The Gnawa Festival Photo~Expedition

I am leading the Gnawa Festival Photo~Expedition from June 18 to June 29, which will include street photography in the bustling souks of Marrakesh, in the desert city of Ouarzazat (or Ourzazate) and 4 full days of the Gnawa festival in the coast town of Essaouira. For good reason, the expedition was sold out very quickly.

From Wikipedia: "Gnawa or Gnaoua (غناوة) refers to an ethnic group and a Sufi religious order in Morocco, in part descended from former slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa or black Africans who migrated in caravans with the trans-Saharan trade, or a combination of both."

The Gnawa musicians deeply hypnotic trance music (as befits their Sufi affiliation) play hypnotic trance music, repetitive and very rhythmic, which is accompanied with loud hand-clapping and cymbals, while the Gnawa dancers twirl the long tassels on their caps with their head movements. Their songs call on revered saints (also known as marabouts) to drive out evil, cure psychoses, or cure scorpion stings.

The Gnawa Festival official website has a musical intro of typical Gnawa singing style.

An article in the New York Times on the Gnawa Festival last year gave me the idea to set up the photo~expedition.

Thierry Falise: The Jarawas

Photo ©Thierry Falise-All Rights Reserved.
The Belgian photojournalist Thierry Falise has photographed a number of various indigenous groups, including the Jarawas, one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands, in his gallery titled The Twilight of the Andaman Naked People.

The Jarawas are estimated at between 250-350, and have largely avoided interactions with outsiders. They are a hunting and gathering nomadic tribe, hunting wild pigs, monitor lizard with bows and arrows. It takes a while to accept that the Jarawas are not an African tribe, but rather aborigines from a group of archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal, south east of India.

Based in Bangkok, Thierry Falise has covered South-East Asia and beyond since the mid-eighties, as a correspondent for Gamma photo agency and currently for the Bangkok-based Onasia. In 2003, he and a colleague were arrested in Laos after completing a story on a Hmong minority, and were sentenced to 15 years of prison. They were released after five weeks due to an international solidarity campaign.

POV: Should I Monetize......?

The question came up again a few days ago from more than one source. A large camera retailer suggested I ought to enroll in its affiliate program, which essentially would let me make a small percentage on each purchase that originates from this blog. Another proposed that I enter a relationship which basically would do the same, but without the bells and whistles that comes with a blatant advert on my blog.

My reply to both was the same. I will not monetize The Travel Photographer blog. I just don't want restrictions (real or imagined) that come with having this blog going "commercial". I don't want to worry if my posts are too acerbic or, conversely too "soft". If I now mention a company, or a book, or a service, it's because I experienced it first hand...or have used a trial version of its product...or just because it looks or sounds good...or just because.

If I want to raise my concerns at instances of unethical, mealy-mouthed, or hypocritical photojournalism, or at whatever I feel is unfair or unjust, I will continue do so.

I don't need advertisers looking over my shoulder, nosily huffing and puffing if I bruise an ego or two...and I certainly want to express personal views on current geopolitical events, especially those that pertain to the Middle East. And I want for this blog to continue providing its sliver of exposure to those young photographers who want and need to showcase their work.

However, what I make an exception of are sponsors for my photo-expeditions and workshops. If product-makers are willing to offer discounts, trial products, decals, pens, caps, back-massages etc to participants on my trips, I'd be happy to plaster my photo-expeditions' websites with their logos and give them all the plugs imaginable...but it will be transparent and will benefit those who join my photo trips, not me. I have already done that successfully with a generous software creator, and it worked beautifully.

But for this blog, no way. This independence gives this blog credibility amongst its readers, and that's important. My blog will remain ad-free, commercial-free and, as expected, vehemently opinionated.

By the way, have you read that a blogger is making $20,000 a month just from banner ads! Now, if it's true, that's real money!

The Art of Photography Show 2009

The Art of Photography Show 2009 is an international exhibition featuring all forms of photographic art -- images shot on film, shot digitally, unaltered shots, alternative process, mixed media, digital manipulations, montages, photograms, etc. The Art of Photography Show will be exhibited at the two-level Lyceum Theatre Gallery, in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.

The exhibition's dates are August 29 – November 1, 2009 and entry deadline is May 22.

As with any such event, all interested photographers are advised to carefully read the rules and regulations, especially those pertaining to copyright issues, and use of images.

New York Times: Myanmar (Burma)

Photo ©International Herald Tribune-All Rights Reserved.
The New York Times has launched its new Global Edition on its website, announcing that it combined its international reporting and that of the International Herald Tribune, to provide readers with a continuous flow of geopolitical, business, sports and fashion coverage from a global perspective.

One of its slideshows featured is a powerful photo essay titled "Dying and Alone in Myanmar", a collection of black & white photographs (only credited to the International Herald Tribune).

It covers the work of 23 clinics operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) that are the primary dispensers in Myanmar of the anti retroviral drugs that can prolong the lives of those infected with H.I.V.

The accompanying article is by Seth Mydans.

Addendum: I just realized that the NYT's Global Edition is the new home on the Web for the International Herald Tribune...is this another cost-cutting measure or is there more to it than that?

Innovative Stuff: DIY Magazines!

With daily "surround-sound" news that magazines (and photo magazines) are going out of business, or are looking for buyers as in the case of American Photo and its siblings, I thought this article as published in the New York Times is timely.

The giant Hewlett-Packard is hoping to make publishing a magazine easier and more accessible to everyone with a new on-line service called MagCloud. HP hopes that it'll be as simple and as common as "running photocopies at the local copy shop".

MagCloud is said to cost 20 cents a page, paid only when a customer orders a copy, and its HP parent seeks to turn it into a publishing’s equivalent of YouTube. I'm seeing it more a magazine equivalent to Blurb and the other on-demand book publishers.

Whether this service will pick up real big-time steam in this economic environment or not is open to question, but if anyone is keen to publish a photography magazine, and perhaps even sell some issues, here's your chance.

Asmat

Asmat people who live along the remote southeast coast around Agats are famed for their artistic "primitive" woodcarving. Modern civilization did not reach this area until recently. Agats has an interesting museum filled with woodcarvings and other objects. The area however is still largely untamed wilderness. Asmat crash received a boost in late 1960s under a United Nations supported project to encourage local craftsmen to keep alive their art.

The Asmat homeland comprises the rugged and isolated southern coast of Irian Jaya. It is an area of approximately 10,000 square miles and comprises mainly swamps and mangroves.
Ancestor figures were traditionally made only for the festival honoring Fumer-ipits. They wear a unique costume. Tourists demand, however, is as resulted to change to this custom. Previously, after the festival, the figure is discarded into the forests near a sago tree because it was believed that as the wood of the carving is deteriorated, the power of the ancestor was transferred to the sago palm. Other ancestor carvings are designed as elements in larger carvings, such as canoe prows, paddles or ancestor poles.


The Asmat believe that all things have a spirit whether humans, animals, plants and even special locations such as a whirlpool or the bottom of a river. They also believe that the world is divided between that which can be seen and that which is unseen which is the realm of the spirits. It is considered important to maintain a proper balance between the seen and the unseen. In this respect, birth and death balanced the population between the seen and unseen realms and one cannot take place without the other. This would manifest itself in disease, hunger, death and misfortune that will be caused by the unsettled spirits.

Raja Ampat Island

The Raja Ampat Island in Irian is group spreads out over a huge area and consists of over 610 islands. The four largest islands are Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. The area's reefs are covered in a diverse selection of both hard and soft corals. Most of the areas reefs are pristine, with mile after mile of perfect hard corals, drift after drift of soft corals of many species and colors ranging from brilliant red, to shocking yellow pretty pink and exotic purple. Most reef dives are very colorful. The tourist would be able to experience the best dives sites within those islands, which include Cape Kri, Mellisa's Garden, Sardines Reef, The Passage, Nudibranch Rock, Wai Island Night Dive.

Raja Ampat is the western island of Papua Island. The name of Raja Ampat based on the legend. This area had begun with 6 eggs that found by King Waikew in Waigeo Island. But from the 6 eggs, just 5 eggs had crack. The last was become an egg stone till now on.

From the fifth eggs that had cracked, the 4 eggs was become men who become King of four big islands that is Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. While the one egg became a woman, had wash away and stranded in Biak Island. That woman was born a child named Gura Besi that known as the historical man of Raja Ampat, because of his heroic story.

The regency that formed based on the constitution number 26 in 2002, is the development of Sorong regency on 12 April 2003. This area has 46.000 km2. But, 85% of this area is archipelago area. There are 610 islands in this area. But most of them have no social life. This regency has 10 districts and 85 villages with about 48.707 men.
Geographically, this area has strategic location. Its boundaries is:

North side: Pacific Ocean
West Side: North Maluku
South side: Maluku Sea
East Side: Sorong Regency

For the fauna sector, Raja Ampat has rarely fauna, such as; red birds of paradise (Paradise Rubra), Wilson birds of paradise (Cicinnurs Republica), Maleo Waigeo (Spilocuscus Papuensis), and rainbow fishes. Hence, for the flora, Raja Ampat has many kinds of Orchids, Waigeo palm, ironwoods or black woods, 'keruing', 'ulin' woods, etc.

Because of its various nature profit, Raja Ampat will declared by Maritime Ministry Freddy Numberi as ancient regency, based on its location that not only rich of fishes, but also its sea herb and the pearl.

WEST IRIAN JAYA

Irian Jaya is a tropical island with primeval rain forests, powerful rivers, beautiful beaches, lakes, and mountains. The highest mountain is Mount Jayawijaya, with snowcaps covering its 5,000-meter-high peaks. The area is also rich in natural resources, including fish, timber, and precious metals. These, however ever, have become a source of conflict between the central government and local peoples.

West Irian Jaya is a hot, humid island rising from the sea with some of the most impenetrable jungles in the world and yet also has snowcaps covering 5,000meter - High Mountain peaks, towering over glacier lakes. West Irian Jaya is Indonesia's largest and easternmost province and covers the western half of the world's second largest island. It is a land of exceptional natural grandeur, with beautiful scenic beaches, immense stretches of marshlands, cool grassy meadows and powerful rivers carving gorges and tunnels through dark and dense primeval forests. The most heavily populated and cultivated parts of the island are the Paniai Lakes district and the Baliem Valley to the east.

The people of the island can be divided into more than 250 subgroup, which are closely related to the islands along the southern rim of the Pacific and include among others, the Marindanim, Yah'ray, Asmat, Mandobo, Dani and Afyat. Those in the central highlands still maintain their customs and traditions and because of the terrain have virtually been untouched by outside influences. Communications hove always been difficult here and different tribes have lived, for the most part, in isolation even of each other, resulting in an incredibly diverse mixture of cultures.

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 scholar and explorer.

The exhibits revolve around Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà, (1852-1905), who was a Franco-Italian explorer. With the backing of the Société de Géographique de Paris, he opened up for France entry along the right bank of the Congo, eventually leading to the French colonization of Central Africa. His easy manner and great physical charm, as well as his pacific approach among Africans, were his trademarks. Under French colonial rule, Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, was named in his honor.

I'm truly conflicted by men like Burton and Brazza. Were they heroic explorers or crass exploiters? They certainly were precursors to the colonization of Africa, and to the ensuing imperialism in this continent. As the New York Times article remarks:

Imperialism is widely seen as the original sin of the modern West, whose ramifications can still be felt in the aftershocks of warfare and corruption that continue to plague so much of the African continent.

Despite my abhorrence of colonialism, I prefer to think of Burton as a genius, as the quintessential explorer, as a talented writer, as a brave soldier, as an orientalist and ethnologist, and as a remarkable linguist with an extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures who was reputed to have spoken 29 European, Asian, and African languages. Perhaps Brazza was of the same caliber? I'll find out.

Addendum: My verdict? Seemingly a well-intentioned man with lofty and commendable ideals...but he was not Richard Burton's caliber.

Situ Gintung

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 of a child's (female) circumcision in the Washington Post and other publications.

My posts have appeared here, here and here.

My thanks to Benjamin Chesterton of Duckrabbit Multimedia who shared my revulsion, and who posted the absolutely brilliant post Smile for the camera please - whilst I cut off your clitoris … Not funny is it.

And thank you Mr Greensdale.

Addendum: And to all of those who've commented as having no objection to the shameful publication of this child's face and name in the photo essay, here's what you ought to reflect on: what if the child was your daughter, niece or relative? Would you still have the same opinion? Hypocritical comments are easy to spot.

Addendum II: Larry Hayden of Making Photos just added his opinion. He writes: "In this case, Andrea Bruce might have been exposing an abhorrent practice that provides that voice. But when she took images of the seven-year-old girl's face, submitted them for publishing and then took an award for the photographs, she became part of the hypocritical nature of this country in particular."

Addendum III: Kayla Keenan's riposte to a revolting comment and her opinion in the commentary section of the Guardian's columns needs to be read carefully by all concerned. Here's an excerpt:

No one involved has said that this practice is not an atrocity nor that it should not be brought to the attention of the world public. They simply have not reduced themselves to believing that the only way to do that is at the expense of a child. They refuse to shout "Show us the bloody bits." If your morality has plunged to so little as to care for that girl as an individual and human being first and foremost, you cease to be able to care for all the others to whom this will befall. And the end of your concern only "illuminates" the situation to those who already abhor it with no change to the end result (helping that child)... That alone makes this exactly the kind of hypocrisy which perpetuates the violence rather than ends it.

Addendum IV: Another voice..this time from Charukesi Ramadurai in the Bring On The Misery on CounterCurrents.org, from which this excerpt is taken::

The question here is, would the publications and the organizations have allowed an American or Western European girl to be featured in the same way, name, face and all? I googled out of curiosity and came upon a report in the Daily Mail UK that talks about the plight of young British-African women who are forced to go through the procedure. This, of a victim being interviewed - "promise you won't print my name or anything?" she implores repeatedly. And they don’t.

Coban Rondo Waterfall

The Coban Rondo waterfall (we called The Wana Wisata Air Terjun Coban Rondo) is a beautiful waterfall and gives peacefull impression. The experiences never forget is The way to the waterfall, on the right and left side you can see the beautiful of aligment cypress and pine trees. The coban rondo waterfall was located 12 km from the Batu City, or to be precise in the Pandansari Village. Pujon. In the coban rondo you will be experienced by a waterfall with the height 60 m.

The Wana Wisata Air Terjun Coban Rondo region was the region that most was easy to be followed. The road to enter towards the location has been asphalted, so as really facilitated tourists if wanting to visit this waterfall. Around the waterfall of Coban Rondo, was filled pine trees and the mountain casuarina, made the atmosphere in this tourist attraction feel like cool. From this area , you can see also the panorama of Batu town.

The Coban Rondo waterfall kept the unique legend. It seems, under the waterfall was gotten the residence cave of a woman was named Dewi Anjarwati. Her husband, Raden Baron Kusuma fought against Joko Lelono, the young man who was interested with the beauty of Dewi Anjarwati and will kidnap her. Raden Baron was killed in the battle and the wife him was hidden in the cave by her servant. Therefore this place was given by the name of the Coban Rondo Waterfall (the widow’s waterfall).

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;
* Multimedia packages are easier and less expensive to produce;
* Multimedia packages are easier for the audience to access; and
* Multimedia packages offer a more enjoyable, nuanced visual experience.

I agree, and used the same arguments (well, except for the first one which I didn't know) when explaining the advantages of multimedia to student photographers as I did during the Mexico City Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and will do so again at the forthcoming workshop in Manali, India.

I ought to also stress that real multimedia is what is being discussed here. There's a huge difference between real multimedia features which consist of still photography accompanied by ambient sound and narrative, and still photographs accompanied by random musical tracks....added because they sound good or because the photographer likes them. Given the choice producing a "silent" slideshow or a slideshow with random tracks downloaded via iTunes (notwithstanding copyright issues), I'd always go with the former.

Following the photojournalism workshop in Mexico City, I expounded my multimedia evangelism in a previous post on TTP.

A word of caution though. Multimedia is not a panacea for ill thought out or badly produced projects. It still needs good stories, great photographs and certainly, audio that is part of the story and part of the photographs.

Addendum: I just saw Alan Chin's post on the RESOLVE blog with his take on the "multimedia insanity".

Pay Toilets in a Plane?

Can you imagine being charged for using the toilets on a flight?

Well...this is not far from happening. The Irish lowcost airline Ryanair is planning to do just that. Please read the article to find out a little bit more and watch the video to hear Ryanair´s Chief Executive´s reasons for this policy.

- What is your opinion on this?

- Can you make any sense of this policy?

I will be waiting for your comments