Ramadan For Palestinians

Image Copyright © Nasser Shiyoukhi/Associated Press -All Rights Reserved
The New York Times brings us a slideshow of still photographs by Musa Al-shaer, Nasser Shiyoukhi, Emilio Morenatti, Jamal Aruri, Marco Longari, Muhammed Muheisen, Thaer Ganaim, and Sebastian Scheiner on the prevention of Palestinians from worshipping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jesrusalem on the start of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

One of the captions: Only men above the age of 45 and women above the age of 35, who had also obtained special permits, were allowed to enter Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine of Islam, said police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby.

Here's Ramadan Begins in Jerusalem in the New York Times.

Photojournalism Workshop: Mexico City

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop will be held June 16-21, 2008 in Mexico City, and is the brainchild of Eric Beecroft, a photographer and educator who teaches photography and photojournalism/documentary photography at the Walden School in Utah.

The concept behind the workshop was to establish a venue where many instructors would share their expertise with emerging photojournalists, creating an impromptu community of sorts.... a workshop where getting into the field, producing real reportage, getting candid, real time feedback, and making new friends and developing contacts were first and foremost.

All the instructors at this workshop are donating their time and talents. Its objective is to help the passionate student, the emerging photojournalist, to hone his or her skills, to have a chance to work with some of the world’s best photographers in the field, on real reportage projects, to create multimedia, to see some of the best work being done today, to collaborate, to make contact, to plan future projects, develop personal vision and leave the workshop energized, exhausted, and more committed then ever to concerned photography, storytelling and to documenting our world through the lens.

Some of the instructors are: Lynsey Addario, Kael Alford, Jon Anderson, Paula Bronstein, Andrea Bruce, Tewfic El-Sawy, Stanley Greene, Jason P. Howe, Hugo Infante, Scott McKiernan,Tomas Munita, M. Robinson-Chavez, Saul Schwarz, Brian Storm, Ami Vitale and Holly Wilmeth.

For further details and to apply: Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

Beyond The Frame: Kecak Dance

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Kecak or Ketchak is a dance usually performed at night, surrounding a bonfire. Tourists generally refer to it as The Monkey Dance. There can literally be upwards of a hundred or more bare chested men, sitting down on the ground surrounding the bonfire, led by a priest in the middle. The only music to accompany them are the beats of their palms hitting their bodies, or their claps, rhythmically accompanied by shouting and chanting.

I've seen it performed at the spectacular temple of Ulluwatu overlooking the sea, and at Pura Dalem in Ubud. The above photograph was made at the latter temple, and I found that the Ubud performance was more authentic that the the one in Ulluwatu.

This photograph reminds me of an artist's rendition of Hell...The dance was very atmospheric with the bonfire lighting the dancers' moves, and their rhythmic sounds suddenly rising to crescendos. Photographing the Kecak dance at the Pura Dalem was not easy with the stage lights and bonfire in the scene, and one has to find an appropriate angle.

The story behind Kecak is taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana, and it recounts the tale of Prince Rama who rescues Princess Sita, kidnapped by the evil King of Lanka.

Despite it being based on the Ramayan epic, Kecak is a modern creation (ca 1930) by Wayan Limbak and the German painter Walter Spies to create the dance movements and themes in the traditional sanghyang exorcism ritual and portions of the Ramayana.

Energizer DUO Charger

I've belatedly concluded that I ought to switch to rechargeable batteries, instead of schelpping non-rechargeables with me wherever I travel to. My Canon 520 flash consumes Lithium batteries very quickly, so it's high time that I used rechargeables...I found a device that may suit my needs.

The Energizer DUO Charger lets you power up (two at a time) AA or AAA NiMh batteries by plugging it either in a wall outlet or in the USB port of a computer. The charging time varies between 2 and 4 hours depending on battery type. It's small and light...so it's a good traveler. It ships with two Energizer AAA batteries and costs anywhere between $12-15. The downside of this charger is that it only charges two batteries at a time.

Congolese Sape

Image Copyright © Héctor Mediavilla/Zone Zero -All Rights Reserved
Héctor Mediavilla has documented the unusal world of the 'sapeurs' while teaching photography in Congo. The 'sapeurs' or 'Sapes' are a subculture of men who derive their lifestyle and sense of well-being on being elegant and wearing fine French clothing. This subculture goes back more than four generations, however, it was virtually unheard of outside Congo, even in France, until Héctor came across it.

The Los Angeles Times has picked up on this culture, and recently published an article describing this sub-culture:

"The white man may have invented clothes, but we turned it into an art," said Congolese musician King Kester Emeneya, who helped popularize the Sape movement with the legendary Papa Wemba, who is often called the pope of the Sapes. Emulated and admired by a generation of African musicians, Wemba once called fashion his religion, advising devotees that what they wore was more important than school.

I don't know if the Sape sub-culture has any religious connotations, but the opening photograph in the multimedia slideshow shows a dapper Congolese Sape with a wall frame containing a poster asking "Jesus Is Coming Back...Are You Ready?".

The multimedia piece The Congolese Sape is produced and brought to viewers by the stellar Zone Zero.

Here's The Congolese Sape

LaCie Golden Disk

LaCie has just announced the Golden Disk, a 500 GB Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port (USB 1.1 compatible) hard-drive, in a distinctive, golden wave design. This cross-platform hard drive can be used with either PC or Mac computers. It’s plug & play, driver-free (Windows® 2000, Windows® XP & Mac® OS X), and fan-free for quiet operation. The price is $189.

I'm not sure who would want to have this designer golden hard drive on their desk, but it does look sleek...but sleek or utilitarian, gold or aluminum, all hard drives will fail at some point....so back up all your precious files on alternative storage media.

Here's the LaCie's Golden Disk

Steve Raymer: India In Diaspora

Image Copyright © Steve Raymer-All Rights Reserved
The Digital Journalist brings us the work of Steve Rayner on the India diaspora. Professor Rayner a National Geographic magazine staff photographer for more than two decades, teaches photojournalism, media ethics, and international newsgathering at Indiana University in Bloomington, and is also on the advisory committee of the university's India Studies Program.

The foreword to India In Diaspora is by Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online Magazine at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, who writes:

" India's awakening to independence at midnight in August 1947 altered the long-established equation, with millions of Indians voluntarily leaving their homes in search of a better life elsewhere, the most attractive being the former colonial countries and the rising economies of Europe and the United States. Opportunities for employment in the oil-rich Middle East also offered a strong pull. By the beginning of the 21st century, the Indian diaspora had swelled to some 20–25 million, touching every continent."

Here's Steve Rayner's India In Diaspora on The Digital Journalist.

Francine Orr: India, The New AIDS Capital

Image Copyright © Francine Orr/LA Times-All Rights Reserved
Francine Orr has been a photographer with the Los Angeles Times since 1999. She has traveled and worked extensively in Asia and the Pacific, and in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Angola, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Orr also spent several years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Federated States of Micronesia. According to the Los Angeles Times, her interest in covering poverty issues grew from documenting women living in poverty in India and America. Orr has received numerous awards for her photography and writing.

I featured Francine's work in Uganda a few months ago, and the link to that post is here. She has now produced a photographic feature on AIDS in India and its incredible toll on human lives. The images are graphic and very powerful...regrettably, Francine's narration borders on the listless and has none of the compassion so evident in her photographs. Perhaps I'm too harsh in my criticisms of photojournalists' slideshows, but I feel that narration can either make or break meaningful projects such as this one. I'd much rather rely on captions (this one has them too) than a narration that does little to enhance the photographs.

Francine Orr's (Los Angeles Times) India: The New AIDS Capital.

Lynsey Addario: Darfur

Image Copyright © Lynsey Addario-All Rights Reserved
Lynsey Addario is a photojournalist based in Istanbul, Turkey, where she works for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Fortune and National Geographic among others. With no professional training or studies, she began photographing in 1996 for The Buenos Aires Herald in Argentina, where she worked for one year before returning to New York. In 1997, she began freelancing for the The Associated Press and has since covered many international stories for a variety of the world's top publications.

She works in natural light with digital cameras (Nikon D200 ) and frequently uses a Widelux, a panoramic camera. Lynsey believes that working in the Muslim world as a woman is much easier than for a man. She tells us "Muslims for the most part are incredibly warm and hospitable and often families will invite you into their homes to meet their wives and children and to share a meal. I think this gets a little tricky for male photographers and the more religious families, where men outside of the family shouldn't see women uncovered. "

Her website is replete with a wide range of photo essays...including Darfur, the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and intriguingly Saudi Arabia. For TTP, I feature Lynsey's excellent work on Darfur...it's hard-hitting and graphic...but it's this type of photographic reportage that will continue to prod hypocritical governments, lethargic world bodies and reptilian politicians into action.

Lynsey Addario

NY Times: Captivating Cappadocia

Yoray Liberman/Getty Images, for The New York Times-All Rights Reserved
Here's a fluff travel feature slideshow by the New York Times on Cappadocia in Turkey. The area Cappadocia is in Central Anatolia and is known for its unique moon-like landscape, underground cities, cave churches and houses carved in the rocks.These unusual rock formations were created as a result of eroding rains and winds of thousands of years.

Its troglodyte dwellings carved out of the rock, and its cities dug out into the underground, present an otherworldly appearance. During the Roman era the area served as a shelter for escaping Christians. It is believed that Cappadocia's area is 250 miles in length by about 150 miles in breadth, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I call it a fluff piece because this feature needs more photographs...photographs of the people living in these caves...of their communities...and some audio, either a narration or ambient music by the musician in the above photograph. Since it doesn't have that, it's nothing more than a page filler for the NYT.

The New York Times' Captivating Cappadocia .