Jon Goering: Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity

Photo © Jon Goering-All Rights Reserved

I am certainly glad Jon Goering chose me to review his multifaceted portfolio during the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Buenos Aires a few days ago, and so will you when you view his black & white images of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.

I guarantee you'll find these beautiful images very compelling, and extremely well composed.

Jon is a photojournalist living near Birmingham, Alabama and is the staff photographer for Shelby County Newspapers. He was awarded third place by the Hearst Journalism Awards program for News/Sports in 2008/2009 and honored for his photography of Ethiopia. At CPOY64 he was awarded two honorable mentions awards, one for International Picture Story for a story on the children of the Chinandega, Nicaragua landfill, and one for Portrait. The project was later selected by the photojournalism collective LUCEO as one of ten finalists for their student project award. Jon garnered other awards, and I predict he will continue to impress us with his future projects.

In Buenos Aires, my review of Jon's images (viewed on his iPad) quickly evolved into a conversation about Ethiopia and the profound religiosity of its people. I can't recall for certain if I told Jon this, but when looking at his images, the sinking feeling in my stomach signalled I had missed much by photographing only in color when I was in Lalibela during Timket...but it was in 2004 and what did I know then?!

So I'm happy Jon is smarter than I was, and did realize that black & white photography enhanced his visualization of Ethiopia's beautiful Christian rituals.

William Palank: Ethiopia

Photo © William Palank-All Rights Reserved

Just yesterday, I had an email conversation with Eric Beecroft on the merits of the Leica M9, and whether I viewed it as a reliable tool, despite its idiosyncrasies, for my travel photojournalism work, and if it could ever replace my Canon system. My view was that it would not replace the Canons, but it would supplement them. I used a tool analogy, and compared the Canon and Leica to pliers and pincers.

This conversation fit perfectly with the work of William Palank, and with his interesting interview on the Leica blog. As a bit of background, William Palank decided to change from a career of dentistry to that of a photographer, and started to document traditional cultures such as those of Ethiopia India and Burma.

"When using prime lenses on a digital rangefinder camera, you can’t cheat by shooting from across the street and zooming in."

Palank is complimentary of the Leica M-sytem because it allows him to get nearer to his subjects, and permits him to blend better in exotic locations. His Ethiopia images were made with a Leica M9 and a Summilux 50mm lens. More of his Ethiopia images are here.

I recommend reading the interview pretty attentively.  Palank's post-production appears to be fairly minimal. He tells us that he prefers to get the the exposure and lighting right before he clicks his shutter. In our age of Photoshop and Lightroom, this is unusual.

I have yet to test the M9 in my travels, but I am certain it will allow me to get even nearer to my subjects...and record more intimate portraits. I'm not too bashful in approaching my subjects, but the M9 will help in keeping a lower profile. Once again, the M9 will not supplant the Canon 5D2 and the Canon 7D, but will supplement them. I will share my experience and results.

Diego Verges/Javier Fernandez del Rivero: Addis

Photo © Diego Verges/Javier Fernandez-All Rights Reserved

Diego Verges was at it again...this time with a friend and collaborator Javier Fernandez, and produced interesting set up visuals of various Omo Valley tribes, such as the Mursi, Hamar, and Tsamay.

Here's the background story as told to me by Diego. Having won a photographic contest last November, with a trip to Ethiopia for two as grand prize, Diego and Javier traveled to Southern Ethiopia where they stayed for about 2 weeks. With time on their hands, and an impulse to produce something unusual, they decided to work with studio backgrounds cheaply cobbled together locally.

The goal was to produce photographs more akin to anthropological portraits than travel images, but that would also accentuate the studio-like poses rather than the candid.

Diego tells me he was inspired by the work of John Kenny and Sarah Elliot, who were both featured on my blog, as well as by Isabel Munoz. I also see the influence of Joey L. in these, especially in the use of strobes and lights.

Some of those who describe themselves as purists may well view this work as demeaning to the Omo Valley tribes people and their age-old culture, as well as exploitative to a certain degree. Unfortunately, this has been the case for a number of years, and I understand through a number of conversations that commercialization is now running rampant. I was there last in early 2004, and noticed how the various tribes were adept in soliciting money for images and how prepared they were to pose without any guidance from me. And that's why I qualify my use of the term "exploitative"...perhaps this is a case of what came first...the tourists with their cameras giving out a handful of birrs...or the demand for birrs from tourists for each snap. I don't know the answer to that.

While I am saddened by the economic situation these tribes find themselves in, I pass no judgement. There's always the good and the bad in situations such as these.

Whatever side of the fence you end up on, there's no question that Diego and Javier have done an excellent job in featuring the beauty and majesty of the Southern Ethiopian tribes.

And no...I don't know why Diego decided to title these new galleries as "Addis"...instead of Turmi or Omo.

Note: Diego clarified the reason the reason for choosing Addis...it means "New"...as in new work.

Joey Lawrence: Omo Valley Portraits

Photo © Joey Lawrence-All Rights Reserved

There's no question that Joey Lawrence (aka Joey L) is one heck of a photographer...travel photographer, ethno-photographer and portrait photographer as well. He recently added more photographs of Lower Omo Valley tribes to his blog that are breathtaking in their simplicity.

These are different than what we come to expect to see from Joey, who had accustomed us to environmental portraits of endangered tribes people, whether in Ethiopia or Indonesia. This latest crop of incredibly beautiful photographs have been posed, and the subjects set against a simple black background. According to Joey, these will be part of a fine art book with all his work from the Omo Valley.

The tribes depicted in this series are the Karo, the Nyangatom, the Mursi, the Daasanac. the Hamer and the Arbore.

Joey used a PhaseOne/Mamiya 646 with a 80mm prime lens, a light setup and a collapsible reflector.  The combination of the medium format and the lighting technique produced these remarkable results. 

Evan Abramson: When The Water Ends

Ethiopia's government is building a new dam in the Omo river projected to be the largest hydropower project in sub-Saharan Africa. Almost 50% of its electrical output has already been sold to neighboring countries, but it will reduce the water flow to the Omo River and threaten the lives of some 500,000-800,000 nomadic pastoralists.

Evan Abramson's When The Water Ends photo essay examines the impact of such a massive infrastructural on the lives of the Omo Valley tribes.

Evan's photographs were also used in a 16-minute video When the Water Ends produced by Yale Environment 360 in collaboration with MediaStorm. It tells the story of the increasingly dire drought conditions facing parts of East Africa, and the eventuality of conflict.

Evan Abramson is a 32-year-old photographer and videographer based in New York, who spent two months in the region, living among the herding communities. His project focuses on four groups of pastoralists — the Turkana of Kenya and the Dassanech, Nyangatom, and Mursi of Ethiopia — who are among the more than two dozen tribes whose lives and culture depend on the waters of the Omo River and the body of water into which it flows, Lake Turkana.

Quite a number of photographers have photographed the tribal people of the Omo Valley, and I'm certain they, as well as many non-photographers, are lamenting the change that will befell the region.

Faces of a Vanishing World: Joey Lawrence

I've posted a few times about Joey Lawrence (he also goes by Joey L), the young photographer who's been involved in commercial photography, photojournalism and music videos around the world by the age of 17, and who now has the established reputation of being a pioneer of new aged digital hyper-realistic photography, lighting and manipulation.

Joey has released a documentary titled Faces of a Vanishing World available for purchase on DVD or as an instant download. The official trailer for the documentary is above. Joey also says he's donating a portion of all the documentary's sales to Survival International, who are supporting the tribal people of the Omo Valley defend their rights, protect their lands and determine their own futures.

I am always a little hesitant in accepting cliches such as "vanishing world", "dying cultures", etc...because cultures are usually more resilient that people think, but in this instance, I'm convinced the Omo Valley tribes are under severe threat.

This relates to the Ethiopian's government building a massive dam that will block the south western part of the Omo River. The Lower Omo Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site, in recognition of its archaeological and geological importance, and is home to several tribes.

I have neither acquired the DVD nor have I downloaded it...but from the trailer and from Joey L's quality of work, I'm certain it'll be money well spent.

Esther Havens: Ethiopia

Photo © Esther Havens-All Rights Reserved

It's very easy to like and admire Esther Havens. She is a humanitarian documentary photographer who focuses on social-awareness campaigns with Non Profit Organizations around the world, and spent the past two years capturing stories on water projects in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Haiti and Central African Republic.

She traveled to over 40 countries and, as she says "...seeks to open hearts and minds to see the third world conditions in a way that might challenge them to make a difference".She's especially supportive of charity:water, which she urges everyone to support.

Her website has many galleries of her travels to Ethiopia, Uganda, CAR, Iraq, Rwanda, Mozambique, Jordan, Nicaragua, India and others in Asia and South America.

The above photograph is from Esther's Ethiopia gallery.

John Kenny: Omo Valley & Africa

Photo © John Kenny-All Rights Reserved
Here's a real treat for those of us who are enamored with Ethiopia's Omo Valley tribes (and we are many), and a treat for "Africanphiles" in general as well. A real trove of magnificent portraits of handsome and beautiful African native people, ranging from the Omo Vallley various tribes to Kaokoland's Himba.

John Kenny's website presents around 100 of these portraits along with a handful of African landscapes, and is a must-have bookmark for anyone with an ethnographer interest.

John started his photography career about 7 years ago, and is self-taught. He first arrived in Africa in 2006, and keeps returning to photograph because he's fascinated to encounter societies that are able to survive in some of the most arid, isolated and difficult environments.

He tells us that he chose to make each and every one of these portraits because the individuals attracted him, and gave him a sense of wonder. He photographs without using flash or studio equipment, preferring natural sunlight. He also tells us that he travels alone, or with a local guide...and uses local transport to get from one place to the other.

I chose a color photograph to accompany this post, but I suggest you visit John's toned monochromatic portraits. The tones of his photographs are earthy, rich and vibrant...perfect for his subjects.

Via Greg Pleak