POV: The Dove Whisperer & Storytelling

Photo  Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved Regular readers know that I've joined a new storytelling website called Cowbird, and have already posted a couple of mini-stories. I've just started a few days ago, and I've realized a couple of interesting things. First off, the community of Cowbird are not professional photographers...there are some, but the majority describe themselves as storytellers not as photographers. Secondly, haphazardly eyeballing members' pages, tells me that the majority of them reside in the United States, and by definition tell local stories. But here's what's interesting as far as I'm concerned....

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Robert van Koesveld: Bhutan

Robert van Koesveld is a retired psychotherapist living in Perth, Australia. His biography tells us that he delights in meeting with people from all walks of life, and describes as travel's best moments as those in which he encounters these people.Robert is also about to publish his book Bhutan Heartland, (Fremantle Press, October 2010) which he produced with his wife, Libby Lloyd. You can also watch the Bhutan Circumambulation video in large QT format here. Some nice bokeh in the movie.Circumambulation of temples is an important Hindu ritual, and is similarly performed in most religious traditions; from Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. I like how circumambulation sounds when it's uttered...but it's a word I can never spell it correct...

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Graham Ware: Bhutan

Graham Ware joined The Travel Photographer's Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul Photo~Expedition, and has produced an audio slideshow in QuickTime format of some of his various images made during the trip, coupled with live audio recordings gleaned during the tsechu festivals, religious pujas, the Sangha debates of the monks and a Bhutanese folk song. A medical technologist based in Chandler, Arizona, his interest in photography started in 2000, with most of his focus at that time on wildlife and landscapes. However, he admits to have discovered photojournalism in 2004, and it is then he joined the "dark side". Last January he joined Gary Knight and...

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Bhutan's Coronation

Photograph � Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedThe Himalayan nation of Bhutan crowned its fifth king Thursday after a two-year wait for the precise moment deemed most auspicious by court astrologers. At precisely 8:31 a.m. local time King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, 52, placed the Raven Crown on the head of his son, 28-year old Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, giving him the title of Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King.The ceremony was held in Thimpu's Tashichho Dzong, a 17th century white-walled fortress that serves both as administrative headquarters and a monastic center. Bhutanese came from all over the country for the ceremony, including nomadic yak...

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Praful Rao: Of Monasteries & Men

Photograph � Praful Rao-All Rights ReservedI had the pleasure of meeting Praful Rao in Thimpu, Bhutan which he was visiting at the same time I was there. Praful is a self taught photographer whose passion for photography spans his lifetime. He describes himself as a generalist, choosing to capture whatever catches his eye or creating photographs from impromptu themes conjured in his mind. While most of his photography is of people and nature, he has also gotten involved in minimalism, still life and still enjoys doing B&W work.Here's a lovely multimedia slideshow: Of Monasteries & Men produced by Praful. Some of the photographs are of...

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Bhutan Photo Expedition: Le "Chimping"

Photograph � Gavin Gough/All Rights ReservedHere's a Soundslides candid behind the scenes look at the going-ons during the Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul photo expedition. All photographs are courtesy and copyright of Gavin Gough (those of him are obviously not...unless they were self-taken).As can be seen from the above photo capture, we were singularly adept at the art of chimping during the Thangbi Mani tsec...

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News: Art Collection

All Photographs � Tewfic El-SawyI've recently sold 10 of my photographs to a major international bank headquartered in London. The distinctive aspect to this transaction is that the photographs are part of the bank's permanent art collection, and are printed on 40" by 25" (approx) canvases. My sales of photographs are traditionally either for stock or to magazines.Most of the photographs chosen are of adivasis from Central India, and the rest are from Ethiopa's Omo Valley, Rajasthan and Bhutan.The bank's art collection include photographic works by Philip Lee Harvey, Desmond Burden, Steve Bloom, Remi Benali, William Chapman, Boaz Rottem, among...

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Cham Dances in New York City

Photograph � Tewfic El-SawyIn elaborate dress and masks, monks from Bhutan performed Cham dances at the Merchant's Gate in New York City's Central Park yesterday. The dances by the monks-dancers were in celebration of the opening on September 19 of The Dragon�s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan at the Rubin Museum of Art.The Rubin Museum and its Program Director, Tim McHenry (who served as the event's emcee), are to be commended for bringing such an event to the streets of New York City. The large-sized audience watching the whirling and twirling of the Bhutanese dancers had people who knew where Bhutan was, some wore Buddhist bracelets or fingered...

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Bhutan Ritual Dances (Cham) in NYC

Photograph Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights ReservedIn elaborate dress and masks, monks from Bhutan will perform Cham dances in public plazas and parks around New York City from Saturday, September 13 through Sunday, September 21, 2008. The monks-dancers will appear several times a day, in celebration of the opening on September 19 of The Dragon�s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan at the Rubin Museum of Art. These dances are timely since they'll provide me with perfect warm-up venues before I leave for my Land of the Durk Yul photo expedition which starts on October 3. This photo-expedition is specifically scheduled to photograph similar Cham ritualistic...

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Rubin Museum of Art: Bhutan!

My favorite museum in New York City, the Rubin Museum of Art, will be featuring Cham ritual dances in public spaces in and around New York City. These events will be free to the public, and a schedule will be posted shortly on the museum's website. As soon as I receive notification of the schedule, I shall post it.The Cham dances will be performed in New York City by 13 monks from the monastery fortress of Trongsa in central Bhutan. Depending on the locations, these dances will be spectacular! Will one be at the Rockefeller Center? I hope so.Here's my very own multimedia sideshows: Dancing Monks of Prakhar and The People of Druk Y...

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Kenro Izu: Life in Bhutan

Image Copyright © Kenro Izu-All Rights ReservedThe New York Times brings us a slideshow of Kenro Izu's exhibition of photographs of Bhutan at the Rubin Museum of Arts. I've already posted a few weeks ago about this exhibition and described it as an absolute visual treat, not only because of Izu's mastery, but also because of the exhibition's beautiful installation and ambiance.The above photograph is of a "Prayer's flag, near Kurjey Lhakhang, Bumthang, Bhutan".Bumthang is the sacred heartland of Bhutan, and is the focus of my forthcoming photo expedition to that magnificent country. The itinerary is available to members of my mailing list, and...

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Kenro Izu: Bhutan, The Sacred Within

Image Copyright © Kenro Izu-All Rights ReservedI was glad to go to the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) yesterday to see Kenro Izu's exhibition of photographs from Bhutan. The RMA devoted its entire third floor to the exhibition, and it was visually stunning...as most of its exhibitions are.From the RMA's brochure: "Bhutan, the Sacred Within exhibition is the last of Kenro Izu's trilogy related to sacred landscapes, si the second to premiere at RMA. The people of Bhutan, heirs to an unbroken tradition of Buddhist government and religion, sustain the values of family bonds, community life, agrarian labor and worship. Izu finds this focus in the faces...

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Tewfic El-Sawy : The People of Druk Yul

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights ReservedDuring the October 2006 photo-expedition which I led in Bhutan, we crossed the kingdom to reach its eastern central spiritual regions. These are some of the people I encountered along the way. The People of Druk Yul is a multimedia slideshow using Soundslides, I embedded an audio track recorded during the festival in Prakhar. To receive advance notice of my 2008 photo expeditions, join my mailing list (the box on the right hand side of this page). Itineraries of past photo expeditions can be found here.The multimedia slideshow: The People of Druk ...

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Kenro Izu: Rubin Museum of Art

After years of pilgrimage to sacred landscapes and spiritual monuments, the photographer Kenro Izu has turned his masterful lens to the sacred within. Bhutan, the Sacred Within is his final work in a trilogy on this theme, and the second to be premiered at the Rubin Museum of Art. Izu takes the people of Bhutan and their particular blending of an indigenous religion and Buddhist thought as his subject. The meticulously crafted portraits he has made express the purity of those beliefs and their resonance in the larger world of today. These photographs were made during the period of 2002-2007. The photograph which illustrates this post was made...

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