Alex Webb: Streets of Chicago

"I did not have a goal in mind. In fact, I do not have goals in mind when I photograph. I respond to what I see before me." 

Reading Alex Webb's interview on The Leica Camera Blog, I gasped (figuratively) when I got to these phrases. How refreshing to read something said by a photographer that is so devoid of pretension! No bullshit here. He responds to what he sees. He doesn't pretend to see a La Pieta (as some did in Samuel Aranda's World Press winning photograph) in any of his frames...an honest guy and comfortable in his own skin, this Alex Webb.

Perhaps uncharacteristically for many street photographers, he chose to photograph Chicago's character in color. Having mostly worked in color since 1979, Alex tells us he respond to color, and that black and white for him at this time isn't an option. He sees in color and feels in color, so works in color...for him, it's that simple.

That's an interesting statement. When I walk the streets of New York with my camera, I see in color as well, and certainly photograph in color. However, when I return home and view the resulting images, there are some that work better in monochrome than in color. This is the advantage of digital photography, which allows us to alternate between the two. Purists may disagree and will extol the incomparable qualities of Tri-X film and others...but there's no denial that we currently have the best of two worlds.

Since buying a Leica M9, I've been working on a long term project which will involve producing an audio slideshow of my street photographs of New York City. Alex Webb's Streets of Chicago certainly will inspire me to complete my project. I haven't yet decided whether my photographs will be in color or black & white, but after viewing his work, I am inclined towards color.

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Delhi Photo Festival: October 15-28, 2011

As I mentioned in earlier posts, Delhi Photo Festival is progressing steadily, and now includes an  array of workshops, lectures, portfolio reviews, gallery walks and seminars.

I am very pleased to be participating in the festival, where I will teach a short multimedia module on October 15 aimed at photographers and photojournalists to produce audio-slideshows that rivals in quality and content then the more elaborate multimedia productions.

On the morning of the same day, I will be reviewing portfolios of non-working photographers at the same venue, the Habitat Learning Centre.

The above image is the official poster for the 'Delhi Photo Festival'. Feel free to make copies and disseminate to photo enthusiasts as widely as you can.

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Indu Antony: It's A Beautiful World Outside

Indu Antony attended the Buenos Aires Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which just ended a few days ago, and chose the incomparable Maggie Steber as her instructor. A wise decision...and one which speaks volumes about Indu's passion for photojournalism.

She also chose me to review her phenomenal portfolio...which I did, spending a very long time doing so, forgetting I had other photographers waiting for me. Her multimedia photo essay on the destitute and the homeless in a Bangalore shelter is so compelling and sensitive that I watched it twice...slowly. You will too.

"Indu, you should marry a dentist and open a dentist clinic and have two boys who will be successful dentists too!". I decided to disobey her and follow my dream of being a photographer. I have been chasing colour purple ever since through my images."

Indu hails from Bangalore and is drawn to documenting the unprivileged, the homeless and those who lack a voice.  Her It's A Beautiful World Outside was photographed in a Bangalore shelter which mainly houses psychologically ill people who, like us, have dreams and wishes.

From the sight-impaired to the physically handicapped, all believe they will one day walk out from that shelter into that beautiful world "Outside". In her multimedia piece, Indu fused their portraits to photographs of their dreams, and recorded their voices telling us of their hopes and wishes.

Powerful...emotional...and sensitive.

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New Sponsor: PhotoShelter

Regular readers of The Travel Photographer blog may have noticed the small PhotoShelter ad on the right sidebar. Yes, PhotoShelter has become a sponsor of this blog because I believe its products are tremendously useful to photographers and photojournalists and this is reflected by its impressive list of clients....some of who are friends and acquaintances.

I, too, have now joined PhotoShelter not because I needed another website, but because I wanted an online archive and lightboxing system, and a sales mechanism for my images. I know that the many photographers and photojournalists who constitute the bulk of my readership will benefit by joining and using PhotoShelter if they haven't already.

The PhotoShelter ad will appear in the sidebar of this site, any paid signups that occur through links on The Travel Photographer will generate a commission**, and I will occasionally write a post about how and when PhotoShelter has worked for me.  The site will remain editorially and fiercely independent as always.

If youve ever considered signing up for online archive and purchasing system, click on the link on the sidebar. It only costs $1 to get started on PhotoShelter on a 2-week trial.  You will be doing your photography business a favor.

** All commissions will be donated to the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and aimed right back at helping emerging and aspiring photojournalists.

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The BBC Celebrates Sir Wilfred Thesiger

Wilfred Thesiger in Ethiopia 1934 (Courtesy The BBC)

For historical buffs and admirers of adventurers/explorers, here's a BBC feature that will please you.

Sir Wilfred Thesiger took nearly 40,000 photographs during his eight decades of travels throughout Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The BBC, in commemoration of his centenary of his birth, has featured an audio slideshow of his photographs.

Thesiger is best known for two travel books. Arabian Sands (1959) narrates his travels in the Empty Quarter of Arabia between 1945 and 1950 and describes the vanishing way of life of the Bedouins, while he Marsh Arabs (1964) is an account of the indigenous people of the marshlands of southern Iraq. 

From an article 'Gentleman Thrillseeker 'in the Independent newspaper:

Since 1930 Thesiger had documented his journeys in photographs, diaries, and letters to his family. Many of his finest photographs were taken, after 1945, in Arabia and Iraq; he took thousands more, just as fine, in the mountains of Asia, Morocco, Kenya and Tanzania. Thesiger's photographs have long been regarded as works of art in their own right; they also preserve a unique and imperishable record of vanishing tribal societies.

Thesiger was an intriguing man...to say the least. There are plenty of articles and opinions pieces about him and his life.

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The 500th Google Follower

I saw that my list of Google Followers have now grown to 500! This list is distinct from my Twitter and Facebook followers and friends, or from my subscribers to my newsletters.

To commemorate this milestone, here's an introduction to the work of Karina Joseph, who is my 500th Google Follower.

Karina Joseph is a freelance photographer working in Mumbai, and from what I've seen of her excellent photographs on Flickr, specializes in commercial photography. She also does street photography, as can be seen in this following photograph.


Photo Karina Joseph-All Rights Reserved
I will keep an eye on my Google Followers, and whenever possible I will post the work of every 100th follower.

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Book Event: 100 New York Photographers

The 100 New York Photographer book, in which my biography and four of my travel photographs of Ethiopia, Bhutan, and Burma are prominently featured, will be the subject of a book signing event at Rizzoli Bookstore at 57th Street in New York City on January 22, 2010.

The book's author Cynthia Maris Dantzic and special guests (presumably some of the photographers in the book) will be at the event. Unfortunately, I will be in India at that time, so I had to convey my regrets to the publishers.

The book groups the work of 100 New York celebrated photographers to include Vincent Laforet, Jay Maisel, Mary Ellen Mark, Joel Meyerowitz, Annie Leibowitz, Jenny Jozwiak and Pete Turner.

If you are in New York City and have the time, I'm certain that it'll be a worthwhile event. Click the above picture for a larger version.

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Canon Pro Network: Editor's Choice

The Canon Pro Network has recently introduced an interactive feature that allows Canon photographers to submit their images for review by the world's top photo editors. All of the entries are then viewed and edited by a big name 'guest editor' who makes a selection of the best submitted images.

The guest editor for the second edition Editor's Choice is Magdalena Herrera, director of photography at GEO France. She reviewed 4,471 photos submitted by 721 Canon photographers from around the world.

You can now watch and listen to an in-depth explanation of her final picture selection by clicking here.

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Matt Powell: Humanitarian Photographer

Matt Powell is a documentary photographer and a multimedia producer ( his bio tells us that he's also a budding documentary filmmaker), as a well as a writer, who works for the Christian humanitarian relief agency Samaritans Purse. It's a job which takes Matt all over the developing world, and nourishes his passion for visual storytelling and his desire to improve the world.

Soon after his graduation, Matt undertook a 2.5 month trekking journey into some of the most remote terrain in South East Asia to perform an ethnographic survey of tribal minorities known to be living under severe religious and ethnic persecution. It was the adventure of his lifetime, and established his career as a humanitarian photographer.

His subsequent assignments took him to Indonesia, Cambodia, PNG, Viet Nam, India, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uganda, to mention just a few.

I'm greatly impressed by Matt's commitment and talents, and feature his Portraits portfolio, however I also encourage you to explore his work beyond this gallery, and check the rest of his galleries and informative blog .

It's immensely refreshing to meet an altruistic photographer, and Matt Powell is it.

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Phil Borges: Women Empowered

Here's an immensely worthwhile project that I'm very glad to share with you.

Phil Borges, the acclaimed documentary photographer and CARE, the humanitarian organization that fights global poverty by empowering women and girls, are continuing a successful multi-year collaboration with the launch of the Women Empowered Project.

Using Phil Borges photography and video, The Women Empowered Project spotlights some of the issues that women and girls in the developing world face while demonstrating practical, proven solutions to fighting global poverty.

The new website, which was created in conjunction with liveBooks includes three mini-documentary films: Learning to Lead portrays the transformative power of education and leadership for girls and women; Vigilantes de la Vida shows how childbirth can lead to heartbreak rather than happiness when adequate maternal health care is not available, and Strength in Numbers illustrates how African women can turn tiny amounts of money into sustaining capital through village savings and loan programs.

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Phil Borges in his Seattle home, and had the pleasure of traveling with him to Dharmasala, and photographing in this Tibetan-In-Exile Nothern Indian enclave.

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NYCPhotoWorks: Portfolio Review Event

On October 22nd-24th, NYCPhotoWorks will be hosting a Portfolio Review event at the newly renovated Sandbox Studios in lower Manhattan that will bring together more than sixty photo editors.

Participating publications include Time, People, Stern, Vanity Fair, Conde Nast, Details, Forbes, ESPN, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Adventurer, Redbook, and many more. Photographers must apply to be accepted into the event in order to ensure quality of work. If accepted, the photographer will be given the chance to meet with 14 photo editors 1-on-1 over two days, plus a third day of workshops taught by the Directors of Photography for Conde Nast Traveler, People and Redbook.

Further details available at NYCPhotoWorks

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The Art of Photography Show 2009

The Art of Photography Show 2009 is an international exhibition featuring all forms of photographic art -- images shot on film, shot digitally, unaltered shots, alternative process, mixed media, digital manipulations, montages, photograms, etc. The Art of Photography Show will be exhibited at the two-level Lyceum Theatre Gallery, in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.

The exhibition's dates are August 29  November 1, 2009 and entry deadline is May 22.

As with any such event, all interested photographers are advised to carefully read the rules and regulations, especially those pertaining to copyright issues, and use of images.

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New Blog: Photocrati

I've just joined Photocrati, a unique photographers� blog consisting of a group of professional photographers from diverse fields; wedding, corporate, travel, humanitarian, nature and wildlife, and specialized studio.

Photocrati is the brainchild of Erick Danzer, who is both its founder and editor, and along with him are Steve Buchanan, John E. Marriott, Bill Millios, Booray Perry , Fred Troilo and myself. More photographers are expected to join this eclectic mix of image professionals.

Photocrati will bring a collection of tips and how-to articles covering everything from photographic technique to gear to starting and running your own photography business, insider knowledge from fellow professionals in your field for dealing with common challenges, knowledgeable commentary about what�s happening in various fields of photography, and random thoughts and ruminations from others who share your love of photography and share the challenge of making a living from it.

I will be posting my personal take on travel photography, and I look forward to read your comments on Photocrati. You can read one of my initial posts here: Kathakali: Dance-Drama

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Foundry PJ Workshop 2009: Update

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop has announced the availability of three separate tuition scholarships which will benefit 6 photojournalists.

Separately, Eric Beecroft just announced that the Foundry Photojournalism Workshops and N11/Lightstalkers are pleased and proud to announce the two winners of the full tuition Lightstalkers Foundry Workshop Scholarships. The winners for 2009 are Ashwini Bhatia and Dar Yasin. Ashwini lives and works in Dharamshala, India where he covers Tibetan affairs for the Associated Press, and Dar Yasin is an award winning freelance photojournalist, and native of Kashmir.

Check out the details on its website.

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One Shot: Sandra Chandler: Carnavale

Photo ©Sandra Chandler-All Rights Reserved
As Venice Carnavale will be celebrated in less than two weeks (mid-February 2009); essentially starting two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ending on Mardi Gras or Fat Tuedsay, here's a lovely (and an award-winning) photograph of a masked reveler by photographer Sandra Chandler.

Sandra is a photographer and interior designer based in San Francisco. She tells us that color, smells and sounds drew her to world travel. Her city's Asian culture first enticed her to China in 1978 when the Peoples Republic first opened. She then continued her exploration of Asia by traveling to Bhutan, India, Japan, Singapore, Nepal, Thailand, Tibet, and on to South America and Europe.

I know where Sandra is heading in June. It's to document the Gnawa festival in Morocco.

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TTP's Photo of the Year

Photograph © Alixandra Fazzina-All Rights Reserved
I'm very pleased to announce that the second annual The Travel Photographer's Photo of the Year is the above wonderful photograph by Alixandra Fazzina. It's of an Afghan woman named Siamoy, who's breast feeding her baby boy as she goes to visit her sisters at their home in Khourdakon village, in the remote mountainous province of Badakshan.

Alixandra traveled to Afghanistan with Oxfam as part of its work on maternal mortality, which involves providing help and assistance in Badakhshan from this worthy organization.

Alixandra Fazzina has spent a decade chronicling war, violence, misery and distress, mainly in Africa and the Middle East. She photographed the notorious Lords Resistance Army and their victims in Uganda, the Miya-Miya rebels in Congo, and is currently working on a story about people-smuggling from Ethiopia and Somalia to the Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In addition to her work for British newspapers such as The Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph and The Independent, her reportage features were published in Newsweek, The New York Times, Stern and Corriere.

TTP's previous post on Alixandra's photo essay Childbirth Perils

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Anthony Karen: Voodoo

Photograph © Anthony Karen-All Rights Reserved
I came across Anthony Karen's work through NPR's website, on which he's described as having made a career out of breaking into secret circles from Voodoo rituals in Haiti to white-robed Ku Klux Klan initiations in the South of the US.

Indeed the work on his website centers around what he calls "intimate images of taboo people doing taboo things". His images are of swastika-clad families at the annual Nordic Fest gathering of white nationalists, Haitian Voodoo priests beheading goats and, even "Brother Number 3," a former official in the brutal Khmer Rouge regime hiding out in Cambodia before his 2007 arrest.

There are two links for Anthony Karen that are recommended: his website, and his interview with NPR which includes audio.

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Michael Wolf: Hong Kong

Photograph © Michael Wolf-All Rights Reserved
Michael Wolf is a German photographer who studied at UC Berkley and at the University of Essen. He has been living and working as a photographer and author in China for ten years.

In addition to a wide spectrum of publications for international magazines, three books by him on China have been published, and he has been deeply involved with the topic of vernacular culture for many years. His most recent work deals with the issue of the cultural identity of the city of Hong Kong.

There are many galleries to explore on Michael's website, but the one that intrigued me most is the 100x100 project, in which he photographed 100 residents in their flats (100 rooms each 100 square feet in area) in Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate. Each of these photographs tells us a story...about the persons inhabiting the tiny space, their taste in furnishings, and even their income level.

Hong Kong's oldest (Shek Kip Mei Estate) public housing estate was the one photographed by Michael Wolf, and its buildings were condemned in 2006 and torn down.

Michael Wolf's 100x100

Michael Wolf's Website

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American Photo: Emerging Artists 2007

Image Copyright © Jehad Nga-All Rights Reserved
American Photo magazine recently published its Emerging Artists: A New Generation of Photo Pioneers, a feature showcasing the work of 15 imagemakers.

From an initial list of approximately 100 nominees, judges for American Photo magazine chose 28 finalists, each of whom was asked to submit 15 images. The five judges were Michelle Bogre, chair of the photography department at Parsons The New School for Design; Brian Paul Clamp, owner of the ClampArt gallery in New York; David Maloney, a representative at the Art Department agency; Deborah Mauro, American Photo's art director; and commercial and editorial photographer Platon.

From their selections came the 15 photographers featured in Emerging Artists 2007.

There's no question that for me it is the work of Jehad Nga that is the most impressive. His beautiful work is full of shadows, with areas of brightness contrasting with areas of darkness. I posted his work a few times on TTP, and I'm pleased that American Photo has chosen him as one of the top 15.

American Photo magazine's Emerging Artists 2007

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Prashant Panjiar: 7 Years In India

Image Copyright © Prashant Panjiar/Time magazine-All Rights Reserved
Well, I've changed ISPs and so far it's working. So let me carpe the diem and post a superb feature by photographer Prashant Panjiar titled "Seven Years In India". The slideshow is elegantly produced by Time Magazine, and is narrated by Simon Robiinson and by Prasant himself.

I generally do not like mixing color photographs with black & white...and this is no exception. In this case however, the B&W photographs surpass those in color....at least in my view. Something about the B&W photographs of India always have a certain texture to them...a tactility that colors don't have. Is it perhaps because the vibrant colors of India just overwhelm the senses?

Seven Years In India's slideshow

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