Working in Tawau

Currently I am in Tawau Sabah. I am staying at Hotel Emas. I have been staying here for 3 days now. My flight back to KK will be at 2:40pm. Tomorrow morning I will be going to Kuantan, Pahang. Hopefully I can post pictures that I have taken of the places here.

In Tawau I am using a free wifi provided by Sedap Corner near Hotel Emas. Yesterday I was at Semporna for the whole day. The rest of the group went on island tour which I didnt go coz done that a few times already and to me only Sipadan Island is the best. Its cool its beautiful compare to other islands that are hot like hell.

There are a few internet cafe in Semporna but unfortunately no free wifi. The only available wifi is provided by an internet cafe called Email Express but its lock. Semporna also have a lot of good hotels now. The latest one is called Sipadan Inn.

Anyway if you happen to be in Tawau do stay at Hotel Emas. A bit far from the town center but for an internet addict like me, free wifi is just 2 minutes walking distance. Plus its a cafe. U can eat and drink here while wasting time surfing and looking at people.

I will be updating this blog if I have the time to upload some pictures form my mobile phone. Btw Tawau is a heaven if you are looking for night entertainment.

Angkor Photography Festival: Update!

From Widows of Angkor Wat-Copyright Tewfic El-Sawy
I've received the following message from Francoise Callier, the curator of the Third Angkor Photography Festival:

The third Angkor Photography Festival will be held in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from November 18 to 28, 2007.

For the program of exhibitions and slideshows, we are looking for work about South and Southeast Asia, China, and the Far East. To facilitate the selection committee's job, work should be uploaded to a (free) flickr account on http://www.flickr.com and the URL sent to my e-mail address, frcallier989(at)gmail(dot)com, accompanied by a clear description of the project and a short biography (maximum 120 words).

We are also accepting finished photographic multi-media pieces that are ready for projection. If available online, please submit a URL link.

The deadline for submitting work is June 15, 2007. The selected photographers will receive an answer during the month of July.

Best regards,

Franc�oise Callier


Instructions to open a flickr account:
To open a free Flickr account you can either go directly to http://www.flickr.com or login with an existing Yahoo account (Flickr is part of Yahoo).

Upload your images at 1024 pixels across or vertical. That way your images will be large enough to view and you will not use up your limited account space.

After you upload: In your preferences (under the menu as 'Your Account'), go to the 'Privacy & Permissions' section and be sure to set your images to 'All rights reserved'. You can also add (c) in your captions field. Flickr will automatically add any caption info from your Photoshop 'File Info' field but you can also change captions after you upload by going to your Flickr page and clicking on the caption box under any given image.

Once your images are uploaded go to the 'organize' section, choose 'Sets' and create a set of images of your submissions. Once that set is created, email the URL of that set (simply copy and paste) to frcallie (at) gmail(dot) com.

After you have opened an account, visit the Angkor Photo Festival flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/angkorphotographyfestival/

click on our icon and make the festival a contact.
--
ANGKOR PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL
Francoise Callier
frcallie (at) gmail(dot) com

Frontline Club: London

Being in London, I thought I'd mention the Frontline Club.

Frontline is a media club that uniquely combines eating, drinking and thinking. A three-minute walk from Paddington Station, spread over three stripped wooden floors, it has a private clubroom for members, and a restaurant and forum space open to the public.

The Club quickly became a centre for a diverse group of people united by their passion for quality journalism and dedication to ensuring that stories that fade from headlines are kept in sharp focus. It exists to promote freedom of expression and support journalists, cameramen and photographers who risk their lives in the course of their work. It also brings a number of world renowned photojournalists such as Alexandra Boulat and Gary Knight to give talks, and to present their lastest portfolios.

Frontline Club

Aldo Pavan: Omo Valley Tribes

Image Copyright © Aldo Pavan-All Rights Reserved
Aldo Pavan is a journalist and freelance photographer, but describes himself a curious traveller. His main interest is in creating travel reportages of his travels on all five continents, in publishing books and working with magazines. Since 2003 he has been working on a series of photographic books about the rivers of the world, such as Ganges: Along Holy Waters and The Nile in 2006. I saw the latter last evening at the High Street Kensington Waterstone's, and it is really a beautiful book.

The next titles are The Yellow River, The Danube and The Mekong. Another project he is preparing is entitled The Routes of Man , a series of books dedicated to the great trade routes of the world. The first book, scheduled for 2008, will describe the Ancient Gold Route in Africa, connecting black Africa with the Mediterranean, through the Sahara.

A prolific photographer, Aldo has published about one hundred travel features compiled in America , Australia , China , the Middle East, South East Asia and Antarctica. He has also published a series of pocket travel guides entitled Venezia (Venice), Messico (Mexico), Santo Domingo , Corsica , Marocco (Morocco), Francia Sud Ovest (South West France) and Francia Occidentale (Western France). He is currently preparing a journalistic book on Burma for Feltrinelli Traveller, entitled Sui Sentieri dell'Oppio (On the Opium Trail).

His website is somewhat of a departure from the standard photographers' websites. His galleries are only available as downloadable PDFs, and I don't know why he chose that alternative instead of just showcasing his magnificent photographs either via regular HTML code or Flash. His PDF galleries are about 3-5 mb each, so they download very quickly...but I think he'd be better served to have plain standard galleries....or maybe I'm missing something.

I chose his work on the Omo Valley Tribes as I've photographed the same tribes. I also noticed he photographed the unusual ritual of jumping of the bulls; a topic on which I posted here on TTP.

A photographers' photographer, Aldo is recognized as one of a kind in Europe...and I hope the United States accords him the same recognition.

Aldo Pavan's website

Travel Photographer of the Year 2007

I got an email this week from the Travel Photographer of the Year Awards announcing its 2007 contest, which will open for entries on 14th May. The closing date is 19th September. The full details and downloadable entry form is available (link below) from May 14th.

The 2007 TPOTY site will feature a new area which will act as a resource for travellers and photographers. This will include both travel and photographic features and reviews, a forum, a directory of photographers' images and contact details and a new members' area which will give access to additional articles and photography advice, special offers and monthly prizes.

As always with contests, awards and competitions, make sure you read the fine print and all the terms and conditions, to ensure you retain control over, and on your rights to your photograph(s). I participated in the 2005 TPTOY and was shortlisted in one of the categories, but didn't quite make it. One of the 'gimmicks' of the competition is that all the winning entries are eventually published in a coffee-table book, and its sale proceeds go to the organizers of the event.

Travel Photographer of the Year 2007

Gilles Sabrié: Faiths of Asia

Image Copyright © Gilles Sabrie-All Rights Reserved
Gilles Sabrié is a freelance photographer based in Beijing, China. After years spent working in television, he switched careers to embrace his passion — documentary photography. Since then, he has focused on news and social issues in China. In particular, he spent months documenting the life of China’s migrant workers as well as the fate of the inhabitants of the Three Gorges area.

Sabrié’s images have been featured in numerous publications including Newsweek, TIME, US News, The New York Times, The Herald Tribune, L’Express, Focus, Le Point and others.

His website is flash-based, and most of its galleries are of China or Chinese projects, however the one which grabbed my attention is the excellent Faiths of Asia, which includes 16 large images of Gilles' work in India, Laos, Indonesia and Sikkim. There are a number of small thumbnails at the bottom of Gilles' webpage...Faiths of Asia is the fourth from the left, but feel free to explore the rest of his galleries....another that I found interesting is the Traveling Through Kham Country (the first from the right). His work is alternatively documentary in nature as well editorial-travel, and it's a mix that I relate to very comfortably.

Gilles Sabrié's website

Sticker Horror

Whenever I'm in London, I get sticker shock. Everything is much more expensive than stateside, and I can't figure how most Brits can cope. Here in the United Kingdom, prices of electronics, including digital and film cameras, have always been higher than in the United States. This explains why hordes of British tourists travel to the United States (principally to New York) and buy armloads of such items to bring back. I normally shuttle between London and New York about 6-7 times a year, and I'm amazed at the price differential between the two countries. This is currently exacerbated due to the weakness (caused by the comparative low interest rate, and by oil-exporting nations increasing their Euro holdings) of the dollar against most currencies, but mostly against the Sterling pound.

United States shoppers have a much better deal. Here's a brief comparison between US and UK street prices on selected items...All prices are expressed in US$, and I've used the prevailing exchange rate of $2 to the Sterling pound. Remember that the UK levies a whopping 17.5% value added tax on all goods.

Canon EOS 350D: US:$510 UK: $800
Canon EOS 400D: US:$675 UK: $900
Canon EOS 30D: US:$1120 UK: $1300
Canon EOS 5D: US:$2800 UK: $3300
Canon EOS 1Ds II: US:$7000 UK: $8800

Fujifilm Film Contest: For UK Only

Fujifilm has announced the winners of its 2006 "Distinctions", as well as opening the door for its 2007 contest. The contest is open to all UK-based professional photographers, and can be submitted to Fujifilm Distinctions

The contest is open to film-only entries, and the overall winner will be awarded the equivalent of $2000 (it seems that it was double that last year).

As for some of the legalese, here's what caught my eye:

Fujifilm UK Ltd reserves the right to display, reproduce and publish in any media any entry, without payment, for the sole purpose of the Fujifilm Distinctions Awards 2007.

It's far from being my kind of thing, but if you want to see the 2006 winning entries, here's the link

Munem Wasif: Tainted Tea

Image Copyright © Abdul Munem Wasif-All Rights Reserved
Abdul Munem Wasif is a talented documentary photographer based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He graduated from Pathshala – South Asian Institute of Photography, and started off on his career as staff photographer for Daily Star, a leading daily of Bangladesh. He currently works in DrikNEWS as a staff photographer, and has achieved deserved notoriety through his excellent photographic work in the hills of Assam in India.

In Tainted Tea, his photographs uncover the sad lives of the tea gatherers and workers in the tea plantations of Tea Estates of Assam in India, or Sylhet and Hobiganj in Bangladesh. Part of his statement reads : "They are the tales of cornered lives, chronic poverty and chained hope. This is the tale of ‘Tainted Tea’. Sprawling green hills, petit women in colourful saris, picking tea leaves and throwing them into the tukri on their back — the image we are shown. A picture perfect tale of harmony and prosperity, as portrayed by the many tea companies, is what belies modern day slavery. "

The ill-treatment of tea workers is not new, and tea plantations, growers and companies have come under increasing scrutiny to improve conditions. It is generally the women who do all the picking....men don’t do any picking, but do the rest of the needed work by weeding, and working the machines. The women's daily wage is 27 takas (about 50 cents), and she has to feed her family with it.

All of the women and men who work on the Bangladeshi tea estates are descendants of tribes who, a century ago, had come (or were brought) from central India as slaves of the British colonists, under a system called Girmit. While the name isn't used anymore, the practices are identical. The tea estates are vitually separate ‘states within a state’, and are still carrying the practices of a century ago.

His multimedia project is extremely well done, and is brought to us by Zone Zero, You'll never drink a cup of tea again without remembering these images!

Munem's Tainted Tea is here

Jonathan Torgovnik: Bollywood

Image Copyright © Jonathan Torgovnik-All Rights Reserved

Jonathan Torgovnik began his photographic career as a combat photographer in the Israeli army. During that period, he was assigned to photograph a wide range of military activities and operations in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. In 1992, after traveling in the Far East, he arrived in New York and entered the photography department at the School of Visual Arts, graduated with a BFA degree and received an award for outstanding achievement in photography at graduation.

Torgovnik is now a New York based photographer, working for various American and European magazines. His images from diverse projects and assignments have appeared in numerous U.S. and international publications.

For TTP, I chose his Bollywood gallery, which propelled him into the limelight. Bollywood of course, is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India.

Jonathan Togovnik's website

Beyond The Frame: Balian Tenung

From A Balinese Canang-Copyright Tewfic El-Sawy
One of my assignments in Bali was documenting balians, the traditional healers. Before resorting to Western medicine, the Balinese consult a balian, a traditional healer. These men and women work in different ways: some mix herbal remedies; some create drawings of magical symbols to protect the wearer; and some, while in trance, communicate messages from the Balinese Hindu deities and ancestors. The best known balians heal by limb manipulation and massage, while others request the help of divinities.

One such healer is Betty Jan-Paul, who is a balian tenung, or a diviner faith healer. I met her at her modest home near Denpasar, at the suggestion of my fixer. Betty was amenable to being photographed and interviewed, provided that I had a pack or two of Marlboro cigarettes for her. Local cigarettes or any other brand would not do, my fixer assured me. She only accepted Marlboros.

The daughter of a Dutch soldier and a Balinese woman, Betty was a nondescript housewife until she had a life-altering dream in which Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and Ghandi came by her bedside and commanded her to become a healer. Her husband being ill at the time, she took this dream to mean that she could heal him...which she did. She's well-known in the Denpasar area, and she had quite a number of patients waiting for her. One of these patients was an Indian gentleman who worked in the hotel industry in Rajasthan, and who had come here on vacation and was waiting for her advice.

Betty graciously allowed me to stay while she administered her craft to her patients, including this woman with her young child. I couldn't tell what was the particular ailment or affliction, but Betty eventually gave the woman a small plastic bag filled with water, in which she had puffed smoke.

During all her sessions, she went into a trance for a few moments, presumably to communicate with the spirits as to the condition of her patients. She used an altar (to the left of the above photograph) where she placed small offerings of fruit and water.

Before we dismiss these rituals offhand, here's something which may change our minds. A photographer, staying at the same hotel as I did, suffered considerable trauma to his shoulder in a motorcycle accident during his stay in Bali. He had gone to the hospital for treatment, and was all bandaged...and in considerable pain. He visited a nearby well-known balian for massages and manipulation, and was amazed at the resulting improvement.