations: there

transportation: mini bus

explanation: waterfall sedudo located in village ngliman kec. sawahan. the distance around 30 km southward city mother kab. nganjuk. clean the air and cool. lay in height 1438 m dpl. height iar jump down this around 105 meters. local society stills to trust, waterfall in has strength supra natural. this nature tour location is crowded is visited person in each month syuro. they say existing myth since age mojopahit, in that is trusted brings ageless benediction for one who bathe at waterfall. because in that's, waterfall sedudo used for ritual ceremony yaiu bathes statue in ceremony parna prahista, then the water remainder mempercikan for family so that get welfare benediction and ageless. until now side permkab nganjuk routinely carry out ritual programme bathes sedudo each month syuro. for visitor has been provided space facilities has changed clothes, /toilet bathroom, food sale place. clothes, fruits and souvenir.
source:
http://www.nganjukkab.go.id

kilogram coast 5

kilogram coast 5

 
this tour object is crowded is visited by urban community luwuk because the location near from city. kiosk line, cafe with cafe eats in the form of grand stand house is special scenery. wave even also often menghempas coast escorts keceriaan visitor. bersampan, swim, ski or as fluent as be attraction that can be done at kilogram coast five. finished visitor attraction can remove fatigue while enjoy special food like fried rice, fried banana or pick me up.
called kilogram 5 because the location only 5 kilometer half south from downtown luwuk. coast with white sand rug, clear water with multifariously kind cliff kind memukau. the location menepi highway and very easy reached with all motor vehicle kinds.
tour at kilogram 5 location good to see sea scenery and panoraman beautiful moment sunrise. if we pay a visit to luwuk from air stripe, so will pass by this coast. kilogram coast scenery five, although sea water until nudge coast divider wall, but permanent visitor can play and swim at this coast because shallow the coast, clear and white sandy with calm wavy.
source:
http://www.infokom-sulteng.go.id

waterfall saluopa

waterfall saluopa




water uniqueness slides down saluopa this consist of 12 levels, water that flow very clear and cool where every visitor rise until ketingkat highest because not mouldy under the quick water.

menyekitar water slides down this found tropical forest so that the nature panorama beauty increase. water distance slides down saluopa 12 km westside from tentena, district capital pamona north and can be goed by using land vehicle and continued with walk as far as 500 meters. location, at village tonusu, district pamona north, regency poso.
source;
http://www.infokom-sulteng.go.id

nature panorama at lake poso, regency poso.

nature panorama at lake poso, regency poso.

regency poso has various unique location and special to visited. located in celebes island heart, or even from indonesia area.
lake poso located in city tentena on course strategic track perjalanantrans celebes between toraja, poso, gorontalo and manado make danao poso always stopped in tourist. lake poso biggest third exist in indonesia. stretches bortherly to south along 32 km and wide 16 km, with depth up to 510 meters, and lay in height 657 meters on sea level. water at lake poso very clear with white sand rug, especially in october up to april. big eel dish dish and carp fish often be dish menu at restaurant around lake.

lake poso has vast approximately 32,000 hectare, with beautiful nature panorama, cool air and white sands rug with slope perbukitan-dan forest at sekitamya lake beauty increase. lake that reside in height 657 meters above this sea level has constant lake water uniqueness and very clear, with not pemah muddy although happen flood in watercourse that flow to lake.
this lake has two coast sand colour kinds; white and golden yellow that can we meet at siuri. berjarak around 283 kilometer half south hammer city and can be goed around 8 clocks with wheeled vehicle four.
location: village tentena district pamona north, approximately 56 kilometer from city poso and can be goed during approximately 1.5 clock with motor vehicle. facilities: hotel, inn, homestay and restaurant.
source:
http://www.infokom-sulteng.go.id

POV: Multimedia: Words of Wisdom

© Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
The first words I uttered to my students at my Multimedia Storytelling class for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City a couple of weeks ago were these:

"Learn how to become a visual storyteller because being a still photographer will no longer get you a job or a gig."

Vincent Laforet, a freelance photographer based in New York, and formerly a staff photographer at the New York Times, has written an excellent article in Sports Shooter, which is a must read by photographers of all disciplines and styles.

As far as multimedia and audio slideshows are concerned, Vincent writes the following:

Photographers will have to think of themselves as visual storytellers - not just as still photographers. Photographers will becomes much more adept at producing multimedia content - not just boring slide shows with music - but ones that are truly engaging and original - basically they need to invent the next generation of storytelling - something we haven't seen before (i.e. they need to differentiate themselves from HBO Documentaries, and the other broadcast giants - not try to compete with them...) And this is key: Photographers need to brainstorm new ways to connect with their audiences and find new and original ways of generating income with these new "connections." Photographers need to be ACTIVELY involved in thinking up new ways of generating income in a fashion that will be acceptable to their modern, hip audience."

Note that he differentiates between multimedia content and "boring slide shows with music". Many so-called multimedia productions are nothing but slide shows with borrowed music...I was critical on this very issue while reviewing The New York Times' The Virgins of Albania a few days ago.

Thanks to Eric Beecroft for the heads-up on Vincent Laforet's article.

Here's another pro-multimedia article titled Photojournalism For the Web about Brian Storm of MediaStorm, which appeared today in the Wall Street Journal

Rant: G8's Shameless Behavior

Here's a rant that has nothing to do with photography, but has everything to do with lack of decency and disgraceful behavior.

As we know, the leaders of the so-called G8 nations are having a summit on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. While the G8 summits are usually conspicuous by their meaningless proclamations, this one was touted as an important meeting to discuss the world's current food shortages.

So as reported by the Times of London, we learn that the G8 summit has cost almost $600 million, enough to buy 100 million mosquito nets for the African nations whose population are still afflicted by malaria. This is bad enough, but I think the most repulsive is the news that the G8 leaders discussed the international food shortages during a sumptuous eight-course dinner banquet, having already eaten a five-course lunch.

What is the matter with these people?

Times of London's G8 Leaders Feast

Olivier Boëls: Holy Ashes

© Olivier Boëls/Zone Zero-All Rights Reserved
Holy Ashes is a photo essay by photographer Olivier Boëls, with the cooperation of anthropologist Lena Tosta’s and of their joint experiences with Hindu ascetics or sadhus.

Sadhus are ascetics who have renounced on the pursuit of the three main Hindu goals of life: kama (enjoyment), artha (practical objectives) and even dharma (duty). Sadhus are only dedicated to achieve moksha (liberation) through meditation and contemplation of God. They often wear ocher-colored clothing, symbolizing renunciation.

Viua Zone Zero, here's Holy Ashes

Wang-Fu Chun: Natives of NE China

© Wang-Fu Chun/Zone Zero-All Rights Reserved

Wang-Fu Chun is a freelance photographer, who moved to Beijing from Harbin in 2002. He has photographed the following topics, "Chinese On The Train" , "People of Northeastern China", "Northeast Tiger" and "Chinese Stream Locomotive", and was a winner at the 17th China Photographic Art Exhibition and a winner of the 3rd Gold Statue for Chinese photography.

Via Zone Zero, here's Wang-Fu Chun's Natives of Northeast China, an ethnographic gallery beautifully embellished with Chinese calligraphy.

village sampireun romantic

village sampireun romantic

long not “jalan” by accident sunday ago, our wedding anniversary is binth. destination" road" this village sampireun, garut. then bright, myself actually never to region garut, only have a supply information from milis indobackpacker and instuisi. during approximately three half hour perjalanan(265 km) from worm toll - toll cikampek - toll cipularang - toll purbalenyi and then pass to stroll village and estate enough beautiful at area garut, final until also we are at village sampireun.

follow information from website, here, village sampireun taken from lake name sampireun, with the meaning place stops in. be a resort and spa with setting village, with cool air. ridges, lake, gemercik waterfall, raft, boat, wooden house that fused with bamboo garden at around it augmenting lower course return to the village it thousands goldfish around pool are element that be attractiveness to enjoy the harmony nature at village sampireun.
source:
http://fieldtrip-harjo.blogspot.com

the location resides in half road right side up at crater kamojang, present mengetinggian around 1000 meters from sea level. , at highway samarang, kamojang ciparay, village sukakarya. fishes here visible accustomed given food, so that when does my children hand insert into pool, swiftly those fishes arrives. visible my children is very enjoys. i also menyempat self to go around village, while take picture from on lake. but pity, the result stills permanent less satisfy, ugly, know to still to learn.

total cottages here there 19 fruit, where tariff he permalam begin from rp 1.500.000, - up to rp 3.000.000, -. where menyetiap cottage equiped with a boat. enough expensive, even less this present mendesa, far from downtown. but this place is really enough interesting, there is no hotel with tematik of a kind in other place as on the market village sampireun. if we like to to this place, best telephone formerly at 0262-542393, because usually always full.

our trip is furthermore crater kamojang, be told in postingan furthermore.

lake top sarangan magetan east java

lake top sarangan magetan east java
 
date 17 mays 2008 because be our long free time is a family decides to go home village to surabaya, madiun, magetan via stripe south with bighttime trip. after sun morning nonggol trip udah reach hillside lawu. city sarangan magetan, little city at east java.
sarangan a tour location at mount plateau lawu, with lake principal object and waterfall, surrounded special ridges nuance. from magetan still there 17 km western (aim mount) to arrive at sarangan. now kalo from western city karanganyar, single central java the way udah caw slopes likes formerly rise it almost 75 degrees, now car cc little aja can via and wide the net again. .
this road aims sarangan, appear devious but beautiful. make motor-cyclist, this will be very fun. test skill berkendara all at once enjoy the fresh air. make to yearn if long not do it.
because reason jal-tajam with narrowly that's, local government magetan since some years then menggagas penetrated road project more smooth. now that road is ready made, penetrated road (berawal from before plays gate sarangan until cemoro sewu) by way of this, so solo-madiun via magetan karanganyar usually 2 clocks can ‘hanya’ 1 jam-an. the story ‘bermimpi’ like top, bogor
from roadside we can see lake sarangan from view other aitu from on, where entire tour regions sarangan to coddle top air coldness intermediate eye sarangan.
in a flash from road direction to cemoro sewu, seen lake sarangan that ‘tidak perawan” again because many surrounded buildings, begin market tiban up to hotel.
there are some stall there, present mount tour special food, semisal corn burns, sate rabbit and certain it warm drink. enough crowded also that day. i and family menyempat sit lesehan enjoy sate rabbit rp7000 to 20 jab and lontong cheap ka
source:
http: /yusaksunaryanto. wordpress. com/

Tourist presentations, what to say and how to say it!

When working in the tourism sector you could end up working for the Tourist Board and giving presentations about the area, country where you live so as to present that area to people who know little or nothing about it. So as to make my students acquainted with the process of preparing a presentation and the different stages it involves: research, compiling information, selecting pictures, music, introducing audio, giving it format, etc. This year as a final assignment I asked my students to prepare a presentation about Japan, a country they hardly knew anything about. They had to prepare a powerpoint presentation about one famous Japanese city. In the presentation, they were asked to focus on what to do in that city/town, tourist attractions, traditions, curiosities, etc.

Here I include just one example by one of my students from the Andalusian e-learning Campus called Luna Meschiari. Luna, thanks for letting me post your work!

Tyler Hicks: Kabul, Afghanistan

© Tyler Hicks/New York Times-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times brings us a nicely done (and very well edited, I thought) slideshow narrated by its accomplished photographer, Tyler Hicks.

Tyler Hicks' first trip to Kabul was in 2001, as Northern Alliance soldiers were fighting Taliban gunmen in and around the Afghan capital. There was a power vacuum at that time, and no restrictions on what could and could not be photographed...something which Tyler found to be very liberating.

He has returned every year since, and found Kabul to be a city in transition.

In the print edition of the newspaper, the section Week In Review carries the feature, and I must say that the layout of Tyler's two black & white photographs (one of which is above) that lead the article is superb...overall, an excellent photojournalism layout and a throwback to the days of LIFE. I'm also told that Tyler used a film camera...with B&W film.

Tyler Hicks' The Other Front:Kabul