tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5290918105441932152024-03-13T23:48:37.718-07:00deskTroDesktop Metro ThemeUong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-50670047871536723682015-02-07T07:07:00.000-08:002015-02-13T12:53:45.218-08:00Monique Jaques | Miss Muslimah<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKlniW2UO2YLcntvmG3IYzkk3A18F1mAV_yTe4tl_ki1OTDJyP1vYMwfO7oH_cpfjXmDx5gUIRbtoQzbcH7-6rR6PmhXAGVuWzd_oRIrNjGDGmNB3Y41qWhIEBi0rMmfTLxjir_WEXYE/s1600/36_MissMuslimah_029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKlniW2UO2YLcntvmG3IYzkk3A18F1mAV_yTe4tl_ki1OTDJyP1vYMwfO7oH_cpfjXmDx5gUIRbtoQzbcH7-6rR6PmhXAGVuWzd_oRIrNjGDGmNB3Y41qWhIEBi0rMmfTLxjir_WEXYE/s1600/36_MissMuslimah_029.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © <a href="http://www.moniquejaques.com/" target="_blank">Monique Jaques</a> - All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table>To counter the gory headlines of the recent current events in the Middle East, the photo essay on <b><a href="http://www.moniquejaques.com/projects/miss-muslimah/" target="_blank">Miss Muslimah</a> </b>may be a relief. It's an award competition that seeks to be the opposite of a beauty pageant, and which took place in Yogakarta, Indonesia in 2014. It's for young Muslim women who are judged to have shown dedication, reputation and concern for Islamic values and community development.<br /><br />With Indonesia being the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, the event is popular and is attracting an increasingly international lineup. Entrants from Trinidad, Nigeria, Iran, Tunisia, the United Kingdom and many Southeast Asian countries take part. <div><br /></div><div>The hijab is a controversial topic amongst Muslims and non-Muslims alike. While the Qur'an requests Muslim women to dress modestly, it does not specifically institute a dress code. However, most Islamic legal systems define modest dressing as covering everything except the face and hands in public. Wives of the Prophet Muhammad are said to have been hidden behind curtains from the rest of the Muslim congregation because his home was constantly visited by people. Muslim women started then to emulate this tradition by wearing veils and face covers.</div><div><br /></div><div>For more background information and other images, drop by Al Jazeerah America 's <a href="http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/miss-muslimah/" target="_blank">High Heels & Hijabs</a>.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.moniquejaques.com/" target="_blank">Monique Jaques</a> is a photojournalist based in Istanbul, who spent the past four years focused on documenting issues in the Middle East as well as Afghanistan and India. She graduated from New York University's Photography and Imaging program, and was nominated for the Prix Bayeux- Calvados ‘Young Reporter’ award. Her project ‘Growing Up on The Gaza Strip’, was first published in the New York Times. She was selected as one of the recipients of the PROOF Award for the Emerging Photojournalist for her work in Post-War Libya and featured in the Bursa Photography Festival. She was also featured in the Ian Parry Scholarship show in 2009 and received an Honorable Mention for the 2008 New York Photo Awards. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, GEO, The Guardian, and CNN, among others.</div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-12546801936738934762014-07-13T04:51:00.000-07:002015-02-13T12:53:45.188-08:00Chris McGrath | The Vanishing Dokar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Yg4Q1RUGatud1nGKQMm4c_wpEqeyhijGau84AJR7OfpaQm836sEEu1_DxIuHVtCWOHUIrbeNywHp-cENARrY-gjTy2EvibHEV03FRS6VwOLXGnRhO2XoSxBuWmW4iLyeyht8aO3R85s/s1600/chris_mcgrath_dokar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Yg4Q1RUGatud1nGKQMm4c_wpEqeyhijGau84AJR7OfpaQm836sEEu1_DxIuHVtCWOHUIrbeNywHp-cENARrY-gjTy2EvibHEV03FRS6VwOLXGnRhO2XoSxBuWmW4iLyeyht8aO3R85s/s1600/chris_mcgrath_dokar.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Chris McGrath-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />What's a "<i>dokar</i>" you ask?<br /><br />Well, it's a two-wheeled horse-drawn cart found throughout Indonesia, usually decorated with colorful motifs and bells. Its small horses or ponies often have long tassels attached to their bridle. Typical <i>dokars</i> have bench seating on either side, which can comfortably fit three or four persons...and luggage (and huge bags of rice).<br /><br />Regretfully, the <i>dokars</i> are on their way to extinction due to other more efficient and modern ways of transport. More than 200 <i>dokars</i> were working in Indonesia's Denpasar region, but only a handful remain these days. Denpasar -as in other large cities- experiences an uncontrolled population causing chronic traffic jams that make it difficult for the <i>dokar</i> to work effectively. Cheaper motorcycles have also made the <i>dokar</i> obsolete.<br /><br />Chris McGrath has documented these last remaining vehicles in his <a href="http://www.chrismcgrathphotography.com/STORIES/The-Vanishing-Dokar/1/" target="_blank"><b>The Vanishing Dokar</b></a> in lovely monochrome tones, along with copious information about the photographs as captions.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.chrismcgrathphotography.com/" target="_blank">Chris McGrath</a> is an Australian photographer with Getty Images, specializing in editorial and commercial assignments. He has photographed, four Olympic games, the Paralympics, Commonwealth games, the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, the MLB World Series, the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, US Open Golf, numerous US Open and Australian Open Grand Slams, the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the election of Barack Obama and the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan and the London 2012 Olympics.<br /><br />He has worked for clients such as Nike, NFL, Coca-Cola, the LPGA, NASCAR and the New York Times, and his images appeared in Stern, Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated, The Independent, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, ESPN the magazine, The Guardian, L'Equipe and on daily news and sport websites worldwide.<div><br /></div><div>He currently works in Tokyo, Japan.<br /></div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com1Indonesia-0.789275 113.92132700000002-31.668126 72.61273300000002 30.089576 155.22992100000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-49323117747912502362013-08-17T01:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.316-08:00Kares Le Roy | Asia In 6 Minutes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/69588707" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe> <br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I frequently find wonderful work by photographers on my ZITE, and this remarkable video by <a href="http://www.karesleroy.com/">Kares Le Roy</a> managed to temporarily distract me a little from following the horrific events in Egypt. I hope it will have the same effect if you feel the same way.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kares is a French photographer and graphic designer. More of his background can be found on his <a href="http://bykares.com/about/">blog</a> (scroll down for the English version). He traveled and photographed in Tibet, Nepal, India, Bali, Cuba, Cambodia and Morocco. He traveled through </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">56 000 km of land and humans: faces, smiles, eyes, monuments, cultures, events and this 6 minutes video masterfully provides a bird's eye view of the Asian continent.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have featured the work of Kares on <a href="http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2010/11/kares-le-roy-tibet-more.html">The Travel Photographer blog</a> already, but <a href="http://bewaremag.com/en/2013/01/23/kares-le-roy-56-000km-un-continent-et-des-hommes/">Beware Magazine</a> also has an interesting interview with him.</span><br /><br /><br /></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-17404248441839054022013-06-23T12:37:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.252-08:00Miguel Ángel Sánchez | Palestine Portraits<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOgolDR7L-Z8uWMWPMK0cIsvhqgJhYsOIHCKus8dlJTnk4RMm0slCy33QYmy_bnC60RekP0UTqroqJ7q_FrUPjdsZcouB0lpS6SHZ_uKROcQ_DIh4XMUzoxJmLUqTRcBBtBtzmyofncx0/s1600/16_gaza1781-copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOgolDR7L-Z8uWMWPMK0cIsvhqgJhYsOIHCKus8dlJTnk4RMm0slCy33QYmy_bnC60RekP0UTqroqJ7q_FrUPjdsZcouB0lpS6SHZ_uKROcQ_DIh4XMUzoxJmLUqTRcBBtBtzmyofncx0/s1600/16_gaza1781-copy.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Miguel Ángel Sánchez-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Here's another series of wonderful photographs by the talented <a href="http://www.masg.es/index.php?/palestine/">Miguel Ángel Sánchez</a>.<br /><br />Not only are they wonderful, but they depict one of the most oppressed people in the world, living under a dreadful occupation for over 60 years, as beautiful human beings by borrowing the techniques of the Old Masters....perhaps Caravaggio.<br /><br />Miguel Ángel Sánchez is a Spanish photographer based in Cairo since 2009, where he opened his own photography studio. Cairo is the base where he works and prepares projects developed in Egypt during the past 5 years.<br /><div><br /></div><div>He is also an itinerant photographer who takes his workspace to many corners of the world: Asia, Middle East or black Africa. He covered the war against Gaddafi in Libya, documented the Ulu Pamir in Turkish Kurdistan, the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.<br /><br />His work has been published in media such as El País, The New York Times, Le Monde, New Yorker, Photo Raw, La Lettre de la Photographie, and many others.</div><div><br /></div><div>While this post features Miguel's portraits of Palestinians, don't miss his gorgeous portraits of the <a href="http://www.masg.es/index.php?/pamir/"><b>Ulu Pamir</b></a> people in Turkey.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-82123450423408250992012-12-10T02:00:00.000-08:002015-02-13T13:29:03.374-08:00Out of Eden Walk: 30 Million Footsteps<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="309" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/54872082?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&badge=0&color=ff9933" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="550"></iframe><br /><br /><br />A few posts ago I suggested there were no more explorers in the mold of Richard Francis Burton.<br /><br />I was wrong.<br /><br />An incredible exploration trek is being planned by <b>Paul Salopek</b>, a writer for the Chicago Tribune and National Geographic, who will be walking the journey taken by early man tens of thousands of years ago.<br /><br />The walk, <a href="http://www.outofedenwalk.com/"><b>Out of Eden</b></a>, will take 30 million footsteps, over 21, 000 miles over 7 years to complete. It will start in Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">, and</span></span> will cross the Red Sea into the Middle East, cross China, into Siberia, cross the Bering Strait into Alaska and then walk all the way down the western coasts of North and South America<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7T8H3nH0OdgSN2w1myshmElQ1_wZHlDcQA8_314OnjH5G-YLqB-3cKOD5LxqpmQyhOZ6lSTSAfmSrEp4UwA8lqHHhUmsmhBL4RAX0Pr0BUcZk1vrDYzzccIuUM9nSVsONBLPv0GlSR2dS/s1600/Following-mans-earliest-f-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7T8H3nH0OdgSN2w1myshmElQ1_wZHlDcQA8_314OnjH5G-YLqB-3cKOD5LxqpmQyhOZ6lSTSAfmSrEp4UwA8lqHHhUmsmhBL4RAX0Pr0BUcZk1vrDYzzccIuUM9nSVsONBLPv0GlSR2dS/s1600/Following-mans-earliest-f-001.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Graphic courtesy <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/08/writer-retrace-early-humans-journey-africa">The Observer</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Salopek will be taking a micro-light laptop, video and audio recording tools, since he intends to record his journey; including landscapes and voices and faces of the people he meets on the walk. He will also be taking a satellite phone through which he will be uploading his journal's recordings to his his website.<br /><br />He tells <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/08/writer-retrace-early-humans-journey-africa"><b>The Guardian</b></a> newspaper that "<i>We will be creating a family portrait of humanity for the next seven years</i>."<br /><div><br /></div><div>That promises to be one damn exciting journey for all of us.</div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-66186750233404903232012-12-09T02:00:00.000-08:002015-02-13T13:29:03.356-08:00Sebastião Salgado: The Nenets of Siberia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6rsczI85KHD9XGsCenRqVScYAMEW8LkjevjN0odrC8pvNMxxKpQfrlvkploO_Fmyl3q5yfOMPWNNMoSnFtcDYSNo66ALinEZyxEhQbeKw2927NlNZglxO71UEbw6ckqe55b97qFfOKyj/s1600/North-of-the-Ob-River-abo-009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6rsczI85KHD9XGsCenRqVScYAMEW8LkjevjN0odrC8pvNMxxKpQfrlvkploO_Fmyl3q5yfOMPWNNMoSnFtcDYSNo66ALinEZyxEhQbeKw2927NlNZglxO71UEbw6ckqe55b97qFfOKyj/s640/North-of-the-Ob-River-abo-009.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Photo © Sebastião Salgado/Amazonas/nbpictures</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The new work by my very favorite photographer <b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/dec/07/photography-sebastiao-salgado-genesis">Sebastião Salgado</a></b> was featured by The Guardian newspaper in the UK. It's been trending very heavily on Facebook and on Twitter, which is not surprising since so many people admire him and his work.<br /><br />I not only admire his work, but his way of seeing....as he describes it by saying " <i>If you take a picture of a human that does not make him noble, there is no reason to take this picture. That is my way of seeing things.</i>"<br /><br />But back to his new work.<br /><br />Mr Salgado's <b><a href="http://www.amazonasimages.com/grands-travaux">Genesis</a></b> project is now complete after 30 trips made over 8 years. The project portrays the beauty and the majesty of regions still in a pristine condition, areas where landscapes and wildlife are still unspoiled, places where human communities continue to live according to their ancient culture and traditions.<br /><br />From The Guardian's very <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/dec/07/sebastiao-salgado-nenets-siberia">interesting accompanying article</a>, Mr Salgado's latest trip was to the nomadic Nenets of northern Siberia. The Nenets are also known as Samoyeds, and are an indigenous people in northern arctic Russia. There are 40,000 Nenets in the Russian Federation, most of them living in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Nenets Autonomous Okrug.<br /><br />The Nenets' lives are defined by reindeer, which are the source of their food, clothing and transport<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">. </span>Every spring, the Nenets move large herds of reindeer from winter pastures on the Russian mainland, travelling more than 1,000 kilometers north to summer pastures in the Arctic Circle.<br /><br />I ought to also mention that London's <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/salgado-genesis/index.html">Natural History Museum</a> is scheduling an exhibition of Genesis on 11 April - 8 September 2013. There is no way that I will miss it...no way.<br /><br /></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-15728848727747741452012-11-28T02:00:00.000-08:002015-02-13T13:29:03.249-08:00Captain Tristram Speedy: Travel Photography At Bonhams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhESyfwKUM9-Tle7BflzW4Q1q65Z4pm4qWp0IYJkSHIts4av4YT7IUH_4QWCYqS3UmCmqv_ozyD44xT9-Ahcp0Se_6neAJ-Lc4WU_5Z8IEEK4gm-E0Qd6wSrFtugOq0S2s9BWV6EzpxQksa/s1600/speedy_cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhESyfwKUM9-Tle7BflzW4Q1q65Z4pm4qWp0IYJkSHIts4av4YT7IUH_4QWCYqS3UmCmqv_ozyD44xT9-Ahcp0Se_6neAJ-Lc4WU_5Z8IEEK4gm-E0Qd6wSrFtugOq0S2s9BWV6EzpxQksa/s1600/speedy_cameron.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />Why would I mention Bonhams, an auction house, on The Travel Photographer's blog?<br /><br />Well, it's because <a href="http://www.bonhams.com/press_release/11936/">Bonhams</a> is holding an auction of a rare photographic album of 180 Ethiopian images by Julia Margaret Cameron, Felice Beato and others. These images include a number of self portraits of Captain Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy(1836-1910), a well-known English explorer and adventurer during the Victorian era, who was also known by his Amharic name 'Báshá Félíka'.<br /><br />He was a fascinating character who was an Indiana Jones of his time, with a long association with India, Ethiopia and Sudan.<br /><br />Born in Meerut (India), Captain Speedy was a red-haired bearded man 6'5" tall, who learned to speak Amharic, adopted Ethiopian native dress, and was photographed by Cameron in various guises such as a Bedouin chief, a Nubian chief, a Nubian warrior and much more. He was the inspiration for a number of popular books.<br /><br />I am enormously interested in news like that because it merges history, Africa, Asia, adventurism, exploration and photography. Despite my abhorrence of colonialism, I consider men such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton">Richard Francis Burton</a> and now, Tristram, as quintessential eccentric explorers, as orientalists and ethnologists, and as remarkable linguists with an extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures.<br /><div><br /></div><div>They just don't make men that way anymore.<br /><br />For those who don't know <b>Julia Margaret Cameron</b>: she was a British photographer born in Calcutta, known for her portraits of celebrities of the time. Her photographic career was short, spanning eleven years of her life (1864–1875), and got her first camera when she was 48 as a gift from her daughter.<br /><br />As for <b>Felice Beato</b> (1832-1909), he was an Italian–British photographer, and one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. His work provides images of such events as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Second Opium War. <br /></div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-48286431434654625432012-10-19T02:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.309-08:00Karl Doyle: Nomadic Souls<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyw2xYsrgQAz7herJ6ZW4thwpzEsLdlCizc1_VdiCQCuEpFqcHQB8CCQAEguOl31NEvQV4BQibpKT1-KTLsAmy930-TuJ-rx9gMuMAlJxzLZU0UQa_Hr-uUDlypwmHGOBdo4-JSEj92nAQ/s1600/karl_doyle_kazakh_lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyw2xYsrgQAz7herJ6ZW4thwpzEsLdlCizc1_VdiCQCuEpFqcHQB8CCQAEguOl31NEvQV4BQibpKT1-KTLsAmy930-TuJ-rx9gMuMAlJxzLZU0UQa_Hr-uUDlypwmHGOBdo4-JSEj92nAQ/s1600/karl_doyle_kazakh_lady.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Karl Doyle-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://www.karldoyle.com/the_fine_art_book/nomadic-worlds">Karl Doyle's Nomadic Worlds Series </a>is the type and the quality of work you don't want to miss, especially if -like me- you're interested in ethnography and ethno-photography.<div><br /></div><div>Karl Doyle is originally from Ireland, and relocated to London working with many visual artists. He traveled to Mongolia on the Trans-Mongolian Express train from Beijing to Ulan Bator, and spent weeks on horseback to capture the true essence of the Mongolian nomads. </div><div><br /></div><div>In this Nomadic Worlds gallery, he merges the Mongolian Nomads, and the Harajuku Girls of Tokyo and New York’s stylized sub-cultures into one continuing series...to highlight the diversity of their environment.</div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></div>For larger projects, Karl uses a Sinar 4x5 for studio/interior settings, and a Wista for outside work.<div> </div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-65538061469532650862012-08-27T02:04:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.353-08:00David Lazar: South Asia Collection<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJnzLAqsORMbRAUDVBlSC2P5CO594GzJpi57spoRo83P0B5P7YxoDu5BcD5hhbMq8wh2SCs-OIp0P3uXS5LEr309OQsVvWXnI4OHbCRAvE_0-5k2Ks5iv4hk_1ZQaHfWaKdQlusyEulcC/s1600/33-David-Lazar-Bhutanese-Monk-and-Monastery.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFJnzLAqsORMbRAUDVBlSC2P5CO594GzJpi57spoRo83P0B5P7YxoDu5BcD5hhbMq8wh2SCs-OIp0P3uXS5LEr309OQsVvWXnI4OHbCRAvE_0-5k2Ks5iv4hk_1ZQaHfWaKdQlusyEulcC/s1600/33-David-Lazar-Bhutanese-Monk-and-Monastery.jpeg" width="550" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © David Lazar-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />It's not the first time that I post about <a href="http://davidlazarphoto.com/">David Lazar</a>'s excellent work on The Travel Photographer's blog. Far from it. But he has just revamped his website, and it has vastly improved the layout of his many collections.<br /><br />He suggested that I feature his new Kenya gallery which he titled <a href="http://davidlazarphoto.com/galleries/wildlife-and-warriors/">Wildlife & Warriors</a> which has photographs of Masai tribal people, but since I have recently had a post about the Masai, I thought I'd choose his <a href="http://davidlazarphoto.com/galleries/south-asia-collection/"><b>South Asia Collection</b></a> gallery to headline this post instead.<br /><br />David is a travel photographer and musician from Brisbane, who is drawn to locations with rich cultural backgrounds, and is especially interested in portrait and landscape photography. His work is frequently published in photography and travel magazines, and in 2012 he won the Travel category in the Smithsonian Photography Competition. <br /><br />He has been travelling annually since 2004, the year in which he became interested in travel photography. <br /><br />No two ways about it....this is travel photography in the very sense of the word!</div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-85008197434366466132012-07-20T02:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T14:10:44.700-08:00Monica Denevan: Burma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYW5lvhqZveNP1CfFEe9k5p3W0FICnAteSjco2iX-z1af_EaCYrXduzMZ9jiGbtxsQ3AhPEKGC6qkRcYRQtkltpF1aoWO6_AAe16ATkotDUlgZW3LS0W0sxAEF9oTDG5J2yekMOYidyriN/s1600/Sunshade-Burma2005525x525.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYW5lvhqZveNP1CfFEe9k5p3W0FICnAteSjco2iX-z1af_EaCYrXduzMZ9jiGbtxsQ3AhPEKGC6qkRcYRQtkltpF1aoWO6_AAe16ATkotDUlgZW3LS0W0sxAEF9oTDG5J2yekMOYidyriN/s1600/Sunshade-Burma2005525x525.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Monica Denevan-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I'm glad to have found <a href="http://monicadenevan.com/"><b>Monica Denevan</b></a>'s website with its gorgeous photographs of Burma and China. Trust me...you will find that her some 120 photographs are indeed luminous and gorgeous.<br /><br />Monica travels with her medium format Bronica, one lens, and a bunch of plastic bags filled with Ilford Delta 400 film. She tells us that her photographs are printed from negatives in her traditional darkroom and selenium toned.<br /><br />Classic photography in the full meaning of the word, and the farthest thing from the Instagram and Hipstamatic fad.<br /><div><br />Born in San Francisco, Monica studied photography at San Francisco State University. She started visiting parts of Burma and China for many years, and always had her Bronica along. Her work was published in ZYZZYVA, Communication Arts Photo Annual, SHOTS, Black and White Magazine, The Photo Review, The Sun, and Artvas-The Photo (Korea) among others. <br /><br />She is represented by Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco, Duncan Miller Gallery in Santa Monica, Capital Culture Gallery in London, and Tao Evolution Gallery in Hong Kong which produced a small catalogue of her work. Monica’s photographs are in the permanent collection of UCSF Medical Center.</div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-31088417359911782262012-07-15T01:50:00.000-07:002015-02-13T12:53:45.205-08:00Budi N.D. Dharmawan: Ketoprak (Javanese Theatre)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1TD9ufvHVT3884HqfD5k2FOvyQpViRxDuYKE3EMjbuKmjZ1HbI0r5xi8TFKlaGPJPpG8tqbBuOcsnNBNoKLit-54ytV_8PlM6Xn__Z0Dw1OAli5pPJ9HHwqDWrUxZaep70qXPevKIS6vy/s1600/bud-2010-tobong-stagedlife-001.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1TD9ufvHVT3884HqfD5k2FOvyQpViRxDuYKE3EMjbuKmjZ1HbI0r5xi8TFKlaGPJPpG8tqbBuOcsnNBNoKLit-54ytV_8PlM6Xn__Z0Dw1OAli5pPJ9HHwqDWrUxZaep70qXPevKIS6vy/s1600/bud-2010-tobong-stagedlife-001.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Budi N.D. Dharmawan-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Ketoprak <span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">i</span>s a theatrical genre of Java in Indonesia which features actors and performers who sing to the accompaniment of the gamelan. It draws its stories from Javanese history and romances, and in that respect is different from the <i>wayang kulit</i> (shadow puppets) which are based on stories from the Hindu epics.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Ketoprak was created by a Surakarta court official in 1914, evolved into a spoken drama of Javanese and Islamic history but with the modernisation brought along with television and videos, it has lost much of its popularity, and the younger generation has lost interest in traditional folk/cultural arts.<br /><br /><a href="http://budidharmawanphoto.wordpress.com/"><b>Budi N.D. Dharmawan</b></a> is is an Indonesian documentary photographer, with interest in social, humanitarian, and cultural issues. His <a href="http://budidharmawanphoto.wordpress.com/staged-life/"><b>Staged Life gallery</b></a> documents a ketroprak troupe which he followed<span style="color: #555555; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #555555; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>He describes this experience very eloquently: <div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>"It is a story of poverty, which is widespread across Indonesia, a country that has been celebrating economic growth in the past decade. It is unimaginable that these people can live on less than USD 10 a month, but yet it is very real. It is a story of people practicing a form of art that younger generation no longer cares about, not necessarily in order to preserve it, but because it is their way to make ends meet. It is a story of life, both on-stage and also off-stage, which somehow feels like it is just another stage to perform."</i><div><br />I haven't attended a ketoprak performance, but i did photograph an Arja performance in Bali. Arja enacts old stories mainly based on the Panji Romances (11-14th centuries) and uses dialogue understood only by Balinese-speaking audiences. Many of the stories derived from Balinese tales, Chinese and Arabic, and from the Mahabharata and Ramayana.<br /><br /></div></div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-10545339773914799822012-07-03T02:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.232-08:00Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado: Opera Of Sichuan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHS7CjlmDkJtgKUDuIP6DjSn2AEhm6qyMohsWESib3guhpqTzYBwJhnj5jMf9A7RqEC3cgBhmsXFTaBI4x7wCH2z3id51p2IUfi0dwRovHfnOkyCyOtV6zp7y0q3G-beikckR-bZQnOo-b/s1600/mauria_chinese_opera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHS7CjlmDkJtgKUDuIP6DjSn2AEhm6qyMohsWESib3guhpqTzYBwJhnj5jMf9A7RqEC3cgBhmsXFTaBI4x7wCH2z3id51p2IUfi0dwRovHfnOkyCyOtV6zp7y0q3G-beikckR-bZQnOo-b/s1600/mauria_chinese_opera.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table></div>I was glad to see that <a href="http://sabbado.com/">Mauriã Rodrigues Sabbado</a>, a Brazilian photographer and a member of my class <i>Introduction To Multimedia Storytelling</i> at the Buenos Aires Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, has recently updated his website with six photo galleries.<br /><br />Mauriã's documentary photography is centered on Asia, and particularly on Tibet and China. I highlight his gallery <a href="http://sabbado.com/gallery/sichuan-opera/"><b>Sichuan Opera</b></a>, which documents a troupe whilst preparing for a performance, and the actual performance itself. <br /><br />Sichuanese opera is a type of Chinese opera originating in China's Sichuan province around 1700, with Chengdu being its main home. It's well known for its singing, which is more free than the popular Beijing opera form. Sichuan opera is more like a play than other forms of Chinese opera, and the acting is very professional. The music accompanying Sichuanese opera utilizes a small gong and a two stringed traditional "violin".</div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-85207653571065684542012-06-19T02:10:00.000-07:002015-02-13T12:53:45.238-08:00Matthew Oldfield: Kecak!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSlkx7wz1zWySiaJgq8eK3RO188IJEXOg8osUBw2-s0J6z2vdCFkhHisgfpMt1dVP9_IxVZDFAlW8915GPVscmg29kTLTEqvNzi-QhmOCUpBaIXM1M27TY_DPdnpU5TgkdXgWUG80fuGj/s1600/matt_oldfield_kecak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSlkx7wz1zWySiaJgq8eK3RO188IJEXOg8osUBw2-s0J6z2vdCFkhHisgfpMt1dVP9_IxVZDFAlW8915GPVscmg29kTLTEqvNzi-QhmOCUpBaIXM1M27TY_DPdnpU5TgkdXgWUG80fuGj/s1600/matt_oldfield_kecak.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Matthew Oldfield-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #999999;">"<b>Kecak dance involves a chorus of chanting men dressed in checked cloth, who build a percussive vocal rhythm that has its roots in the Sanghyang trance-inducing exorcism dance."</b></span></i></blockquote><a href="http://matthewoldfield.photoshelter.com/">Matthew Oldfield</a> tells us he attended a <a href="http://matthewoldfield.photoshelter.com/gallery-slideshow/G0000wt.GA00xD_w/?start="><b>unique Kecak performance in Bali</b></a> led by Pak Reno who has been developing his own version of the Kecak dance over several decades, and his chorus performs a much looser version of the typical, choreographed story. No two performances are alike and guests are never sure what will happen.<br /><br />The Kecak music performance is not accompanied by any music instruments, but by a chorus of around 50 to 100 men. <span style="background-color: white;">Kecak has roots in <i>sanghyang</i>, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.</span><br /><br />I've been to Bali a handful of times, and attended Kecak performances in different spots on the island, notably in Ubud and Nusa Dua, however these were performances designed for tourists. The one attended by Matthew seemed to have been non commercial, and only 7 spectators attended it.<br /><br />Kecak is a form of Balinese dance and music drama, originated in Bali and is performed primarily by men, <span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> A </span>German painter and musician got interested in the ritual while living in Bali in the 1930s and worked to recreate it into a drama, based on the Hindu Ramayana.<br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://matthewoldfield.photoshelter.com/">Matthew</a> is a freelance photographer based in South East Asia, specialising in editorial and documentary images. He's been involved in both photography and the environment since 1993. H<span style="background-color: transparent;">e's had articles published in Asian Geographic, Asian Diver, Scuba Diver Australasia, FiNS Magazine and Scuba Globe, and photo credits in a huge variety of publications.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">Tom Bourdon, a fellow travel photographer, referred Matthew's work to me and we both agree that these high quality photographs would have been enhanced had it been accompanied by the incredible music and sounds of the Kecak in a simple multimedia photo essay.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #707070; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-32246617952718848562012-06-12T02:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T12:53:45.208-08:00Stephen Dupont: A Tale of Two Slums<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2G2mMzJ9Ucsz0wzh4HTVtb9OHS4n8iP5rYjQh8ZAAehcsSk-OxdcXC0cfCC7lTEzatkJnGJOpsBcg-VbXdEEjSOkHdKFgIWbeanja8jLBKpe_wmKk_Njo-d_XrSop3qtjxvIjLYW-eUda/s1600/stephen_dupont-bombay+slums-03.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2G2mMzJ9Ucsz0wzh4HTVtb9OHS4n8iP5rYjQh8ZAAehcsSk-OxdcXC0cfCC7lTEzatkJnGJOpsBcg-VbXdEEjSOkHdKFgIWbeanja8jLBKpe_wmKk_Njo-d_XrSop3qtjxvIjLYW-eUda/s1600/stephen_dupont-bombay+slums-03.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Stephen Dupont-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I really liked these two photographic essays of Polaroids made in the <a href="http://stephendupont.squarespace.com/essays/"><b>Mumbai slum Dharavi and the Senen slum of Jakarta</b></a> by Stephen Dupont, an Australian photographer.<br /><br />Dharavi is one of the world's largest slum and lies on prime real estate in the middle of India's financial capital, Mumbai and has a population estimated to be 1 million. Many businesses flourish in this slum, such as traditional pottery and textiles, a recycling industry, which generate an estimated $650 million turnover a year.<br /><br />As for the Senen slum, it's a trackside slum in central Jakarta. It's also a center for recycling, and its inhabitants live cheek to jowl with the thundering trains.<br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://stephendupont.squarespace.com/">Stephen Dupont </a>has produced a photographs of fragile cultures and marginalized peoples, which capture the human dignity of his subjects, and do so with great intimacy and often in some of the world’s most dangerous regions. His work has earned him prestigious prizes, including a Robert Capa Gold Medal citation from the Overseas Press Club of America; a Bayeux War Correspondent’s Prize; and first places in the World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, the Australian Walkleys, and Leica/CCP Documentary Award.<br /><br />His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Aperture, Newsweek, Time, GQ, Esquire, French and German GEO, Le Figaro, Liberation, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Independent, The Guardian, The New York Times Magazine, Stern, The Australian Financial Review Magazine, and Vanity Fair.<br /><br />He has held major exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Sydney, Canberra, Tokyo, and Shanghai, and at Perpignan’s Visa Pour L’Image, China’s Ping Yao and Holland’s Noorderlicht festivals. </div></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-14946567589620848242012-05-31T02:16:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.246-08:00Alessandra Meniconzi: Nenets Of Arctic Siberia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbn04cXnsBdfTtzYFFIkhvMLpLXagb0UxgB7xDAbrcpdJUadZfR28TTHkEdL1BDZFOJbYotNSbQ8VGplNS8WUL8IzuIjcJ63A-J5NP5wjo2k2K8eehMBFxpIEArNvZuxaZzB1PK_uebkts/s1600/alessandra_meniconzi_arctic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbn04cXnsBdfTtzYFFIkhvMLpLXagb0UxgB7xDAbrcpdJUadZfR28TTHkEdL1BDZFOJbYotNSbQ8VGplNS8WUL8IzuIjcJ63A-J5NP5wjo2k2K8eehMBFxpIEArNvZuxaZzB1PK_uebkts/s1600/alessandra_meniconzi_arctic.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Alessandra Meniconzi_All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">“I prefer remote and rugged places, mountainous terrain and desert."</span></i></span></h3><br />Yes, Alessandra Meniconzi prefers to travel to areas many other travel photographers wouldn't think of going because they're truly remote and inaccessible. An excellent photographer, she's also extremely versatile, and her <a href="http://www.alessandrameniconzi.com/"><b>updated website</b></a> features new galleries that cover most of the globe's regions.<br /><br />Alessandra's galleries range from the Arctic Siberia to Ethiopia, from Lapland to the Silk Road, and from Greenland to Tibet and the Himalayas. She worked extensively for more than a decade in the remote areas of Asia, documenting minority people and their traditional cultures. More recently, she focused on the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions that are threatened by climate change, development, and resource extraction.<br /><br />I chose to feature her<a href="http://www.alessandrameniconzi.com/realm-of-ice-and-snow/album/nenetslastnomadsofarcticsiberia?p=1"> Nenets of The Arctic Siberia</a> gallery, as it's one of her most recent work. The Nenets are an indigenous people in northern arctic Russia. According to the latest census in 2002, there are 41,302 Nenets in the Russian Federation. They have a shamanistic and animistic belief system which stresses respect for the land and its resources.<br /><br />Her photographs have been published widely in magazines, as well as in books for which she was the sole photographer: The Silk Road (2004), Mystic Iceland (2007), Hidden China (2008) and QTI -Alessandra Meniconzi, Il coraggio di esser paesaggio (2011).<br /></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-32110052630888072572012-05-15T02:02:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.278-08:00Diana Markosian: The Girls of Chechnya<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1WU2c2uXb2bXQTBmGQMIk3Ra2Pnh4k1QBGMI4ifde2TUJYsf_u8_VH0URTn3VXOmbCyJqHjhATMEJstL8Q7YCo2y9eaMHalxSttksRB_huU64bgkpbqe2JeBjj9JoTagI8LmhcvKoEhf/s1600/diana_markosian_chechnya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1WU2c2uXb2bXQTBmGQMIk3Ra2Pnh4k1QBGMI4ifde2TUJYsf_u8_VH0URTn3VXOmbCyJqHjhATMEJstL8Q7YCo2y9eaMHalxSttksRB_huU64bgkpbqe2JeBjj9JoTagI8LmhcvKoEhf/s1600/diana_markosian_chechnya.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Diana Markosian-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table>An interesting glimpse in an area that a relatively few are really familiar with...Chechnya, was recently featured by <a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2012/04/16/chechnya/#11">TIME Lightbox</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dianamarkosian.com/">Diana Markosian's Goodbye My Chechnya</a> is such a glimpse into the lives of young Chechen women who witnessed the horrors of two wars, and are coming of age in a country that is rapidly rediscovering its Muslim laws and traditions.<br /><br />It's particularly interesting to view Diana's photographs of these Chechen women and their traditions and compare them to <a href="http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2012/04/times-lightbox-oded-balilty.html">Oded Balilty</a>'s photographs of the Jewish ultra orthodox communities, which included a series on a traditional Hasidic Jewish wedding. <br /><br />Two separate religious traditions, often at odds with each other....and yet similar in so many ways. And as both photo essays are made of such compelling photographs, that the comparison between the two from an aesthetic point of view bring this point very clearly to the forefront.<br /><br />According to Diana Markosian, Chechnya is experiencing a wave of Islamicization since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Religious dress codes are the rule, young (and polygamous) marriages are frequent and gender roles are increasingly conservative.</div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-33587505373437980802011-11-04T02:16:00.000-07:002015-02-13T12:53:45.210-08:00Andrew Newey: Papua New Guinea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAD1bcC9vVKclj73xqeusZ1fXRIrJX_7NfVohRXgpRyAMojN-7eYogaYG5b3kiOFGxRFK-kKjfhMPUVwknfM6XBPJWBne4fISXPuy1rb8YxBoRA8NMhipCgdNnAHy2MTLtUVfM-CPdYXtx/s1600/andrew+newey_png.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAD1bcC9vVKclj73xqeusZ1fXRIrJX_7NfVohRXgpRyAMojN-7eYogaYG5b3kiOFGxRFK-kKjfhMPUVwknfM6XBPJWBne4fISXPuy1rb8YxBoRA8NMhipCgdNnAHy2MTLtUVfM-CPdYXtx/s1600/andrew+newey_png.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Andrew Newey-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a href="http://www.andrewnewey.com/"><b>Andrew Newey</b></a> has been virtually everywhere. He is a documentary travel photographer based in England, and started travelling the world in his early 20′s, and went to college to study the craft, after which he went on a round the world trip to put the theory work into practice. He began his photographic career supplying landscape and travel imagery to the stock photography industry and now focuses on commissions, workshops and personal projects documenting traditional cultures around the world. <br /><br />He was exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society in London for the 2010 Travellers’ Tales Festival. Some of his clients include Microsoft, Qantas, Bauer Media, Wanderlust, Thai Airways, The Sunday Times, Lonely Planet, P&O Cruises, Rough Guides, AA Media, Imagine Publishing, and Tesco.<br /><br />Andrew has divided his website portfolio over three main galleries, and the images (although smaller in size than what I love to see) are extraordinarily colorful, and are unadulterated travel photographs. These range from Mongolia to the Mentawai Islands, from Laos to Nepal, from Morocco to Malaysia, from China to India, and from Tibet to Thailand.</div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-4709946804097731842011-10-11T02:35:00.000-07:002015-02-13T14:07:03.869-08:00Diego Vergés: The Mentawai<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74qmTo5CFoVSZqyoS3-IoG1Eb-I2CdZPXo5njgC7Gwc4qZCiZu56z-0eTN483kRMsBfojbeGlWldSboJGiRNujIo79DqQyK3_BPpZFoGwa727wKdZt2Wn6RNlqsqbq1V0_H6Egip8Sgtz/s1600/diego_verges_mentawai03.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74qmTo5CFoVSZqyoS3-IoG1Eb-I2CdZPXo5njgC7Gwc4qZCiZu56z-0eTN483kRMsBfojbeGlWldSboJGiRNujIo79DqQyK3_BPpZFoGwa727wKdZt2Wn6RNlqsqbq1V0_H6Egip8Sgtz/s1600/diego_verges_mentawai03.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464585221373069090" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 368px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 550px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;">Photo © Diego Vergés-All Rights Reserved</span></center>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvR4JcaJrcM2nERrCS8Aua_elbFVjbEdGIRRMjA9CGdXriGGtUndyOF_nul-lxthAVsOHX5tpfwkk4BsA868opLZj57vA-GLFmfuwyElHSzaWEO2FYOB-0kvD9WyuwyHAH9Csl9GInA6Gm/s1600/diego_verges_mentawai01.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvR4JcaJrcM2nERrCS8Aua_elbFVjbEdGIRRMjA9CGdXriGGtUndyOF_nul-lxthAVsOHX5tpfwkk4BsA868opLZj57vA-GLFmfuwyElHSzaWEO2FYOB-0kvD9WyuwyHAH9Csl9GInA6Gm/s1600/diego_verges_mentawai01.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464585012912999010" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 367px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 550px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;">Photo © Diego Vergés-All Rights Reserved</span></center>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvwqJyJ643xhWbv1GHC39vWR-dhCfTFormmS6qQkFDHNoDTk4Wx0IoBrh9sWwkRFiY6NSTjQw_OeqMeYXA8nl8d4v7SJk7-DRkWiPvmRampmYVQZkF5tgL5dzUaDwm9-LrA206wAjT88x/s1600/diego_verges_mentawai02.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigvwqJyJ643xhWbv1GHC39vWR-dhCfTFormmS6qQkFDHNoDTk4Wx0IoBrh9sWwkRFiY6NSTjQw_OeqMeYXA8nl8d4v7SJk7-DRkWiPvmRampmYVQZkF5tgL5dzUaDwm9-LrA206wAjT88x/s1600/diego_verges_mentawai02.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464585007128936082" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 369px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 550px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;">Photo © Diego Vergés-All Rights Reserved</span></center>
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As I indicated in an <a href="http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2009/11/diego-verges-sadhus.html">earlier post</a> on The Travel Photographer blog, Diego Vergés is back from his 4 months trip to Indonesia (and PNG) and its various islands, and is currently working feverishly on his inventory of images. <br />
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He tells me that he has so far edited and readied only one of his expected 8 or more photo essays on the various indigenous groups of Indonesia, and that's the <a href="http://www.diegoverges.com/galeria2.php?id=0">gallery on the Mentawai</a>. The images are spectacular, and I encourage you to view them as they provide a window into a culture which I suspect will soon vanish.<br />
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You'll notice Diego's characteristic lighting techniques from the above photographs, and which he told he learned from The Strobist. Photographing the Mentawai, he used off camera lighting, a reflector and a softbox. For cameras, Diego uses a Canon 5d and a 5d Mark II, with prime lenses (24mm f1.4 and 50mm f1.4).<br />
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The Mentawai are the native people of the Mentawai Islands, which is a chain of about seventy islands and islets off the western coast of Sumatra. They live a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the coastal and rain forest environments of the islands, and number about 64,000. They are known by their deep spirituality, body art and the tradition of sharpening their teeth for beautifying reasons.<br />
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The Mentawai practice traditional animism, and as with other indigenous cultures, are threatened by encroaching modernism.Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-12304460737631965992011-09-09T02:39:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:49:34.537-08:00Asit: Indonesian Photography<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3cuah-ZCExPRKRrOTozoHr82IajF7c6b33tKZqMiPU9_JaCL-4R_mP2Olla87PCSHh6hpnMnvw5-QJJTATWgAzkwolfeN53GjcX84XYXiRydE_Ra5-AmGqedTptyHDUg6weG-29Cr0sWQ/s1600/asit_photography.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3cuah-ZCExPRKRrOTozoHr82IajF7c6b33tKZqMiPU9_JaCL-4R_mP2Olla87PCSHh6hpnMnvw5-QJJTATWgAzkwolfeN53GjcX84XYXiRydE_Ra5-AmGqedTptyHDUg6weG-29Cr0sWQ/s1600/asit_photography.jpeg" width="550" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Asit-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Another instance of a talented photographer who neglects to provide full background information on his or her website is <a href="http://asit.1x.com/gallery"><b>Asit</b></a>. It's a shame because I am certain that photo buyers may want to get in contact with Asit. Having a contact form is insufficient, since a biography provides background information to the buyers and editors. A pseudonym is fine (if warranted) but having no background information signals a disinterest in marketing.<br /><br />Most of Asit's photographs appear to have been set up very carefully, with meticulous attention and effort given to details, lighting and, in some cases, make up. It's more akin to fashion photography than travel photography. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXmbBnT4y9lXUK8pI-c_m8zPjMBMbKm_5_iBvvvXgWfGdXJzdsOhJ1XCQj06av-7iK_b3HPIMQ2dQdTWKM2E55mApEjTIM7voiLUFwulygouF_LnDkCkr2alYYRlm5OmQEbU5_cXcUHXCg/s1600/asit_photo_rooster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="367" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXmbBnT4y9lXUK8pI-c_m8zPjMBMbKm_5_iBvvvXgWfGdXJzdsOhJ1XCQj06av-7iK_b3HPIMQ2dQdTWKM2E55mApEjTIM7voiLUFwulygouF_LnDkCkr2alYYRlm5OmQEbU5_cXcUHXCg/s1600/asit_photo_rooster.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Asit-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-35782953707757048502011-09-08T02:12:00.000-07:002015-02-13T12:53:45.213-08:00Francisco de Souza: Travel Photography<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHxYC0m_n8ag3MIe6wV1mcYqNNBvbZpVjngqDAozDUw2jaYjH18pmScWG11RUxBUuwAsn-wKeRECYcXY0WngfeD9fO9D02ntEzqnrpqBWu0J8qagDGQCu6deR2iYj9eboU_tCO8DcFQbm/s1600/desouza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHxYC0m_n8ag3MIe6wV1mcYqNNBvbZpVjngqDAozDUw2jaYjH18pmScWG11RUxBUuwAsn-wKeRECYcXY0WngfeD9fO9D02ntEzqnrpqBWu0J8qagDGQCu6deR2iYj9eboU_tCO8DcFQbm/s1600/desouza.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Francisco de Souza-All Rights Reserved</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The website of <a href="http://francisco-desouza.com/"><b>Francisco de Souza</b></a> is populated with galleries of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam...large images which grab viewers the way images should. None of this silly small photographs to "protect my work" from Francisco. He wants to show his images, and he does.<br /><br />His biography tells us he was born and raised in Zimbabwe, where he started to photograph his Shona tribal neighbours since he was eleven. Subsequently displaced from his Zimbabwean home, he travelled to many developing countries in Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and South East Asia. It is there he started to actively work with and support Non Government Organisations in Indonesia, India and Zimbabwe.<br /><br />Francisco's work has been shortlisted in the Digital Photographer of the Year competition in 2009, and he received a Diploma in Photography from The Photography Institute of New Zealand in 2010.<br /><br />In his India gallery, Francisco features an elderly woman in a red sari, possibly a Gujarati or Rajasthani tribal judging from her tattoos, being helped unto the back of a truck...a perfect capture in time and motion.</div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-51574319522014524912011-08-02T03:06:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.329-08:00Dominic Nahr: Travels Through Islam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAKYc7rgvWKKkxX_8ufLuWucAPqzeyWmTMNVDpMRZdvtptVB9C_4blWqpfq79D77bpkVVKZADFR_CnQ5M39VlnGglAOmrU5SactylUcUMMT1luXYDNoJ_aanesIY9doOBDQSyJpHIVSLMA/s1600/dominic_nahr_TIME_lightbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAKYc7rgvWKKkxX_8ufLuWucAPqzeyWmTMNVDpMRZdvtptVB9C_4blWqpfq79D77bpkVVKZADFR_CnQ5M39VlnGglAOmrU5SactylUcUMMT1luXYDNoJ_aanesIY9doOBDQSyJpHIVSLMA/s1600/dominic_nahr_TIME_lightbox.jpg" width="550" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Dominic Nahr-Courtesy TIME</td></tr></tbody></table>With good reason, I've become skeptical of mainstream Western magazines abilities or interest to present non-stereotypical (and non-judgmental) features dealing with Islam, but I found TIME International's <a href="http://lightbox.time.com/2011/07/25/travels-through-islam-the-sands-and-waters-of-time/#1"><b>Travel Through Islam</b></a> five-part series in its Summer Journey issue, to be interesting and insightful.<br /><br />In this first installment, photographer Dominic Nahr followed the footsteps of famed 14th century explorer and traveler Ibn Battuta into sub-Saharan Africa. In February 1352, Ibn Battuta set off from the city of Sijilmasa at the edge of the Sahara to journey with a camel caravan to lands far to the south.<br /><br />A few years ago, I was fascinated by Ibn Battuta (whose full name is Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta), and read anything I could find about his life and his travels, to the point that I went to the New York Public Library to read some older manuscripts.<br /><br />Ibn Battuta's journeys took almost thirty years and covered almost the entire known Islamic world and beyond, extending from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance far surpassing that of his predecessors and his near-contemporary Marco Polo. <br /><br />For an interesting book on Ibn Battuta and his exploits, Tim Mackintosh-Smith followed the traveler's footsteps as well, and wrote <a href="http://www.mackintosh-smith.com/review_tangerine1.htm"><b>Travels With A Tangerine</b></a>. Not to be confused with the fruit, Tangerine is a resident of Tangiers...as Ibn Battuta was.<br /></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-59469619579475524982011-06-02T03:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:49:34.550-08:00Tom Bourdon: Dayakan Dance<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/24511035?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="550" height="440" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /><a href="http://tombourdon.co.uk/">Tom Bourdon</a> was recently in Java, Indonesia where he photographed a traditional Dayak dance near Borobodur. He captured the ambient sound with the new and popular <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/699403-REG/Zoom_H1_H1_Ultra_Portable_Digital_Audio.html/BI/7531/KBID/8055">Zoom H1</a>, and put together this audio slideshow. You can also view it <a href="http://vimeo.com/24511035"><b>here</b></a>.<br /><br />The Dayak are the native people of Borneo, who live principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture. Dayaks also live in Indonesia, and have their distinct culture as Tom Bourdon documented.<br /><br />The Dayak were animist in belief, however many converted to Christianity, and more recently to Islam. Estimates for the Dayak population range from 2 to 4 million.<br /><br />Tom is a documentary travel photographer specializing in recording cultural festivals & celebrations across the globe. His work has been published in the national & international press as well as guide books & numerous online locations.<br /><br />I thought I'd add this <a href="http://pro-audio.bhinsights.com/content/get-job-done-new-zoom-h1.html">review of the Zoom H1</a>. It's by B&H, and while it's short and to the point, it gives a reasonable appraisal of the device.Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-73627705290139859122011-05-28T03:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.368-08:00Angkor Photo Workshops 2011<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-506" src="http://apws.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/apws_green_lr.jpg?w=300&h=146" title="APWS" /><br /><br /><br />Now in its 7th year, the free 2011 Angkor Photo Workshops is now officially accepting applications from all young Asian photographers.<br /><br />To get started, photographers can download and read through the application guidelines and the application form below:<br /><ul><li style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://apws.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/apws-2011_applicationguidelines.pdf">APWS 2011 Application Guidelines</a></li><li style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://apws.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/apws2011_application-form.doc">APWS 2011 Application Form</a></li></ul>The guidelines and form contains all the information needed on how to apply for this year’s workshops. However for clarifications and or questions, the Angkor Photo Workshops can be contacted email at angkorworkshop [at] gmail.com .<br /><br />The workshop will be held from November 17 – 23, 2011 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. As per the previous years’ workshops, 30 participants will be selected from amongst the applications received. The deadline to submit the application is July 15, 2011.<br /><br />Since its inception in 2005, more than 180 young photographers from all over Asia have been selected to participate in the annual free Angkor Photo Workshops. Conducted by renowned international photographers who volunteer their time, the Angkor Photo Workshops provide participants with firsthand training, invaluable exposure and a chance to perfect their art.<br /><br />Over the years, the workshop has highlighted emerging talent from the region, and many previous participants go on to embark on successful photography careers both regionally and internationally.<br /><br />I'll be there!! <br /></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-12057445886494377032011-04-29T03:08:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:41:34.840-08:00Diego Verges: Ludruk<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq6T-0S8CfS7t5Qj23eFXfkf1V18hEL6YHe6DC_g30IfL0ynI9fZ6CpClAuzGoeyZlX1Qff_ShGidDnlXuvCF8HoNCf9MymyNXVd2X6BSAnWAYlXAytmIK-xlxuWZM5eR7RCrFKpqGb0_d/s1600/ludruk_diego_verges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq6T-0S8CfS7t5Qj23eFXfkf1V18hEL6YHe6DC_g30IfL0ynI9fZ6CpClAuzGoeyZlX1Qff_ShGidDnlXuvCF8HoNCf9MymyNXVd2X6BSAnWAYlXAytmIK-xlxuWZM5eR7RCrFKpqGb0_d/s1600/ludruk_diego_verges.jpg" height="365" width="550" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo © Diego Verges-All Rights Reserved</td></tr>
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Ludruk is a theatrical genres of East Java in Indonesia. It's a form of traditional performance presented by a troupe of actors on a stage, re-telling the life stories of everyday people and their struggles. Most of the characters were performed by male actors who take the roles of women, but more recently, the sketches and farces feature mostly contemporary domestic stories, and have become commercial entertainment popular with urban and rural working-class audiences.<br />
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<a href="http://www.diegoverges.com/">Diego Verges</a> (featured many times of The Travel photographer blog and one of its Favorite 2011 Photographers) has produced a comprehensive photo essay on the <a href="http://www.diegoverges.com/galeria2.php?id=0"><b>Ludruk</b></a>, with black & white (and color) facial portraits, and as well as environmental portraits and scenes of these performers. <br />
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<span style="background-color: yellow;"><a href="http://www.diegoverges.com/galeria2.php?id=0"><b>Ludruk</b></a> is a must-see for my readers</span> as it merges portraiture, documentary and travel-ethnography photography, and also visually documents an art for that could well vanish in the years to come.<br />
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Note: I encountered a similar kind of performance in Bali where it's called <a href="http://thetravelphotographer.blogspot.com/2010/08/fourth-post-arja-dance.html">Arja</a>. This type of performance enacts old stories in a farcical manner and uses dialogue understood only by Balinese-speaking audiences. </div>
Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529091810544193215.post-23248298092846050762011-04-20T03:00:00.000-07:002015-02-13T13:29:03.265-08:00Magnum In Motion/Abbas: Children Of The Lotus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZhRsHOHCO0N-3W_-1FgblkvDhPL7-TSq5opbGZvB7qxUAqCsrWAcGnVRPV1Tzj9GebooxXmQ_4ZpYyK13ySa28dnGZuHEZBn_-WYhKBdcKNIBYV84dRBjIiyRDA_kz51Q5iID_UCwxLNn/s1600/abbas_magnum_lotus_children.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="369" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZhRsHOHCO0N-3W_-1FgblkvDhPL7-TSq5opbGZvB7qxUAqCsrWAcGnVRPV1Tzj9GebooxXmQ_4ZpYyK13ySa28dnGZuHEZBn_-WYhKBdcKNIBYV84dRBjIiyRDA_kz51Q5iID_UCwxLNn/s1600/abbas_magnum_lotus_children.jpg" width="550" /></a></div><br />Magnum In Motion has produced <a href="http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/children-lotus"><b>Children Of The Lotus</b></a>, a multimedia slideshow of Abbas' photographs made during the photographer's travels in 12 Buddhist countries spanning the better part of three years.<br /><br />Abbas' inspiration was the photograph (it's really a poignant mug shot) of a young Khmer girl who was executed by a genocidal regime. He wonders how a Buddhist society, presumably full of compassion, be able to countenance the massacre and starvation of a quarter of its population?<br /><br />Most of the images in the slideshow are in black & white, with a few at the end that are in color. Abbas chose to photograph in black & white because, as he tells us, he doesn't describe reality but aims to transcend it. I would have much preferred if the slideshow was either in black & white or color...I suppose the producers had a reason to do otherwise.<br /><br />I also found the use of the zooming in for close ups and Ken Burns effect somewhat overdone and heavy-handed...and to use throat singing (more of the Mongolian genre) to be the wrong choice to accompany this production. It seems the producers obtained the audio from freesound.org. With the majority of the countries covered in the slideshow being of the Theravada branch of Buddhism, I'm quite sure they could've easily found more appropriate chants.<br /><br />In multimedia, bad audio kills great photographs. In this project, it's not that it's bad...but it's not relevant. If all the photos had been of Tibetan (although I'm not sure if the chanting are indeed Tibetan...it could be Mongolian) Buddhism, it would've been fine. <br /><br /><u>Having said that, work by Abbas is still work by Abbas and the mute button is within reach.</u></div>Uong Jowohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18404954580084095967noreply@blogger.com0