Memorial Day Weekend

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
The Travel Photographer will not be posting over the long Memorial Day weekend.

My Show Off: Whirling Dervishes

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Here's another of my weekly Show-Off features with an example of my personal photography on The Travel Photographer's blog. Click on the photograph to view it larger size. I used one of Lightroom 2.0 standard presets to accentuate the photograph's colors.

It was photographed in Istanbul while Mevlevi dervishes perform a sema ceremony with a traditional orchestra at Istanbul's Galata Mevlevihanesi in Beyoglu. The sema is derived from Jalaluddin Rumi's habit of occasionally whirling in ecstatic joy in the streets of Konya. The whirling dances are just one of the physical methods used to try to reach religious ecstasy in Sufism.

Justin Guariglia: Planet Shanghai

Justin Guariglia's latest book, Planet Shanghai, is his attempt to preserve the city's unique culture, traditions and its people. The ICP will be having a book signing event with Justin Guariglia on Friday, May 23 (6:00 pm - 7:30 pm) at its store on 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street, NYC.

Here are some samples from Planet Shanghai

From the New Yorker magazine:

It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in Shanghai while wearing pajamas. In recent years, Shanghai newspapers have worried that this sartorial habit will give the city a slovenly image, but it seems that many natives see little divide between public and private space. Justin Guariglia, an American photographer who lived in Asia for nearly a decade, captures the city in its most informal moments. His book includes dozens of portraits of pajama’d Shanghainese: visiting the supermarket, riding motorcycles, walking dogs, playing mah-jongg, going to McDonald’s, smoking cigarettes. Guariglia works close to the ground; he shoots the undersides of bridges and the sheen of vegetables at the market, and includes no fewer than sixteen pages of footwear, a common Chinese obsession. His search for street style uncovers moments of unexpected beauty: a rainbow pile of scrap wire, a heart-shaped decoration on an anti-theft gate, a boarded-up door crisscrossed with lines as straight and true as a calligrapher’s best brushwork.

Ben Curtis: Bakhtiari Wedding

Photograph © Ben Curtis/AP-All Rights Reserved
Ben Curtis of SnapperTalk blog, brings us his work on a Bakhtiari Wedding while traveling in Iran. The audio was captured using a Zoom H2. Listening to the soundtrack, you'll hear the women's ululations, an ancient and traditional form of celebratory expressions in the Middle East and beyond.

The Bakhtiaris, who are Shi'a Muslims and speak a Persian dialect known as Luri, are one of two main nomadic groups in Iran, along with the ethnic Turkic Qashqai group. Iran has one of the largest nomadic populations in the world, an estimated 1.5 million in a country of some 70 million, according to the government's agency for nomad affairs.

Ben Curtis is currently based in Cairo, Egypt where he is Middle East Photographer & Photo Editor for the Associated Press.

Here's Ben Curtis' Bakhtiari Wedding

National Geographic Assignment

As reported by PDN Online, the National Geographic Society launched a new photo assignments division to handle commercial representation for 27 photographers.

National Geographic Assignment will represent the following photographers: William Albert Allard, Stephen Alvarez, Ira Block, John Burcham, Jimmy Chin, Jodi Cobb, Pablo Corral Vega, Bruce Dale, David Doubilet, Annie Griffiths Belt, Justin Guariglia, Bill Hatcher, Beverly Joubert, Tim Laman, David Liittschwager, Michael Melford, Michael Nichols, Paul Nicklen, Michael O’Brien, Randy Olson, Jim Richardson, Joel Sartore, Brian Skerry, Steve Winter, Gordon Wiltsie, Alison Wright and Mike Yamashita.

The new division will be managed by Alice Keating, a 13-year veteran of Geographic's stock and syndication arm, the National Geographic Image Collection.

Via The Click

Bukit Lawang and Orang Utan

If the wild is well and truly calling you then make sure you put Bukit Lawang on your itinerary. This once sleepy town in Northern Sumatra is now home to the famous Orangg Utan Centre that was created to aid primates in their readjustment back into the wild. As a visitor you are allowed to witness the amazing creatures at feeding time. Once the milk and bananas are out you can see them swing into action from limb to limb to get their grub. It is a truly privileged place to be. The only hours visitors are welcome are between 8 and 9 am and 3-4 p.m., otherwise the orangatanngs home is off limits. Remember you have to get a permit if you wish to visit the centre.


Bukit Lewang is a charming tourist town on the edge of the huge Gungung Leuser National Park. Many people to visit Sungai Bohorok tube to go to the river. Other visit to go on hikes in the lush jungle of primary rainforest. Most visitors come to Bukit Lawang, however, see the orange men of the forest - the Orang-utan!

Spend some days in Bukit Lawang, and enjoy the orang-utans, the river and the rainforest.

Orang-utan is Indonesian for "Men of the Forest". These fascinating creatures belong to the Great Apes family (along with the chimpanzee and the gorilla), which is man's closest relative. They evolved from the same evolutionary tree as man, and studying them helps us to understand our own origin.

Marie Arago: Oaxaca

Photograph © Marie Arago-All Rights Reserved
Marie Arago is a Brooklyn-based photographer, who studied film at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, and photography at the ICP in New York. She spent many years photographing in Cuba, and worked for a newspaper in Costa Rica.

I spent a while deciding between her Mercado in Oaxaca gallery or her Cuban gallery for posting to TTP, and opted for the former...only because I've been in Oaxaca in February so it's fresh in my mind. I liked the above photograph taken in a market in Oaxaca the most from her gallery.

Epson: James Nachtwey Interview

Epson has put together a new website called Focal Points which features a number of stories, both written and in video (mov format) showcasing a number of photography's leading professionals, as well as their work with Epson products.

There are quite a few photographers' interviews, but I chose the James Nachtwey interview to feature here.

B&H Digital Audio Recorders Guide

Here's a useful comparison of various digital audio recorders from B&H's Sam Mallery's newsletter.

From the newsletter: "All of the recorders in this article were designed to capture professional-quality audio. Great care has gone into the design of the built-in microphones and inputs. They are used in broadcasting, professional journalism, music production, podcasting, and by hobbyists. These are more than just Dictaphones— they are professional audio recorders with better signal to noise ratios, more file quality options, and file compression capabilities.

My hat's off to Ralph Childs for the link.

Jim McKinniss: Venice

Jim McKinniss is a photography enthusiast, who taught university mathematics and owned a small company providing database design and programming services to large corporations and medium size businesses.

He uses a Canon 1Ds Mark II and his favorite lenses for travel are the Canon EF 16-35mm L zoom, a 100mm macro prime, and a 200mm L prime. His photographic interests are wide, and his past and continuing projects include the study of ghost towns, all things old, motion studies and abstracts of the designs of naturally occurring processes.

Jim McKinniss' website is courtesy of Double Exposure (PhotoWorkshops.com), and I recommend you view his two most interesting galleries: Venice and Cuba.

New York Photo Awards Winners

The winners of the 1st New York Photo Awards were announced Friday 16, 2008 in Brooklyn, New York.

According to the PDN article, the awards ceremony had a casual feel, as attendees braved a rainy night to pack into the St. Ann's Warehouse performance space near the Dumbo waterfront.

The winners in the Editorial category - single (tie) were Ibraheen Abu Mustafa and
Adem Hadei. For other winners, visit the link.

Travel Photographer Of The Year

I received an email from the organizers of the Travel Photographer Of The Year announcing its 2008 photo competition.

As a matter of principle, I do not participate in photo competitions of this sort, however I've been told by a reader of this blog (and a past participant -and winner- in TPOTY) that the competition is professionally managed and competently judged.

Nevertheless, caveat emptor or whatever the appropriate Latin expression is, and read the terms and conditions very carefully before you send in your travel masterpieces.

TTP Recap of the Week

For your convenience, here's the past week's (May 12 - May 18, 2008) most popular posts on TTP:

Soundslides Full Screen: Verdict
POV: Hug Your Audience
Canon Rebates

Nevada Wier: Adobe's Showcase

Nevada Wier's Far Corners of The World Revealed is being shown in an Adobe promotional web feature, which is novel and innovative. The episode featuring her imagery is episode #2 and since the web site is Flash-based, I can't give you the direct link to it, but the website's link is Adobe Creative License. You need to click on episode #2.

The feature is graphic-intensive, and requires a fast connection.

(Via Nevada Wiers' blog)

Soundslides Full Screen: Verdict

I've now downloaded the fullscreen playback Soundslides Plus which was just released in beta form, and found it to be a brilliant step forward for this product, which as you can easily guess, I'm a fan of.

I spent a few minutes creating a 'super-sized' slideshow, which allows viewers to the full screen option on their monitors. The slideshow will be shortly uploaded to my website.

The updated Beta version of Soundslides can be downloaded from here

Other competing products such as Fotomagico and Photopresenter may be equally good, but since I've started to use Soundslides I found it to be ideally suited to my requirements. My experience with its customer service has been perfect, prompt and efficient.

Taman Sari Tempat Raja Menyepi.

Taman sari yang berarti taman yang indah.taman ini di bangun oleh raja yogyakarta,Sultan Hamengkubuwono I tahun 1757.Taman ini kira-kira luasanya sekitar 150 X 100 Meter persegi dengan struktur bergaya Eropa ini menjadi tempat eksklusif sang sultan.

Setiap malam bulan purnama sultan melakukan berbagai aktivitas di istana cantik ini.selain menyepi sama istrinya sultan juga kerap menerima tamunya di tempat ini.Nuansa Eropa pada banguan ini memang terasa kental maklum dahulunya arsiteknya dari portugis.namun oleh Sultan Hamengkubuwono I diberi warna lain khas jawa dengan memasukan unsur-unsur agama islam,hindu dan budha dalam desain bangunan ini.Contoh nya dalam setiap gerbangnya terdapat pahatan gambar wajah kalamakara,yakni perwujudan kekuatan Dewa Siwa sebagai dewa pengahancur dengan mulut menjulur,tanda penolak bala.

Wisata Air Dengan Surfing ( Selancar ).

Surfing atau lebih dikenal dengan selancar,merupakan olahraga air dengan menggunakan sebilah papan sebagai alat untuk bermanuver di atas ombak.papan itu bergerak dengan bantuan arus ombak.dulunya selancar merupakan bagian dari kehidupan orang hawai yang terkenal dengan keindahan pantainya.

tapi sekarang selancar sendiri sudah banyak menyebar di negara-negara belahan dunia salah satunya indonesia yang mempunyai banyak wisata pantai tersebar di pulau-pulau di indonesia.

Wisata Air Dengan Banana Boat.

Banana Boat,sesuai namanya tentu perahu ini karet ini bentuknya menyerupai pisang.pesertanya naik di perahu karet ini.jumlah penumpangnya tergantung dari ukuran perahu ini.kapasitas banana boat biasanya menurut standar biasanya 4-5 orang plus 1 orang instruktur.banana boat ini biasanya di tarik dengan speed boat.penumpang benana boat ini harus di lengkapi dengan jaket pelampung guna untuk menghidari hal-hal yang tidak diinginkan.

sebagai tips untuk ikut peserta banana boat ini sebaiknya mematuhi ketentuan yang diijinkan.untuk wisata air ini benana boat juga sudah banyak tersedia dilokasi wisata diantaranya wisata pantai Bali seperti kuta,nusa dua, dan tanjung benoa bali.sedangkan banten ada di pulau umang dan anyer.di bangka juga ada di pantai tenggirinya.

Dampak-Dampak Pemansan Global Bagi Umat Manusia Dan Makhluk Hidup Di Bumi.

Pemanasan global sangat fatal dalam muka bumi ini.pemanasan global dapat berpengaruh yang negatif bagi manusia,hewan dan lingkugan hidup di bumi ini.pemasan global juga dapat manusia dan ekosistem lain nya.

Ini ada beberapa dampak-dampak dari pemanasan global.

Perubahan Suhu Ekstrim.

peningkatan agrikultur di daerah dingin dan penurunan di daerah panas.
peningkatan jumlah serangga.
jumlah air bersih menurun.
peningkatan jumlah kematian akibat penyakit dari perubahan cuaca.
penurunan kualitas air di perkantoran.

Gelombang Panas.

Pengurangan lahan Subur untuk pertanian.
Meningkatnya kebakaran hutan dan semak.
Peningkatan jumlah kematian terutama anak-anak dan orang tua akibat penyakit.

Kekeringan.

Kerusakan Panen.
Erosi Lahan.
Perubahan jumlah air tanah.
Krisis ari bersih.
Peningkatan kematian akibat infeksi pernapasan dan kulit.
migrasi penduduk,kerusakan Infraktuktur transportasi,perdagangan dan sosial akibat banjir dan kekeringan.
Kerusakan Insfratuktur Urban dan rural.
Kerugian material.

Banjir.

Degradasi tanah.
kerusakan lahan pada dataran rendah.
Peningkatkan kematian.
krisis air.
krisis gizi.
Krisis penyakit akibat pencemaran air dan kekurangan makan.
Migrasi.

Topan Badai.

Kerusakan hutan dan panen.
Kerusakan fasilitas publik seperti energi,infrastuktur tranportasi dll.
Peningkatan Penyakit psikologis akibat trauma pasca badai.
Migrasi.
Peningkatan Kemiskinan.

Peningkatan Permukaan Tanah.

Kerkurangan air berish akibat banjir ROB.
Peningkatan Penyakit akibat banjir.
Migrasi Akibat penyakit endemi.
Rekolasi paksa atas wilayah pesisir pantai.
Rekolasi infrastuktur.
Kerugian ekonomi dan hasil laut.
Efek badai.

Diatas jelas bahwa pemanasan global sangat faktal dampaknya untuk manusia dan hewan maupun lingkungan hidup di bumi ini.maka perlu kita mencegah supaya dampak pemanasan global ini tidak menyebar luas.Dengan cara menanam pohon karena pohon sendiri bisa menciptakan kekebalan lapisan Ozon selain itu juga bisa untuk wisata alam.cegah pencemaran air dan udara karena dua unsur itu sangat penting bagi manusia serta makhluk hidup di dunia ini.