My Show-Off: Black Hat Dancer

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
The Black Hat dance (Shana) is an important dance during the annual tsechus in Bhutan. These dances are also used in purification ceremonies during the construction of dzongs, temples, and chortens.

The Black Hat dancers (such as the one above, photographed at the tsechu held in Wangdue on October 2008), assume the role of yogis with the inherent power to subdue and create life. The dancers wear brocade robes, wide brimmed black hats and aprons with the face of a protective deity.

We spent at least a solid 3 hours photographing non-stop at this particular festival during my Land of Druk Yul photo-expedition.

For those interested in technical stuff: 180mm, f4.0, 1/500th, iso100. Click to enlarge.

Lance Rosenfield: Thirst For Grit

Photograph © Lance Rosenfield-All Rights Reserved
I occasionally post travel and documentary photography projects "made in America", and I recently thought it was time for one...so I'm glad that Lance Rosenfield's marvelous B&W photo essay "Thirst For Grit" came to my attention at just the right moment.

Thirst for Grit is about the bull and bronc riders who travel from one rodeo to the next and who, as Lance poetically describes them, "these men tango with beasts, they dance with the devil, they ride". I longed for ambient sounds of the rodeos supplementing Lance's terrific images, but I guess we may have to wait for another project.

Lance Rosenfield is a freelance commercial and editorial photographer (and a storyteller) based in Austin, Texas. He has published work in The New York Times, The Digital Journalist and The Seattle Times, among other publications.

Film: I've Loved You So Long

In London I've watched the French movie Il y'a Longtemps Que Je T'aime (or I've Loved You So Long), and was totally enthralled by the virtuoso performance of Kristin Scott Thomas. I don't want to divulge anything of the plot, except that her performance deserves an Oscar and, along with Couscous, this film reignited my love for the cinema.

Why can't Hollywood produce cinematic gems like these two instead of its usual fare of infantile "blockbusters"? This, of course, is a rhetorical question since most of us know the answer.

The NY Times has a review of I've Loved You So Long.

Foundry Photo Workshop 2009

Eric Beecroft and his team have just announced that the second Foundry Photo Workshop will be held in Manali, Manali-Kulu Valleys, Himachal Pradesh, Indian Himalaya from 26 July - 1 August 2009.

This second Foundry Photo Workshop will follow the extraordinarily successful workshop which was held in Mexicio City in June 2008.

Many of the original instructors have confirmed their participation. These are Mike Robinson-Chavez, Andrea Bruce, Tewfic El Sawy, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Ben Rusnak, and more to come.

For further details and date of registration, go to Foundry Photo Workshop

Praful Rao: Of Monasteries & Men

Photograph © Praful Rao-All Rights Reserved
I had the pleasure of meeting Praful Rao in Thimpu, Bhutan which he was visiting at the same time I was there. Praful is a self taught photographer whose passion for photography spans his lifetime. He describes himself as a generalist, choosing to capture whatever catches his eye or creating photographs from impromptu themes conjured in his mind. While most of his photography is of people and nature, he has also gotten involved in minimalism, still life and still enjoys doing B&W work.

Here's a lovely multimedia slideshow: Of Monasteries & Men produced by Praful. Some of the photographs are of the enthronement ceremony of the third reincarnation of Domo Geshe Rimpoche, in Tharpacholing Gompa in Kalimpong (a part of the district of Darjeeling in West Bengal). Following the ceremony, the young lama was whisked away to Mysore for further theological studies. Some photographs were also made at the Tongsa Gompa, the oldest Buddhist monastery in Kalimpong, and others are of Bhutan. I particularly liked the above image for its shadows and saturated color...a compelling composition by Praful.

Praful tells me that the background music is by a young Nepali flautist, called Manose Singh. The track was traded for a photograph by Praful that'll be featured on the artist's forthcoming album.

An earlier post on Praful Rao and his photography was published by TTP here (link).

A Tale of Two Bags

A month ago, as I was retrieving my checked-in bag at Heathrow (I've stopped over in London from New York, en route to Bangkok then on to Paro, Bhutan), I thought something wasn't quite right but in a hurry to get a cab, it's only later that I saw that my TSA-approved lock was missing.

I unzipped my bag and saw that someone had opened all my zipped-up pouches holding chargers, batteries, cables, a sound recorder and a couple of hard drives. Nothing was missing so it wasn't a thief...but it was someone who checked every electronic item in the pouches, to the extent that the tiny SONY microphone I use with the audio recorder was removed from its little bag, and was found on top of my socks...just like that. There was no note from the TSA...nothing to indicate that it was the TSA which had done that. Since nothing was taken, I assume it was their staff that opened the lock, failed to return it, and thoroughly rifled through my electronic stuff.

Ralph Childs, a participant in my Bhutan photo expedition, had the same experience on his flight from Chicago. The TSA-approved lock was also missing, with no note from the TSA. In his case nothing was taken and his belongings weren't rifled through.

While it gives me comfort that the TSA seems to be really screening bags, and appreciating that its staff is under-trained and overworked, I am still taken aback that Ralph and I (flying from different US airports) lost our combination locks, and there was no note indicating that the TSA had been through our bags. In my case, I'm just annoyed that electronic items were strewn around in the bag...losing an item would've been a nuisance, although I could've replaced it in London or Bangkok.

Moral of the story: Keep every item you depend on for your work in your carry-on luggage...and remember that TSA locks are great if and when the TSA staff have the ways to open them (or take the trouble to)...if not, you can kiss them goodbye.

Shiho Fukada: E&P Winner

Photograph © Shiho Fukada-All Rights Reserved
Editor & Publisher has just announced its 9th Annual Photos of the Year winners. Shiho Fukada, won the grand prize for her work in The New York Times covering the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. The Travel Photographer offers its congratulations to Ms Fukada for the well-deserved award.

An outstanding photographer, Shiho Fukada has been featured many times on The Travel Photographer. Here are some of the links:

Kashgar Photo Essay

PDN Photo Annual 2008

Digital Photo Pro Magazine

TTP's Photo of the Year 2007

Lourdes Segade: Bhutan & Nepal

Photograph © Lourdes Segade/All Rights Reserved
Lourdes Segade is a Spanish photojournalist, based in Barcelona. Her work is often seen in Spain, where she publishes in Sunday newspaper supplements such as La Vanguardia Magazine or El Semanal, and in other magazines such as Yo Dona or Revista, of La Vanguardia newspaper or other publications, like DAMn, The New York Times and the IHT.

She has shown her work in screenings at several festivals, including the International Meeting of Photojournalism in Gijón and also the Albarracín Photo and Journalism Seminar, both in Spain. She's a member of the French collective, PictureTank, and is a co-founder of the EVE Photographers, a collective of emerging women photographers.

I feature Lourdes' portfolio titled Nepal & Bhutan: A Glimpse, as I'm already experiencing serious withdrawal pangs from my Bhutan photo expedition. I particularly liked the photograph of the dancer's skirt at the Punakha dzong during Losar...a wide angle shot, with just a touch of blur.

Foto Week DC: Nov 11-22, 2008

A week long celebration of photography is scheduled for November 15-22, and will mark the launch of FotoWeek DC, the first annual gathering of a diverse and wide-ranging photography community in the nation’s capital, including photographers, museums, universities and all those involved in the profession across the metro D.C. area, including Virginia and Maryland.

FotoWeek DC seeks to bring together all photographers and imaging professionals from every discipline to join with the public in celebration of the medium.

More information is available on FotoWeek's blog, which I'm glad to see is using the same color scheme as The Travel photographer.

Bhutan Photo Expedition: Novice & Dahlias

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy/All Rights Reserved
Here's a photograph made at the Dechen Phadrang monastic school in Thimpu. We had the necessary permit to visit the school, and spent a number of hours photographing and interacting with the novitiates. The photograph is obviously posed, and I chose a spot at the school's lakhang where the light was just right.

The novitiates involved in the photo shoot had a bunch of dahlias, and were glad to pose for us. I usually much prefer spontaneity and movement in my travel portraits, but posed portraits are often useful for stock purposes.

David Lang: Street Photographers

Photograph © David Lang/All Rights Reserved
David Lang worked in New York City for a well-known photographer specializing in portraits and celebrity shoots, but moved on to work for the International Organization for Migration. He documented the organization's relief efforts following the tsunami in Sri Lanka. He also worked with UNICEF in the Maldives, and Internews in Pakistan.

David has an interesting collection of galleries of his work in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Morocco...for TTP, I chose to highlight his work on Street Photographers in Kabul. In many countries of the world, street photographers perform their craft in cities' streets, on corners and in "holes-in-the-wall", and they provide a public service by producing passport-sized photos for IDs etc.

Afghanistan is one of these countries, as well as India, and a myriad of others. The technique in processing the prints is -by our digital standards- prehistoric, and may well be considered as a dying art.

My thanks to Emmanuelle Rey for the link to David's work.

Stillness of the White

IN South Bandung, there is a mountain called Mount Patuha. With a height of 2,434 meters above sea level (above sea level), parents used to call this mountain with the old name of Mt.

Mount has two craters, which are now at the peak of the western part, and of the White which is located below the altitude of 2,194 meters above sea level. Compared with of the time, White of the more famous people in the ear. This is because of the White as the main tourist attraction in the area Ciwidey by PT Perhutani.

It feels very right if White made the object of the tour. Time to get there, you will get a travel experience that life is fun. Imagine, cold skewer the skin when the cross of the road to the White tempt very clear. Tempt visitors to open the windows of vehicles and realize that you have found the virginity of nature in the city of Bandung.

Aroma lands collaborate with the cold air and biasan sunlight penetrate the shade of trees rindangnya, we do not make memedulikan liukan road that sometimes it feels very sharp.

Reached the gate of the White tourist attraction, visitors have to grope pocket Rp10.000 per person. Do not assume the expensive tariffs because what we will find in the future, you will not be able to pay any money. Approximately 10 minutes after the entrance, we will find a place to rest stop your vehicle. When the vehicle door open, presumably jacket grapple hands and fold into the scenery compulsory.

Therefore, when the drop in the stalls that there also be a mandatory. Yes, count-bandrek countdown with a glass of milk or coffee, of course you can warm the stomach.

Afterward, begin to explore some of the staircases, until you reach a small field that met the traders who usually sell strawberry or trinkets that you can take home a piece of scarf as a fashion or underwear.

On the other hand the field, you will find a stair decreased. Not steep, you only need to be careful because some industries that have terkikis. Towards the end of the rung, you can take a green carpet of water tergradasi blue that will make you raise your foot speed to immediately close the carpets of water.

Witness of the White from close make you want to record what you see and feel in there. Sulfur aroma that is not enough sting for a pullback that you still want to explore the rocks that you can pijak in almost all of the White side.

For most people, the smell of sulfur is a cause disruption because of cough-cough. If you orbit of the White, you'll find a flavors center apart from the sulfur steam craters. There are artificial caves deep as 5 meters, which he said they had made a sulfur mine.

If you pass through the cave, you will smell the smell of sulfur that is all. Because the sulfur content is very high in the area around it, first established at the time of sulfur factory given the name of the White Zwavel Ontgining.

For the recorder eksotisme natural scenery of white smoke and sulfur green water craters and canyon cliffs-dry combination that makes the sky blue of the White not only become the object tour, also a mainstay for the prospective bride to make the documentation of the pre-wedding photos
source:
http://lifestyle.okezone.com

Overnight Fast Loans

Today we’ve seen so many cash advance or payday loan websites offering their services over the internet. Although they pretty much the same, doing the same business in the cash advance or payday loans world, each of them offering and stated their own beneficial claims. Yes they all more likely to claim that they can deliver your cash over night right in your bank accounts once you’ve been approved. Or is it so? Well some of them maybe do, but often the applicators have to wait a little longer to get their cash advance loans than just overnight.

If you’re not sure what to do or where to get your overnight loans be delivered, while in other hand you need your cash loan fast, then I might can recommend you with a great overnight cash advanced or payday loan lender. Just click on any link that I provided here to get you to there. They can provide you with great overnight cash advance with up to $100-$2,500 fast cash loans, save NFS charges, no credit check, and no fax needed. The requirements are easy, they usually only required that you’re above 18 years of age, currently employed or have a verifiable income, and have active bank accounts. If you meet all the above requirements you have a great chance to be approved by the lender. Try this for 15 second to see if it’s work.

Overnight Fast Loans

Today we’ve seen so many cash advance or payday loan websites offering their services over the internet. Although they pretty much the same, doing the same business in the cash advance or payday loans world, each of them offering and stated their own beneficial claims. Yes they all more likely to claim that they can deliver your cash over night right in your bank accounts once you’ve been approved. Or is it so? Well some of them maybe do, but often the applicators have to wait a little longer to get their cash advance loans than just overnight.

If you’re not sure what to do or where to get your overnight loans be delivered, while in other hand you need your cash loan fast, then I might can recommend you with a great overnight cash advanced or payday loan lender. Just click on any link that I provided here to get you to there. They can provide you with great overnight cash advance with up to $100-$2,500 fast cash loans, save NFS charges, no credit check, and no fax needed. The requirements are easy, they usually only required that you’re above 18 years of age, currently employed or have a verifiable income, and have active bank accounts. If you meet all the above requirements you have a great chance to be approved by the lender. Try this for 15 second to see if it’s work.

Easy Loan in 1-2-3

Sometimes in our daily lives we can avoid certain circumstances of short in cash. Now I’m not going to tell you how’s that happened, I’m sure you knew much better than I do; but I’m not sure how you going to handle it. Perhaps you have a sudden need of money to pay your medical bills, or repairing your car, planning a vacation, or any other needs. Either way you need money on that, and if you’re currently in short then the most reasonable solution is to get a loan. But what if you’re in a hurry and need some cash fast? Banks won’t be fast enough to catch up your needs. They need to consider your entire qualifications in giving you loans or credits.

But let me tell you an easy way to get an easy cash loan fast. It’s called the cash advance or other used to say payday loans. Cash advance is a Short term loans which will provide the needed cash to meet immediate short-term cash flow problems. However they’re not a solution for longer term financial problems for which other kinds of financing (such as credit cards, an overdraft loan or a loan from friends or family); may be more appropriate and affordable. But it may come in handy if you should need cash fast. And you can get your cash advance loans as easy as 1-2-3. First you need to fill-out the no fax online application or apply over the telephone, then submit your cash advance loan application online, and last their customer care rep will call you to double check your funding arrangements. If you meet all of the requirements and approved then your cash will be deposited overnight in your bank or credit union account. It’s as easy as 1-2-3!

Easy Loan in 1-2-3

Sometimes in our daily lives we can avoid certain circumstances of short in cash. Now I’m not going to tell you how’s that happened, I’m sure you knew much better than I do; but I’m not sure how you going to handle it. Perhaps you have a sudden need of money to pay your medical bills, or repairing your car, planning a vacation, or any other needs. Either way you need money on that, and if you’re currently in short then the most reasonable solution is to get a loan. But what if you’re in a hurry and need some cash fast? Banks won’t be fast enough to catch up your needs. They need to consider your entire qualifications in giving you loans or credits.

But let me tell you an easy way to get an easy cash loan fast. It’s called the cash advance or other used to say payday loans. Cash advance is a Short term loans which will provide the needed cash to meet immediate short-term cash flow problems. However they’re not a solution for longer term financial problems for which other kinds of financing (such as credit cards, an overdraft loan or a loan from friends or family); may be more appropriate and affordable. But it may come in handy if you should need cash fast. And you can get your cash advance loans as easy as 1-2-3. First you need to fill-out the no fax online application or apply over the telephone, then submit your cash advance loan application online, and last their customer care rep will call you to double check your funding arrangements. If you meet all of the requirements and approved then your cash will be deposited overnight in your bank or credit union account. It’s as easy as 1-2-3!

CVs and Covering Letters

When students hear words like CV and covering letter they usually ask me the same question: what should I include in my CV? and what is a covering letter? It is important students understand that their CV and the covering letter that goes with it should be carefully written and they have to take their time to write down the information they want to include in both documents. It is not something to be done in a rush. CVs and covering letters have their own structure. Frequently students skip important parts or they don´t highlight some of their experience required for a certain job well enough, which could result in not being selected for the job they have applied for. In a labour market like the tourism industry, in which there are a lot of jobs but also a lot of people competing for one, you have to remember CVs are the entrance door to the labour market, so getting a job could depend on how successfully your CV manages to present your experience and your personal qualities for that job.
So as not to go wrong here are some tips about writing a CV and a covering letter. As usual any comments are more than welcome.

How to write a CV and a Covering Letter

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Bhutan Photo Expedition: Taktshang

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy/All Rights Reserved
Yech! Britain has now switched to Winter Time, and it'll get darker earlier from now on. The weather forecast calls for rain...so it'll be a miserable Sunday. Perhaps it's a message from the gods that I ought to stay in and start reviewing my thousands of images from Bhutan, process them and put Lightroom 2.1 through its paces.

Here's a photograph (a postcard view) of Taktshang Goemba, also known as Tiger's Nest, near Paro. Taktshang is probably the most famous of monasteries in Bhutan. It literally hangs on a cliff at over 10,000 feet. The legend behind the monastery is that Padmasambhava (or Guru Rinpoche) flew there on the back of a tiger. The only way to the monastery is by foot (or on mule-back), and the trek takes about 2 hours depending on one's fitness, and on the condition of the trail.

On nearby cliffs, I noticed other smaller structures and buildings, and was told that these were meditation abodes, where lamas and high-ranking monks come to meditate for varying lengths of time. It seems that some remain in meditative seclusion for 3 years, 3 months and 3 days.

We trekked up the trail, and were rewarded with this incredible view of the monastery. The trek was arduous, especially on the way down as it was raining and the going was very slippery in some areas. At the start of the trek, an enterprising elderly Bhutanese was selling poles he had hand-fashioned from branches, and they sold like hotcakes. Mine came in very handy on more than one occasion, and a member of my photo-expedition liked his so much that he took it home to the US. I've bemoaned the appearance of souvenir vendors at the foot (and beyond) of the trail, but the pole seller was really offering a useful service.

John Stanmeyer on Malaria Project

John Stanmeyer is a co-founding member of VII, and works regularly on assignment with National Geographic magazine. Here's is a recent interview (via Canon Professional Network) of him discussing his latest long-term assignment with the magazine, involving the global scope of malaria.

A thoughtful interview with one of my favorite photographers...John Stanmeyer's Malaria .

This blog has previously featured John Stanmeyer's Malaria work (link)