The 8th Angkor Photo Festival

This wonderful Angkor Photo Festival will be held from December 18, 2012 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I know from first hand experience that it's a festival that's well worth participating in, and attending because of the quality of the photography exhibited during its evenings and galleries. The quality of the curating, and the gracious hospitality of Francoise Callier and Jean-Yves Navel is instrumental in making a success of the event, along with the assistance of Camille Plante and Jessica Lim.

Since its inception in 2005, more than 180 young photographers from all over Asia have been selected to participate in the annual free Angkor Photo Workshops. Conducted by renowned international photographers who volunteer their time, the Angkor Photo Workshops provide participants with firsthand training, invaluable exposure and a chance to perfect their art.

I was privileged to attend the Angkor Photo Festival in November 2011 and one of my photo essays The Possessed of Mira Datar was featured at the festival.

This is a phenomenal opportunity for all photographers, emerging and established. If you haven't submitted your work, go and attend it. You'll never regret it.

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Maika Elan: The Pink Choice

"I want to show simply how they care and love each other in daily activities."-Maika Elan

According to the web edition of Thanh Nien, an influential newspaper in Vietnam, Maika has changed Vietnams entire conception of what it means to be gay and in love with her seminal work The Pink Choice.

Sensitive and compelling...that's The Pink Choice in two words.

I'm not going to rewrite what has already been written on Maika and her various projects, but I have to mention a couple of things: first off I had written a post on her work two years ago, much before I met her at subsequent photo events, and I ended that post with this:

"In my view, Maika has an extremely bright future in photography."

I was right.

I subsequently met her in Siem Reap where we were both attending the Angkor Photo Festival, and invited her to work with me in planning and setting up my Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop, which she did. She helped me during the 15 days of its duration and earned the heartfelt appreciation of all involved.

The Pink Choice will be exhibited from the 15th of November to the 2nd of December at the Goethe Institut, 56 58 Nguyen Thai Hoc, in Hanoi.

Do go see it if you're there!

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KL Photo.BOM: Asia By Asians

One of The Travel Photographer blog's objectives has always been to provide a modest platform to further the exposure of emerging travel and documentary photographers from all over the world, so it's a distinct pleasure to feature a slideshow of photographs by KL Foto.BOM, a collective of documentary photographers from Asia/Malaysia. The actual slideshow presentation was held at The Leica Store Malaysia, Avenue K on 2 September 2012.

The photographs/photo essays are by Andri Tambunan,  Adli Ghazali,  Maika Elan, Edward Khoo,  Lim Paik Yin, Binh Dang, Azahari Salleh, Ahsan Qureishi, Ridzki Noviansyah, Mervyn Leong, Azreen Madzlan, Izzat Yahaya, Khairil Safwan, Vignes Balasingam, Rahman Roslan, Javad Tizmaghz, and Hanif Maidin. 

Some of these photographers are alums of The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop and others of the Angkor Photo Festival...and some of both. Accomplished photographers and photojournalists, they have varying styles and different visions...but all of them are united by the common thread of creativity and dedication to their craft.

The slideshow can also be viewed directly on YouTube

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Amy Helene Johansson: A Lost Revolution?

"My heart is beating for this project and it would be wonderful if as many people as possible see it and get enlightened about the situation. " -Amy Helene Johansson

Prior to the boom in the garment industry, almost no women in Bangladesh worked outside of their family or marital homes, and had few opportunities to earn money. However today, the female garment workers are the backbone of the Bangladeshi economy in an industry that generates billions of dollars each year. It should be a womens revolution, but is it?

While academics and economists agree to some extent that Bangladeshi women are in the midst of a revolution, they are still not empowered financially or socially. And are not strong enough to demand a fair remuneration. Multinational companies such as Nike, Levi Strauss and H&M are generally unaware of the life situation of sewing machine operators; their housing conditions, family structures, and food provisions.

Amy Helene Johansson is a photojournalist who studied film and theatre theory before earning a BA in fashion design. However, after a decade of working for H&M as a fashion designer, she discovered photography. Her work has been published in leading broadsheets and magazines in the UK and Sweden, including the Sunday Times UK, Dagens Nyheter and Sydsvenska Dagbladet. Her work has been awarded Asian Geographic Magazine Faces of Asia Award, the Foundry Emerging Photojournalist Award and the Swedish Picture Of the Year Multimedia Category and been shortlisted for ELLE commission award and a National Geographic award.

She's also a Foundry Photojournalism Workshop (Manali, India and Istanbul) alum. A Lost Revolution was produced in collaboration with the Bombay Flying Club. 

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Mark Carey: Muay Thai In Black & White

Photo  Mark Carey-All Rights Reserved

Here's a gallery of monochrome photographs of Muay Thai training made in Bangkok by the talented Mark Carey. These appealed to me as they were photographed away from the glitzy lights of the top Muay Thai arenas in Bangkok, but show the rather edgy side of the sport...as I tried to do in my recent photo essay of the Muay Thai ring in Loi Kroh Road in Chiang Mai. 

Mark Carey is a London-based documentary photographer, who tells us he never had an interest in photographing posed or set-up shots, whether for his wedding photography or during his travels. I think he somewhat bent his rule with some of the frames of the non Thai fighter in the Muay Thai series, but these are the exception and are well worth adding to the gallery...the fellow looks absolutely fierce.

Muay Thai is a combat fight practiced in Thailand, and referred to as the "Art of Eight Limbs" because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes, thus using eight "points of contact".

By the way, I credit Mark's Vietnam gallery (which I posted about earlier this year) as being one of the catalysts for my forthcoming/imminent Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop.

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Maika Elan: Ain't Talkin', Just Lovin'

Photo  Maika Elan-All Rights Reserved

Here's the work of Maika Elan titled Ain't Talkin', Just Lovin', which -in my view- is one of the three photo projects that attracted me the most during the final evening of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Chiang Mai.

Maika attended Maggie Steber's (known as "the incomparable Maggie") class The Power of Images in Todays Media, and presented a photo essay depicting individuals living in Chiang Mai with close bonds to their animal friends. Whether these were cats and dogs, or exotic snakes, the mutual relationship and dependency between the two were brilliantly captured by Maika's lens.

While this photo essay most certainly stands firmly on its own two (or is it four in this case?) feet, I somehow wished it had been accompanied by an ambient soundtrack; perhaps a short snippet of a conversation between the young man and his cat purring...as an example. Imagine that!?

Maggie Steber used a wonderful phrase in one of our recent email exchanges...we (the photographers) need to go beyond the tyranny of the photographic boundaries. Yes, we do. Very much so. And adding ambient sound collecting to our panoply of skills is one way of doing it.

Maika will be soon working with me during my Vietnam Photo-Expedition-Workshop, and I'll make sure she's up and running insofar as multimedia is concerned.

The other two projects I particularly liked during the final Foundry Workshop presentation were Ulises Baque's Oui Nan, and Cheryl Nemazie's Night At The Naga.

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Ulises Baque: Oui Nan, 93 Years Riding

As per my latest blog post, the presentation evening ending the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop showcased all of the students' work, and I highlighted three projects which I thought were the best. Two of the three were multimedia, and here's one of these. Extremely well made and edited, this short multimedia piece elicited much praise from the audience.

The project was made and edited by Ulises Baque, a videographer based in Thailand. It was made for Henrik Kastenskov's multimedia class, and is about the oldest samlaw cyclist in Chiang Mai.

I intend to write a bit further about this, but the dichotomy of the multimedia and the non-multimedia projects during the Foundry's evening presentation could not have been more stark. Although some of the non-multimedia were interesting and compelling, few could compete for the audience's attention as powerfully as those presented from two classes: Henrik Kastenkov's Storytelling For An Online Audience or my own Multimedia For Photographers.

In short: multimedia (whether as audio-slideshows -with ambient audio- or more elaborate) is the future, and photographers must hop on its train if they want to remain on the cutting edge of their industry, and retain the attention of viewers. I heard this point of view over and over from students after the presentation night...wanting to put their still photography work into a multimedia format and start ambient audio recording.

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POV: The 5th Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

Photo  Mervyn Leong-All Rights Reserved

During the long flight from Bangkok to London, I thought I'd write up a personal POV on the Fifth Annual Foundry Photojournalism Workshop (FPW) which was held in Chiang Mai from July 29 to August 4, 2012. This will be the closing post on the Workshop.

As my readers know,  FPW is an annual photo event held in various international locations, bringing well regarded photojournalists together to teach to emerging photographers and students who normally would not be able to afford workshops.

Firstly, as I always do, I tip my hat to Eric Beecroft, the visionary (he hates it when I describe him as such, but it's the truth) co-founder of the workshop, and the staff he assembled to support the logistics that such events require to function smoothly.

In my view, FPW Chiang Mai was the best organized of all the workshops that preceded it, although I have to stress that it shares that distinction with last year's FPW Buenos Aires. The availability of the very impressive (jaw-dropping, actually) facilities of the Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Arts were really a phenomenal attribute to this year's workshop.

I don't know if the other classes fared as well, but the two multimedia classes (Henrik Kastenskov's and mine) of the workshop were given large computer labs with about 50 iMacs, all connected to the internet, color balanced projectors and sound systems. Heaven on earth! Thank you, Chiang Mai Uni.

The choice of Yantarasri Resort as hotel accommodations for the instructors and staff was brilliant, as it was comfortable, posh, lovely and well run...plus within walking distance from the University where the classes and presentations were held....and I'm told it has a beautiful swimming pool. Its proximity to Nimmanhaemin, Chiang Mais most fashionable street, made it doubly better. After all, I got my daily fix of mango smoothies from a cafe a few steps away.

The location of Documentary Arts Asia for the portfolio reviews was grumbled about, since it wasn't very easy to find (at least for some map-challenged instructors), and it was space restricted as well. However, the availability of food, drink and masseuses during and after the portfolio reviews made up for the minor shortcomings.

More importantly, I have to laud the accomplishments of my class members. I don't really know how they managed it, but they were the fastest class I've ever taught in grasping Audacity and the concept of audio editing. I was taken aback at their speed/ease in using the nature of sound tools, so breathed a huge sigh of relief much earlier than I expected. 

Alycia-Ray Down, Ahmed Shajee Aijazi, Adelina Abad-Pedrosa, Cheryl Nemazie, Amean J. and Christina Malkoun in my class produced disparately-styled audio slideshows, reflecting their interest and individual personalities. From the faith-based to the human touch, they all shone...not only with the quality of their productions  but also with their enthusiasm and single minded approach. My style is perhaps different from other instructors in as much I don't dictate what sort of projects my students ought to produce. They make the choice, and provided they feel for it and like it, I go along with their choices.

Here's where I may get into trouble, but this is my blog and I answer to no one anyway: in my view, the best three projects were Maika Elan's (Maggie Steber's class) Ain't Talkin' Just Lovin' (a lovely photo essay on young people and their pets), Ulises Baque's Oui Nan, a touching web-documentary on 93 years-old rickshaw driver in the Old City (Henrik Kastenkov's class), and Cheryl Nemazie's Night of the Naga (in my own class), a web-documentary of a small tattoo parlor. Yes, the latter two are multimedia projects...and I am certainly biased. Multimedia is the future...whether as web documentaries or as simpler forms of multimedia.

Finally, I was very touched in getting this sweet thank you card from my class. I always learn more from my class participants than they do from me...so it was I who should've given them thank you cards...but I did share a bottle of excellent red Merlot wine sent to me by Nadim Bou Habib all the way from Lebanon. I also have to express my appreciation at the lovely scarf that Christina Malkoun gifted me, and which I wore in the group's photograph.

In closing, all I have to say is that I was glad to renew/refresh my friendship with so many of Foundry alums, and equally happy to make new friends amongst the students...and look forward to seeing all of them in the future.

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The Travel Photographer's Presentation At The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

Photo  Insiya Syed-All Rights Reserved

The Travel Photographer (Me) Presenting The Cult Of Durga...A Multimedia Photo Essay On Kolkata's Durga Puja...During The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop.

The presentations were held at the very impressive facilities of the Chiang Mai University.

As you read this, I'll be on my way to London.

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Ahmed Shajee Aijazi: Under The Ramadan Moon

Photo  Ahmed Shajee Aijazi-All Rights Reserved

Ahmed Shajee Aijazi is another graduate of my Multimedia For Photographers class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop held in Chiang Mai. Titled Under The Ramadan Moon, it's Ahmed's personal take on how the Muslim community in Chiang Mai observe and experience the month-long fast during Ramadan.

This is one of the three multimedia projects that were made in color, and Ahmed exerted much effort to gather its image and audio files despite fasting himself. Difficult under any circumstance, but Ahmed persevered, and completed a worthwhile project he ought to be very proud of.

Ahmed Shajee Aijazi is a Karachi-born photographer, with a formal background in art and design. Known as Shajee (Arabic/Urdu for "courageous"), he has been involved with professional photography for over five years now. His works have received regular press coverage in reputed papers like Dawn, Express Tribune and AAJ News.

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Cheryl Nemazie: Night At The Naga

Here's the multimedia work of Cheryl Nemazie, a photographer who attended my Multimedia For Photographers class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Chiang Mai.

She singlehandedly produced this impressive audio slideshow and spent hours, not only photographing at the Naga Tattoo parlor on Loi Kroh Road, but also with her laptop in class and elsewhere, adjusting the linear sequence of her photographs, syncing her multi layered audio track to the photographs, and preparing her photographs as best she could to preserve their integrity. During her first visit, since the tattoo parlor 's music system played the music of Johnny Cash, the employees obliged her during her subsequent photo shoots by playing it again, so as to have the same soundtrack for her project. During the project's various showing in class, we pumped up the volume so as to enjoy "Ring of Fire" and "I Walk The Line".

Cheryl attended the very first Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico, then the one in Buenos Aires last year. A successful art director and graphic designer for an international hotel chain, she decided to embark on a second career as a documentary and fine art photographer. Her recent exhibitions include Children Raising Children, Living in the Wake of AIDS, Lessons from the Ring: Main Street Gym.

Night At The Naga can also be seen on Vimeo.

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Presentation Night: Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

Well, the Saturday evening presentations of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop were held at the Chiang Mai University, and I can confirm that the evening was a total success.

My Multimedia For Photographers class presentations started with Near Sky, a monochromatic photo essay documenting the production of the Chaw Fah (symbols atop the spires of temples) by Alycia Down,  followed by Close Encounters of the Foundry Kind by Amean J...consisting of clips of Foundry students expressing their expectations from the Workshop, then followed by Loun Steve, a personal insight into the life of an American expatriate living in Chiang Mai, afflicted by Tourette disease and Huntington's Disease by Christina Malkoun.

Then it was Ahmed Shajee Aijazi's turn for his personal take on Muslim life in Chiang Mai with his Under The Ramadan Moon, which depicted the Islamic tradition of fasting during Ramadan, and this was followed by Aroy May? by Adelina Abad-Pedrosa, a photo essay of the vibrant street food culture in Chiang Mai, which was followed by Cheryl Nemazie's Night At The Naga, a monochromatic look (complete with the foot thumping music of the legendary Johnny Cash) of a tattoo parlor on Loi Kroh Road.

Three of the audio slideshows were in black and white, and three were in color. All of them different from a visual standpoint and content.

NB: It is indeed a small world. I met a photographer who turns out lived on the same street I am on now in New York City...she moved a few years ago, but what are the odds of that happening? And another photographer who saw me on Sudder Street in Kolkata last October...she also stayed in a nearby hotel and ate at some of the same restaurants. Incredible isn't it?

Most of the photographers with whom I spoke to were following my The Travel Photographer blog...which chuffs me a lot.

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POV: Finally! A Minimalist Gear....

I'll be in Chiang Mai in a few days for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which formally starts in a week from today. I wasn't keen to haul my usual gear with me, especially with my stops in London and Bangkok, so I have just what you see in the picture.

Depending on whether I have the time or not, I intend to shoot a couple of personal projects in Chiang Mai so I chose to take a Leica M9 with an Elmarit f2.4 28mm and a Voigtlander f1.4 40mm, a Fujifilm X Pro-1 with a Fujinon 18mm and the Tascam DR-40 to record audio. All of this fit in my small Domke F-3X (with room to spare); a small and tough shoulder bag I've been using almost incessantly for a couple of years. I shouldn't forget to mention my iPhone4S, which will be useful for ah hoc photography.

Heck...the Tascam audio recorder is larger than either of these two cameras!!!

I will post sporadically during the coming two weeks...with most of the posts from Chiang Mai and the Foundry Workshop.

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Multimedia For Photographers: Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

I am soon to travel to Chiang Mai for the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop which is to be held from July 29 to August 4, 2012 and where I am to teach photojournalists how to produce audio slideshows that rival in quality and content more elaborate multimedia productions, using their own images and audio generated in the field, and to produce cogent photo stories under the simulation of publishing deadlines.

In reality, it's a little more than that, since through class discussions, I also share my views on typography, aesthetics, titling, marketing, blogging, web design and branding...with a little business savvy thrown into the mix.

This my fifth year with the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and I'm glad that my Multimedia For Photographers has been on the curriculum since the Workshop's inception in 2008. I'm also glad my class in Chiang Mai is full. Since it involves practical hands-on instruction, as well as abstract guidance, it's capped at 8 students.

While this class is somewhat more advanced than the one included my own ongoing Photo Expeditions-Workshops (which are also capped at 8 participants), the objective of both is essentially the same.

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POV: Have We Gone Over The Top?

Stanley Greene, in my view one of the best photojournalists in the business, just recently said I honestly believe photography is 75 percent chance, and 25 percent skill. In accidents, we really discover the magic of photography during the LOOK3 festival in Charlottesville.

I agree wholeheartedly. All of us will agree. We might differ as to the percentages (I'm more in the 85% in favor of serendipity camp), but the concept is right on the money. Whether in photography, photojournalism, medicine, chemistry, technology, biology, etc....accidents have led to fresh discoveries, new approaches and life changing products. No question about that.

But does this really qualify as "magic of photography"? If so, I have a lot of the same in a filing cabinet  somewhere...so I must be a magician...and I bet you are too.

There's no question the photographer involved is talented and has produced a lot of laudable work, but is this even remotely serious?!

I agree that serendipitous accidents can produce remarkable results in photography. For example, unintentional double or triple exposures often give us wonderful images...but not everything unintentional works...and ought not to be palmed off as such.

Are our aesthetic values so impaired by Instagram, Hipstamatic, etc filters that accidental so-called "half photos" are raved about? Are we expected to genuflect in agreement to the sacred cows of photography who applaud stuff like that? And imitate other influenceable photographers who inexplicably oooh and aaah about it?

I know I won't. Show me the full frames that follow these half photos, and I'll applaud if they're good.

I realize some won't agree with me. That's fine. They might be right. I may be right. I guess it's a matter of different personal perspectives...but let's keep our feet firmly planted on level ground for a change, and call a spade for what it is...a spade.

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Foundry Photojournalism Workshop: My Multimedia Class: The Quick And Easy

I thought I'd post the description of the class I'll be teaching at the forthcoming Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Chiang Mai. And in so doing, I'm also encouraging those interested in photojournalism and photography to join this event, in which all the instructors are amongst the best photojournalists available.

This will be the 5th time I am to teach at the Foundry, and I'm thrilled to have been included since its inception in Mexico City in 2008.

I will teach a multimedia class that allows its participants to concentrate on their stories, rather than on the application. The purpose and aim of the class is to show photojournalists how to make quick work of slide show production, using their own images and audio generated in the field, to produce a cogent photo stories under the simulation of publishing deadlines. Most of the classs time will be spent photographing in the field, while indoors time will be devoted to weaving the material into photo stories.

This class will require participants to produce two short (about 3 minutes -or less- each) photo stories: one of human interest (narrative and preferably in monochrome), and the other thematic
(travel-documentary for example, and in color).

Participants will be required to use Soundslides (or iMovie) software, and Audacity for audio. Participants must have Digital Audio Recorders (such as the Zoom H1). Soundslides can be downloaded in its trial format, while Audacity is a free sound editor.

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Foundry Photojournalism Workshop 2012 Contest!!!

Eric Beecroft just circulated this amongst the instructors, so here is the fresh news!

You can win ONE FULL FREE TUITION TO THIS YEAR'S FOUNDRY PHOTOJOURNALISM WORKSHOP in CHIANG MAI, THAILAND. 

Winning=ONE  free tuition AND an invite to the pre workshop faculty and staff private dinner. 

HOW TO PLAY: (read and keep the rules or you'll be disqualified)

1. You may post ONE PHOTO TOTAL on the Facebook Foundry Workshop Page. Thats one photo, over the 10 day span of the contest. 

2. The theme is 'Home.'  You can interpret that however you wish. There is no trick or secret, we aren't looking for abstract or concrete here. Just good photos. 

3. The winner will be decided by who gets the most votes/likes on their image on the Foundry Facebook page at the end of the 10 day period.  YOU MAY NOT LIKE OR VOTE FOR YOUR OWN IMAGE. 

4. Anyone and everyone can vote, invite your friends and family to visit the page and like the best photos they see.  This is open to the public.  You can come back and vote multiple times for different people's images.

5.  The voting is not meant to be a popularity contest.  We think that the best photographs will rise to the top of the entry pile. At least thats the plan. 

6. CONTEST BEGINS SUNDAY MAY 27 at 12AM MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME.  AND ENDS JUNE 5 2012 at 7 PM MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME. 

7. One winner will be announced within 3 days of contest ending. 

8. EVERYONE WHO ENTERS CAN TAKE 10%  OFF FULL FOUNDRY TUITION FOR THIS YEAR WORKSHOP! WE ARE SO GENEROUS! - THATS $100 dollars for internationals/westerners, and $50 dollars for locals/regionals. JUST BY ENTERING!

Those who enter can get this reduction in price by paying the reduced amounts via Paypal (for internationals- $875; for locals- $375) directly to:info@foundryphotoworkshop.org or pay via Western Union if you need to. 

9. Already registered/paid tuition ? Students already registered can enter but if they win they get free tuition to Foundry 2013. Where will it be held ? thats a surprise until end of Foundry 2012.

SMALL PRINT: READ IT!!!! 

We reserve the right to exclude photographers who don't fit the criteria of:

international/western photographers:  3 years working as a professional photographer or less 

locals- no restrictions on length of time worked as a photographer

We reserve the right reject entries that we feel are too manipulated, photoshopped, etc- its a photo contest not an illustration contest.

We will reject images that you steal from others. We don't even want you at the workshop if you do this. 

We reserve the right to reject entries that have multiple likes from the same person, should you figure a way to do this. 

We reserve the right to be the boss of the contest, and that means if anything else comes up, we reserve the right to reject and award the winning photograph based on principles of fairness, ethics and good old fashioned sportsmanship. We reserve the right that no one else has this right but us, since its our party. 

Cheaters never prosper. 

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Sacbee's The Frame: Kevin Frayer's Urs Festival

Photo  Kevin Frayer-All Rights Reserved

I've been waiting for coverage of this event! Just look at this flamboyant character!!!

The Sacramento Bee's photo blog The Frame features Kevin Frayer's remarkable photographs made during a major Sufi Muslim Urs festival in Rajasthan.

It starts off the series of these 36 photographs telling us that thousands of Sufi devotees from different parts of India annually travel to the shrine of Sufi Muslim saint Hazrat Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti, in Ajmer, in the Indian state of Rajasthan for the annual Urs festival observed to mark his death anniversary.

Along with other photographers, I've been photographing the Sufi traditions in South Asia for a while, especially trying to underscore the syncretic elements of this tradition with Hindusim, but to my chagrin I haven't been to this festival as yet...although I was in Ajmer a number of times.

Moinuddin Chishti is the more famous and revered Sufi saint of the Chisti order of the Indian Subcontinent. He was born in 1141 and died in 1230 CE, and is believed to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammed. He interpreted religion in terms of human service and exhorted his disciples "to develop river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality."

I cannot help but to piggyback this feature by adding my own work on The Possessed of Mira Datar; an audio slideshow of black & white photographs made at one of the most famous shrines (or dargahs) in Gujarat. The still photographs of this audio slideshow were presented at the Angkor Photo Festival last November.

And for those who follow my posts for clues to my future photo expeditions-workshops, this may well be one for 2013. It'll be as intense as the Oracles of Kali's festival, the focus of my most recent photo expedition in Kerala this past March.

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NYTimes: Moises Saman's Egypt's Choice

Presidential election fever has been gripping Egypt for months, and it'll perhaps come to a conclusion in the coming few days...or in another few weeks, if a runoff is the case.

Along with many millions of Egyptians, I couldn't believe my eyes when watching the first ever presidential debate in the Middle East took place earlier this month. Yes, it was flawed...yes, the two frontrunners went overboard in hyperbole and off topic attacks one each other... but nowhere else in the Arab world, has such a spectacle ever been seen before.

Yes, Egypt's political transition has been farcical, messy, bizarre, chaotic, violent, unpredictable, and serious, ....however after centuries of Pharaonic kingdoms, various foreign occupations, colonialism,  royalty and dictatorships, Egyptians were now experiencing the teething pains of democracy. I raise my hands in wonder when I read articles by educated journalists and pundits who claim that after 30 years of Mubarak's regime, Egypt is experiencing democracy. It's not 30 years...but over 2500 years!

In recognition of this critical milestone in Egypt's (and in the world's) history, I feature Moises Saman's Egypt's Choice as published in The New York Times.

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Diana Markosian: The Girls of Chechnya

Photo  Diana Markosian-All Rights Reserved

An interesting glimpse in an area that a relatively few are really familiar with...Chechnya, was recently featured by TIME Lightbox.

Diana Markosian's Goodbye My Chechnya is such a glimpse into the lives of young Chechen women who witnessed the horrors of two wars, and are coming of age in a country that is rapidly rediscovering its Muslim laws and traditions.

It's particularly interesting to view Diana's photographs of these Chechen women and their traditions and compare them to Oded Balilty's photographs of the Jewish ultra orthodox communities, which included a series on a traditional Hasidic Jewish wedding.

Two separate religious traditions, often at odds with each other....and yet similar in so many ways. And as both photo essays are made of such compelling photographs, that the comparison between the two from an aesthetic point of view bring this point very clearly to the forefront.

According to Diana Markosian,  Chechnya is experiencing a wave of Islamicization since the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Religious dress codes are the rule, young (and polygamous) marriages are frequent and gender roles are increasingly conservative.

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