Indu Antony: It's A Beautiful World Outside

Indu Antony attended the Buenos Aires Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which just ended a few days ago, and chose the incomparable Maggie Steber as her instructor. A wise decision...and one which speaks volumes about Indu's passion for photojournalism.

She also chose me to review her phenomenal portfolio...which I did, spending a very long time doing so, forgetting I had other photographers waiting for me. Her multimedia photo essay on the destitute and the homeless in a Bangalore shelter is so compelling and sensitive that I watched it twice...slowly. You will too.

"Indu, you should marry a dentist and open a dentist clinic and have two boys who will be successful dentists too!". I decided to disobey her and follow my dream of being a photographer. I have been chasing colour purple ever since through my images."

Indu hails from Bangalore and is drawn to documenting the unprivileged, the homeless and those who lack a voice.  Her It's A Beautiful World Outside was photographed in a Bangalore shelter which mainly houses psychologically ill people who, like us, have dreams and wishes.

From the sight-impaired to the physically handicapped, all believe they will one day walk out from that shelter into that beautiful world "Outside". In her multimedia piece, Indu fused their portraits to photographs of their dreams, and recorded their voices telling us of their hopes and wishes.

Powerful...emotional...and sensitive.

Rainer Hosch: Faces Of Udaipur

Photo © Rainer Hosch-All Rights Reserved

Rainer Hosch is an Austrian commercial photographer,and currently lives in Chelsea (the NYC one). His photographs appeared in magazines like i-D, Wired, Esquire, GQ and The New York Times, and he has worked on advertising for Nike, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard, among others.

He recently returned to NYC after traveling in Thailand and India, photographing an advertising campaign for an international outdoor furniture maker. I thought I'd feature some of his personal work such as Faces of Udaipur, a gallery of the photo shoot's cast, in order to highlight the work of a commercial photographer doing travel/location photography, and how it differs from documentary travel photography.  It seems Rainer has one of these furniture assignments in India, and it's locations were at the fabulous Lake Palace Hotel, and also in Deogarh.

You can also follow Rainer's other photo shoots on his blog: In Case You Were Wondering.

Idris Ahmed: Holla Mohalla

Photo © Idris Ahmed-All Rights Reserved

Idris Ahmed is an environmental activist-turned-schoolteacher-turned-professional photographer, as well as a biker. His vehicle has taken him, at times, as high as 13,000 feet to photograph landscapes, monasteries and the people who inhabit these altitudes.

Five years ago, Idris was biking through the Kunzum La pass in Himachal Pradesh, and visited the Spiti Valley for the first time. The landscape was so stunning that he he has since journeyed to the valley every year, staying for a month each time.

Although most of his press coverage has been on Spiti: Daughter of the Sea photo exhibition in Delhi last April, I have featured Idris' gallery of the Sikh Holla Mohalla.

The Holla Mohalla is an annual Sikh festival, which usually lasts for a week and consists of  various displays of fighting prowess and bravery, followed by music, poetry and communal meals. It also is highlighted by a huge procession by the Nihangs, clad in their traditional dress and weapons, on the last day of the festival. It is held at the Indian city of Anandpur Sahib in Punjab, and it is estimated that over 100,000 Sikh devotees attend the Holla Mohalla.

SacBee Does The Indian Monsoon

Photo © AP / Channi Anand-All Rights Reserved

The Frame of The Sacramento Bee featured over two dozen photographs by mostly Indian photographers of the monsoon rains in India. Travel photographers usually plan their trips to avoid the monsoon season which generally pans from June to September, and yet it's then that the light is at its most gorgeous.

I reacall being (unfortunately without a camera) in a rickshaw in Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi during the month of June, when the heavens burst into heavy downpour that lasted no more than 5 minutes. We were immobilized for that time but when the rain stopped, the light was just ethereal.

One of the participants in my forthcoming (at the end of September) Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition™ wondered whether we would experience any laggard rains. I certainly hope so....!!!

Incidentally, one of the most entertaining books on the Indian monsoon is Alexander Frater's Chasing the Monsoon, in which he describes how he followed the monsoon, sometimes ahead of it....and at other times, staying behind it, and observing the impact this annual phenomenon has of the sub-continent and beyond.

Darshan: Photo Series On Indian Deities

Kickstarter is featuring Darshan: Photographic Series on Indian Deities, an interesting visual project by Manjari Sharma and for which a funding goal of $20,000 is hoped for.

The project aims to photographically recreate nine classical images of gods and goddesses that are of primary importance in the mythological stories in Hinduism. For Manjari,  the Darshan project is a mission to preserve her heritage by using the medium of photography.

"What is innovative about Darshan is that I am recreating these icons as photographs while maintaining their spiritual sanctity." - Manjari Sharma

The first photograph created for this project is of Laxmi,  the Hindu goddess of wealth and fortune, and Manjari's Kickstarter page for the project details the process in creating this first image, and how the 9 six-feet tall images will be displayed.

Manjari Sharma is a photographer based in New York City. She grew up in Mumbai, India and currently lives in Brooklyn. She holds a bachelors degree in Visual Communication from S.N.D.T University, Mumbai and a BFA in photography from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio.

Disclaimer: I do not know Ms Sharma and to the best of my knowledge, nor do I know anyone who knows her. I found her project to be interesting and innovative...that's all.

Theyyam: The Living Gods

Here's a trailer of The Living Gods, a film by Rupesh Tillu, which depicts the story of a father and a 6 year old son, and their hope to find new opportunities for the survival of a form of art. The young boy wants to become a Theyyam artist just like his father Rajesh, who performs a thousand year old ritual from Kerala, India.

"Theyyam is on the verge of extinction, since very few children are learning it."

Theyyam is a unique ritual which is performed only in Northern Kerala. After a complex preparatory ritual involving elaborate make-up and meditation, the performers are incarnated as deities, and dispense advice and counseling to the throngs of devotees who attend these rituals. It's a living cult of several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs, and is observed by all the castes and classes in this region.

I have used the Theyyam tradition as the core focus of my Theyyam of Malabar photo~expedition in 2009, and I (and its participants) was rewarded with incredible proximity to these living deities, and their traditional religious practices. The resulting photographs are possibly some of the most colorful of religious rituals I've made so far.

The gallery Theyyam: Incarnate Deities is one of my favorites.

Arindam Mukherjee: Kolkata

Photo © Arindam Mukherjee-All Rights Reserved

Arindam Mukherjee is a freelance photojournalist based in Kolkata. Although he started his career as an advertising photographer, he was attracted to photojournalism and freelanced for The Times of India, and subsequently worked with Hong Kong-based EyePress photo agency. He's currently freelancing again, and is represented by Sipa Press. He gleans a number of awards, and his photographs were featured in Le Figaro, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Sunday Telegraph, Le Monde, Liberation, Le Point, De Volkskrant, Private, Forbes, Traveler Magazine (UK), Marie Claire and others.

"Kolkata stands personified with inherent contradictions and characteristic traits. For many, this is as good as love at first sight."

While Arindam's website features many galleries (most of which are of India), I chose his work in My City Kolkata, where he has lived all his life. This photographs in this particular gallery are of Kolkata's daily life...which only a native son can show.

In addition to Arinadam's website galleries. he also uses PhotoShelter for additional work, and has many worthwhile galleries including work of the Kathputli colony and the Honey Collectors of the Sunderbans.

I will pass on Arindam's Kolkata work to the participants of my forthcoming Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition.

Tanguy Gilson: Christian Faith In India

Photo © Tanguy Gilson-All Rights Reserved

Tanguy Gilson tells me that he had thought of The Travel Photographer as being a great name for a blog...but he discovered he had been too late. It had been taken of course, but he started following it since then.

"While I sometimes disagree with some of your posts (usually about gear, rarely about rants), I still find that you have a point of view on travel photography today that is interesting and open-minded."

He is a Canadian & Belgian travel photographer and writer working in New York City, who spent his childhood running barefoot in Africa, before discovering skiing, anthropology and cinema at university in Canada. He started photographing his travels, and focused on stories on the Himalaya’s Buddhist culture, India and China’s religious minorities, as well as the growing Chinese inner-tourism.

His photo galleries are varied and include Buddhist monasteries, India's Christianity, Chinese tourism, Uyghurs, Nepal, Louisiana and NYC streets, among other work.

I found Tanguy's gallery Christian Faith In India very interesting, as I haven't seen much work on this topic before. According to Wikipedia, Christianity is India's third religion with approximately 24 million followers, or 2.3% of India's population. It is generally agreed upon that Christianity in India is almost as old as Christianity itself and spread in India even before it spread to many predominantly Christian nations.

Danny Ghitis: Kushti Wrestling

Photo © Danny Ghitis-All Rights Reserved

Danny Ghitis graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in Journalism, and interned at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and St.Petersburg Times newspapers. He received a Nikon Emerging Talent Award, was nominated for the UNICEF Photo of the Year competition for his group project with Celia Tobin titled "The Third Ward," and attended the Eddie Adams Workshop. He has been recognized by a number of associations, and granted a number of awards. He is a co-founder of the Pangea Photo Collective.

I featured Danny's Kushti Wrestling photo gallery, amongst the others on his website. Unfortunately, there's only about a dozen photographs in this gallery...which is a shame as they're luminous and perfectly composed, and more would have been more than welcome.

Kushti is India's traditional wrestling performed on clay mixed with ghee. It's an ancient form of wrestling, and was held in great importance in Indian societies. Its popularity has dwindled over the years, although there are concerted efforts to revive it. Kushti practitioners face grueling daily training, a strict diet and celibacy.

Prantik Mazumder: Kolkata (Calcutta)

Photo © Prantik Mazumder-All Rights Reserved

I am on the look out for street photography out of Kolkata in anticipation of my forthcoming Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition™ scheduled from September 29 to October 13, 2011.

Although I've already featured the work of Prantik Mazumder on The Travel Photographer's blog last year, I re-visited his website and discovered his Calcutta gallery which has a number of very well composed street photographs...vibrant colors, and lots of shadows. The combination of these colors, especially the red and orange, and the deep black of shadows really make these photographs stand out.

Prantik is a self-taught photographer, and is originally from Kolkata, India. He is now settled in Ithaca, New York, pursuing a career in scientific research.

Here's another of Prantik's photographs to show off his shadow play, which is from his PBase photo website.

Photo © Prantik Mazumder-All Rights Reserved

National Geographic: Sony World Photo Awards 2011

Photo © Amit Madheshiya-Courtesy Sony World Photo Awards

The National Geographic's website is featuring the 2011 winners of the Sony World Photography Awards which is administered by the World Photography Organization. The awards were chosen by a panel of 12 judges, led by British photography critic Francis Hodges.

The choice of the first photograph of the Indian villager at an open-air movie as the Best Pro "Arts and Cultures" Picture is a great one. His facial expression is priceless...and is the "perfect moment".

The photographer is Amit Madheshiya, who tells us that travelling cinemas in India visit remote villages once a year, screening an eclectic mix of films for the equivalent of about 40 U.S. cents a ticket.

I suggest you also visit Amit Madheshiya's website which features The Nomadic Cinemas, with 24 images of this photo essay.

By the way, Amit's website is hosted by PhotoShelter...the professional website to show off your best photos.

Luke Duggleby: The Art of Kathakali

Photo © Luke Duggleby-All Rights Reserved

Luke Duggleby is a British photographer with a degree in photography from the University of Gloucestershire. Currently based in Bangkok, he's shooting assignments and personal projects from India to Indonesia, China to Cambodia for various publications and NGOs.

His photography has been featured in The Sunday Times Magazine (UK) , The Independent on Sunday Review, Stern, Monocle Magazine, TIME, The Telegraph, GEO France, GEO Germany, The New York Times, The Times (UK), Geographical (UK), The Wall Street Journal Asia, and the USAID, amongst others.

Out of his many galleries, I chose two that I particularly admired; The Art of Kathakali, and The Last of the Bound Feet Women.

Kathakali is one of the oldest theater forms in the world, and originated in the area of southwestern India now known as the state of Kerala. It's the classical dance-drama of Kerala and is rooted in Hindu mythology and literally means "Story-Play". In my forthcoming 2012 photo-expedition to Kerala, I am planning an exhaustive photo shoot at a Kathakali school (as I did in 2009).

As for the Bound Feet Women, NPR featured an article on this practice and its history here, where it tells us that millions of Chinese women bound their feet to turn them into the prized "three-inch golden lotuses." Footbinding was first banned in 1912, but some continued binding their feet in secret. Some of the last survivors of this barbaric practice are still living in Liuyicun, a village in Southern China's Yunnan province.

My Work: Three New Photo Galleries

I've now completed a sort of trilogy...three new photo galleries of stills from my just completed In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™.

The first of the three galleries is of the pilgrims that flock daily in their hundreds to the shrine of Hazra Mira Datar, a renowned Sufi saint in Gujarat, hoping to get rid of evil spirits, other health issues and personal problems. A black & white audio slideshow can also be seen here.

I recommend reading the journal of my experience at the Mira Datar shrine can be read here for a fuller understanding of this 600 year-old phenomenon, which is not restricted to this particular Sufi saint.

The second gallery is of the Jains pilgrims who visit the temples of Palitana; one of the holiest sites for the Jain community. Climbing the 3800 steps to the top of the hill for the main temple is an incredibly arduous task, and the Jain nuns do it continuously for three days while observing a total (food and water) fast. An audio slideshow can also be seen here.

Th third gallery is of various portraits and scenes of Sufi communities encountered during the photo~expedition, which started and ended in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

I hope readers of The Travel Photographer blog will enjoy them.

Anindya Chakraborty: Charak Puja

Another religious festival comes to The Travel Photographer from Anindya Chakraborty, a self taught photographer from Kolkata. A software engineer in "real" life, Anindya started photography in 2006. He's gravitating towards documentary photography, and on his moving the United States, did a series on Bodie Ghost Town, New Orleans and finally on broken American Dreams. Some of his work was published in Picsean Travel Magazine.

These can be seen on his SmugMug website.

However, I recommend you view Anindya's Charak Puja on The Invisible Photographer website where the photo essay is presented as a flash slideshow.

Charak puja is a traditional festival celebrated mainly in the rural areas of Bengal. It's unique amongst Bengali festivals because it's dedicated strictly to penance. The men and women, seeking to undertake the ritual, have to go through a month-long day fast, subsist only on fruits & perform daily worship.

On the day of the Charak, bamboo poles are erected with height ranging from 10 to 15 feet. The devotees step up to the stages, and are impaled with hooks which are attached to the poles. The devotees are then suspended from these poles.

Reminiscent of the Thaipusam festival, the Hindu devotees of the Charak festival seek penance and self-mortification to achieve salvation.

Paul Patrick: Sabarimala Pilgrimage

Photo © Paul Patrick- All Rights Reserved

Paul Patrick is a Norwegian freelance documentary photographer who started traveling the world alone at very early age. His quest was stories to tell with his camera. Since starting his travels, he has produced stories on Algeria, Burkina Faso, China, Europe, Ghana, India, Nepal and Morocco.

What drew my attention to his website was that one of his galleries is of Sabarimala pilgrimage in Kerala which Paul describes as one of the largest religious festivals in the world, with an estimated 50-60 million pilgrims visiting it every year. It's virtually unknown outside of India.

The Sabarimala pilgrimage is frequently described by the Indian press as the 'Mecca of Hindus'. The temple is dedicated to Ayyappa, who is believed to be Shiva’s third son and brother of Murugan and Ganesha. It is situated on the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats. The temple is accessible only by foot, and the millions of pilgrims to Sabarimala vow to abstain from sex, and other acts, for 41 days before embarking on the pilgrimage. No women over the age of 60 is allowed on this pilgrimage, nor are girls younger than 6. The routes taken by the pilgrims can range in distance between 8 kilometers (the shortest one) and another of more than 60 km across three hills.

Note: I am in the process of scheduling a photo~expedition in March 2012 to document a couple of religious festivals in Kerala (but not Sabarimala though). Details will be forthcoming shortly.

Note: Sreekanth Sivaswamy, a photographer and reader of this blog emailed me a correction. It's women between certain ages (some websites claim it's between 6 and 60, while others it's between 10 and 50) who are not allowed to enter the temple, since the legend attributed to Ayyappa prohibits the entry of the women in the menstrual age group.

Chhandak Pradhan: The God Makers

Photo © Chhandak Pradhan-All Rights Reserved

Chhandak Pradhan is an editorial photographer and freelance journalist based in Kolkata, who started his career as a reporter at 22. He currently specialises in interviews, editorial, multimedia, documentary, corporate and fashion photography. He is part of Babel Images, an international collective of documentary photographers and is represented by Barcroft Media (UK) and OTN Photos (Italy).

He was selected as a participant in the Angkor Photo Workshop 2009, and assisted Ed Kashi, Jonathan Torgovnik and Cheryl Newman during their workshops in Kolkata. He is also assisting Steve Raymer, former National Geographic magazine staff photographer and Associate Professor of journalism at Indiana University.

His various galleries are mostly editorial, and I feature his lovely The God Makers images documenting the clay artisans of Kumartuli in Kolkata who "bring gods to life" for the Durga puja. I also strongly recommend viewing, among others, his tender Living In Memory, a short photo essay on his grandparents.

It's a great pleasure that Chhandak will join and assist in my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition & Workshop™.

Graham Crouch: Kolkata & The Effigy Makers

Photo © Graham Crouch-All Rights Reserved

Graham Crouch is a photographer currently working out of New Delhi, who worked with News Ltd in Sydney , Melbourne and North Queensland , and New Delhi. He now covers India, Pakistan , Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for a wide variety of assignments. He was awarded the Asian Geo Magazine's Photographer of the Year as well as various awards in the National Press Photographers Association of America and the Thai Foreign Correspondents Club Feature Photography. He also won first prize in the Prix de la Photographie PX3 awards in 2010.

I am pleased to feature Graham's work in Kolkata which has colorful images of the city's famous flower market, the effigy makers for the Durga puja, along with various street scenes.

Graham also has a photo essay on his PhotoShelter site which showcases the traditional potters area known as Kumortuli, where they create the Puja effigies of the Hindu gods for the annual Durga puja festivities.

I will alert the participants in my Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo~Expedition/Workshop™ which is scheduled for September 29 to October 13, 2011 of these galleries, since I plan for us to document effigy makers, amongst many other subject matters, during the Durga Puja.

Auto de Fe: Yatra-Pilgrims of India

Photo Courtesy Auto de Fe Magazine

Auto de Fe is a rather unusual name for a digital photo magazine, but one which the publishers seem to have chosen with definite purpose. It defines itself as a digital magazine of inquisitive journalism, and uses a platform called Publisha.

By the way,'Auto de fe' in medieval Spanish and 'auto da fé' in Portuguese mean "act of faith", but in popular use, an auto-da-fé has come to refer to burning at the stake for heresy.

The story that caught my eye is Yatra-The Pilgrims of India which is authored by Jack Laurenson. The photographs that make the essay do not carry a by-line.

For eight months a year, millions of Hindu pilgrims visit thousands of sacred sites and temples in India during the yatra season. Yatra is pilgrimage to holy places such as confluences of sacred rivers, places associated with the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and other sacred pilgrimage sites.

There are various types of pilgrimages, and some involve fetching water from the Ganges river, such as visits to Haridwar, Gangotri, Badrinath amongst others.  Some involve far flung places such as Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Orissa and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.

Kieran Doherty: The Fishermen of Kerala

Photo © Kieran Doherty-All Rights Reserved

This post is a treat...and one that I know will appreciated by readers of The Travel Photographer blog.

Kieran Doherty is a photojournalist whose career started with the Reuters News Pictures service in London. He remained with Reuters 15 years until resigning his position to undertake commissions in 2008. His photography has taken him to almost every part the world and his work has appeared in all the major international journals and magazines including Time, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, Stern, National Geographic, The New York Times and The Sunday Times magazine.

His recent commission by the BBC Natural History Unit has used his photography in the television series Human Planet. His work has been awarded first prizes in news, sport, features and essay categories, including being shortlisted for Fuji's European Photographer of the Year and the British Photographer of the Year on five occasions.

From Kiernan's compelling photo essays, I chose The Fishermen of Kerala to feature here. It was photographed with a Leica M6 using a 125 asa film made in India for about 50 cents a roll. Kiernan tells me that the essay was photographed in Kovalam, where Muslim and Christian fishermen were at odds over fishing rights.

While I suggest you explore all of Kiernan's photo galleries, don't miss his photo story involving the repatriation of British soldiers through the tiny English village of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. This often-covered Wootton Bassett event is about to end as the local airbase RAF Lyneham is to close...an end to an era.

Finally, Kiernan's website is one that many photographers ought to emulate...large images (including full screen view), clear and simple navigation and a concise About page.

My Work: The Possessed of Hazrat Mira Datar

The most powerful and challenging traditional rituals I've experienced in India are the exorcisms and trances that frequently occur in its Sufi shrines. This is by far the most emotionally draining project I've undertaken so far...photographing it, editing it and producing it.

The Possessed of Hazrat Mira Datar is an audio slideshow of stills, movie clips and audio made during my during my recently completed In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™ when I visited this Sufi saint's shrine near Unawa in Gujarat.

I've always been interested in, and drawn to, India's multi-layered religious-cultural identities. Sufism "walked" into the sub-continent from Iran and Afghanistan, and wherever the Sufi acetic teachers lived and died, shrines were built to commemorate their teachings, deeds and legacy. They eventually became saints, or pirs as they're called in the subcontinent. It is at one of these shrines that The Possessed of Hazrat Mira Datar was made.

For those who don't mind reading, a journal/blog accompanies the audio slideshow and has more photographs (in color this time). It was a difficult decision as to whether color or black & white would be more appropriate for this project, and in the end I decided to use both, but separately. I think I was right.