WSJ Photo Journal: Orthodox Good Friday

©Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty-All Rights Reserved
The Wall Street Journal's Photo Journal consistently brings us remarkable images from the world over. Here's one of an Ethiopian Christian Orthodox worshiper carrying a wooden cross along the Via Dolorosa, the path Christians believe Jesus walked while bearing the cross, in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Orthodox Christian clergymen and pilgrims marked Good Friday in Jerusalem's Old City, at the site where they believe Jesus was crucified on this date two millennia ago. Members of Orthodox Christian churches follow a different calendar than Protestants and Roman Catholics.

We Are Not Untouchables

©Jakob Carlsen-All Rights Reserved
The International Dalit Solidarity Network's website in an attempt to publicize the still-present plight of the "untouchables", around 250 million people primarily in South Asia, but also in the Middle east and Africa, who are born into a life where they are subjected to dehumanizing practices linked to the notion of "untouchability" and caste discrimination. The so-called untouchables have chosen the name "Dalit" for themselves to signify empowerment.

According to the Indian Ministry of Welfare, two Dalits are assaulted every hour in India, three Dalit women are raped every day, and two Dalits are murdered every day.

Jim Romano: The Tabloid Photographer

I normally plan my posts a few days ahead of time, but when I saw that today's The New York Times' wonderful multimedia One In 8 Million was featuring Jim Romano: The Tabloid Photographer, I simply couldn't resist.

Since 1946, Jim Romano has chased news on Staten Island for the Daily News, The New York Post and many others. The audio in this multimedia piece makes all the difference...see if you agree. Jim Romano...one in eight million indeed!

The photographs are by Todd Heisler, and the interview by J. David Goodman. Good work by both.

Stefen Chow: Imperial Beijing

A few days ago, I posted a POV titled Larger Is Good in which I wrote that larger images on photography/photographers' websites were advisable in order to attract photo editors and buyers.

Here's a beautiful example of what I meant: the website of Stefen Chow, a photographer who worked with Getty Images, Associated Press and Bloomberg News, Singapore Airlines and Shell. Not content to have traveled to over 30 countries, Stefen also summitted Mount Everest in 2005. He currently lives in Beijing and Singapore.

To show off the website, I chose Stefen's work on Imperial Beijing. This photo essay consists of photographs of Beijing's Imperial City, or The Forbidden City, which was home for 24 emperors over almost 5 centuries. I'd also encourage you to explore his other galleries, especially the Everest Adventure.

His beautiful images are almost as large as many monitors, and the navigation is ultra simple and intuitive. Check it out, and you'll join the large imagery converts!

NYT Magazine: Finally No Models Pics

©Ellen von Unwerth
From today's The New York Times' article "Times Will Cut Sections To Lower Costs"

"Beginning with the issue of May 10, The New York Times Magazine will no longer contain a regular fashion layout; fashion reporting and photography will continue in the T magazines published every few weeks, and in the weekly Sunday and Thursday Styles sections."

Finally! If I wanted to look at pretty skeletal fashion models, I'd buy Vogue. I never did nor will I...it's just a rhetorical flourish.

Hopefully the fashion layout/fashion reporting in The New York Times will be replaced with documentary photography and photojournalism on relevant current issues, in the mold of the Sunday Times Magazine, and other magazines of the British broadsheets. I never really understood why the NYT Magazine had fashion photos.

I'm not holding my breath...but I'm hoping.

POV: 160gb vs 160gb?

I'm always on the lookout (as most travel photographers and photojournalists are) for ways to reduce the electronic gear I carry with me on my photo~expedition/assignments, which seems to get heavier with time. Notwithstanding the many advantages of digital photography, I recall with some nostalgia as to how I used to gripe at the weight of 50 rolls of film...a feather compared to what I have to schlep now.

In case you haven't noticed, netbooks are taking the computer industry and its consumers by storm. A recent article in The New York Times' The Frugal Traveler relates the benefits of the Acer Aspire One, a tiny laptop that weighs just 2.2 pounds, and based on the comments from users of such netbooks, they're the best thing since sliced bread.

Now here's the question: the Acer Aspire One (160gb) retails for about $300 and the Epson P7000 (160gb) retails for about $750. See where I'm going with this? The Acer netbook is only 2.2 lbs, and offers wi-fi and internet connectivity...so it's almost no-brainer. I say almost because I'm an Apple user, and all my peripherals (such as external hard drives et al) are Mac friendly.

And that's what's on mind this sunny morning. Tests and trials will be conducted by some of my techie friends, and I shall report soon...I hope. If a Mac user adopted one of these netbooks, and made it work easily with Mac friendly peripherals etc, I'd appreciate a quick email!

Naturally, there are rumors that Apple will "soon" announce its own netbook or super-charged iTouch...I hope so.

Zackary Canepari: The Heart of Punjab

©Zackary Canepari/The New York Times
The New York Times featured the work of photographer Zackary Canepari in a slideshow titled The Heart of Punjab. His above photograph is of young students at a seminary school in Dera Ghazi Khan, a gateway both to Taliban-controlled areas and the heart of Punjab.

One of the key captions in the slideshow comes from the accompanying article:

"The Taliban in south and west Punjab exploit many of the same weaknesses that have allowed them to expand in other areas: an absent or intimidated police force; a lack of attention from national and provincial leaders; a population steadily cowed by threats, or won over by hard-line mullahs who usurp authority by playing on government neglect and poverty."

The accompanying article is by Sabrina Tavernise, Richard A. Oppel Jr.and Eric Schmitt.

In the same vein, PBS featured Children of the Taliban on its FRONTLINE/WORLD program on April 14, 2009.

More photography from Zackary Canepari on TTP (LINK)

The Travel Photographer's Awards Go To....

In February 2009, I offered two scholarships to the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and both Eric Beecroft and I (as jurors) are delighted today to award them to two photographers. We also chose two runners up should one or both of the winners be unable to join the workshop.

1. Winner of the TTP Full scholarship of $450 for a South Asian photojournalist is Jyotika Jain. (Runner Up is Vivek M.)

2. Winner of the FPW/TTP scholarship of $900 for a photojournalist of any nationality is Martyn Aim. (Runner Up is Mike Terry). This scholarship is equally funded by the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop and The Travel Photographer.

It was an exceedingly difficult task to choose 2 (plus 2) from the many submissions, and we took both the quality of images submitted and the photographers' statements in consideration.

Congratulations to the winners, who will be contacted by the Foundry Workshop soon.

Ajmal Naqshbandi: The Fixer

Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi is a feature-length documentary that follows the relationship between an Afghan interpreter, Ajmal Naqshbandi and his client, American journalist Christian Parenti. This intimate portrait of two colleagues shifts dramatically when Ajmal is kidnapped along with an Italian reporter.

The documentary also examines why was the Italian journalist, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, released in exchange for five Taliban prisoners while Ajmal was left behind and beheaded by his captors.

It is produced by Nancy Roth and directed by Ian Olds. Fixer will be screened during the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2009.

I've posted about Ajmal Naqshbandi two years ago on this blog, and hope this documentary does his memory justice.

Eric Tourneret: The Honey Gatherers

Photo ©Éric Tourneret-All Rights Reserved.
The Rai (aka Raji) people live in the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal, and are known as the honey hunters. Twice a year, Rai men gather around steep cliffs that are home to the world's largest honeybee, and as they have for generations, these men are to harvest its honey. The harvest ritual usually starts with a prayer and sacrifice of flowers, fruits, and rice. A fire is then lit at the base of the cliff to smoke the bees from their honeycombs.

The honey hunters then descend the cliffs, harnessed to a ladder braided bamboo well over 250 feet above ground. With the rest of their teams securing the ropes, and providing tools up and down as needed, the honey hunters fight the bees as they cut chunks of honey from the comb.

This is the work of photographer Éric Tourneret, who after traveling to Djibouti for his military service, began a career as photojournalist for a number of French magazines. Examples of his fascinating photo reportage include the indigenous sorcerers and healers of the Ivory Coast, the “Transvestites of Islam” in Pakistan, and his work on bees.

Éric Tourneret's "The Honey Gatherers of Nepal".

New Nikon D5000

Nikon introduced the new D5000, with a 12.3 megapixel DX-format CMOS image sensor, a D-Movie Mode with sound, which allows the recording of 720p HD movie clips, a vari-angle color LCD monitor allowing the positioning of the 2.7-inch monitor, 19 Auto-exposure Scene Modes, One-button Live View, continuous shooting as fast as 4 fps, ISO sensitivity from 200 to 3200, built-in image sensor cleaning, and a host of other features.

The new D5000 will be available at Nikon dealers beginning in late April 2009 at an estimated selling price of $729.95.

A D5000 review by Dan Havlik

D5000's Articulated Display

My Work: Traders of Kochi

One of the scheduled photo-shoots during the Theyyams of Malabar Photo~Expedition was in the streets of old Kochi, or more specifically, Mattencherry. This area offered opportunities to photograph the bazaar-like alleys, with traditional godowns and stores stocked with all types of rice, dark brown nutmeg, red and green chillies, earthy ginger, black pepper and other spices.

From the walkabout in Mattencherry is the Traders of Kochi gallery.

Many of the local people I spoke with, and photographed, were Muslims, descendants of the Arab merchants who propagated their faith along the Malabar Coast. A significant community was created through the marriage of local women to these Arab sailors, and are still known as the Mappilas or Moplahs. The Arabs merchants and mariners are believed to come from the Red Sea coastal areas, and the Hadramaut region of Yemen.

Nice people, hard-working and welcoming.

POV: Larger & Simple

My two posts today are inter-related. This one is about my long-standing view that photography web sites which display large photographs do a better job in getting them sold (or getting their makers hired), and the second (above) puts this belief into practice.

In one of my posts on Photocrati, I made the point that “larger is better”, and used the example that some of the most popular photography blogs such as The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture and the Wall Street Journal’s Photo Journal, display large photographs (around 990 pixels by 640 pixels).

In fact, Rob Haggart, the former Director of Photography for Men’s Journal and Outside Magazine, is now the founder of A Photo Folio. His mission is to create “websites that get you hired.” If you drop by his website, you'll find his creations are indeed huge. Haggard is an industry insider, and knows what he's talking about.

I believe the era of dinky little "almost thumbnails but not quite" photographs is over for technical, aesthetic and for commercial reasons. The two news photography blogs I mentioned earlier also made sure of that. A few moments of research amongst the web designs currently offered by liveBooks, Neon Sky, FolioLink, SiteWelder and the rest, will unanimously reveal that large is good.

As for simple, well...I've posted earlier about The Photopreneur article which said it very clearly: "Despite the whiz-bang features and slick animation offered on so many sites, simple is usually best. Editors are short of time, and faced with a large number of images they want to gain an understanding quickly of what the photographer can do. They’re less interested in what the photographer’s Web developer can do."

So if you want to sell your photographs, consider making your websites simple, and your photographs larger. It's a no-brainer.

Vacation on Bandung

Gary Knight: FT Interview

©Gary Knight-Courtesy FT-All Rights Reserved.
"You find when you photograph the poor the world over that, unless you’re trying to make them appear without dignity, people understand what you’re doing and they collaborate."-Gary Knight

The Financial Times' Weekend Magazine published an interview with VII co-founder and photographer Gary Knight, who turned his lens on Brazil’s penal system, and found brutality, overcrowding and a controversial evangelist pastor with a strange power over inmates.

A worthwhile read from a leading, and thoughtful, photojournalist. Claire Holland, picture editor of FT Weekend Magazine, conducted the interview.

Praful Rao: Chatt Puja

(Click arrow to play video)
Virtually every civilization has worshiped a sun god but in Bihar, it is the setting sun that is worshiped.

Photographer Praful Rao documented the Chatt Puja, which is when the Bihari community in Kalimpong congregate in an open area much before dawn to worship the sun. Women bedecked in colorful saris, along with their husbands carrying puja material in baskets, arrive to the area much before sunrise. It is they who perform the puja.