Book: 100 New York Photographers

I am featured in Cynthia Dantzig's new book: 100 New York Photographers. I haven't seen the book yet, but I expect to have a double-spread page, and perhaps even two full double pages. A number of my photographs of Bali, Ethiopia, Bhutan, Burma and India were chosen, and I'm impatient to see which made it to the book's pages.

Cynthia, a professor at Long Island University, just published 100 New York Photographers, a 442-page review of the great range of contemporary New York photographers and their diverse, surprisingly divergent, images. It presents their subject matter and their very definitions of photography, darkroom and digital. Their photographs have been seen in publications, galleries, and museums.

Included are such iconic figures as Annie Liebovitz, Jay Maisel, Amy Arbus, Hugh Bell, Arnold Crane, Bruce Davidson, Carrie Mae Weems, Elliott Erwitt, Helen Levitt, David Gahr, Lee Friedlander, Arthur Leipzig, Builder Levy, Duane Michals, Joel Meyerowitz, Jamel Shabazz, John Loengard, Tony Vaccaro, Mary Ellen Mark, Pete Turner, Burke Uzzle, Deborah Willis, and others, as well as many less familiar but no less brilliant photographers. I expect I'm one of those!

The book will be available in September 2009, and will have price tag of $60.00

Live Hope Love

Here's a brilliantly done multimedia reporting project HOPE: Living & Loving With HIV in Jamaica, which was commissioned by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

It's an expansive project by poet and writer Kwame Dawes who travels to Jamaica and explores the experience of people living with HIV/AIDS, and examines how the disease has shaped their lives. In this feature, people tell their stories, share their lives and talk about resilience, hope and possibility in the face of despair. Some are living with the disease; others have committed their lives to HIV/AIDS care.

Photography is by Joshua Cogan.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting is an innovative non-profit leader in supporting the independent international journalism that U.S. media organizations are increasingly less willing to undertake. The Center focuses on under-reported topics, promoting high-quality international reporting and creating platforms that reach broad and diverse audiences.

Afghanistan: Choices

Photo © Raheb Homavandi/Reuters-Courtesy WSJ Photo Journal
Our media is publishing reams of articles on the elections in Afghanistan, so I thought I'd highlight excerpts of articles written by a US commentator and another from the UK.

In his In Afghanistan, the Choice Is Ours in The New York Times, Richard N. Haass writes this:

Making this assessment in Afghanistan is difficult. The Taliban are resourceful and patient and can use Pakistan as a sanctuary. It is not obvious that Afghans can overcome ethnic and tribal loyalties, corruption and personal rivalries. No matter who is declared the winner, yesterday’s election is almost certain to leave the country even more divided.

There needs to be a limit to what the United States does in Afghanistan and how long it is prepared to do it, lest we find ourselves unable to contend with other wars, of choice or of necessity, if and when they arise.

The incomparable Robert Fisk in his Democracy will not bring freedom in The Independent writes this:

We still think we can offer Afghans the fruits of our all-so-perfect Western society. We still believe in the Age of Enlightenment and that all we have to do is fiddle with Afghan laws and leave behind us a democratic, gender-equal, human rights-filled society. In the meantime, NATO soldiers go on dying for the pitiful illusion that we can clean the place up. We can't. We are not going to.

That's right. We can't and won't.

Rahman Roslan: Dark Secrets

Photo © Rahman Roslan-All Rights Reserved
Rahman Roslan is a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Kuala Lumpur, whose specialty is in news and documentary photography. A self-taught photographer, he started his craft a few years ago, and quickly gained recognition for his talents. His work was published in E9 magazine, The National UAE, Sutra Magazine, The New Internationalist, Berita Harian Singapore, Strait Times Singapore, and UNESCO Korea amongst others, as well as freelancing for wire agencies such as AFP and Reuters in Kuala Lumpur.

He is one of the alum of the Angkor Photography Festival, and won the emerging talent award at the 2009 Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which was held in Manali, for his work on the effects of marijuana trade on the local community.

His award-winning project is Dark Secrets, which documents the effects of marijuana trade on this idyllic area of Himachal Pradesh. Marijuana grows in the wild in Manali, and its exploitation is earning unscrupulous locals considerable return, but damages the fabric of Manali's traditional society.

Ooty - Queen of Hill Stations, Tamilnadu

Ooty is also known as Udagamandalam and it is the queen of hill stations in India. Ooty is located in Nilgiris District in Tamilnadu. It is one of the most popular tourist resort in Tamilnadu. It is situated at an altitude of 2,240 meters above sea level. Main Cultivation of ooty is Tea, coffee and vegetables. And also ooty has an addition attraction for the tourists is train journey from Mettupalayam to Udagamandalam. Ooty train commences from kallar and it en-route many hair raising curves and fearful tunnels. While traveling by hill train, you can see tea and coffee estates around the hills. For accommodations, Stars Hotels and Lodges are available in ooty for tourists.

The loveliest spots of ooty are follows:-

Botanical Garden is one of the best tourist attraction place which attract the tourist from all over the world. This garden is spread over 22 hectares ascending the slopes on the hill.

Ooty Lake is located just behind the Central Bus Stand. This lake looks like irregular "L" shape and its for about 2.75 kms distance.

Rose Garden is situated in the heart of ooty town and its laid on 10 acres of land. All types of rose flowers are planted in this garden.

Doddabetta Peak stands at an altitude of 2,623 meters high from sea level. And its located 10 kms far away from ooty town. It is the highest peak in the district.

Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary is an adventures spot in nilgiris. Its around 32,155 hectares broad in area. Its locates between Kerala and Karnataka State. Within the sanctuary, there is an elephant camp called Theppakkadu.

Pykara Lake is the clean and scenic lake in between the hills. Its an isolated lake free from pollution. Boating facilities are available here.

Apart from these spot, Avalanche, Emerald Lake, Shooting Spot, Glenmorgan, Kalhatty Water Falls, Ketti Valley View, Mukkurthi Peak are also beautiful locations locates in ooty.
There are various routes to travel ooty.

By airways, have to land in Coimbatore airport and then you can take cab to reach the hills.
By Train, We can reach upto Mettupalayam, then we can catch Hill train or cab.

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Kodaikanal, Tamilnadu

Kodaikanal is one of the most beautiful hill resort in Tamilnadu. It is located on the southern crest of the upper palani hills in Dindigul District. Its around 500kms far away from Chennai and around 120 kms far away from Madurai. We can see Strobilanthus Kunthanus, a botanical name of kurunji flower in kodaikanal. This flower will blossom once in 12 year. Its was happened in kodaikanal in the year of 2004, again it will blossom only in 2016. Tea and coffee plants are the main cultivation in kodaikanal. Apart from that, they are cultivating fruits and vegetables. Kodaikanal is situated at an altitude of about 2133 metres high from sea level and its covers an area of 21.45 sq.kms. Each and every spot in kodaikanal has rich climate. The following locations are the tourist spots in kodaikanal,

1. Kodaikanal Lake
2. Briyant Park
3. Silver Cascade Falls
4. Kurinji Andavar Temple
5. Upper Lake View
6. Coakers Walk
7. Guna Cave
8. Pine Forest
9. Green Valley View
10.Bear Shola Falls
11.Silent Valley View
12.Pillar Rocks
13.Trekking
14.Flora and Fauna Museum
15.Devil's Kitchen
16.Jewel Box View and
17.Berijam Lake

Berijam Lake is one of the Beautiful location and its 20 kms distance from kodaikanal. This Lake gives water to the surrounding towns and villages and it has natural pure water too.
Kodaikanal can be reach by train upto kodai road from other cities, then we have take cab to go kodaikanal. From kodai road, journey times takes 1 hour approximately. By bus, we can go up to kodaikanal directly from other cities. By airways we have to land in madurai airport and have to take cab or bus to reach the destination. Kodaikanal has many adventures and beautiful locations. So, every human has to see the beauty of kodaikanal once in their life.

The Black Snapper

As my readers know, one of The Travel Photographer blog's objectives is to assist emerging photographers in getting better known, and contribute in introducing their work to a wider audience.

Many other blogs and web magazines do this as well. Burn, 100Eyes, Verve Photo and others are showcasing the work of emerging and creative photographers extremely well, and have done much to introduce new talent into the limelight.

A newly formed web magazine The Black Snapper has joined in this commendable task on August 1st 2009. The Black Snapper daily presents a photographer selected by one of its guest curators, and the expectation is to present a new series of 8-20 photos each day.

According to its About blurb:

The Black Snapper aims to create an online community that will inspire professionals and photography lovers worldwide and expose new talent. In addition, the online magazine emphatically supports the emancipation and promotion of photographers from Asia, Africa and South America.

Coincidentally with the latest features on both 100Eyes and Verve, The Black Snapper has been showcasing the work of Bangladeshi photographers for 6 days already. Today's feature is called The Pavement Dwellers Amrao Manush; a Bangla phrase that means “We are humans too”. The featured photo essay is by Shehab Uddin.

I will add The Black Snapper to TTP's blogroll. I imagine you'll bookmark it as well.

Ralph Childs: Bhutan

Photo © Ralph N. Childs-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Ralph N. Childs-All Rights Reserved
I will be leading the Bhutan: Land Of Druk Yul photo expedition in the coming few weeks, and thought it would be appropriate to usher in its final preparation phase by featuring some of the work by the talented participants who joined the 2008 expedition.

Here are two photographs by Chicago-based Ralph Childs who maintains the blog RNC Photography. Both images are of performers at the famed festivals known as tsechus; which are annual religious Bhutanese festivals held in each district of Bhutan during specific days of the lunar Tibetan calendar. I chose these photographs because of their colors and motion.

Ralph works for one of the largest American aerospace and defense technology company, and also photographs local assignments during week-ends. His first photo-expedition with me was to Angkor Wat in early 2006, and he has been on quite a few since. He's constantly tempted to acquire new photographic gear, and bounces off some of his ideas off me. I try to temper his enthusiasm for new cameras and lenses, but fail miserably most of the time.

He thought of joining the forthcoming 2009 Bhutan photo-expedition, but work demands precluded him from visiting Bhutan three years in a row! There's always next year, Ralph!

Chennai - Capital of Tamilnadu

Chennai formally known as Madras, is of the Metro Politan city of India. It is the capital of Tamilnadu State. The city is widely spread about 181 Sq. kms. There are many tourist places to visit. Mamallapuram, Marina Beach, Eliots Beach, Chennai Museum, Muttukad Resort, Kovalam Beach, Kabaleeswar Temple, Vadalapani Murugan Temple etc.,

Mamallapuram is located 60 kms far away from Chennai. It was a 7th century port city in south indian dynasty. Mamallapuram has many historical monuments and sculpture. Mamallapuram was ruled by Pallava kings. So we can see so many Pallava Sculptures in Mamallapuram. We can see many single rock sculpture which was made by Pallava Kings.
Marina Beach is the second longest beach in the world. The distance of Marina beach is about 12 kms. Every weekend people will spend their time in this beach. Marina is the coastal area of Bay of Bengal.
Chennai Museum is located in Egmore, chennai near Egmore railway station. Lot of Ancient Statues, Historic memorials are stored there.
Muttukad resort is one of the fascinating spot to spend our leisure time by boating. Its a backwater of Bay of Bengal. Its located en-route of Mahabalipuram.

There are trains available from all the cities from india to Central and Egmore Railways Station.
If you want to fly to Chennai, there are many air services (Jet Airways, Air Deccan, Kingfisher, Paramount, Indian Airlines) from all the cities to Chennai Meenambakkam Airport.

Taj Mahal - Agra

Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world and also one of the three world heritage sites in Agra. Taj Mahal is the symbol of Love which was built by mughal emperor "Shah Jahan". Taj Mahal is a memorial place of "Mumtaj" (Wife of Shah Jahan). It was fully finished in marbles and it took 22 years to built with 20,000 workers. Building began in 1631 and completed in 1653. People from other countries are visiting Taj Mahal very often. Around 2 to 4 million domestic and foreign visitors coming to see the fascinating place.


If we see Taj Mahal in a full moon night, will be very beautiful. The ground is open for 6 days a week, heavy luggage will not permitted inside the campus for security purpose. Only we can take purse, tiny camera, water bottles with us. There are so many trains facilities from other cities in India. And also you can fly to Agra Kheria Airport from other cities. At the same time there are some nearest place to visit from Taj Mahal like Agra fort and Jaipur fort.

New Canon G11 Announced

The photography enthusiasts and blogosphere are buzzing with the news that Canon has announced the flagship 10.0-megapixel PowerShot G11 with a retail price of $499.

Yes, the new model features a lower resolution in order to create larger individual pixels on the imaging chip that absorb more light. According to Canon, the system combines the new 10MP chip; optical image stabilization; and the camera's Digic IV image processor to produce better images in low light at high ISOs. Some professionals have asked for a halt to increasing cameras' resolution since it also increases noise when using small imaging sensors.

Notwithstanding Gary Knight's experience with the G10, it will take a miracle to convince me to part (again) with almost $500 to acquire a "street shooter" camera such as the G11. I've done it with the Canon G10, and was disappointed by its performance during my photo expedition in Morocco. You can read about this here.

Also, a sensible post by Matt Burns on CrunchGear about the G11.

And much more information on 1001 Noisy Cameras.

Note: Some commentators believe that the G11's image quality will be an improvement over its predecessor...but what is also crucial to my style of photography is shutter lag. The G10's shutter lag just didn't meet my expectations.

Bas Uterwijk: Kushti Wrestling

Photo © Bas Uterwijk-All Rights Reserved
Bas Uterwijk is a Dutch photojournalist, is an alum of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshops in Mexico City and Manali (India) and, while in Delhi, photographed Kushti wrestling. He is now a full time photojournalist, having been a computer graphics artist for a video game company.

Kushti is one of India's indigenous forms of wrestling, but from a royal spectacle has slowly turned into a dying form of sport, but recent efforts are being exerted to revive it. It's also practiced in Pakistan and Iran, and with some differences in Turkey.

Its practitioners have to adopt a rigorous daily regimen consisting of aerobic and weight exercises; nourishing the soil at the akhara where they wrestle, and eating a diet made of non-spicy, self-made food, and also adhering to a life of celibacy. The sand on which the Kushti wrestlers perform their sport is "fed" with ghee and mustard oil, and represents Mother India itself.

Bas has been featured a number of times on TTP.

Wink Willett: Bhutan

Photo © Wink Willett-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Wink Willett-All Rights Reserved

I will be leading the Bhutan: Land Of Druk Yul photo expedition in the coming few weeks, and thought it would be appropriate to usher in its final preparation phase by featuring some of the work by the talented participants who joined the 2008 expedition.

To kick us off, here are two brilliant portraits by Wink Willett. One is a spontaneous portrait, while the second is more posed, although if I recall correctly the monk was already in this position when Wink arrived at the scene.

The top portrait is of a lay nun, spinning her prayer wheel and circumbulating around the Jakhar temple, while the second is of a Buddhist monk at a monastery, bathed in a wonderful light.

Wink Willett is an international banker, and brings to his photographic style the lessons he learned from his many overseas senior postings. His biography on his website sums his outlook very well:

"Photography gives me the opportunity to capture this interaction and a country's character; and it helps me archive what I've seen and learned. I gravitate to peoples' faces and their eyes as they tell so much about the life and soul of a person: hardship, determination, kindness."

Have a look at Wink's Bhutan Gallery, and explore his many others which include the Bahamas, Cambodia, India, Morocco and Viet Nam, to mention just a few.

Gunung Leuser National Park

Gunung Leuser National Park represents several ecosystem types, from coastal forest ecosystem through tropical lowland forest ecosystem to montane forest ecosystem. Most of the Park area is covered with thick Dipterocarpaceae forest with rivers and waterfalls flowing through it. There are some endangered and peculiar plants, namely daun payung raksasa (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons), rafflesia flowers (Rafflesia atjehensis and R. micropylora), and Rhizanthes zippelnii-the biggest flower, with a diameter of 1.5 metres. In addition, there is one plant unique to the area: the ara, a strangling plant.

Endangered and protected animal species which inhabit the Park include orangutan (Pongo abelii), siamang (Hylobates syndactylus syndactylus), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus), Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae), Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis sumatrensis), serow (Capricornis sumatraensis), great hornbill (Buceros bicornis), sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), and leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis sumatrana).

Gunung Leuser National Park has been declared a Biosphere Reserve. Under a cooperation program between Indonesia and Malaysia, the Park is also designated as a "Sister Park" to the Taman Negara in Malaysia.

Interesting locations/attractions:

Gurah: fantastic views, valleys, waterfalls; animals and plants such as Rafflesia, orangutans, birds, snakes and butterflies.
Bohorok: an orangutan rehabilitation centre; ecotourism activities like kayaking/canoeing, camping, and birdwatching.
Kluet: boating on rivers and lakes, trekking through coastal forest and caving. Kluet is also a habitat of tigers.
Sekundur: camping, caving, animal observation.
Ketambe and Suak Belimbing: suitable place for research on primates and other animals; research facilities include accommodation and a library.
Gunung (Mount) Leuser (3,404 m asl.) and Mt. Kemiri (3,314 m asl.): mountain climbing and hiking.
River rafting along the Alas River: start from Gurah-Muara Situlen-Gelombang for a three-day trip.

Cultural attractions outside the Park include the Lake Toba Festival in June (held on the Lake) and the Malay Culture Festival held in July in Medan.

Best time of year to visit: June to October.

How to reach the Park: Medan-Kutacane about 8 hours by car (240 km), Kutacane-Gurah/Ketambe about 30 minutes by car (35 km), Medan-Bohorok/Bukit Lawang about 1 hour by car (60 km), Medan-Sei Betung/Sekundur about 2 hours by car (150 km), Medan-Tapaktuan about 10 hours by car (260 km).

Geoffrey Hiller: The Bangladesh Project

Geoffrey Hiller is an award winning multimedia artist, a teacher of interactive media, a photographer and the editor of Verve Photo, which he describes as having showcased the work of close to 300 photographers. However, he returns to this blog's pages for his The Bangladesh Project.

Geoffrey has lived and taught in Dhaka from August 2008 to May 2009 on a Fulbright Scholarship, teaching interactive media, and has now published a dedicated website for his The Bangladesh Project in which he showcases a number of photographic galleries such as Faces, Islam, The River, Hindu Culture, to name but a few, of images made in this photogenic and magnetic country. Geoffrey and his students have been photographing everywhere in Dhaka...in the streets, on constructions sites, in markets, in madrasas, trying to capture the essence of this city of 15 million people.

Personally, I think he succeeded. I also hope that Geoffrey will be producing a multimedia feature based on this project.

Global Post: The Taliban

With so much in the news about Afghanistan, I thought I'd join the fray and feature this collaboration between GlobalPost and MediaStorm.

According to its producers, Life, Death and the Taliban seeks to "enhance America’s understanding of Taliban history in Afghanistan and Pakistan". Charles Sennott of GlobalPost reviews the group’s rise to power and looks at current political and counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan.

To cut through through the constant rubbish, biased and lazy reporting, and outright misinformation fed to us by the US mainstream media is a tall order, and as evidenced by the convoluted, and sometimes awkward, reporting in this piece, there are many facets to the Taliban. While I don't dispute GlobalPost's intentions, I also look forward to the day when our media is willing and able to report the current events in both Afghanistan and Pakistan without bias and preconceived notions. Will it be after the fact, as with the war in Iraq? Time will tell.

Photographer Seamus Murphy, who has long chronicled the shifts of power in Afghanistan, accompanied Charles Sennott to Kabul for this report. The project includes several stories and video pieces.

For Seamus Murphy's powerful images of Afghanistan, go to A Darkness Visible featured by The Digital Journalist.