New York Times: Yemen

Image © Evelyn Hockstein/New York Times-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times brings us a slideshow about Yemen with Evelyn Hockstein's photographs of this stunningly exotic country.

The accompanying article is by writer Tom Downey, and he writes this: " On the main street of Sana’s souk, black-clad shadows — local women — duck into fabric stores to buy colorful garments I’ll never see them wear. Working teenagers huddle next to food vendors, eating boiled potatoes and eggs dipped in coarse salt and bright red pepper. A fruit vendor wearing one thick rubber glove carefully selects a prickly pear from a wheelbarrow and strips off the spiky outer skin. Men and boys wear the curious costume of northern Yemen — a Western suit jacket over a one-piece jalabiya. The crowning accessory is a curved dagger called the jambiya that’s sheathed in a fanciful scabbard belted across the belly."

These daggers are must-wear for most Yemeni men, as well as for their Omani neighbors. It's an accessory that men will not be seen without...perhaps akin to businessmen wearing ties in the West.

Yemen is indeed exotic and its architecture is certainly atypical, and I would love to travel to and in Yemen to photograph. However, and shrugging off the standard alarmist warnings issued by the State Department, street photography is reportedly difficult as -common with the attitude prevalent in some Islamic countries- Yemenis do not wish their wives, sisters and daughters to be photographed. I had a difficult time photographing in the streets of Moroccan cities because of this attitude.

The New York Times' slideshow: Yemen

The New York Times' article:Yemen's Exotic Secrets

Photo Submissions: Elementary Tips

Image © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
A large adventure travel operator has recently requested photo submissions for its annual catalog from its approved photographers, and I thought I'd share with you how I'll go about presenting my submission.

Firstly, the client wants the initial photo submissions in low to medium resolution saved as jpgs. Once the choice has been done, submissions are to be in TIFF or PSD formats at high resolutions scans of 300 dpi. All this is pretty much standard for all photo submissions of this type.

Once I've decided on my photographs, I label each digital image with my name and an ID number. I burn these images on a DVD (or a CD for the initial submission) having grouped them in geographically-named folders (ie Bhutan, Ethiopia, etc). I also prepare a page with thumbnails of the submitted photos and burn that on the DVD or CD, along with a cover letter to the client with my address, and contact details. This too is pretty much standard.

I always use printable media (DVD or CD) and with my inkjet printer get them labeled with my name, copyright notice and client's name. I prefer DVD cases such as the one on the left, which provide more protection and are better looking than the square plastic ones. I print another sheet with the thumbnails, add my name, address, contact on the bottom and insert that in the front of the DVD case.

It presents well, and while it won't necessarily make my images stand out from the competition (I'm sure many photographers do the same or have similar ideas), it looks neat and professional. The days of scribbling on the CD and popping it in a mailer are gone!

News: Batteries' Ban

The US Transportation Department announced that air travelers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning January 1, 2008 to help reduce the risk of fires.

Passengers will still be able to check luggage with lithium batteries if they are installed in electronic devices, such as cameras, cell phones and laptop computers. If packed in plastic bags, batteries may be in carryon baggage. The limit is two batteries per passenger.

The ban affects shipments of non-rechargeable lithium batteries, such as the Energizer and Duracell brands.

Details on Safe Travel Dot Gov

Details on TSA

TTP Photo of the Year

Image © Copyright Shiho Fukada-All Rights Reserved
I'm so taken by Shiho Fukada's photographs that I've been racking my brains how to re-post her work on The Travel Photographer. The answer? TTP's Photo of the Year.

So without further ado, here's TTP's Photo of the Year: Shiho Fukada's photograph of a made-up Indian dancer...possibly a Kathakali or Yakshagana performer. The former is a dance of Kerala, while the latter is of Karnataka. The richness of the colors and the judicious use of shadows in this photograph have so impressed me that I've spent an inordinate amount of time just looking at it...trying to burn it in my visual memory in the event that I come across a similar situation.

Shiho Fukuda

Benazir Bhutto's Assassination

Image © John Moore/Getty Images-All Rights Reserved
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto has very serious implications and consequences for Pakistan and for the United States' national interests in this region. Pakistan's stability is at risk, and the whole region may face chaos and turmoil.

Naturally, our supine and discredited mainstream media is now lionizing Bhutto (or "Buddo" as our illiterate anchors and clownish talking heads pronounce her name) as the beacon of democracy for Pakistan, unwilling to remember that she was dismissed from office for corruption and incompetence..not once, but twice.

Notwithstanding, Bhutto's death is the worst possible outcome, as the Bush administration had been relying on her pro-western leanings to keep Pakistan on its side, and help to reduce the degree of Islamic militancy in that country.

Back to photography: I think that this photograph by John Moore (he seemed to be one of the few photographers to be close to the scene) is just remarkable. This unfortunate man, his trouser legs shredded by the explosion...possibly badly hurt, and certainly in a horrible daze, is still very elegantly attired with his coat still buttoned, shirt and tie undisturbed. His hair is well combed and he seems to be checking if he's unhurt. Yet a few feet away, men lay dying. Incredible.

According to CNN, John Moore said he was about 20 yards away from Bhutto's vehicle when he took his photographs.

Shiho Fukada: The Aravanis

Image © Copyright Shiho Fukada-All Rights Reserved
Shiho Fukada is a New York-based freelance photojournalist, and her work has been published in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune Magazine, Time, Stern, Le Monde, among others. Her work has also been featured in PDN and Digital Photo Pro Magazine. In 2007 she was named one of the emerging photographers in Digital Photo Pro Magazine.

I am amazed at the quality and depth of her photojournalism as showcased on her website. The three main bodies of work that I found exceptionally powerful are "50 Years Later", "The Aravanis" and "Life In A Brothel". The latter is a three-part essay featuring the stories of sex workers in Bangladeshi brothels. There's a also a multimedia Soundslide essay which I recommend you watch.

The former photo essay is about the Aravanis; these are essentially transgenders and eunuchs, sometimes called hijras. The Aravanis trace their lineage to the Mahabharata. According to the ancient legend, Lord Krishna took a female form to marry Prince Aravan for a single night before Aravan was sacrificed.

Every year this event is celebrated as the Koovagam festival, when thousands of Aravanis dress as brides and marry the deity, Lord Aravan, and consummate the marriage through sex work. The next day they enact the process of widowhood, don white saris and return to their villages, only to shed wearing white after a month of mourning.

This is powerful and compelling photojournalism, and I have spent much time exploring Ms Kukada's website with its various photo galleries and essays. I expect you'll probably do the same.

Shiho Fukuda

Bhutan: Photo Expedition

Following the success of the 2006 photo expedition to Bhutan, I'm pleased to announce my photo expedition to this Himalayan Kingdom on October 3-17, 2008.

The Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul photo expedition is set to travel to its heartland, and timed to culminate with the Tamshingphala Tsechu, and the Tangbi Mani festival in the Bumthang valley.

While this is not a workshop per se, interested participants will be helped to create multimedia projects from their inventory of photographs of these festivals.

For those of you who've missed my posts regarding photo travel to Bhutan, I would encourage you to read this post. It will give you something to consider if you're planning to join a photo tour to Bhutan.

To log on to the photo expedition website for further details, go to:

Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul

TTP: Recap of the Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (December 17- December 22) most popular posts on TTP:

Kashmir: Photo Expedition-Workshop
Kenro Izu: Life in Bhutan
MSNBC: Best of 2007

Dagmar Schwelle: Planet Tokyo

Image Copyright © Dagmar Schwelle-All Rights Reserved
I really like Dagmar Schwelle's work a lot. I think her photography is intelligent and well-thought out. An Austrian photographer & photojournalist currently based in Germany, she has recently produced a multimedia Soundslides of her photographs while recently in Tokyo. Her compositional style is very interesting, and I find that she frequently uses frames within her photographs. She did that in her earlier work of Istanbul, and now she does it again in Planet Tokyo.

Just take a look at the above photograph of subway riders, and how the girl is framed between one of the arms, and the back of one of the riders...her timing is just perfect. Another photograph in her slideshow is of Sumo wrestlers...check out how well she captured the scene. I sense that Dagmar puts much thought and discipline in her work.

Dagmar Schwelle's Planet Tokyo

Sunday Rant IV

This is not really a rant...really.

As TTP is ad-free, I barely look at emails from companies that offer me discounts to place their ads...but this one was different. This time it was from a company that I like a lot. The email from this reputable photography retail company proposed that if I placed its ad on the pages of TTP, I'd get a commission of 2-3% for every item bought through this mechanism. It's called Affiliate Program.

I replied virtually instantly that, while I was appreciative of the proposal, The Travel Photographer blog would remain ad-free as long as I maintained it. I counter-proposed by asking if the company would support my Kashmir expedition/workshop by offering the same small discount to its participants.

I realize there's an enormous difference between the readership numbers of TTP and the small number of participants in the Kashmir photo workshop. It's obviously a numbers game, and the 12 participants in the workshop may not be worth the trouble from the company's standpoint, but it was worth a try.

There's no answer yet from the company in question, but I'm hopeful. It would engender considerable good will. Am I expecting too much from a successful company that is built on trust, good will and reputation? Perhaps.

Now here's a better rant: A website that seems to aggregate posts relating to cruises and travel, uploads every one of my posts on its pages (with the required link to my blog). Whether my blog posts are about photojournalism, my Kashmir photo expedition or photo contests, they'll be on it, and yes, even my rants get mentioned. It's like having someone repeating every word I say....isn't that annoying?

By the way, the only post of mine that was not copied on this blog is the one in which I extend my wishes to all TTP readers on the occasion of the Muslim celebration of Eid el-Adha.

I wonder why?