My Work: Chandrika, A Hijra of Becharaji

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

One of our photo-shoots on the itinerary of the In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™ involved the eunuchs of Becharaji. This required one of the longest pre-photo shoot negotiations of the trip, since eunuchs (or hijras, as they're known in the sub-continent) are usually reticent about being photographed.

The history of the hijras is rooted both in ancient Hinduism, where eunuchs are mentioned in a variety of texts, including the epic Mahabharata, and in Islam, where eunuchs served in the harems of the Mogul rulers. Hijra is considered a derogatory term, and I was told by Rehman, our fixer, that they preferred being addressed as 'masi'. Be it what it may, the word "hijra" is an Arabic word which found its way into Urdu, and it means "migrant"...for someone who has left his or her tribe.

I chose Becharaji as a photo shoot site because of its Hindu temple, devoted to the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata. Hijras are usually devotees of Bahuchara Mata. She is considered as a patroness of their community, and is devoutly worshiped. In fact, I witnessed many Hindu pilgrims arriving to the temple, and asking for the blessings of a group of hijras, almost as if they were recognized as being especially close to the goddess.

There are many books that deal with the culture of hijras, and apart from The Invisibles by Zia Jaffrey, I found many pages about them in City of Djinns by my favorite author William Dalrymple. He writes:

"Yet despite their frequent appearances in public, very little is actually known about the Indian eunuchs. They are fiercely secretive and of their own choice inhabit a dim world of ambiguity and half-truths. They trust no one, and hate being questioned about their lives."

We were allowed to visit Chandrika at her home (which she shares with other hijras), not far from the temple itself, and where the bottom two photographs were made (the top one was made at the temple), and the house was spotless, comfortable and well-tended to. An older transgender, introduced as her guru, was there, who gave permission before we could come in. Hearing and seeing the commotion, many neighbors eventually dropped by for some tea, and it ended up being a sort of a social event.

Chandrika is an extrovert, and she reveled in the attention from this handful of foreign photographers. It was difficult to photograph her in the setting of our choice, especially as she also wanted her friends and neighbors to be in the pictures. She also seemed to have a short attention span, and a mercurial temperament...so we had to make do with what we had.

Jain Nuns At Palitana

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

One the highlights of the In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™ was the Jain temples of Palitana. As my intent for this photo expedition was to explore and document existent syncretism (defined the attempt to reconcile contrary beliefs, by melding practices of various religious traditions) in Gujarat, Palitana proved itself an interesting stop on the itinerary.

Near the town of Paltina, there's a cluster of 1,500 Jain temples packed densely together on the hillside overlooking the town. These date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, and are the focus of Jains' pilgrimage or tirtha. From the foot of the hill to the top there are about 3,800 stone steps, and it is these steps that Jains have to climb to reach the main temple on top of the hill.

Dismissing the help of porters and their "doli", a sort of palanquin from which passengers are suspended, and that would have terrified me anyway, I walked the 3800 steps up and down. I must say it wasn't that much of effort, but many Jain nuns I encountered along the way do it a multiple times a day, on empty stomachs...no food nor water! That would be tough.

The story behind the above photograph is that the Jain nun on the right had earlier stepped on thorns, and had been in pain while her companions tried to pull them out. I stopped and gave them water to soften the skin to make it easier. Seeing her in pain, I tapped her on the shoulder shoulder meaning to comfort her, whereupon she recoiled in alarm. I had forgotten that touching a Jain monk or nun was prohibited as it defiles them. I felt terrible as I had added to her troubles...however I saw her later at the top temple, and she smiled and thanked me.

So I hope I was forgiven.

Incense At Mira Datar Dargah

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I don't normally post my work so quickly, but having woken up early to follow the latest on Egypt's revolution on the BBC and with some time on my hands before breakfast, I thought of adding this photograph.

It was made at the Sufi shrine of Mira Datar in northern Gujarat. Mira Datar is considered to be an important martyr in India's Sufi lore, and it's said that he was decapitated in a battle with a regional king of the Bhils....possibly during Sultan Ahmed Shah's reign in Ahmedabad.

His status as a martyr gave his shrine an immense importance to Muslims (Sufis or not) and Hindus, as well as Sikhs. A truly syncretic environment. Mira Datar is reputed to cure various maladies, and I saw many pilgrims clearly afflicted with neurological issues, with chains around their ankles and hands to prevent them from causing harm to themselves and others...and others convulsed in the paroxysms of trances, supplicating the Sufi saint for deliverance from whatever ailed them.

In the above photograph, one of the pilgrims/devotees inhales the special incense deeply into his lungs to purge the evil spirits from his body.

In due time, I shall produce a multimedia photo-film of my photographs and audio made at the Dargah of Mira Datar.

Cropping...What's That?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photographers who've accompanied me on my photo~expeditions, have photographed alongside me and perhaps those who've seen my galleries, know that I don't crop my images except in-camera. I don't know if that qualifies me as a purist or not, but in general terms, I'm loath to remove what is already in the frames I've captured.

Naturally, if there's an offending finger creeping in the side of a frame, I'd crop a few pixels out of the frame to remove it (or very very rarely use the clone tool instead)...however depending on the subject/scene and its intended purpose, if it's a whole hand, arm or face that intrude, I'd still leave the frame intact. In a moving situation, there's always the possibility that I can't (or if I'm not quick enough) alter my position to exclude what I don't want from my frames. If I have the luxury of a few seconds, then I crop in-camera.

I also photograph what I call "pretty pictures"...the smiling posed faces...the like you see in stock libraries and on covers of travel/geographical magazines. In those, an extraneous object would be certainly be...well, extraneous. However, as I take as many photographs of the same person as I can, I rarely resort to cropping unless the expression/body posture in a particular frame is one of a kind.

Having said all that, I thought the photograph above of the three Balinese rice farmers was perfect for a panoramic crop, which works much better than the original frame. (I've added my copyright symbol in its center since it occurred to me that it'd look very nice as a blog header for some travel blog). Click it to enlarge.

So do I crop outside of the camera? Sure, although 99.9% of the time I don't.

The 'Best' 2010 Images Of The Travel Photographer

Following the lead of many of the big picture blogs and news outlets such as The WSJ Photo Journal, Boston's Globe's The Big Picture, The Denver Post's PBlog and Reuters' Full Focus, amongst many others, I am featuring what I liked best of my own photographs made in 2010.

Many of you will be relieved that it's a silent slideshow...we already have too much cheesy Xmas music, jingles and whatnot around us to drive us aurally insane as it is!

It's also available at The Travel Photographer's Vimeo Channel.

My Book: Bali Island of Gods: Now Available

I'm excited to announce that my new photo book Bali: Island of Gods is now available from Blurb. There are two main versions of the book (82 pages of black & white photographs) on Blurb's bookstore. A large (13x11 inches) landscape hardcover version and a standard (10x8 inches) landscape version.

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

I know...the timing of the publication is great! Just in time for the holidays.

My Book: Bali Island of Gods Update 2

I've received the full version of my book Bali: Island of Gods from Blurb, and I'm happy with it. The variations in tone have been evened out, and the photographs are much better looking than in the sample I got last week. Phew!

I will have two versions of the book (82 pages of black & white photographs) on Blurb's bookstore. A large (13x11 inches) landscape hardcover version that'll be more expensive aimed at those who like me a lot, and a standard (10x8 inches) landscape hardcover version aimed at those who like me a little less. Those who are indifferent don't have to buy either...but wishing me luck with it would be nice.

Both versions will be available in a few days....and will be announced here.

My Bali Island of Gods Book: Update

I've been working on my book for a few days now, and I've just sent it to Blurb for publishing. I've chosen for it to be in large format landscape 13x11 inches, and with 82 pages of black & white photographs, it'll be a large coffee-table style book.

I fixed the variations in tone, sharpened the "soft" photographs and those that seemed "muddy" to me. So I'm crossing my fingers. Its shipping date by Blurb is November 9 so I ought to actually get the final product a few days later.

As I was setting up the book, I erred while saving it and Blurb's software just gobbled it up, and it promptly vanished! So I had to start almost from scratch...I say almost because all the photographs had been saved on my laptop's hard drive....so perhaps not a total heart-stopping event, but annoying all the same.

I think that Blurb ought to provide the option for book publishers (especially for photographs and other visual arts) to order a one-time 2-3 pages mock-up for $10 or so. Perhaps it's not commercially viable to do this in a printing business, but it would certainly go a long way to reassure people that their eventual book will look the way they expect. Just a thought.

My Work: Dharamasla Matriarch

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

Here's an environmental portrait of a Tibetan matriarch in one of the alleys of Dharmasala in northern India. It's been over 5 years ago since I've been to Dharamsala, and my photographic style has evolved noticeably.

I would have photographed this woman differently now. She would have been most certainly less rigid, and I would have spent much more time making her more comfortable before any photographs were made. I occasionally revisit my photographs of a few years back to trace back my photographic evolution; a gradual evolution moving from simple portraits to more complex scenes...moving from travel "pretty pictures" to the less pretty ones, towards more of a documentary style.

I am always attracted to interesting physiognomies...what photographer isn't?...but I now see them more in the context of their environment, of their surroundings and of the story they emanate just by their being there .

My Work: The Bali Trilogy

I'm glad to present Bali: The Trilogy; a three-part audio-slideshow (based on a chaptered SoundSlides platform), which consists of black & white documentaries of Balinese ceremonies.

The Melasti ceremony is an all important Balinese tradition of purifying temple deities in the waters of the ocean, the Ngaben is the Balinese tradition of cremating the dead, while the third is Tajen, the ancient tradition of cockfighting, technically illegal but still practiced on the island (and elsewhere in Indonesia).

This above link will not work on iPads (by the way, about 6-7% of my daily readers view this blog on their iPads, and I think this percentage is growing every day), however the following links will allow iPad owners to watch the individual audio-slideshows on their devices:

Bali: Melasti Purification Ceremony
Bali: Ngaben Cremation Ceremony
Bali: Tajen Cockfighting Event

A word about the choice of black & white;  I'm not sure if I'm entering a sort of black & white phase in my photography work, and this is its manifestation...or whether I've been influenced by the likes of John Stanmeyer and others...or whether it's a contrarian reaction to the surfeit of color I've witnessed when attending these ceremonies last month...or whether it's because the Balinese believe these ceremonies inherently involve spirits and dark forces...I don't know. It just felt better.

Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy these audio-slideshows.

My Work: Balinese Dancers

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved

As some participants in my photo~expeditions seek to return with a diverse portfolio, I try to organize alternative styles of photography events during the trip...and although the primary focus is always on merging travel photography with documentary photography, I provide such opportunities to those who join them...depending on the destination.

One of the pre-arranged photo shoots during my recent Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ was held at the studio of a dance master specializing in the traditional dances of the island. I asked for three Legong dancing students, and one Baris dancer to be made up, costumed and willing to pose for us. Nothing photo-journalistic was intended from it, except perhaps during the make-up preparations, but the objective was fundamentally similar to a fashion photo-shoot.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved

Notwithstanding, I couldn't resist to make some non-posed photographs such as the one of the Baris dancer with the young daughter of the make-up artist. I always prefer shooting in a landscape format (to get more elements in the frame...and tell more of a story), but I also had to resort to a vertical format to shoot the Baris and Legong dancers in a traditional pose. Both of these images have their uses, and I'm not saying one is better than the other...but the landscape format lends itself better to my kind of shooting style.

Bali: Odalan at Pura Desa Sapat

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Here's the first gallery of my own work whilst I was leading the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition™ last month.

It's a linear photo gallery of about 20 large color photographs made during an important anniversary of a Balinese Hindu temple, and it's titled Odalan: Pura Desa Sapat. It's more photo journalistic in style than travel, and there are graphic photographs of animals being sacrificed, which may be disturbing to some.

This was one of the two most intense photo-shoots during the whole photo~expedition...not only because of the time spent photographing, but also because of the unending kaleidoscope of movements, rituals, rites and activities.

Every temple in Bali has a scheduled festival, an odalan, to celebrate the anniversary of temple dedication. The timing of the anniversaries are either based on the lunar calendar or on a 210-day ceremonial cycle. Depending on the importance of the anniversary and on the wealth of its community, animals are occasionally sacrificed.

These anniversary events are important for the communal harmony of the Balinese, where villages will join other villages to pray at their odalan, adding their blessings for the success of the occasion.

My Work: The Salt Maker of Kusamba

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
A few days before the start of the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ , I drove to the eastern shores of the island to photograph the traditional salt making in Kusamba.

I spent a couple of hours with Dewa Yoman Sanat; a traditional salt-maker (or more accurately, salt gatherer) in Kusamba. He guesses his age to be close to 70, and he works at gathering salt everyday under the scorching sun. On cloudy and rainy days, he remains home as a hot sun is needed to evaporate the seawater which leaves a thin film of salt, which is then gathered by Dewa.

He and his wife, Jero Sekar, who also helps him in this back-breaking work, have 7 grand children...none are understandably interested in continuing the salt making tradition. Dewa said that he gets about Rp 5000 (about 50 cents) for every 10 kilograms of salt.

My Work: Bali Cockfights

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
We were fortunate to encounter a number of cockfights during the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™.

I say fortunate because, while cockfights are gruesome and certainly bloody, they offer glimpses into a tradition practiced on the island (and elsewhere in the world) for ages. All animal rights activists and many other lay people consider it a horrible blood sport which ought to be banned. In Bali, cockfights are known as tajen, but have been forbidden since 1981 since it's considered gambling. Notwithstanding, it continues to be practiced as a ritual to expel evil spirits, and feverish gambling by bebebotoh (always men) is the norm when it occurs.

The area where the cockfight occurred was full of men, who were engaged in gesticulating and yelling their bets according to the color of the roosters. In the middle of the circle formed by the crowd, the bebebotoh were stroking their prized roosters, preparing them for the fights. Others were tying razor-sharp spurs to the birds' legs, while others were busy carving up carcasses of those that had been vanquished.

There seemed to be a sort of hierarchy. A older man, dressed in better quality clothes than the rest of the throng, was sitting very calmly in the midst of the frenetic betting activity, taking it all in. He clearly was a main player of some sort here. I couldn't tell whether he participated, or whether he was the "banker". He may have been a wealthy gambler who joined these cockfights to satisfy his passion.

My movements were restricted, as the men were in no mood to allow anyone to obstruct their view of the cockfights. However, I managed to photograph at will, and recorded some raw ambient sound, which includes the crowds yells and bids.

The roosters' demise is quick...the "combat" is short lived and takes about a minute or two for one of the roosters to fall. Thereupon, it's carried away and eviscerated to be consumed later.

As a side note: I often witness similar rituals; some secular and others religious, and I always try not to pass judgment on the practice. While I personally consider cockfighting to be cruel (as I do of bullfighting), I also respect the right of the Balinese (and others) to practice it, especially when it has a religious significance. Unfortunately in this case, it was all unapologetic gambling.

Having said that, I found the atmosphere electric and compelling, and I am at work on an audio-slideshow of the two cockfights I've witnessed in Bali this time. It will include the one I've described above, and another which was part of a melasti on a beach.

My Work: Balinese Elder With Dog

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
What people may or may not tell you is that some of the best photographs out of the many one makes during a photo trip are serendipitous, and the opportunities to make them occur when one least expects them.

Here's one of my favorites so far (and I've only looked at two of my image folders...a mere fraction of the over 10,000 photographs I've made during the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition) of an elderly Balinese woman returning to her traditional home after having emptied her basket of the morning offerings.

We were driving to one of the many temple ceremonies, and I suddenly saw the woman walking slowly towards her house. I immediately asked Komang to stop our van, and our second car also stopped. I reached for my cameras, and squeezed a few frames using the 70-200 lens, while the woman was quizzically looking at the two vehicles full of photographers, aiming their lenses at her. She never smiled...but just stood there, regally, probably muttering "Mad bule (foreigners in Bahasa)".

New Banner!!!

This is an expression of unbridled gratitude to the half-baker's dozen who dismissed my posts as rants and "pontifications". As promised, I've changed the banner of this blog to include this lovely descriptive word, which suits my blog and posts just perfectly.

I regret not having thought of it first, but a banker-turned-photographer is not necessarily a wordsmith.

My Work: Orissa & Chhattisgarth

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Here are two images made while traveling in Chhattisgarh and the neighboring Orissa. There were made using my first digital camera, the Canon 10D...remember that one?

The first is of an Odissi dancer in Bhubaneswar. Odissi is one of the eight classical dance forms of India. It originates from the state of Orissa, in eastern India. On the basis of archaeological evidence, it's the oldest surviving dance form of India.

The second is of an adivasi in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, whom I found amongst the thousands of tribal people who congregated at one of the weekly haats. It's estimated there are 300 haats in Bastar, where villagers come to buy basic necessities, and to socialize.

It's at these haats that the adivasis imbibe copious quantities of toddy, the palm wine ubiquitous in these parts. The fellow was in a pseudo trance along with other members of his group. Despite my efforts, I never found out what the purpose of the trance was.

Here's my gallery The Adivasis of Chhattisragh.

The Travel Photographer's Motion

I set up The Travel Photographer's Motion as a parallel portal (using the F8 Graph Paper Press theme) for my audio slideshows, which are originally produced in the SoundSlides format, and subsequently converted to mp4s, then uploaded to Vimeo. I have no real preference between Vimeo or YouTube, and I'll eventually have these mp4s uploaded on both.

The current line-up consists of Baneshwar: Pind Daan (the annual rite of remembrance for Rajasthan tribals), White Shadows (my favorite! The sad life of the widows of Vrindavan), Debates at the Sangha (Buddhist debates in a Bhutanese monastery...much more animated than those in our Senate), Gnawa (the rhythmic Sufis of Morocco), The Street Chinese Opera (intense musical cacophony in NYC's Chinatown) and Cham! (the tsechus of Bhutan).

More of my audio-slideshows converted to mp4s are in the works.

Both Vimeo and YouTube’s have adopted the HTML5 video element (although the former is restricted and the latter is in beta), which permits most browsers (not Firefox, I think) to bypass the Flash plug-in and use video native to the browser’s player. That will prove useful for such movies to be seen on the iPad.

My Work: Ocotlán Matron

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
During my Oaxaca Mini Photo-Expedition™ a few weeks ago, we drove to Ocotlán de Morelos which is located 30-40 kilometers from Oaxaca, and photographed at its weekly market. I found it much more photogenic than those in Oaxaca proper such as the Abastos and Benito Juarez markets; perhaps more authentic is a better description.

Notwithstanding, the Zapotecs are not fond of being photographed, and I had to be somewhat circumspect when photographing in such an environment. One of the photographs that almost works is the one of the Ocotlán matron above. The wall colors are great, the blue basket matches her frock, and her expression is phenomenal...but her posture is not quite as I would have liked it.

As I slowly moved to the right to adjust my framing after this photograph was made, she saw me and ran inside the store.

Ah well...perhaps another time I'll be luckier.

The Hijras (Eunuchs) of Becharaji

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Eunuchs, transsexuals, or transgender men are known as hijras in South Asia. They adopt feminine gender identity, women's clothing and other feminine gender roles. Etymologically, the word hijra is an Urdu word, seemingly derived from the Arabic root hijr or emigration in the sense of "leaving one's family, tribe or country," and it has been borrowed into Hindi.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Many hijra live in all-male communities, and have sustained themselves over generations by "adopting" young boys who are rejected by, or flee their family. Many work as male sex workers for survival. According to estimates by health organizations, only 10% of hijras are actually castrated.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
During my Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™ , we stayed at the immaculate and well-run Rann Riders resort in Dasada, and its knowledgeable owner Muzahid Malik, suggested we visited Becharaji where hijras frequented its temple.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
As I walked in to the temple ahead of my group, I chanced upon hijras who, upon seeing me, started to clap their hands and laughing. Not really catching on that this was their trademark way of announcing their presence and sexual persuasion, I imitated them and clapped in exactly the same way...one hand on the top of the other, rather than sideways. This drove them to raucous laughter, and eventually to self-consciously pose for our cameras.

There are many stories told about the hijras, and how they extort money by embarrassing shopkeepers and guests at wedding parties, but those we met at the Becharaji temple were friendly and obviously delighted that we took such nonjudgmental interest in them. Naturally, there was some posturing for the cameras, and much competition for the most suggestive poses.

Muzahid invited me to spend a couple of weeks in Dasada. Perhaps I will...After all, there's a hijra festival at Becharaji in late summer. Another potential destination for a photo~expedition?

For a book on hijras, read Zia Jaffrey's The Invisibles.