The Travel Photographer Is On PhotoVerse

I am pleased that Photoverse will be including The Travel Photographer blog on its application. Photoverse collects information from multiple news sources and blogs related to photography, pools them and presents them to you in an easy to read scrollable list. It enables you to  choose the view you want to see, be it from a single news source or blog or a time-sorted collection from multiple sources that you can select. All pages are rendered locally within a web view so that you never have to leave the application.

Photoverse also allows you to share any interesting article you read via Twitter, Facebook or email. It even allows you to bookmark articles for later perusal.

Photoverse is a utility application developed for the iPad, iPhone by photographers for photographers and is available from iTunes. All i need to do is to get an iPhone!

Once Magazine: Photojournalism For The Mobile Age?

As I'll be on my way to Buenos Aires this evening for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, I thought of posting this potential photojournalism opportunity about Once Magazine.

Once Magazine claims that it will publish three stories of about twenty-five full-screen photographs with captions, an introductory text essay, and interactive features. The magazine will allow photographers to tell their stories by using the iPad as one of the mobile platforms.

The magazine will split all subscription revenue directly with photographers, and its stories will be chosen for their "narrative appeal, journalistic insight, and photographic quality."

For further information and to submit stories and projects, take a look at the magazine's About page.

I wish Once Magazine's team success. I can't foretell its future but I'm sure many photographers/photojournalists ought to be rooting for it to succeed.

Erica McDonald: DEVELOPphoto

Erica McDonald is an institution. Yes, you read that correctly. She's an institution for a number of reasons; primarily because she's a damn good photographer/photojournalist, and also because she recently and single handedly initiated DEVELOP Tube, an educational resource on photojournalism.

If you need proof of her photographic talents, just drop by her website, and take a good look at her New York City Portraits, amongst her many galleries. You'll immediately agree with me.

And when you finish doing that...drop by DEVELOP Tube on YouTube and on VIMEO.

DEVELOP Tube features interviews, profiles, lectures, films about photojournalism, fine art, documentary photography, photographers, including multimedia productions which effectively incorporate the still photograph, and slideshows created to showcase powerful photographs, especially those concerning humanitarian issues: human rights, environmental sustainability and global health.

It's a veritable compendium of photography, and Erica must be commended for making all this trove easily available to the public. Bookmark it or follow it on Twitter @DEVELOPphoto

Erica has chosen two of my audio slideshows to add to DEVELOPphoto. White Shadows and Cham.

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.

POV: Photo Assignment RAW FILE

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Through Twitter, I've noticed a post by RAW FILE, Wired magazine's blog, which is starting a new series of posts called Assignment Wired, where the magazine will hand out photo assignments to its readers, and then eventually choose some submissions to publish and critique.

WIRED's expertise and interest is in reportage and photojournalism, and it expects its participating readers to get quotes, do some writing, do some research and take emotive photos.

"We want gritty, real and human stories. We want to throw you into new situations and give you a chance to sink or swim."

It actually just launched its first assignment, and it's to feature the corner store where the participating photographer buys his/her daily Coke, milk, doughnuts...whatever. It wants the story of this local corner store through photos and reporting. The assignment "sheet" lists the skills required for such a project, and there's a deadline of July 7th.

I think the experiment (as they call it) is a damn good idea! It will provide an impetus to budding photojournalists (and others) to go out there and actually work on a local project. As it says, it's hardly sexy or glamorous, but it's an interesting project that will teach basic photojournalism skills to those interested. I only wish they included audio recordings, and even expand it to short audio-slideshows...but perhaps that will come in time.

As always, comments from naysayers, cynics and skeptics have come in fast and furious....some accusing WIRED magazine of using this experiment to get work for free. To those, I say you don't have to participate...or participate and don't send in your material. Just take the time to learn something new...or refresh your skills, and if you do a good job, you might get a critique from the magazine. It will surely be worth it.

The Travel Photographer Is On Tumblr!

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

As I shared a few days ago, I had grabbed The Travel Photographer brand name in as many blogs and social sites that I could...and I've now decided to air some of my images which are on display on The Travel Photographer Tumblr blog.

As you'll see, I've used the theme known as Boston Polaroid, which allows the largest size of images I've seen on ready-made blog platforms. I've also uploaded on it photographs that received the Flare "treatment" which I've lauded its "fun" factor before. By the way, judging by the number of hits registered on that post, I ought to have received a Flare medal of honor.

I chose this particular Tumblr theme primarily because of its simplicity, but also because of the size of the images (1280 pixels on the longer side), which really is what I advocate all photographers to do. The larger the images posted on your website or blogs, the better received they'll be by photo editors/buyers.

When I wrote about the value(s) branding, I neglected to mention the value of having a centralized hub (is that a tautological term?) of a simple splash page that points visitors to your content from around the web. I like About.Me which is free, and acts as your business card...I add it as a signature to all my outgoing emails.

I have no direct or indirect relationship with either About.me or Flare beyond being a consumer of both products and liking them.

Fotopedia & NatGeo Traveler: Dreams of Burma

Fotopedia, the publisher of popular apps for the iPhone and iPad, as well as the creator of a collaborative photographic encyclopedia, is working with National Geographic Traveler magazine to introduce a new, free app, “Dreams of Burma”, a spectacular digital exploration of the beauty of Burma.

“Dreams of Burma” is a visual journey packed with more than 1,000 stunning photographs, virtual excursions, trip-building capabilities, social tools for sharing photos, beautiful slideshows and wallpapers.

“If you have been to Burma, this app will transport you back there in an instant. And if you haven’t seen it yet, you may fall in love.” Jean Marie Hullot, CEO of Fotopedia.

I've downloaded the app, and I have started exploring it. I must say that the photography is gorgeous...work by photographers such as Bertrand Devimeux, Eric Lafforgue, Eric Daney, Jean-Marie Huliot, Giancarlo de Luca and many others grace the app that glides effortless and beautifully on the iPad screen.

I highly recommend it...it's free, it beautiful and it's informative. What's not to like?

If you seek more of images of Burma's people, drop by my own People of the Thanaka.

As a footnote: I have no relationship whatsoever with Fotopedia. It's just a gorgeous application.

The Dancer & Name Branding

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

As I've posted a few days ago, I've been fiddling with the trial version of Flare, an app that describes itself as "a fast, easy, and beautiful darkroom for your desktop".

With Flare, one can apply interesting photographic effects to photographs, and it comes with more than 20 presets. It's a matter of drag and drop...mere seconds to get the preset look one likes. The above photograph (click to enlarge) of a traditional dancer I made in Bali last year got a Flare preset treatment, which includes a grungy border.

In all candor, I am beginning to like Flare a lot. I also happen to be a fan of Lightroom's presets...and a fan of anything that reduces the time I spend in post processing images to a minimum. And if this 'anything' is simple enough for a 2 year old to master, it's a hit as far I'm concerned.

In any event, it's fun to be able to use applications such as Flare and others, accepting that these degrade the quality of the images.

But wait, didn't I title this post to include Name Branding? This is important...If you ask any marketer how to set yourself apart from the rest, they’ll all tell you to the same thing, establish and secure your brand.

"I now have a lock on The Travel Photographer as a brand name on most popular blogs...this includes my domain brand name, my Twitter account and my Facebook page."

Keep reading and you'll see what I mean. For a couple of more examples of my photographs fiddled about with the Flare app, drop by The Travel Photographer on Tumblr. Yes, I have various blog platforms such as Posterous, Wordpress and Tumblr with The Travel Photographer brand name....and here's some useful advice: if you have a brand name (your name can be a brand name), you ought to do the same. I now have a lock on The Travel Photographer as a brand name on most popular blogs...this includes my domain brand name, my Twitter account and my Facebook page...and I'm keeping an eye out for any new ones.

As a footnote: I have no relationship whatsoever with Flare. It's just a fun application.

Flare: Photographic Effects App

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I am not a huge fan of the Instagram or Hipstamatic apps, although I see that a number of other photographers use them frequently when using their iPhones et al. If Asim Rafiqui, the quintessential Leica user, uses Instagram photos to illustrate his phenomenal The Idea of India project, there might be something to it.

Through a tweet on my Twitter page, I came to know Flare which describes itself as "a fast, easy, and beautiful darkroom for your desktop". So I decided to try it out and see what all the fuss was in these apps. I don't own an iPhone (I'm a BlackBerry kind of guy), so this seemed to be an alternative.

Downloading Flare (there's a 15 days trial period) I applied photographic effects to a couple of my photographs, as can be seen above in my Lou Reed Graffiti shot. It comes with more than 20 presets, which can also be edited by users. Flare also allows users to come up with their own presets. For those like me who are not joined at the hip to their Photoshop or Lightroom, Flare is a matter of drag and drop...mere seconds to get the preset look you like.

Ingenious, huh? And fun. The photograph above was originally shot using a M9.

And for more fun...how about this one of the porters at the Old Delhi spice alley? The Flare preset is called "Molga". Click on it for a larger size.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Blurb Goes Mobile...

Blurb has just announced Blurb Mobile for iPhone, which is a way to create stories by easily capturing and sequencing photos and videos into short visual stories that can be instantly shared and viewed by all.

The app is available on the App Store. It's basic version is free, while a version with more bells and whistles is for $1.99. It's also compatible with iPads, so with iPad2, it'll be possible to take photographs (albeit at low resolution) directly and create stories on the fly. Or use photos saved in one's photo library. It'll record ambient sound and video clips as well.

Is it for photojournalists and the like...probably not, but for people who wish to quickly create short visual stories.

I'm sure that this may be of use to photographers who like the Hipstamatic and Instagram apps for their iPhones.

Zite: An iPad App

Having noticed that a fair chunk of visits to The Travel Photographer blog come from a Zite.com source, I looked it up and discovered that it's a free new iPad app called Zite, a personalized magazine that accurately targets your reading preferences.

I tried it yesterday, and I'm quite impressed with it. I chose Photography and Photojournalism as two of my sections on it, and it pulled out some interesting articles from a variety of source...including from The Travel Photographer blog. In fact, a bunch of my recent posts appear under both the Photography and Photojournalism sections...and this one will probably make it as well.

Here's a review on the Wall Street Journal.

ps. I have no connection with Zite. It's just an app that I happen to like.

Kickstart Trunk Magazine!

Trunk Magazine is a travel magazine that has launched its first issue in November 2010. While its founders are pursuing the capital required to sustain Trunk indefinitely, it requires funding to publish its next issue, Fall 2011, and needs help help to do so, and maintain the momentum of the first issue which is available through Barnes & Noble..

Kickstarter has listed it to expand its funding reach as widely as possible. It has a funding goal of $85,000 to reach by May 14, 2011.

I thought of giving Trunk some space of The Travel Photographer blog as it's a travel magazine, and should it publish successfully, it will provide an additional avenue for travel photographers to sell their work....and boy, do we need it! So if the concept appeals to you, drop by Trunk's Kickstarter page, and make your pledge.

David Cicconi is the founder, publisher, and creative director of Trunk. Previously, he was the photo director at Travel + Leisure.

Photo Matters: An Educational Resource

Jon Sachs is the creator of Photo Matters, an educational resource for photographers who want to learn about creative photographic variables. Most of my readers are professional and semi-professional, and may consider an educational website such as this one to be for beginners...but that would be a mistake. Photo Matters is different, and aims at all levels of photography proficiency.

It's true what Sachs says on his website. Many times, we reach for a lens, or adjust the shutter speed/aperture value without even thinking...and can't explain it. We just know...or just feel it. However, Photo Matters explains it visually.

Trust me...you'll like this website. A lot.

POV: More Branding For Free

I think I knew very early on in life that one of the most critical and fundamental factors in any business, whether online or not, was branding. As I entered the online world for my photography business, I realized that online personal branding was key to generate a distinctive internet personality/presence, and that's how I snagged The Travel Photographer label...for my blog, a backup blog, website(s), social media such as Twitter, Facebook and everything in between including an email address, business cards, and even items of my own clothing.

If I had a penny for each time I hear other travel photographers how clever I was in snagging The Travel Photographer label/brand before they did, it'd pay for a new Canon 5D Mark II...I exaggerate of course, but I heard that said a lot.

I also knew that my name was not the easiest to pronounce (at least for Americans...it's no problem with other nationalities), so an alias was the smart thing to do. It always gives me a kick when I'm in a photography function and I'm introduced as "Tewfic...y'know, The Travel Photographer".

All right, I rambled enough about personal branding. Through one of my Twitter followers, I learned of About.me which is a free website (technically still in beta) that allows anyone to build a an attractive personal profile that points users to one's content from around the web.

Naturally, I snagged The Travel Photographer and now have my very own personal profile. Will it be useful? I don't know yet but at the very least I appropriated and protected my brand by doing so.

If you have a personal brand, you may want to do the same.

POV: Apple MacBook Air

Well, Apple's announcement that it added two MacBook Air laptops is immensely welcome as it provides an embarrassment of choices to its ever expanding fan base.

I am especially excited by the 11-inch MacBook Air, which measures 11.8 inches by 7.56 inches, and weighs only 2.3 lbs. The 64gb flash memory model starts at $999 and would be ideal as a travel laptop for photographers. Couple it with an external hard drive of whatever storage capacity works for you, and you've got a winner.

And it's $300 more expensive than the iPad (the one sans WiFi)....that's really intelligent pricing.

I guess it isn't really a netbook..or is it? Although Steve Jobs assertion they wouldn't do netbooks, I do think this is a posh netbook...and what I do know for sure is that I'll have to hide my credit cards before Xmas.

Damn!!!

POV: iPad Re-examined

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Well, I've played with it for about a week now and I still am of the opinion that the iPad is a more of a wonderful display-toy-gadget rather than a useful tool. And I think this is exactly what Apple intends it to be. I also read that new features are being worked on to include Apple’s Facetime video chat capability.

I also have seen articles predicting that most portable computer devices in the coming few years will have touch-screens and if so, the iPad was certainly the precursor.

I currently use it to peruse news websites, play time-wasting games (mostly sniper games), and that's it. The only photography-related app I think is really fantastic is the one by The Guardian called The Guardian Eyewitness app for iPad. I have yet to see another as good. If anyone knows of similar apps, please let me know.

The good news is that SoundSlides (my favorite audio-slideshow making software) now has a beta version of program which is iPad-compatible (it auto detects iPads, and using this version allowed me to view my audio-slideshows on the iPad.

Some of my audio slideshows have also been uploaded to my Vimeo page, and I can watch these on the iPad as well. The resolution is not as great as the Soundslides though.

Bottom line: the iPad is cool.

The above images is on the opening frame of my new (and still unreleased) slideshow of Balinese cockfights.

Fujifilm's FinePix X100: Digital "Rangefinder"

These are breaking news from Photokina...Fujifilm launched the FinePix X100, a 12.3-megapixel camera styled in a 1950s metal-and-leather body. It features and APS-C sized CMOS sensor and a fixed-in-place but bright and fast 23mm f2 prime lens. It also boasts an ISO range of 200 to 6400, and 5fps continuous shooting.

According to Engadget, this camera will interest many to-be DSLR buyers provided it's intelligently priced. Absolutely, and I would think it would also interest existing DSLR users who lust after a more compact camera.

The Luminous Landscape reports from Photokina that it may cost approximately US $1,700 when it becomes available early in 2011.

UPDATE (Sept 21): Fujifilm confirmed that it will retail for about $1000 and be available in March (via BJP's 1854 blog).

Reuters Does Big: Full Focus

Photo © REUTERS/Carlos Barria -All Rights Reserved
Reuters has joined the other news media in featuring large photographs on a blog.

Full Focus, a large format showcase of Reuters award-winning photography, tells global stories. The agency seeks to use this imagery to foster a deeper understanding of current events and social issues, and Full Focus provides an opportunity for its readers/viewers to offer perspectives on the photographs and the topics they address.

The lovely photograph by Carlos Barria and is part of the Haiti Revisited photo essay, and is of expecting women waiting for tent distribution near the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince on February 19, 2010 during the aftermath of the earthquake.

I ought to add separate links (to the right of this page) for all the large-sized photo blogs of major news media...Boston Globe's The Big Picture, Sacbee's The Frame, WSJ Photo Journal, The LA Time's Framework, etc.

Udaan School of Photography

Dhiraj Singh and Arko Datta have just announced the launching of Udaan, an independent photography school in Mumbai.

Udaan's students will be tutored by leading working professionals such as Singh, Datta, Ritam Banerjee and Yogesh Bhandary. The courses in Udaan have been designed to meet the needs of photography-enthusiasts at different levels of learning and expertise. The school will cater to both photojournalists and commercial photographers, and will encourage and cultivate individualistic thinking and a creative vision.

Award winning independent photographer Dhiraj Singh has focused on human stories evolving in India and regularly works for Polaris and his photographs have been published in various international publications.

Pulitzer award nominee and winner of the 'Picture of the Year' at the World Press Photo 2004, Arko Datta has extensively covered news and sports across the world for the last two decades, which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Light & Composition Magazine

I'm always on the lookout for new and innovative venues in which photographers (and especially travel photographers) can feature their work, and Light & Composition Magazine appeared on my radar screen via The Raw File Blog's Twitter's Feed.

Light and Composition defines itself as a monthly photography magazine that aims to inspire people towards the true essence of photography, and attempts to take us around the world, to its people, nature, and culture, in pursuit of value and authenticity.

It also featured Around The World in 29 Days, which allowed it to showcase photos from around the world, through the lenses of twenty photographers. From northern Spain to the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh, from villages in Thailand to the USA, and from the Middle East to the far west.

Via RawFile