Anthony Pond: The Ring Train of Yangon

Whether in Myanmar (Burma), India, China, Viet Nam or elsewhere, trains or trams are wonderful to meet local people, and photograph them.

In Yangon (Rangoon), a local railway line does a loop from the citys main station through the inner city, suburbs and outlying villages, before returning to the station some 3 hours later. The "circular" is a train for local people, offering hard (and worn) wooden seats, sputtering fans, and with occasionally stuck windows, but it's a fascinating insight into local life.

Anthony Pond has just produced another audio slideshow of black and white (toned with Silver Efex Pro 2) photographs, and which were made during a ride on the circular train of Yangon. My very favorite is the one of the elderly nun.

Anthony worked for more than two decades in the criminal courts in California as an attorney for the Public Defenders Office. Now pursuing his passion for travel and photography, he traveled repeatedly to South East Asia and India, amongst other places, to capture life, the people and the culture.

He is joining me on my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop in a few weeks, and I certainly look forward to be working with him during it.

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Anthony Pond: On Yangon's Wharf

Here's an audio slideshow of black & white stills by Anthony Pond on the porters at Yangon's wharf. It's his first attempt to use SoundSlides and Audacity, and I am impressed.

Anthony Pond worked for more than two decades in the criminal courts in California as an attorney for the Public Defenders Office. Now pursuing his passion for travel and photography, he traveled repeatedly to South East Asia and India, amongst other places, to capture life, the people and the culture.

His photography website has galleries of his work from Laos, Nepal, India, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cuba, Mexico and Cambodia, as well as others.

Anthony is joining me on my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop this coming March, and I certainly look forward to be working with him during it.

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Andrea Pistolesi: The Rohingya Refugees

Photo  Andrea Pistolesi-All Rights Reserved
Andrea Pistolesi is a pro in the full meaning of the word...a my kind of guy...a photographer who fuses travel and editorial imagery, and who's candid enough to say that professional travel photography as it existed is now extinct, and that travel publications and ancillary glossies are a dying breed. He espouses the view -like I do- that interesting visual stories are all around us, but that we need to broaden our scope by creating new ways of distribution (think of the new VII Magazine, as an example).

Andrea was born and lives in Florence, and studied geography at the local university, evolving in a travel photographer specializing in geographic and global social reportage. He published books on exotic destinations (Indonesia, New Zealand, Morocco, South Africa, The Land of Buddha, Hinduism, Eastern Christianity), and amongst others, has recently published a book on prayers of major religions.

He was widely published in CN Traveller (Italy), Delta Sky, Departures, Elle, l'Espresso, Figaro Mag, Gente Viaggi, Geo, Gulliver, Hemispheres, Islands, LATimes Mag, National Geographic, NYT Sophisticated Traveler, Photo, Rutas del Mundo, Smithsonian Mag, Time, Travel & Leisure, and many others.

Andrea's website is a cornucopia of travel and editorial photography, which is bound to give viewers hours of enjoyment, and provide photographers immense inspiration and ideas.

I spent a while on his website, trying to decide which of his galleries to feature on this blog. It was difficult, and I changed my mind often. Finally, I chose the brilliant reportage of the Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh.

As Andrea describes them, the Rohingya are the unwanted of southwestern Asia. An ethnic Muslim minority, they have no rights in Burma and try to flee across the borders with Bangladesh where only a few earn a refugee status. For others, it's a life of squalid illegal camps, an unending odyssey falling prey to human traffickers, to organ traffickers, to sex rings and to pedophiles.

Also read Andrea's blog post Requiem For Travel Photography. And don't miss his work on the Nats (spirits of Mynamar) and on the Bugis Seafarers.

Highly recommended as a photographer to follow.

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New York Times: Myanmar (Burma)

Photo ©International Herald Tribune-All Rights Reserved.
The New York Times has launched its new Global Edition on its website, announcing that it combined its international reporting and that of the International Herald Tribune, to provide readers with a continuous flow of geopolitical, business, sports and fashion coverage from a global perspective.

One of its slideshows featured is a powerful photo essay titled "Dying and Alone in Myanmar", a collection of black & white photographs (only credited to the International Herald Tribune).

It covers the work of 23 clinics operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) that are the primary dispensers in Myanmar of the anti retroviral drugs that can prolong the lives of those infected with H.I.V.

The accompanying article is by Seth Mydans.

Addendum: I just realized that the NYT's Global Edition is the new home on the Web for the International Herald Tribune...is this another cost-cutting measure or is there more to it than that?

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Beat Presser: Oasis of Silence

Photograph © Beat Presser-All Rights Reserved
When Beat Presser was in late teens, he traveled through Southeast Asia, and met with a car accident in Thailand. Healed from a serious spine injury by monks in a Buddhist monastery, he vowed to do something in return, should he become the photographer he intended to be.

Between 2000 and 2004, he returned to live in Theravada Buddhism monasteries in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and photographed the essence of Buddhism. Oasis of Silence is the resulting photographic exhibition and book.

Presser also produced an accompanying website My Oasis of Silence allows participants to post their profile and photographs, and to interact among each other and with Beat Presser, thus creating a growing community and allowing a permanent exchange.

Beat Presser's Buddhism Oasis of Silence is well produced and its background music is haunting, but the B&W photographs are too small to fully appreciate Presser's artistry.

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New York Times: Burma

Image © New York Times-All Rights Reserved
News agencies reported that the pro-democracy leader in Myanmar, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, recently with members of her party, the National League for Democracy, for the first time in three years as well as with Aung Kyi, the general appointed as a liaison by Myanmar�s military government.

The New York Times reports that "Six weeks after its violent crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks, Myanmar�s military government has telegraphed alternating signs of combativeness and flexibility. Analysts say they are watching to determine whether the ruling generals� outreach to Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is genuine or whether it falls into a well-established pattern of short-lived concessions toward dissidents followed by a return to a hard-line stance."

In my view and that of others, Burma's military government is buying time as it always does in similar situations, and hoping that the international community will soon be distracted by other world events...such as the current turmoil in Pakistan. By the way, isn't the current political situation in Pakistan eerily similar to that of Burma?

Another feature from the New York Times on Burma

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NY Times: Myanmar (Burma) Unrest

The NY Times has published a slideshow depicting the latest photographs of the unrest in Rangoon. The photographs are by various news agencies, and not attributed to specific photographers.

The government's security forces cracked down today on nationwide protests, firing shots and tear gas, and raiding at least two Buddhist monasteries, where they beat and arrested dozens of monks. A monk at the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery, pointing to bloodstains on the concrete floor, said a number of monks were beaten and at least 70 of its 150 monks taken away in vehicles.

The government told Japan�s Embassy in Rangoon that a Japanese national was killed, and reports indicate that he appeared to be a photographer.

To me, the above photograph (Reuteurs) in the slideshow is representative of the current situation...a monk defying the security forces. It's not really iconic but is a photograph that tells the story in its simplicity. However, it's cropped...the horizontal version (at least part of it) is here

It appears that tourist visas are still issued by some embassies of Myanmar...but at a slower pace and with greater scrutiny, while some photojournalists and journalists do not seem to have been given visas.

The whole slideshow is here: Burma's Unrest (Registration may be required)

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Washington Post: Myanmar

Image Copyright © AFP/Getty-All Rights Reserved
Here's a slideshow of recent photographs of the current events in Myanmar as published by the Washington Post. In this photograph a monk uses a large megaphone to speak to the crowd gathered in Yangon on Sept. 25. At first the monks simply prayed and chanted "democracy, democracy." As the public joined, demonstrators demanded dialogue between the government and opposition parties, freedom for political prisoners, and adequate food, shelter and clothing.

The Washington Post's Burmese Protestors Defiant (Registration may be required).

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Geoffrey Hiller: Heavenly World

Image Copyright © Geoffrey Hiller-All Rights Reserved
Geoffrey Hiller is one of the first advocates of multimedia on the web, and has worked as a photographer for over 30 years. He lived in Brazil for three years where he was a staff photographer for Manchette and Revista Geografica (Brazil�s National Geographic). He worked as a documentary photographer working on extensive photo essays in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

His work has been published in major international magazines and he has received grants from the California Arts Council and Eastman Kodak. Since 1995, Hiller has been passionate about telling stories with photography on the Web. Hiller has directed Creativesight for Tektronix/ Xerox, and has completed a number of independent projects. He has received three Macromedia Site of the Day mentions and has recently completed projects on Brazil and West Africa.

I feature Geoffrey's Heavenly World, a collection of his excellent images from all over Asia...however take the time to explore his website, especially Burma: Grace Under Pressure, a multimedia feature on Burma. It may be somewhat outdated by now, but Hiller is one of those who started the multimedia revolution. His coverage of Burma is still very relevant in light of the current events in this nation.

Heavenly World

Burma: Grace Under Pressure

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