North of Bali tours

North of Bali tour

Famous with Dolphin or Ikan Lumba – lumba in bahasa Indonesia

Swimming with Dolphin, it costly 1.000.000 IDR ( 100 US$ ) per one person. The rate would be change some time

09.00 am Leave the hotel lobby, two hours drive up to the bedugul area, a cold situation surrounded by the mountain and viewing to the very cold lake for your Buffy lunch as well as the temple be hind the lake if you want to see. Than a twin lakes would be very beautiful for the picture

• It is the time to the dolphin. It would take about one and half hour to drive
• As soon as arrive is the time for you to enjoy the main tour
• Back to the hotel you may choice the same way or the other way to know the different view.
• Would be late at night for your dinner or get some where on the way to the hotel

Please Contact :

I wayan berate. Mobile +628123922641

North of Bali tours

North of Bali tour

Famous with Dolphin or Ikan Lumba – lumba in bahasa Indonesia

Swimming with Dolphin, it costly 1.000.000 IDR ( 100 US$ ) per one person. The rate would be change some time

09.00 am Leave the hotel lobby, two hours drive up to the bedugul area, a cold situation surrounded by the mountain and viewing to the very cold lake for your Buffy lunch as well as the temple be hind the lake if you want to see. Than a twin lakes would be very beautiful for the picture

• It is the time to the dolphin. It would take about one and half hour to drive
• As soon as arrive is the time for you to enjoy the main tour
• Back to the hotel you may choice the same way or the other way to know the different view.
• Would be late at night for your dinner or get some where on the way to the hotel

Please Contact :

I wayan berate. Mobile +628123922641

Bali Volcano tour

Volcano tour such as Batur volcano and Batur lake
While you may having lunch, you may enjoy the both beautiful view

08.30 am Leave the hotel lobby for the traditional Balinese barong dance at 09.00 am

09.00 am The traditional Balinese barong dance or Kris dane. Kris is a sharp holly knife

• Which almost all of the Balinese family has to have at home.
• Gold and silver smith of Uc silver or Celuk village.
• Balinese painter and the painting of the all over the 8 Bali’s regencies at Ubud district.
• Balinese wood carver of Ida bagus marka at kemenuh village.
• Straight away to the volcano.
• Free Bali coffee or tea at the coffee plantation.
• Temple of Batuan village. Note : for the ladies and women’s on period or Menstruation are not allowed to enter the temple as well as if there some body has passed away in the family till 42 days.
• Kuta would be the choice to be explored, while you may have your sea food diner there or direct to the Jimbaran bay sea food café.
• It is the time to be back to the hotel.

Please Contact Bali Tours Guide I wayan berata. Mobile +628123922641

Bali Volcano tour

Volcano tour such as Batur volcano and Batur lake
While you may having lunch, you may enjoy the both beautiful view

08.30 am Leave the hotel lobby for the traditional Balinese barong dance at 09.00 am

09.00 am The traditional Balinese barong dance or Kris dane. Kris is a sharp holly knife

• Which almost all of the Balinese family has to have at home.
• Gold and silver smith of Uc silver or Celuk village.
• Balinese painter and the painting of the all over the 8 Bali’s regencies at Ubud district.
• Balinese wood carver of Ida bagus marka at kemenuh village.
• Straight away to the volcano.
• Free Bali coffee or tea at the coffee plantation.
• Temple of Batuan village. Note : for the ladies and women’s on period or Menstruation are not allowed to enter the temple as well as if there some body has passed away in the family till 42 days.
• Kuta would be the choice to be explored, while you may have your sea food diner there or direct to the Jimbaran bay sea food café.
• It is the time to be back to the hotel.

Please Contact Bali Tours Guide I wayan berata. Mobile +628123922641

Julie Aucoin: Travelography

Photo ©Julie Aucoin-All Rights Reserved.
Following the unpleasantness of the subject matter of my POV: And The Outrage post of two days ago, it's a relief to feature Julie Aucoin's travel photography on The Travel Photographer blog.

Julie who's based in Nevada, describes herself as a passionate photographer, an adventurous traveler and experienced stage manager. She's one of those photographers who, as a child, perused the pages of the National Geographic magazine and this implanted peripatetic seeds in her.

When not managing jugglers and trapezists, Julie travels the world and recently returned from trips in Central America. The above photograph is of a vendor in Guatemala.

Julie also has another website here.

My Work: Katha'kali

Photo ©Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved.
Here's my Katha'kali gallery...images from a private photo-shoot at a Kathakali school in Thirssur during the Theyyam of Malabar Photo~Expedition. I plan to create a multimedia slideshow of these and other Katha'kali images shortly.

I scheduled the private photo-shoot because I'd had the experience of photographing a Katha'kali troupe in Kochi a few years ago just before they performed their art, and the room was overcrowded with tourists. I didn't want to experience the same difficulties and restrictions during the photo-expedition. As a consequence. we had complete access to the actors while they were applying make-up, wearing their fabulous costumes and to their performance, all to ourselves!

Katha'kali is the dance-drama of Kerala, in which its performers (all men) wear fantastic make-up, billowing costumes and enormous crowns. Katha'kali has been described as "The Passion Play of Hinduism" and while its origins are unclear, its current format is traced to the 16th century. It's based on the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Gita of Jayadeva and other religious narratives and poems. The actors themselves do not utter a word...singers and musicians provide the narrative and musical backdrop.

The actors endure a long and difficult training period. They are taught to project emotions with distinctive facial expressions and hand gestures. Some of the actors insert a seed in their lower eyelid in order to redden their eyes, as part of the 'look'. The application of the make-up is an art form, and requires several hours to complete. This is done by artists who've spent a decade or more of training.

POV: And The Outrage Continues

The onward march of the tone-deaf myopic lemmings continues!

The National Press Photographers Association has announced that Andrea Bruce of the Washington Post has been awarded second place in the International News Story with her photo essay on a young girl in Kurdistan being circumcised.

Readers of this blog will recall reading the reasons for my revulsion at this photo essay, which I expressed here and here.

The NPAA's contest judges now join The Washington Post editors (who published the photo essay on December 28, 2008), and the White House News Photographers Association (who awarded it a prize), in publishing Andrea Bruce’s photographs of a Kurdish girl having part of her clitoris cut off. The moral myopia of these organizations is just breathtaking. Sheelan's right to privacy and her dignity have been cavalierly shrugged off by a bunch of provincial editors, judges and their assistants....or does Sheelan and her mother have no right to privacy because they are impoverished Kurds and don't know better? Isn't the right to privacy and dignity a basic human right deserved by the wealthy and the poor, irrespective of creed, race, national origin and age?

I realize Andrea Bruce needs to earn a living, but she's a talented and experienced photographer and could've used simple photographic techniques to preserve Sheelan's privacy, while still conveying the atrocity of this ignoble practice. The editors of the Washington Post didn't even think of hiding the poor girl's name...they published it in full. They would have never published these photographs if the girl lived in Kansas, or Ohio, or California...or Europe, or wherever else there was a legal system capable of redressing this obscene trespassing of privacy. This child is only 7 years old and her image and name are made public...on the web?

In the (unlikely, in my opinion) event that the Washington Post had written permission from the girl's family to publicly show these photographs, it should mention this at the start of the feature...but it hasn't. By all means, publish this photo essay in an effort to publicize the abhorrent practice, and to arouse the public's awareness of it...but do it in such a way that protects the dignity of the innocent victim, and ensures her privacy.

I'm far from being alone in being revolted by this photo essay. Benjamin Chesterton, who worked for the BBC, has written an eloquent and powerful post on his blog also criticizing it, and it can be read here. I also received numerous emails (mostly from women) supporting my stance, and the posts linked to above receive the most traffic of any of my posts.

We naively wonder why we are disliked by so many. Let us treat and respect others as we treat and respect ourselves...that'll help.

Update: The APhotoADay blog has picked on Benjamin Chesterton's post, and posted its Furthering The Abuse.

New EOS Rebel T1i DSLT

Canon U.S.A. has introduced a new addition to its Rebel lineup, the EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR camera, the first in the Rebel line to feature full HD video capture.

The new Canon Rebel T1i SLR incorporates some of the technologies from the EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II models. With a 15.1 megapixel CMOS sensor and HD video capture, along with the DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor, the Rebel T1i provides entry-level photographers some of the features in more expensive camera models.

The Canon EOS Rebel T1i Digital SLR Camera is scheduled for delivery by early May and will be sold in a body-only configuration which includes a rechargeable battery pack and charger, USB and video cables, a neckstrap, an EOS Solutions Disk CD and a 1-year Canon U.S.A., Inc. limited warranty at an estimated retail price of $799.99. It will additionally be offered in a kit version with Canon’s EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens at an estimated retail price of $899.99.

NPPA: Best of Photojurnalism 2

Image © Sigit Pamungkas-Reuters
The National Press Photographers Association is continuing to announce winners of ‘The Best of Photojournalism 2009’ award in various categories, one of which is Enterprise that is described by NPAA as "A photograph of a ‘found situation’ that features strong human interest elements, or a fresh view of an everyday scene. A picture that uses humor or focuses on the lighter side of life is well suited for this category."

The winner in this category is the above photograph by Sigit Pamungkas of Indonesia. It's of Muslims attending prayers on the eve of the first day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Surabaya, East Java August 31, 2008. Muslims around the world congregate for special evening prayers called “Tarawih” during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

It was one of the photograph which the Boston Globe's The Big Picture chose as Photograph of The Year 2008. I posted about this series here. I believe it's a lovely photograph and well deserving of the honor bestowed on it.

Image © Katharina Hesse/Grazia Neri for Vanity Fair Italia
Another photograph well deserving of the top prize in the Local News & Personality category is Katharina Hesse, with her photograph of a Bangkok prostitute, published by Vanity Fair Italia.

Katharina's project -from which this image is from- was about the estimated 2 million prostitutes in Bangkok, 70-80 percent of whom are infected with HIV. Yet to the women working the streets or bars, most of whom have little to no eduction and work simply to survive, these numbers do not deter them from leading such a risky life. The fact that prostitution is a profitable sub branch of Thailand’s booming tourism industry, many women do not seek a different lifestyle, and harbor the hope that they will be lucky and find a foreigner who will take them to their country.

One Shot: Arun Bhat

Photo ©Arun Bhat-All Rights Reserved.
Arun Bhat is a travel photographer and writer based in Bangalore. He has been traveling all over India for past five years, especially the mountain regions, photographing the country's diverse culture and landscapes. He's also the author of The Painted Stork travel blog, and rides a Royal Enfield Bullet Thunderbird motorcycle during his travels across India.

While on my Theyyams of Malabar photo-expedition, I came across Arun as we were photographing a Theyyam ceremony at the Trikannad Temple near Kasargode. He mentions our encounter here, where you will find many more of his well composed images of the Theyyam. He captioned the above image of the Theyyam as practicing the raudra rasa, or anger expression, by looking at his refection in a hand mirror. (The image is not as sharp as the original sent by Arun...that's because I had to enlarge a bit for the blog).

Kawah Ijen

John Kenny: Africa

Photo ©John Kenny-All Rights Reserved.
Here's a treat for those who love Africa and black & white portraiture!

John Kenny is a British photographer whose work with remote African societies is recently receiving substantial press coverage. Imagery from the previous 2007 exhibition, 'Light, Land and Water: Beauty in Africa', has been published extensively throughout 2007 and 2008. The image "Omo Valley Girl" was chosen as the cover for "Professional Photographer" magazine (April 2007), as well as receiving "Image of the Week" in the Times, and was used extensively in promotional content for the "Affordable Art Fair" (2007), "Glasgow Art Fair" (2008) and Time Out (2008).

His new collection of images of remote tribal peoples from Niger, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali is being exhibited at Capital Culture, Covent Garden in London.

My thanks to Candace Feit for the heads-up.

PDNedu Student Photo Contest

PDN has announced the results of its Student Photo Contest which saw more than 1,350 submissions. The judges were Jen Bekman, David Laidler and Jill Waterman.

The Travel category was won by Alessandro Penso from Italy, The Fashion|Portraiture by Kimberly Halverson of Minnesota, the Documentary by Michael J. Mullady of California, Fine Art by Felicia Genevieve Bawolek Carpinella of Michigan, and Still Life by Chris New of Georgia.

NPAA: Best of Photojournalism

Photo ©Tomasz Gudzowaty/Courtesy NPAA-All Rights Reserved.
The National Press Photographers Association just announced the winners of ‘The Best of Photojournalism 2009’ award in eight categories: Natural Environment, Sports Picture Story, Olympics Feature, Olympics Action, Sports Feature, Sports Action, Conceptual Photographic Illustration and The Art of Entertainment.

I particularly liked Tomasz Gudzowaty's Naadam festival in Mongolia, which sees three sport disciplines, wrestling, archery and horse races. The photographs were taken in Baganuur and Erdenesant.

One Shot: Fabiano Busdraghi

Photo ©Fabiano Busdraghi-All Rights Reserved.
I haven't posted a One Shot feature in quite a while, and Fabiano's work in Antarctica seemed just right for it.

Fabiano Busdraghi is a Milan-born Italian photographer. He has a master in Physics at the University of Pisa, and another in Oceanography and Meteorology at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris where he now lives and works. He recently took photography and writing as his full time occupation, traveling to various remore areas of the world including Antarctica.

Fabiano's photographic works range from travel, reportage and more artistic and personal work. He works in digital and traditional photography, and has been using alternative techniques, such as palladium and platinum, gum bichromate, cyanotype, Van Dyke Brown, and carbon prints.

His main website is here.

Kelimutu

Kelimutu is a volcano, close to the town of Moni in central Flores Island of Indonesia containing three summit crater lakes of varying colors. Tiwu Ata Mbupu (Lake of Old People) is usually blue and is the westernmost of the three lakes. The other two lakes, Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Lake of Young Men and Maidens) and Tiwu Ata Polo (Bewitched or Enchanted Lake) are separated by a shared crater wall and are typically green or red in color, respectively. The lake colors do vary on a periodic basis. Subaqueous fumaroles are the probable cause of active upwelling that occurs at the two eastern lakes.

The lake have been a source of minor phreatic eruptions in historical time. The summit of the compound 1639-m-high Kelimutu volcano is elongated two km in a WNW-ESE direction; the older cones of Kelido and Kelibara are located respectively three km to the north and two km to the south. The scenic lakes are a popular tourist destination.

POV: Gulf Photo Plus

I'm pleased to see that Gulf Photo Plus is set for March 30 to April 4, 2009 in Dubai. This event promises to be an exciting venue for Middle Eastern photography in an area that, frankly, is not known for being in the forefront of visual arts and photojournalism.

However, what makes me really glad is to see that my friend Asim Rafiqui is scheduled to participate in the event by giving a workshop titled The Working Photographer-A Primer. The four and half days with Asim will concentrate on the production of a photo narrative by each student, the subject being agreed on by the instructor and the student on the first day of the workshop.

To my mind, there are few who could this as well as Asim. He's not only a remarkable photojournalist, but he holds well thought out opinions on the current status of photojournalism, and supplements these with a sharp intellect and incisive knowledge of international affairs. For those of you who haven't read Asim's thoughtful and frequently non-mainstream and courageous posts, do yourself a favor and drop by his The Spinning Head blog and by his brilliant opus-to-be The Idea of India.

There are about a dozen excellent photographers scheduled to participate in the Gulf Photo Plus by giving interesting workshops as well. These are top notch photo-professionals such as Vincent Laforet and Joe McNally among others.

It's a little disconcerting that there aren't any photographers-tutors (except for Asim) of Middle Eastern or Asian heritage...perhaps next year? I could name quite a few who'd more than qualify to the Gulf Photo Plus organizers.

Report: Nagas, Hidden Hill People of India

As promised in an earlier post, I dropped by the Rubin Museum of Art yesterday to see its new photographic exhibit: Nagas: Hidden Hill People of India by Pablo Bartholomew.

Pablo Bartholomew is an independent photographer based in New Delhi, who worked as a photojournalist recording societies in conflict and transition. His works have been published in the New York Times, Newsweek, Time, Business Week, National Geographic and Geo amongst other magazines and journals.

The exhibition of about 20-25 prints is held on the lower floor of the beautiful Rubin Museum (I'm struck by its incredible aesthetics every time I visit). The exhibit is also sponsored by Air India.

The photographs are of the Nagas, erstwhile headhunters of India's easternmost state, and were mostly made during the early 90s, when presumably Pablo visited. In all candor, I wasn't overly impressed by the photographs, and while I don't regret seeing the exhibit, I was disappointed. I haven't learned much about the Nagas from the photographs either, although I now know that some of the elder headhunters wear a necklace with small carved wooden heads, for how many they allegedly hunted. It's naturally against the law now.

The photographs' sizes seemed to be in the range of 18x24 to 20x24 and were frameless, encased in a sort of thin Plexiglas. I think the product used is FotoFlot, which was mentioned on my blog here.