Jonas Bendiksen: The Places We Live

Jonas Bendiksen: The Places We Live

Jonas Bendiksen began his photography career as a 19-year-old intern in the London office of Magnum Photos. Eventually leaving office life to travel through Russia and pursue his own work as a photojournalist, he worked on numerous projects throughout the world, including his ongoing project about the world's slums.

The installation for "The Places We Live" project was developed and produced in cooperation with the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, where it was launched a year ago.

From 2005 to 2007 Jonas Bendiksen documented life in the slums of four different cities: Nairobi, Mumbai, Jakarta and Caracas. The Places We Live is the result.

Wendy Marijnissen: A Year In Pakistan

Wendy Marijnissen: A Year In Pakistan

Based in Antwerp, Wendy Marijnissen is a freelance documentary photographer from Belgium, who has a career in looking for, and reporting on, stories with a social context. She completed a long term reportage in Israel and Palestine, using music to show a different part of daily life in this stressful and violent region. She's currently working on a new project about childbirth and maternal mortality in Pakistan, of which some of her compelling photographs can be seen in the above movie.

Another of Wendy's compelling photo essays is on the dai. A dai (or dayah in Arabic) is a traditional midwife or birth attendant in the Middle East, and Pakistan. Midwifery skills are usually passed on from generation to generation and most practitioners have had no formal training.

The unhygienic conditions in which the dai work, their lack of education and the delayed referral to hospitals in case of complications are the major cause for the high maternal mortality rate in Pakistan.

Fernanda Preto: Cowboys of Pantanal

Fernanda Preto: Cowboys of Pantanal

Fernanda Preto is a Brazilian photojournalist currently based in Sao Paulo, and after living in the Amazon area for three years, has worked in environment and social reportages. She obtained degrees from the Panamerican School of Arts in Sao Paulo and from the Tuiuti University of Parana.

Her short film is about the Cowboys of Pantanal, which she produced using a Canon 5D Mark II. Pantanal is the largest tropical wetland in the world. Its largest area is in the state of Matto Grosso do Sul, with the rest being in Bolivia and Paraguay. It's considered as one of the last 37 natural wilderness areas in the world. The cowboys working in the area have survived for more than 100 years, doing the same task as the fathers and forefathers did, drive cattle to the highlands before the floods.

You can also see Fernanda's very well composed still images of the Pantanal Cowboys on her website by hovering your cursor over Features.

The BBC Celebrates Sir Wilfred Thesiger

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.

James Morgan: People of the Coral Triangle

James Morgan: People of the Coral Triangle

James Morgan features the People of the Coral Triangle, a well made documentary on the Bajau Laut, on his website, along with other multimedia projects such as the Eagle Hunters (previously featured on TTP), and fast-paced documentaries of Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo.

As he explains, the Coral Triangle refers to a triangular shaped area of the tropical marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. It is there that 3,000 species of fish live, including the largest fish - the whale shark, and the coelacanth. It also provides habitat to six out of the world’s of seven marine turtle species.

The Bajau Laut are an indigenous ethnic group of the southern Philippines, who have migrated to neighboring Malaysia over the course of the past 50 years. They depend directly in the natural resources of the Coral Triangle, and are the last nomadic marine communities of the world. Mostly Muslims, some also worship local sea spirits.

The Haj In 1885 And Now

The Haj In 1885 And Now

CNN has featured an interesting clip of images and audio dating from 1885 of Mecca and of the Haj ritual. It's accompanying article tells us that Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages, and an advisor to the colonial government of the Netherlands East Indies, visited Mecca in 1885 taking photos and making sound recordings. He had converted to Islam, and was therefore allowed to gain entry to the city.

The article is an interesting read, especially since it seems Snouck had to leave his camera equipment behind to a local Saudi, who continued making pictures, possibly becoming Mecca's first home-grown photographer. (My thanks to Gul Chotrani who sent the article to me).

Contrast the scenes in the CNN clip (it has an annoying advert at its start) to the following photograph; one of the many posted by The Boston Globe's The Big Picture of Muslim pilgrims circling the Kaaba at the center of the Grand mosque in Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.  (Click it for larger photograph).

Photo © REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Erika Larsen: Lavvos & Reindeer

Erika Larsen: Lavvos & Reindeer

Photo © Erika Larsen- All Rights Reserved

Erika Larsen is a photographer and film-maker who's recently been doing work in the Scandinavian Arctic with families of Sami reindeer hunters.

She worked as a magazine photographer since 2000 specializing in human-interest stories, cultural issues and the daily life of people connected to the natural world. She's recognized by World Press Photo, American Society of Magazine Editors, Society of Photographers, New Jersey State Council of the Arts and is a Fulbright Scholar.

The Sami peoples are also known as Lapps (although this term is considered as outdated, and often derogative), and are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, but also in the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. They traditionally survived by hunting and fishing, and in more recent years, by herding reindeer, which have also become their staple food. Reindeer meat is most commonly eaten fried, or is is often dried for later consumption.Lavvos is the name for the Sami's tents.

Thomas Cristofoletti: Day of the Dead

Thomas Cristofoletti: Day of the Dead

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Here's a movie made of still photographs by Thomas Cristofoletti on the singular tradition in the Philippines which occurs on the Day of the Dead. The stills were made in Tandag, Surigao del Sur and document the tradition of caring for the tombs on November 1.

Tombs are cleaned up, repainted and spruced up by relatives. Candles are lit and flowers placed. Many families spend a night or two near their loved ones' tombs in remembrance. Card games, eating, drinking, singing and dancing are common activities at the cemeteries during the holiday.

In the Philippines, the day of the dead is known as Araw ng mga Patay; one of the traditions imported from Spain during the country' colonization. Of course, El Dia De los Muertos is a well known tradition in Mexico, as well as in other countries where the Catholic faith is practiced. The observance coincides with All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

Thomas Cristofoletti is a freelance photographer and art director currently based in Madrid, who is a proponent of the decisive moment and of candid photography.

Enrico Martino: Tango Soul

Enrico Martino: Tango Soul

Here's a wonderful multimedia essay by the talented Enrico Martino on the ageless, eternal and graceful dance of Argentina, the tango. Originating in Spain or Morocco, the tango was introduced to the New World by the Spanish settlers, freed African slaves and gauchos in Buenos Aires around the 1880s.

Tango is not a dance, but a particular way of seeing and enjoying life...it's a way of life, where seduction by both sexes is disguised by dance moves and steps. But no one is fooled...in my view, tango is another word for seduction.

This multimedia will be one of  the pieces that I shall use as examples for my future students at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop...in Buenos Aires. I especially liked the man's voice-over...soulful, melancholic...and also virile and passionate. Perhaps the Ken Burns effect is used a little too much for my linking, but the sequencing of the black & white photographs is wonderful all the same.

At one point, the narrator tells us that no foreigner can write tango. Yes, I absolutely agree.

Enrico Martino is an editorial, geographic and documentary photojournalist specialized in travel and cultural assignments requiring in-depth research. He's a contributor to Italian and international magazines, to include Meridiani, "D"-Repubblica, Epoca, Espresso, Panorama, Focus, Gente Viaggi, In Viaggio, Airone, Panorama Travel, Sette, Traveller, Tuttoturismo, Elle, Marie Claire, Merian, Spiegel, Die Zeit, Jeune Afrique, Altair, Rutas del Mundo.

Evan Abramson: When The Water Ends

Evan Abramson: When The Water Ends

Ethiopia's government is building a new dam in the Omo river projected to be the largest hydropower project in sub-Saharan Africa. Almost 50% of its electrical output has already been sold to neighboring countries, but it will reduce the water flow to the Omo River and threaten the lives of some 500,000-800,000 nomadic pastoralists.

Evan Abramson's When The Water Ends photo essay examines the impact of such a massive infrastructural on the lives of the Omo Valley tribes.

Evan's photographs were also used in a 16-minute video When the Water Ends produced by Yale Environment 360 in collaboration with MediaStorm. It tells the story of the increasingly dire drought conditions facing parts of East Africa, and the eventuality of conflict.

Evan Abramson is a 32-year-old photographer and videographer based in New York, who spent two months in the region, living among the herding communities. His project focuses on four groups of pastoralists — the Turkana of Kenya and the Dassanech, Nyangatom, and Mursi of Ethiopia — who are among the more than two dozen tribes whose lives and culture depend on the waters of the Omo River and the body of water into which it flows, Lake Turkana.

Quite a number of photographers have photographed the tribal people of the Omo Valley, and I'm certain they, as well as many non-photographers, are lamenting the change that will befell the region.

El Rey: East Los Angeles' Mariachis

El Rey: East Los Angeles' Mariachis

This is a delightful short documentary featuring Mariachis musicians in East Los Angeles produced by Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari. The piece features Mariachi musicians who gather on corners of the streets of East Los Angeles looking for work, whether in birthday parties, in cafes, restaurants, quinceañeras, weddings and the like.

To my delight, the main singer belts outs out the famous Mexican song "Volver Volver", initially without the accompaniment of musical instruments. I used to hear it played often in the zocalo of Oaxaca...just delightful.

According to Wikipedia, the term "Mariachi" is said to be an adaptation of the French word for marriage or wedding "mariage" as this type of musical formation plays at these events.

via The Click

France Television: Portraits Of A New World

France Television: Portraits Of A New World

Here's a superb multimedia presentation guaranteed to knock your socks off.

It's part of a collection of 24 multimedia documentaries produced by France Télévisions. Portraits Of A New World is a narrative of the world of the 21st century, and the upheavals which transform and influence our destinies.

Unfortunately, it's only in French with no subtitles, which sadly reduces its internationalization and its appreciation by non-French speaking audience.

Having said that, take a look nevertheless at Journal of A Concubine which, in my view, is the segment that most beautifully merges the techniques of photojournalism and videojournalism.

In the era of pre-Communist China, wives and concubines lived under the same roof; in full sight and knowledge of everyone. The practice was legal and widely accepted. In 1949, it was made illegal by Mao as being a relic of feudalism, but has reappeared with a modern twist in the 1990s with the economic resurgence of China. Concubines are now viewed as a sign of wealth especially in business circles.

This being a French production, the nuanced difference between concubines and mistresses is explained. The latter do not expect gifts nor monetary rewards. Concubines do.

Seen on the incomparable Duckrabbit

Masr: Javier Morgade

Masr: Javier Morgade

Masr is the Arabic word for Egypt...and it's also colloquially used for Cairo. So in Arabic, Egyptians are called Masr'yeen...which is confusing for non-Arabic speakers, but that's how it is. Egypt was borrowed from the Latin Aegyptus and from the ancient Greek Aígyptos.

Javier Morgade was filming in Egypt for an airline company, and was left with surplus footage for this short movie. It's a documentary made with a Canon 5d Mark II and a Glidetrack HD. It was edited in Final Cut Pro and graded with After Effects. The song is by a contemporary Egyptian singer and is titled ah men al forak, which loosely translated means "lamenting separation".

In my view (and I should know), Javier managed to capture in this short movie the essence of the Egyptian character, the kindness, humor, hospitality and generosity...even their occasional legendary intrusiveness. It saddens me to see the poverty in the alleys of old Cairo, but as always, it's mitigated by the Egyptian talent for being able to share setbacks, poverty, sorrows, and life troubles. No Egyptian is an island...and while they find enormous solace in their extended families and friends, neighbors and even casual acquaintances...they deserve better.

Robert van Koesveld: Bhutan

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 correctly.

The Travel Photographer's Channel on Vimeo

The Travel Photographer's Channel on Vimeo

I've converted a number of my audio slideshows to mp4 movies, which are also iPad-compatible, and grouped them in a Vimeo channel. The channel is (obviously) called The Travel Photographer Channel....so this is a heads-up for TTP's readers to drop by and comment or "like" or whatever.

I prefer Vimeo to YouTube...I think its quality is better, and it seems to be more "serious" in its inventory of movies.

Walter Astrada: Undesired

Walter Astrada: Undesired

"Fear is contagious, but courage is also contagious" - Ruchira Gupta

Here's an extremely well done production (click the image) by MediaStorm of the remarkable work by photojournalist Walter Astrada. It deals with the issue of Indian women having to face immense cultural pressures to bear a son. This arises from the belief that males earn money while females do not, and are financial burdens on their families due to the tradition of dowry payment.

The multimedia reportage informs us that "The numbers are staggering. Since 1980, an estimated 40 million women are 'missing,' by way of abortion, neglect or murder. 7,000 female fetuses are aborted every day according to the U.N., aborted solely because they are girls. One dowry death is reported every 77 minutes. Countless others are never known."

Although the Indian government has declared dowry and sex selective abortions illegal, these practices are still followed because of cultural prejudices, and traditions.

I've noticed that Walter Astrada photographed in Vrindavan, the so-called City of Widows where I photographed as well a couple of years back. In that particular segment, it seems to me that there's somewhat of an inaccuracy. One of the text panels suggests that widows in traditional families are not allowed to remarry, and are abandoned by their husbands' family. Since the following photographs are of a widows' ashram in Vrinadavan, it could be construed that all widows of traditional families in India are sent to live the rest of their lives in these refuges.

That's not the case.

Only those women of extreme poverty with no other means of personal or extended support will come to Vrindavan and other places like it.

MediaStorm For CFR: Pakistan

MediaStorm For CFR: Pakistan

Here's Crisis Guide: Pakistan (click on image), a magisterial multimedia production featured by The Council of Foreign Relations and produced by MediaStorm.

As we all know, Pakistan is critical, if not the most critical country, to the national interests of the United States, and yet it's misunderstood and viewed through a prism of apprehension and, from some quarters, of distrust.

The concern over its stability with the current escalation of drone attacks on its tribal areas, the horrific human toll following the recent floods and its geographical and ideological positioning underscore its importance. The New York Times reported last night that international lenders estimate that the floods in Pakistan caused $9.5 billion in damage to its infrastructure, agriculture and other sectors.

According to MediaStorm's web page on the project, it was challenged to create an immersive website, which allowed the user to focus on the complex history of Pakistan and the issues facing the country.

One of the CFR interviewees makes the point that Pakistanis fault the United States' support of Afghan insurgents to battle the Soviet in the 1980s, who fled to neighboring Pakistan when the US invaded Afghanistan in retaliation for the 9.11.2001 Al Qaeda attacks.

I found this is a production that cannot be assimilated, nor reflected on, in a single sitting...it's best viewed over time...bookmark it....it's worth keeping it and returning to it every now and then. Having said that, no production (whether immersive or not) can really explain the complex intricacies that are at play in Pakistan. It's facile for pundits (whatever their political and ideological agendas) to postulate their views...but these will still fall short of reality.

Hamid Sardar: Mongolia

Hamid Sardar: Mongolia

Hamid Sardar-Afkhami is a photographer and a scholar of Tibetan and Mongol languages with a Ph.D. from Harvard University. After moving to Nepal in the late 1980’s and exploring Tibet and the Himalayas for more than a decade, he traveled to Outer Mongolia, and determined to document its nomadic culture by setting a mobile studio ger camp in Mongolia. With his arsenal of cameras and different formats, he mounts yearly expeditions into the Mongolian outback to document her nomadic traditions.

Apart from the two movie documentaries (these are not short, and run for almost an hour), take a look at Hamid's photographic gallery titled Dark Heavens, which has color and platinum portfolios.

Photo © Hamid Sardar-All Rights Reserved

Impressive, huh? Especially since Hamid is able to combine the two imagery disciplines so well.

I was introduced to Hamid Sardar's work and website through The Empty Quarter Gallery newsletter.

Storyboard Doodles

Storyboard Doodles

Planning a multimedia photo essay or audio slideshow needs a sort of bird's eye view of the project as a whole, and that's what storyboards are essentially supposed to do. Storyboards help to pre-visualizing the photo essay's sequencing, and act as blueprints for the project.

The above photo shows my rather elementary storyboard for one my recent Bali audio slideshow Ngaben: Cremation Ceremony, which has the sequencing of images and audio clips, timing, etc.

Naturally, it would have been more professional/efficient to use a proper storyboard template downloaded from the web, but where's the fun in that!?

Alixandra Fazzina: UNCHR Interview

Alixandra Fazzina: UNCHR Interview

This interview is really worth watching and reflecting on.

In July 2010, British photo-journalist Alixandra Fazzina was awarded the annual UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award as a recognition of her work documenting the often overlooked consequences of war. In this video by UNCHR, she speaks about the plight of the uprooted.  She traveled to some of the worst hit areas in Pakistan where she saw first hand the devastation caused by the floods, and reminds us that refugees are human beings too.

UNHCR cares for more than 40 million uprooted people.

Alixandra Fazzina, who's based in Pakistan, is a member of the NOOR foundation and photo agency.