Travel Photographer Of The Year 2010

Photo © Larry Louie/Courtesy TPoTY

 The Travel Photographer Of The Year Competition has named its winner for 2010, and it's Larry Louie with his wonderful black & white photographs of Djenne in Mali.

Larry Louie is a Canadian optometrist and a photographer, who is using his photography as a platform to highlight the work of an eye care charity, as well as other issues and challenges in a world facing rapid urbanization and globalization.

I'm glad that black & white photographs have won this contest...as I think color imagery is seen as a "sexier" form for travel photography contests. Readers of this blog will know that I'm going through my own black & white phase, so I'm indeed glad.

Having also seen the remaining entrants, I have to say another photographer considerably impressed me (and certainly the competition's judges) with his lovely work...and that is Richard Murai of the United States who won the World In Motion category.

Photo © Richard Murai-Courtesy TPOTY

Richard Murai teaches creative photography in Northern California, and is interested in documenting sacred sites of the world. He traveled to locations within India, Peru, Turkey, Egypt, Russia and across Asia and Western Europe. His sepia-like images of Bhuddist tsechu dancers are just ethereal.

I suggest you drop by the TPOTY website...there's quite a number of excellent work by travel photographers.

Prantik Mazumder: Mexico

Photo © Prantik Mazumder-All Rights Reserved

 Prantik Mazumder is a self-taught photographer, originally from Calcutta, India, and moved to North America for his graduate studies. Currently settled in Ithaca, New York, he's pursuing a career in scientific research.

He traveled to Mexico in 2006 with his first digital SLR, and has images from New Orleans, Ithaca, Peru and Mexico. I particulalry liked the above picture made in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, because of its colors and composition...and for the graffiti.

The Revolucion signage with the graffiti asking the local police not be brutal while the woman is covering her eyes is a message in itself.

Female Imams In China

Here's a multimedia feature on Female Imams in China by Sharron Lovell, a freelance photographer currently based between Tel Aviv and Shanghai, and represented by Polaris. She prefers storytelling over single images, and has covered a number of issues in China from HIV/Aids, Islam and internal migration.

Sharron also completed assignments on Afghanistan’s first elections and the commercial sex caste in Pakistan. Her work was featured in National Geographic, The Guardian, Le Monde, Newsweek, Global Post, Politiken and various UNICEF campaigns.

NPR informs us that China has an estimated 21 million Muslims, who have developed their own set of Islamic practices with Chinese characteristics. The biggest difference is the development of independent women's mosques with female imams, something scholars who have researched the issue say is unique to China. In most of the Muslim world, women pray behind a partition or in a separate room, but in the same mosque as men.

It seems the Qur'an does not address this issue, and it's debatable whether the practice in the Arab world is reflective of true Islam, and not the result of patriarchal (misogynist) interpretations of religious texts.

The City of Delicious Food Trang, Thailand

Hi friends,

Haven't post for a long time as this month is the holiday season and i just come back from my trip to "Trang" province. Generally, this province is also famous in its beautiful island like Koh Muk, Emerald Cave, Koh Ma for instance. However, one thing that you can't miss when you visiting Trang is its delicious food and beverage. Today i'm gonna tell you about the most favorite food of Trang that you can't miss when visiting this province.

1. Dim sum

Due to the ancestor of Trang civilian mostly migrate from China, therefore, you can taste delicious "Dim Sum" everywhere in the city center and the price is really cheap if compared to Dim Sum in Bangkok. If you order "Dim sum", some local famous restaurants will serve you the full set of Dim Sum as the price will be calculated concerning on how many pieces of Dim Sum that you ate. After tasting Trang's Dim Sum, i think its taste is very delicious and what i like is you can eat various dishes of Dim Sum and pay only what you eat, however, please note that Dim Sum in Trang will only be served in the morning.

2. Trang Grill Pork

Trang Grill Pork is one of the most favorite food in Trang and some people also said that "if you come to Trang and you haven't taste the Grill Pork, it means that you have never come to this province." So, i have to taste for the delicious Grill Pork. Like Dim Sum, the Grill Pork can easily find everywhere in this province especially in the city center where you can find famous Grill Pork restaurant. The restaurant that i've visited named "Trang Grill Pork", you can taste for tasty Grill Pork and Dim Sum in this restaurant. Of course, i ordered both Grill Pork and Dim Sum. As i mentioned earlier, Dim Sum served with full set and i ordered small dish of Grill Pork as it served without any source. After tasting, i think Trang famous menu is different from other region in Thailand as you can enjoy eating it without requiring any sources.

I really enjoy eating in Trang province and if i stay in this province for more than 1 week, i will surely get fat.

Note
Price for Trang Grill Pork in most local restaurant are as follows
-Small Dish 50 Baht
-Medium Dish 100 Baht
-Large Dish 150-200 Baht
-1 Kilogram for 360-380 Baht

Thank you for interesting my posy. See you on my next post.

ROFL: So You Don't Look Like A Bozo?

Photo Courtesy PDN

Photo District News magazine has a section called Objects of Desire, which features photo related gear that photographers ought to drool over....at least, that's what they're supposed to do.

It's not a feature to really take seriously, but I sometimes drop by to marvel at what is being pushed...and occasionally what I see gives me a good laugh. 

But never as much as at the latest product featured which is the Lino Pro Field Jacket (as seen in the above photo)...a gawd-awful concoction of a jacket that's described by the PDN writer as one of the "snazzier" products seen at the Photokina show a few months ago.  Not only that, but he goes on to write that "this jacket is trim and form fitting so you don’t look like a bozo."

Er...no. Wearing this jacket would make me (and anyone else) look like a bozo, and deservedly so.  Not a single self-respecting photographer, photojournalist, serious hobbyist who would be seen dead in a jacket like that.  Whoever dreamed this jacket up hasn't a clue as to what photographers like and need to wear...or doesn't care...whatever they do/will is certainly not a $480 stylish padded shoulders jacket with a "full Italian" design . Moreover, the majority of photographers would spend $480 much more intelligently. So an object of desire? Um...not in the least. Imagine this Italian styled jacket in Helmand Province or in the favelas of Rio or even in the placid Thar Desert of Rajasthan !!!

I found the simplest and least flashy to always be the best option. A $45 safari jacket (with no logos) from a well-known sport outfitter is one of my favorites, as well as a durable black canvas jacket (unfortunately now no longer sold by GAP).  I've seen similar simple jackets worn by photographers in the field, and they certainly don't look like bozos....and they're happy they weren't fleeced out of $480.

My Book: Darshan

I'm chuffed to announce my new photo book DARSHAN is now available from Blurb. There are two styles of the book (72 pages with black & white photographs) on Blurb's bookstore. It's a large (13x11 inches) landscape hardcover version with either a hard cover dust jacket, or a hard cover with image wrap. I much prefer the latter.

It's a handsome book of selected black & white photographs from my travels to India over a span of no less than 10 years. Street photography in Old Delhi and in the alleys of Kochi, portraits of Sufis at the dargahs, Theyyam rituals of Malabar, Rajasthani nomads, Gujarati tribals, widows in their ashrams of Vrindavan and sadhus on the ghats of Varanasi, as well as pilgrims at the Maha Kumbh Mela.

All the details are available on a page of my website DARSHAN. If you choose to buy, the links will take you to my bookstore on Blurb, which has a preview of the book.

If you don't choose to buy, that's okay...but why don't you leave a nice comment on its Blurb page??? It'll be appreciated.

James Morgan: People of the Coral Triangle

James Morgan features the People of the Coral Triangle, a well made documentary on the Bajau Laut, on his website, along with other multimedia projects such as the Eagle Hunters (previously featured on TTP), and fast-paced documentaries of Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.

As he explains, the Coral Triangle refers to a triangular shaped area of the tropical marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. It is there that 3,000 species of fish live, including the largest fish - the whale shark, and the coelacanth. It also provides habitat to six out of the world’s of seven marine turtle species.

The Bajau Laut are an indigenous ethnic group of the southern Philippines, who have migrated to neighboring Malaysia over the course of the past 50 years. They depend directly in the natural resources of the Coral Triangle, and are the last nomadic marine communities of the world. Mostly Muslims, some also worship local sea spirits.

Saiful Huq Omi: Interview

Screen Capture Courtesy World Press Photo

Saiful Huq Omi is a Bangladeshi photojournalist, whose photos appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Time and Asian Photography, among others. His work has been exhibited in galleries from Zimbabwe and Russia to Japan and his home country. He received a number of awards, including the All Roads National Geographic Award, and an emerging photographers grant from the Open Society Institute.

I thought his recent interview with the World Press Photo ** was one of the most honest I've seen in a long time. Saiful Huq spoke candidly, and tells his interlocutor something which resonates with many emerging photographers in the world...

"...the world has seen us through the eyes of white photographers from the west.."

Well said, Saiful Huq! That's true, but these days are now gone, never to return. It's now the time for local photographers to show us their cultures, their countries and their creativity...as indeed you and many others like you have already done...and will continue to do.

His Rohingya project gained him a grant from the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund. He is represented by Polaris Images, and published his first photo book, Heroes Never Die - Tales of Political Violence in Bangladesh, in 2006.

** (The direct link may redirect you to the main World Press photo website. If so, you'll have to navigate to its multimedia library and then to "Meet its Participants")

Via Duckrabbit.

Marco di Lauro: Italian Traditions

Photo © Marco Di Lauro-All Rights Reserved

I did feature Marco Di Lauro's work previously on this blog, but he recently updated his website, and boy...what a website it is!!! It's a great way to start off the week.

For a long time, I felt no urge to click on any of his galleries...the website's multimedia introduction of large sized powerful photographs and audio clips kept me mesmerized for quite a while...and it will do that to you too. There's a lot of Ken Burns effect: not my favorite at all but very effective here.

I perused Marco's galleries, and particularly liked his compelling Italian Traditions feature which documents the various medieval festivals and practices still celebrated in Italy today.

For instance, the Carnival of Venice was originally devised as a social equalizer, allowing the poor, under the safety of elaborate masks, to belittle the rich at least once a year...and the Palio di Siena, an exciting horse race which is held and governed by rules since 1644...and the intriguing annual Procession of the Snakes held in Cocullo when the statue of the patron saint, San Domenico, is paraded covered with live snakes.

An engrossing collection of documentary photographs which I encourage you to visit and admire.

Next Week On The Travel Photographer

For the week starting Monday December 6,  the following posts are in the blog's pipeline:

1. The work of a photographer/photojournalist, whose website is a delight. I chose his work on Italian traditions...I seldom showcase European subject matters, so this one will partially make up for this.
2. The work of another photographer with an interesting reportage on the Sea Nomads.
3. The diverse portfolio of a travel photographer...large images!
4. Interesting photographs by an Indian photographer of Mexico..
5. An interview with a Bangladeshi photographer will be featured.

Will another hint as to my forthcoming photo~expedition be disclosed? Maybe. And I should be receiving the first copy of another book of my photographs...all black & white...made during my long love affair with India...I'll keep you posted. Oh, its title is Darshan.

Plus other posts "shot from the hip" as the week goes on.