China's Tibet: Desmond Kavanaugh

China's Tibet from Desmond Kavanagh on Vimeo.

This is hardly a travel feature, but is more of a statement against the encroaching Sinification of Tibet. Desmond Kavanaugh is an a Dublin-based photographer, who produced a documentary made of still images titled China's Tibet.

The collection of photographs is an exploration of the effects of Chinese occupation and development on the ancient culture and land of Tibet as it is pulled into the 21st century by one of the worlds fastest growing economies.

As Desmond writes: "This new Tibet is powered and connected, and is a haven for Han Chinese migrants attracted by Government subsidies. The documentary focuses on the issues of militarization, immigration, construction, propaganda and and repression of culture all set against the backdrop of the stunning plateau."

Diego Vergés: Sadhus

Photo © Diego Vergés-All Rights Reserved
Here's the interesting work of an emerging photographer from Spain. Diego Vergés obtained an Communication Degree and worked in a studio until deciding that he wanted to spend his life doing something other than that. To visit a friend, he traveled to Gabon where he photographed hospitals and clinics. He submitted his photographs to various competitions in which he was recognized, and published some of them in Super Foto, a Spanish magazine.

He recently self-financed a trip to India and Nepal, and returned in June with some great imagery of sadhus. These were photographed in Kathmandu (I recognize Pashupatinath), Kolakta and Varanasi. He tells me that he applies lighting techniques learned from The Strobist, and as you'll see from his Sadhu gallery, he does just that very effectively. He also tells me that he studies the work of Spanish photographers like Jaime Mota, Pep Bonet, Javier Arcenillas, and uses a Canon 5d and a 5d Mark II, with prime lenses (24mm f1.4 and 50mm f1.4).

Diego is planning another trip and hopes to spend four months in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea at the end of the year. If his current work is any indication, I'm pretty sure he'll return with wonderful imagery.

Note: Diego's website contains large images...so be patient until these load!

My Work: A Bhutanese Nun

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Here's one of my favorite portraits made last month during my Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul Photo~Expedition. I met this nun while she was circumambulating the Jambhey Lhakhang goemba in Jakar, spinning the many prayer wheels in its walls.

Circumambulation of temples or deity images is an integral part of Hindu ritual. It is also practiced in Buddhism, as in this case here. In Islam, circumambulation is performed around the Kaaba in Mecca in a counter-clockwise direction.

The Jambhey Lakhang is one of 108 Buddhist temples built in the 7th century by the Tibetan king, Songtsen Gampo, and it's revered as one of the oldest landmarks of the arrival of Buddhism in Bhutan, explaining the number of pilgrims who visit it all day.

Sarah Elliott: Rajasthan

Photo © Sarah Eliott-All Rights Reserved
Sarah Elliott's Rajasthan gallery is a collection of photographs showing life in this magnificent Indian state. Some of the photographs are captured by Sarah, presumably with her tongue firmly in her cheek, while others are posed portraits, and I think give you a feel for the quotidian life in the small towns (and even large cities) of the state.

Sarah is a freelance photographer who graduated from the Parson's School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. In addition, she has also taken courses at Rhode Island School of Design, and at the ICP in New York. She has interned for James Nachtwey and assisted Staley Greene. She's focused on stories of global social issues, and her photographs have been published by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, The BBC. MSF and a host of other publications and organizations.

Most of her other galleries on her website are of more serious topics than Rajasthan. These include black & white photo essays on the Congo, Rwanda, Tonle Lap lake, and the interesting The Book of Mormon.

Eugene Kuo: Labrang Monastery

Photo © Eugene Kuo-All Rights Reserved
Eugene Kuo is a graphic designer and photographer living in New York. He is interested in documenting changing landscapes, whether physical or psychological. His recent projects have taken him from Moscow to Beijing on the Trans-Siberian/Mongolian railroad, through the ancient cities and khanates of Uzbekistan, and along the Silk Road in western China. It was on this last trip that he photographed the Labrang Monastery, a pocket of Tibetan Buddhism. The photographs are mostly wide angle and black & white.

Also explore Eugene's other works. He is currently editing two series of photographs based on his time spent in Uzbekistan and in western China.

Labrang Monastery is one of the six great monasteries of the Geluk (Yellow Hat) school of Tibetan Buddhism, which is located in Xiahe County in Gansu province, and strategically intersects four major Asian cultures--Tibetan, Mongolian, Han Chinese, and Chinese Muslim.

Britt Sloan: The Rose of Ajmer

Photo © Britt Sloan-All Rights Reserved
First, a bit of background. One of my very favorite blogs is The Idea of India authored by photojournalist Asim Rafiqui, who along with The Aftermath Project founder and photographer Sara Terry, taught a two week workshop in Ajmer, India to students from Tuft University’s Institute for Global Leadership.

The 2-weeks workshop involved nine students exploring stories that spoke to issues of cultural and religious pluralism, and social and civil conflict aftermath beyond the cliches about India.

While all of the students' photo essays published so far on Asim's blog are intelligent and visually appealing, Britt Sloan's photography and prose caught my eye the longest. The Rose of Ajmer she calls it, and I urge you to spend some time, not only looking at her imagery, but to read her essay. She writes beyond her years...if that's the correct expression to use.

Britt Sloan is a photographer from Radnor, Pennsylvania, USA. She is currently a junior at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. She is majoring in International Relations with a focus on transitional justice, conflict resolution, and crisis management.

Britt also authors her own blog Lal Gulab.

The Big Picture: Day of the Dead

Photo © AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa-All Rights Reserved
The Boston Globe's The Big Picture blog brings us a collection of photographs from all over the world on the occasion of the various festivals observing the Day of the Dead.

Starting with Halloween (although now secular), All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day, the Day of the Dead and other festivals trace their origins back to Celtic, Aztec, Roman and Christian traditions.

The above photograph is probably the most striking of the collection. It's of a man performing a Voodoo ritual during the Day of the Dead celebrations at the national cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Mandarin Fish

Colorful Mandarin Fish is always photogenic.
This one is looking at the Lens as if he (she ?) is waiting for a kiss !!
Mandarin Fish has been identified in different diving locations in Papua New Guinea, i.e. Tufi, Madang, Kavieng, Alotau etc...

Nacho Hernandez: Children of the Clouds

Nacho Hernandez is a Spanish photographer who takes assignments worldwide, and has easy access to the Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific regions from his current base in Manila. Nacho graduated from the Washington School of Photography and also holds a MA in International Relations and Development from Georgetown University.

His interest is in international documentary, travel photography and photography with a humanitarian focus. As an example, he produced a long-term project on the Sahrawi people, and which was exhibited at the US Congress in Washington DC. It is this Children of The Clouds which I chose to highlight on TTP.

According to Wikipedia, Hassaniya Arabic speaking tribes, of Arab-Berber and pure Berber/Tuareg heritage, mainly living in Mauritania, Western Sahara southern Morocco, western Algeria, Mali and surrounding territories, form a large part of the population of countries in the area of the Western Sahara.

Western Saharan pro-independence groups have utilized the term Sahrawi to give a their movement a nationalist connotation. Morocco controls most of the territory as its Southern Provinces, but the legality of this is not internationally recognized, and is disputed militarily by the Polisario Front.

GEO Magazine Closes NY Office

Photo © GEO. Courtesy PDN
It's a real shame that the German GEO Magazine has closed its New York office effective yesterday. Nadja Masri, GEO's New York bureau chief, and Tina Ahrens, a photo editor in the New York office, both well-known in the photo circles here in NYC, will leave the magazine.

Its office was a regular venue for documentary photographers to show their portfolios, especially as the magazine was known for publishing lengthy photo essays, often devoting 20 pages to a story.

While GEO NY will no longer have a physical presence here, its photo editors in Hamburg will continue to work with U.S. photographers.

Via PDN online.

Multimedia Work: Debates At The Sangha

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
I'm pleased to share a multimedia gallery of new photographs made during my recent Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul Photo Expedition.

The "Debates At The Sangha" slideshow is of photographs (and audio) of the weekly Buddhist debates at the sangha of the Kharchhu Monastery near Chamkar town, in the very heartland of Bhutan.

The Lhodrak Kharchhu Monastery is a recent addition to the Bhutanese pantheon of monasteries, and its venerated abbot is Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche. Over 300 monks and novices live at the monastery, and animated debates are held twice a week to hone the mental skills of the qualified monks.

Most of the debates are held in the open air, and are expressed in Sanskrit through loud vocalization of the various points of view and punctuated by hand slapping for emphasis.