Matthew Goddard-Jones: Way of Sorrow

I don't know much about Matthew Goddard-Jones, except that he's from Perth, Australia and that he's a damn good photographer/photojournalist. And there are many reasons why I say that, but the one that especially worked for me is because he managed to capture a unique expression on a woman in NYC's Chinatown. You'll have to visit his Chinatown gallery to see it though, since this post is not about his street photography but about his recent photo essay on the Way of Sorrow...made during Holy Easter Week in Jerusalem.

The Way of Sorrow or The Via Dolorosa is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, which is believed to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion.

Matthew's Way of Sorrow is well paced, and the audio soundtrack is sober and appropriate. You'll see some lovely images of Ethiopian pilgrims, shafts of light in churches as well as motion blurs (my favorites). You can also watch it on Vimeo instead.

Very nice slideshow.

The Leica File: The Xiàngqí Players

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

This Saturday, I walked over to Chinatown's Columbus Park, where literally hundreds of Chinese were spending their week end under the New York City bright sun. As is customary, the xiàngqí players were out in force...more so than usual, while traditional Chinese music and songs by two groups of performers wafted through the air.

I am not going to repeat most of what I wrote in earlier posts on Columbus Park, but the above photograph (click on it for a larger version) is one that I made from the hip. I was using the M9 with the Elmarit 28mm and standing within inches from the man on the right. He never heard the shutter, and yet the camera was almost level to his ear. I have others which are even closer than that, but this one has motion from the fellows on the left, who were getting animated during a particular move.

Shooting from the hip is a technique frequently used by street photographers, and wasn't really needed in this instance, except that I wanted to try it out in this particular setting. Had I stood there with my camera to my eye, would the players been as "natural" as they seem to be in this frame? At first, they probably wouldn't, but if I kept at it, they would've forgotten about me and gone about their game.

So is shooting from the hip photography as we know it?

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.

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

Fujifilm FinePix X100: Video Ad

As some of my readers know, I was initially interested in the Fujifilm FinePix X100 as street photography "machine", but lost interest when its price of $1200 was announced. I thought the price was too rich for my taste and because it was limited by a fixed lens, because I happily owned a Panasonic GF1 that I could use as a high end point & shoot, and because I subsequently bought a Leica M9....thus covering all my needs and more.

It's certainly a beautiful camera, and for those who are interested, Steve Huff has a real life review of the Fujifilm FinePix X100 here.

The above video ad has spread rather rapidly on the internet. It's in Japanese and has some eerie and weird scenes...some time lapse, some sexual content...some disturbing and others that are "photojournalistic" in style. It certainly is aimed at a Japanese audience.

For those who prefer more sedate eye candy, drop by the FinePix X100 Professional Photographer's compact digital camera's official website.

John Stanmeyer: Volcano Gods

Photo © John Stanmeyer-All Rights Reserved

No one connected to the world of photography and photojournalism is not familiar with John Stanmeyer's work and career. He's a photojournalist whose career is dedicated to international social and political issues, and is a co-founding member of VII Photo Agency. Working regularly for National Geographic Magazine, he was on contract with Time Magazine for over 10 years and had garnered countless awards.

John lived the Far East for over twelve years, documenting changes that affected the entire region. He has also focused on the plight of refugees from the Ugandan civil war, spent months chronicling the effects of the 2004 Tsunami and documented the mental healthcare crises in Asia. He also covered the conflict in South Sudan, Eastern European social change after the fall of Communism, as well as numerous visits to Haiti to record the social tragedies plaguing the island nation.He has documented the spread of HIV/AIDS through every country in Asia.

It was tough to choose what to feature of John's work because all his work is truly spectacular, but I decided on his Volcano Gods, which he shot for the National Geographic.

The photographs as displayed on his website are large monitor-sized and are breathtaking in their composition. I'm not much of a landscape fan, but these volcanoes are just stunning. The gallery mixes these landscapes with the mysticism of the ancient Balinese rituals which are held to this day to appease the volcano gods.

John is also a "musicphile", and perhaps a ethnomusicologist...you can read all about his love for world music in his blog entries. Bookmark his blog...if you're like me, you'll visit often.

Paolo Evangelista: Stone Town (Book)

I've previously featured Paolo Evangelista's work of Zanzibar on The Travel Photographer, but he has just self-published a book of his photographs of Stone Town, the ancient city and cultural heart of Zanzibar, where little changed in the last 200 years, so I thought it would be of interest to my readers who are curious in that tiny but authentic part of Africa.

Stone Town is a 142 pages book, currently available on Blurb, and is very well designed. I think Paolo's best color photographs are those spread in a double truck, like the one of a young girl running in the rain or  the one with a women in red with a young girl in a frilly white dress. I also liked some of the quotes used by Paolo; "God made the country, and men made the town", and "God made women to be loved, not understood". You can have a preview of the book here.

The backdrop of these photographs are the narrow alleys of Stone Town, whose houses were built in the 19th century when Zanzibar was one of the most important trading centres in the Indian Ocean region. It is a place of meandering alleys, bustling bazaars, mosques and impressive Arab houses.