Pierre Claquin's Photo Workshop In Bangladesh

Photo © Pierre Claquin-All Rights Reserved

Pierre Claquin's photo workshop is a unique opportunity for 7 photographers to visit and document various and different aspects of Bangladesh during the period of September 06 - September 19, 2011.

In the itinerary, photographers will explore the the mangrove forests and wildlife of the Sunderbans (a UNESCO heritage site), the busy life on the rivers, an old Hindu temple inside the deep forest of the Sunderbans, the Buddhist vestiges of Mainamati, the tribal life in Sreemongol and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the tea gardens, and the urban chaos of Dhaka and Chittagong. The occasional monsoon rains will provide a unique lightning and effects.

Pierre is no stranger (or a "parachuting" photographer) to Bangladesh. He's a photographer,  a medical epidemiologist and a public health doctor who worked and lived for more than 16 years in Bangladesh between 1972 and 2011. He devoted his professional life to Africa and South, South East and Central Asia. He had several photo exhibitions: "Borrowed faces" (Dhaka- October 2000; Chittagong Feb 2001); "The Eastern Gallery of the Berlin Wall" (Dhaka April 2001); "1972-2002: The changing faces of Shariakandi" (Dhaka and Shariakandi - April 2002); "Surviving Dreams: the struggling circus of Bangladesh" (Dhaka Chobi Mela II - November 2002). He also published a book of 120 black and white photographs on the circuses of Bangladesh.

I have immense respect for Pierre's abilities, and I am very glad to have met and worked with him at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul last summer.

All details for the Bangladesh Photographic Workshop are here.

Khalil Shah: The Sufi Singer

Photo © Khalil Shah-All Rights Reserved

I don't post much from Flickr unless it virtually hits me in the face...and this magnificent portrait of a Pakistani Sufi singer (or minstrel) by Khalil Shah did exactly that.

I was perusing Sobia Ali's article Voices of Pakistan in the Huffington Post, and one of the photographs included in the article was the one of this Sufi singer.

"...many so-called "non professional" photographers (some with little experience) can give well known photographers a run for their money."

There's no doubt in my mind that this portrait is as good, if not better, than those I've seen published so many times by well established photographers in the National Geographic or GEO, to name but two magazines. It also reinforces my long held opinion that many so-called "non professional" photographers (some with little experience) can give well known photographers a run for their money...and sometimes more. And let's not forget that many do not have the resources that the professionals have in terms of photographic tools, fixers and research assistance.

Khalil Shah is an art professional with experience in conventional and contemporary forms of art including web and graphic designing. He started photography in 2005 at a digital photography workshop at the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan.

Delhi Photo Festival: Nazar Foundation

The Nazar Foundation, in partnership with the India Habitat Centre, is organizing the Delhi Photo Festival on 15 to 28 October 2011.

The Delhi Photo Festival is a non-commercial venture, and entry will be free to ensure popular and wide-reaching participation. Through Nazar Foundation, the festival is the brainchild of Prashant Panjiar and Dinesh Khanna, both well known photographers, and for mentoring young photographers and propagating photography. Nazar Foundation was launched with the aim of institutionalizing what these two photographers are already been doing so on an informal basis.

The core attraction of the festival will be exhibitions of photography from India, Asia and other international work.

This promises to be quite an event, and will include workshops and seminars. I am excited to have been asked to teach an Introduction to Multimedia class on the afternoon-evening of October 15.

More details will be available in due course, and a schedule for submissions and the process will be announced soon.

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.

POV: Is Shooting From The Hip...Photography?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

This is not really a POV...but more like vocalizing a bunch of thoughts.

Since I bought the M9 and a couple of lenses, I've been gradually learning the ropes, and getting more comfortable with the art of street photography by walking in some of my favorite areas of New York. Naturally, the technique of street photography differs from that of travel documentary photography that I'm used to...add to this that I am new to the Leica tools, and I have significant frustrating moments.

I've tried the zone focusing method as advocated by my friend Asim Rafiqui, and although it's far from perfect, it has freed me from having to focus manually,  waste time doing so and losing the shot. Don't think for a moment I'm not getting my share of blurry frames, I do...but not as many as before.

I am also experimenting with the shooting from the hip technique. Holding my M9 at waist level, I press the shutter without looking at the viewfinder. There are obvious advantages in doing so...candid scenes and a lower (a different) perspective, especially since I'm over 6' tall.

"...just visualizing in my mind's eye what it would look like...and it's also cropped. Yes, I never crop any of my travel documentary photographs...ever."

The above photograph (click it to enlarge) is one of the many results of shooting from the hip (or from the waist). To me, this photograph is a blasphemous event...for one thing, it is made without me looking through the viewfinder; just visualizing in my mind's eye what it would look like...and the second is that it's cropped. Yes, you can think of me what you will, but I never crop any of my travel documentary photographs....that would be sacrilegious.

For this image, I estimated the distance and positioned myself in the spot where I thought I'd get the composition I wanted...and just pressed the shutter at the proper time. Since I was using the Elmarit 28mm, I had extra space around the three main characters, so I, somewhat ashamedly, cropped it! Not by much...but it's still cropped.

The real nature of this post is to wonder out loud as to whether shooting from the hip is really photography. I didn't use my eye to compose the photograph, nor did I frame it in the viewfinder....it was a sort of "eyeless" photography. Others call it the easy way to candid street photography, and others describe it as "un-courageous". Is it photography? It must be...perhaps more like a hail Mary shot where the photographer hold the camera from above in crowded situations.

However the question I ask of myself is more personal. The question for me is whether I enjoyed making this photograph, irrespective of the result. And the answer is no....it felt as if I was shooting on full auto...having no control on the outcome.

Finally, if you like street photography, drop by Scott Strazzante's blog, Shooting From The Hip. He's really good.

PS. I should caption this photograph as "Yes, I've Eaten All Them Fries".

Adriana Zehbrauskas: Beyond Assignment

Beyond Assignment is a documentary produced by The Knight Center for International Media at the University of Miami, which explores the approach of three female photojournalists (Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gali Tibbon and Mariella Furrer. covering Mexico, Israel and South Africa.

From the documentary's website:

"Their three journeys dramatize the fervent curiosity and determination needed to perform difficult and often dangerous jobs as visual storytellers. BEYOND ASSIGNMENT examines the artistic and ethical responsibilities inherent in capturing vital subject matter and the subsequent emotional cost to journalists and their subjects."

The documentary's trailer starts with Adriana Zehbrauskas photographing adherents of La Santa Muerte in Mexico City. Adriana is planning to show the documentary at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Buenos Aires. I am look forward to see it, and I'm sure it'll be very well received.

Chico Sanchez: The Gastorenian Pipe

Chico Sanchez (who's a regular on The Travel Photographer's blog) has returned from Spain with a new audio-slideshow of the players and makers of the gastoreñian hornpipes. Most of you may be scratching your head as to what these are. I know I did...but after watching the The Gastorenian Pipe, you'll probably recognize it and its sound.

I did some research and learned that the gaita gastoreña is a type of hornpipe native to El Gastor, a region of Andalucia. The instrument consists of a reed, a wooden tube in its upper part, and a resonating bell of horn in its lower part. It's probably a dying tradition, and unless it's revived in some way, its practitioners and makers will eventually disappear.

Traditionally, the gaita gastoreña was played during the last months of the year only.