fantastic world travel: Photographers: Photojournalists

Showing posts with label Photographers: Photojournalists. Show all posts

Jon Goering: Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity

I am certainly glad Jon Goering chose me to review his multifaceted portfolio during the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Buenos Aires a few days ago, and so will you when you view his black & white images of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity.

I guarantee you'll find these beautiful images very compelling, and extremely well composed.

Jon is a photojournalist living near Birmingham, Alabama and is the staff photographer for Shelby County Newspapers. He was awarded third place by the Hearst Journalism Awards program for News/Sports in 2008/2009 and honored for his photography of Ethiopia. At CPOY64 he was awarded two honorable mentions awards, one for International Picture Story for a story on the children of the Chinandega, Nicaragua landfill, and one for Portrait. The project was later selected by the photojournalism collective LUCEO as one of ten finalists for their student project award. Jon garnered other awards, and I predict he will continue to impress us with his future projects.

In Buenos Aires, my review of Jon's images (viewed on his iPad) quickly evolved into a conversation about Ethiopia and the profound religiosity of its people. I can't recall for certain if I told Jon this, but when looking at his images, the sinking feeling in my stomach signalled I had missed much by photographing only in color when I was in Lalibela during Timket...but it was in 2004 and what did I know then?!

So I'm happy Jon is smarter than I was, and did realize that black & white photography enhanced his visualization of Ethiopia's beautiful Christian rituals.

Foundry Photojournalism Workshop Is Live!

I've been on Buenos Aires since Friday morning, and I've already seen tango street performers, as well as spent many hours at a genuine milonga observing the traditional rituals and procedures that govern the tango, the national dance of Argentina.

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop 2011 has just been inaugurated by a lunch for the faculty, and approximately 130 students are converging towards Motivarte, where the official introduction of students-instructors is scheduled in an hour or so.

Eric Beecroft, in the manner of the Roman emperors, declared the workshop open by saying 'let the games begin'. He didn't really say that...but his speech was infinitely more eloquent.

I ought to get ready to meet my students.

Tanya Habjouqa: Women of Gaza

Photo © Tanya Habjouqa- Courtesy Al Jazeera

I am always very pleased to see impressive talent from the Middle East such as that of photographer Tanya Habjouqa, whose Women of Gaza was just featured on Al Jazeera website.

Tanya was born in Jordan and educated in the United States, and is currently based in Jerusalem. She won a well deserved reputation for gaining unique access to sensitive gender, social and human rights stories in the Middle East. She received a number of awards for her work, and is published in The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe and worked for various NGOs.

Her gallery of images on the Al Jazeera website documents the community spirit prevailing in the Gaza strip, which is maintained despite the ongoing Israeli siege and occupation. In her photographs, one clearly sees how the women in Gaza are continuing to live their lives as best they can...continuing to care for their families, working for a better future through education and careers.

Not only has Al Jazeera shown the US-based cable networks how to deliver news from the Middle East and elsewhere, but it's also supporting Middle Eastern photographers and photojournalists by featuring their work, and their projects. Would CNN or MSNBC have featured Women of Gaza? Not likely. Well done, Al Jazeera!

Via Wendy Marijnissen Twitter feed.

Erica McDonald: DEVELOPphoto

Erica McDonald is an institution. Yes, you read that correctly. She's an institution for a number of reasons; primarily because she's a damn good photographer/photojournalist, and also because she recently and single handedly initiated DEVELOP Tube, an educational resource on photojournalism.

If you need proof of her photographic talents, just drop by her website, and take a good look at her New York City Portraits, amongst her many galleries. You'll immediately agree with me.

And when you finish doing that...drop by DEVELOP Tube on YouTube and on VIMEO.

DEVELOP Tube features interviews, profiles, lectures, films about photojournalism, fine art, documentary photography, photographers, including multimedia productions which effectively incorporate the still photograph, and slideshows created to showcase powerful photographs, especially those concerning humanitarian issues: human rights, environmental sustainability and global health.

It's a veritable compendium of photography, and Erica must be commended for making all this trove easily available to the public. Bookmark it or follow it on Twitter @DEVELOPphoto

Erica has chosen two of my audio slideshows to add to DEVELOPphoto. White Shadows and Cham.

Tobin Jones: Healers of Kibera

Here is a powerful photo essay by Tobin Jones on the healers of Kibera. Kibera is a slum of the Kenyan capital, and is home to over one million people but a handful of clinics, most of which are run by charities. Religious healers associated to the Christian church claim to be healers and offer their services to solve problems from relationships to sickness to exorcising demons. While 80% of Kenya’s population is Christian, traditional beliefs and customs influence most of Kibera’s African churches, forming a quasi-Christian religion quite different from Western forms of Christianity.

The photo essay appears on the BBC News website, and I suggest you view it there as the images are larger than on Tobin's website.

"Kibera residents go to healers for a wide range of reasons that include family disputes, theft, unemployment and curses, as well as possession by the devil."

Tobin Jones is a photographer of English and American descent, and he lived much of his life on the African continent, where he was born and grew up. He graduated from McGill University, with a major in International Development, as well as minors in Economics and Political Science.

Mugur Vărzariu: Egypt Adrift

Mugur Vărzariu is a photojournalist based in Romania whom I met at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul. I discovered he started as a photographer less than four months ago before attending the workshop, and it seems he has been extremely busy since then.

He traveled to India, Syria, Libya as well as Cairo, where he documented facets of the Egyptian Revolution in a photo essay titled Egypt Adrift, which is perhaps an apt description of the current development. I hope he's wrong, but so far it does appear that the ideals and values of the youth of Tahrir may be tossed to the side by the current "transitory" authorities.

One of the photographs in his Egypt Adrift essay is of a red car, with hood open...presumably stalled and needing fixing. It made me laugh, since the graffiti on the left of the frame says "The Central Security Forces robbed this store" with an arrow pointing to the shuttered store. The Central Security was the much hated entity used in suppressing any dissent, and was used to brutalize those who didn't toe the ex-regime's line.

I wonder what Mugur, being from Romania which suffered greatly under Nicolae Ceaușescu, felt documenting the Egyptian Revolution, which has some parallels to his country's December 1989 overthrow of its own dictator.

Arindam Mukherjee: Kolkata

Arindam Mukherjee is a freelance photojournalist based in Kolkata. Although he started his career as an advertising photographer, he was attracted to photojournalism and freelanced for The Times of India, and subsequently worked with Hong Kong-based EyePress photo agency. He's currently freelancing again, and is represented by Sipa Press. He gleans a number of awards, and his photographs were featured in Le Figaro, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Sunday Telegraph, Le Monde, Liberation, Le Point, De Volkskrant, Private, Forbes, Traveler Magazine (UK), Marie Claire and others.

"Kolkata stands personified with inherent contradictions and characteristic traits. For many, this is as good as love at first sight."

While Arindam's website features many galleries (most of which are of India), I chose his work in My City Kolkata, where he has lived all his life. This photographs in this particular gallery are of Kolkata's daily life...which only a native son can show.

In addition to Arinadam's website galleries. he also uses PhotoShelter for additional work, and has many worthwhile galleries including work of the Kathputli colony and the Honey Collectors of the Sunderbans.

I will pass on Arindam's Kolkata work to the participants of my forthcoming Kolkata's Cult of Durga Photo Expedition.

Sara Galbiati: Lucha Libre In Mexico

Sara Galbiati is a freelance photographer based in Copenhagen, who graduated from the Danish School of Media & Journalism. She worked in various Danish national newspapers, and has accumulated awards in the Danish Picture of the Year, POYi, Canon Grant For Best Student Portfolio, the Danish FOTOKRAVLING, and was nominated for the Joop Swart Masterclass 2011.

I was drawn to Sara's Lucha Libre portfolio (actually there are two...one is a documentary style gallery, while the other is portraits of the wrestlers). Lucha Libre is a combination of sport, show-business and violence, and epitomizes the fight between good and evil....or between the good guys and bad guys in our current vernacular. The bouts are choreographed and winners are selected in advance.

Lucha Libre is extremely popular in Mexico, and has been a part of Mexican culture since the 1930’s. It's estimated to be the second most popular sport after soccer. According to Wikipedia, modern Lucha Libre require wrestlers to wear colorful masks designed in the likeness of animals, gods, ancient heroes, and other archetypes.

For an audio slideshow of Lucha Libre, Chico Sanchez has produced one here.

Nacho Hernandez: Talking To God

Nacho Hernandez is a Spanish freelance photographer currently based in Manila, Philippines. His forte is in documentary, editorial, travel photography and photography with a humanitarian focus, and has photographed on assignment for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and for magazines such as Courrier International and Asian Geographic. He has also worked on assignments for the World Bank and other NGOs.

A graduate from the Washington School of Photography, he studied with Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey, and has a degree in International Relations and Development.

I was drawn to Nacho's photo gallery titled Talking To God, in which he shares the degree of religiosity that permeates the Phillippines, where the majority of the population is Roman Catholic. It is estimated that over 80% of the almost 100 million Filipinos is Catholic, making it one of the largest catholic communities in the world.

Every Holy Week, some men from the city of San Fernando, in the Pampanga province, are crucified (and literally nailed) on Good Friday, while many of the local young men also wander around town flagellating themselves until their backs are raw and bleeding.

Not for the faint of heart, and extremely powerful.

Adriana Zehbrauskas: Beyond Assignment

Beyond Assignment is a documentary produced by The Knight Center for International Media at the University of Miami, which explores the approach of three female photojournalists (Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gali Tibbon and Mariella Furrer. covering Mexico, Israel and South Africa.

From the documentary's website:

"Their three journeys dramatize the fervent curiosity and determination needed to perform difficult and often dangerous jobs as visual storytellers. BEYOND ASSIGNMENT examines the artistic and ethical responsibilities inherent in capturing vital subject matter and the subsequent emotional cost to journalists and their subjects."

The documentary's trailer starts with Adriana Zehbrauskas photographing adherents of La Santa Muerte in Mexico City. Adriana is planning to show the documentary at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Buenos Aires. I am look forward to see it, and I'm sure it'll be very well received.

Matthew Goddard-Jones: Way of Sorrow

I don't know much about Matthew Goddard-Jones, except that he's from Perth, Australia and that he's a damn good photographer/photojournalist. And there are many reasons why I say that, but the one that especially worked for me is because he managed to capture a unique expression on a woman in NYC's Chinatown. You'll have to visit his Chinatown gallery to see it though, since this post is not about his street photography but about his recent photo essay on the Way of Sorrow...made during Holy Easter Week in Jerusalem.

The Way of Sorrow or The Via Dolorosa is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, which is believed to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion.

Matthew's Way of Sorrow is well paced, and the audio soundtrack is sober and appropriate. You'll see some lovely images of Ethiopian pilgrims, shafts of light in churches as well as motion blurs (my favorites). You can also watch it on Vimeo instead.

Very nice slideshow.

Danny Ghitis: Kushti Wrestling

Danny Ghitis graduated in 2006 with a B.S. in Journalism, and interned at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and St.Petersburg Times newspapers. He received a Nikon Emerging Talent Award, was nominated for the UNICEF Photo of the Year competition for his group project with Celia Tobin titled "The Third Ward," and attended the Eddie Adams Workshop. He has been recognized by a number of associations, and granted a number of awards. He is a co-founder of the Pangea Photo Collective.

I featured Danny's Kushti Wrestling photo gallery, amongst the others on his website. Unfortunately, there's only about a dozen photographs in this gallery...which is a shame as they're luminous and perfectly composed, and more would have been more than welcome.

Kushti is India's traditional wrestling performed on clay mixed with ghee. It's an ancient form of wrestling, and was held in great importance in Indian societies. Its popularity has dwindled over the years, although there are concerted efforts to revive it. Kushti practitioners face grueling daily training, a strict diet and celibacy.

John Stanmeyer: Volcano Gods

No one connected to the world of photography and photojournalism is not familiar with John Stanmeyer's work and career. He's a photojournalist whose career is dedicated to international social and political issues, and is a co-founding member of VII Photo Agency. Working regularly for National Geographic Magazine, he was on contract with Time Magazine for over 10 years and had garnered countless awards.

John lived the Far East for over twelve years, documenting changes that affected the entire region. He has also focused on the plight of refugees from the Ugandan civil war, spent months chronicling the effects of the 2004 Tsunami and documented the mental healthcare crises in Asia. He also covered the conflict in South Sudan, Eastern European social change after the fall of Communism, as well as numerous visits to Haiti to record the social tragedies plaguing the island nation.He has documented the spread of HIV/AIDS through every country in Asia.

It was tough to choose what to feature of John's work because all his work is truly spectacular, but I decided on his Volcano Gods, which he shot for the National Geographic.

The photographs as displayed on his website are large monitor-sized and are breathtaking in their composition. I'm not much of a landscape fan, but these volcanoes are just stunning. The gallery mixes these landscapes with the mysticism of the ancient Balinese rituals which are held to this day to appease the volcano gods.

John is also a "musicphile", and perhaps a ethnomusicologist...you can read all about his love for world music in his blog entries. Bookmark his blog...if you're like me, you'll visit often.

Alex Webb/Rebecca Webb: Violet Isle

Few people interested in photography don't know who Alex Webb is, so I'll keep this introduction brief.

He began working as a professional photojournalist in 1974, and joined Magnum Photos as an associate member in 1976, and a full member in 1979. He photographed extensively in the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, and in Turkey. His photographs have appeared in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, Life, Geo, Stern, and National Geographic, and has published many books.

Rebecca Norris-Webb is an international photographer and poet.

Violet Isle is featured by Magnum In Motion, and showcases Alex’s exploration of the streets of Cuba and Rebecca’s discovery of unique and sometimes mysterious animals. While the photography styles of this husband-wife team is distinctly different, they decided decided to weave their images together to create a multi-layered portrait Cuba.

While you watch the audio slideshow, you'll see this combination of the two styles...the typical street scenes, color saturated with lots of shadows, reflections, sun-drenched walls...and more ethereally, many caged birds, a metaphor for Cubans. The soulful soundtrack is Silencio by the Buena Vista Social Club.

Would I have preferred to hear a soundtrack of ambient audio and music recorded in the streets of Havana instead? Yes, of course...no question about it. That being said, anything by the Buena Vista Social Club is great.

Nick Riley: The Witch Doctor Of Tanzania

"For issues of love and business, property and health, people in Tanzania will visit a witch doctor. The job description appears to vary significantly between individuals. Some can help to find lost property, others specialise in healing the unwell, others still in raising curses on those that have wronged you."

My readers will immediately know that this photography essay is one that The Travel Photographer's blog relishes in featuring.

But first things first. Nick Riley is a UK photographer, currently working in Tanzania. His work has featured extensively in the press, including BBC Wildlife magazine, where he won photograph of the month. In June 2010 he was shortlisted for Photographer Of The Year. He worked on projects for clients across the public and corporate sectors, including the NHS and Diageo, but his passion is for documentary and wildlife photography.

The Witch Doctor is a multi-gallery photo essay, arranged in a blog format. Nick was allowed to photograph during the healing sessions conducted by a witch doctor in a poor suburb of Dar Es Salaam. In a tiny room filled with incense, and lined with various shells, leaves, carvings, coins, jars and packets of various powders. It was there that the witch doctor started her magic.

These are extremely atmospheric photographs, and are very well composed despite the difficult circumstances. Short of being there, I would have loved to hear the ambient sound from these sessions! Beautiful and rich colors...And do take the time to explore the other entries in Nick's blog. Well worth it.

It should be mentioned that although Islam orthodoxy frowns on witch doctors and other sorcery for exorcism, other sects less strict tolerate (and even encourage) such traditional ways to rid those afflicted with jinns and evil spirits.

Pete Muller: The Cattle Keepers of Southern Sudan

I wasn't planning to feature the work of Pete Muller today (the sequence of my posts are often pre-decided a week in advance), but seeing his terrific work The Violent Cattle Keepers of Southern Sudan on the wonderful Time Lightbox blog convinced me otherwise, and I rejigged the sequence.

Pete writes that these cattle keepers are members of the Dinka Rek sub-tribe, who describe themselves as a “brigade.” In this remote area of southern Sudan, there are no signs of the army or the police, and no government as such. Consequently, these men form a militia to protect themselves from marauders of other equally well-armed pastoralist groups in the area.

The moment I saw the first photograph in Pete Muller's slideshow, I thought "oh, Jehad Nga's chiaroscuro style!", and true enough, Pete graciously ends his write up by giving credit to Nga for inspiring the aesthetic of these photos. A statement that reflects well as to Pete's character.

Pete Muller is a photographer and multimedia reporter based in Juba, Sudan. He uses images, words, audio & video to tell under reported stories. He maintains an excellent blog which also features many of these portraits.

A really excellent photographer.

New! The Travel Photographer's The Oracles Of Kerala™

I'm super excited to have set up the The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™, an opportunity to document two of Kerala's most unusual religious and ancient festivals, as well as its ancient dance-drama and Vedic chanting tradition.

It promises to be a multi-layered unique experience, merging travel photography and documentary photography styles, documenting unusual festivals of religious pageantry with decorated elephants accompanied by dancers and drummers, while the other involves Velichapadus (oracles), who enter into trances and offer blood to deities, as well as street photography in the old city of Kochi, a Kathakali performance (including pre-performance sessions), and documenting a Vedic school.

This photo~expedition/workshop is limited to 7 participants, and has already been pre-announced to my newsletter subscribers (to which you can subscribe via the box at the right side of this blog).

As with many of The Travel Photographer's Photo~Expeditions™, it's specifically structured for photographers interested in documentary photography, ethno-photography and multimedia, and who seek to take their creativity to a new level by creating multimedia stories from their inventory of photographs.

I'm in the process of reviewing the applications/registrations that have come in from the subscribers.

And speaking of travel photography meets documentary photography, have a look at my To Stage Or Not To Stage post, which elicited a lot of reactions from my readers and Twitter followers.

Stefen Chow: The Hasidim

Stefen Chow is a photographer currently living between Beijing and Singapore. He worked with various news organizations, including Getty Images, Associated Press and Bloomberg News, as well as commercial clients such as Keppel Corporation, Singapore Airlines and Shell International. Not content to have traveled to over 30 countries, Stefen also summitted Mount Everest in 2005.

His website is full of visually varied photo galleries and I thought his most interesting were those of his personal work. For those who are adventurers, I recommend you view his work of Chomolungma (the Tibetan name of Mount Everest). and for those interested in culture to spend time viewing his large photographs of the Hasidim in Brooklyn, New York.

Hasidic Judaism is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularization Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith, and was founded in Eastern Europe in the 18th century. Brooklyn is home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel, with one of the largest concentrations of Jews in the United States.

Simon Norfolk: Afghanistan

"This current war is tragedy, is an imperial game, is a folly...

Following the welcome demise of Bin Laden, I thought it timely to feature photographs or a multimedia essay on Afghanistan. I didn't want it to be of the conflict, or some other cliches, so this short movie on Simon Norfolk's Afghanistan project seemed much more appropriate.

In October 2010, Simon Norfolk began a photo series of Afghanistan, influenced by the work of 19th-century British photographer John Burke. Norfolk’s photographs of "modern" Kabul is presented along with Burke’s original portfolios.

Norfolk is critical of the Afghanistan war and of journalists who report from the safety of armored compounds, and especially of photographers who travel around Kabul with a security details. He was told on his arrival that he couldn't photograph freely in Kabul except with bodyguards, but he did.

The accompanying audio is really wonderful. The Afghan music and songs are hauntingly beautiful, and the call to prayer (towards the end of the piece) accompanied by pictures of Kabul at dawn may give you goosebumps.

A welcome change from the depressingly unimaginative photojournalism work we see out of Afghanistan.

Veejay Villafranca: Fate Above Faith

Vicente Jaime “Veejay” Villafranca is a photojournalist from the Philippines, who worked with Agence France Presse, Reuters, World Picture Network and the United Nations IRIN news wire. He was of the 7 Filipinos to be accepted in the first Asian documentary workshop of the Angkor photography festival in Siem Reap, Cambodia. His project on former gang members won the 2008 Ian Parry Scholarship. His work has been shown in London, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Phnom Pehn, France, Turkey and Manila. He is represented by Getty Global Assignments in London and Melon Rouge in Cambodia.

I particularly liked Veejay's powerful photo essay Fate Above Faith, which documents the faith of half a million people who seek to show their faith in the streets of downtown Manila by venerating the 400-year old relic of the Black Nazarene, which is a life-sized, dark-colored, wooden sculpture of Jesus Christ, and considered miraculous by many Filipino devotees. During this event, the devotees are overwhelmed by their faith and barefooted and dressed in the devotional colors of maroon and gold, surround the relic's carriage, pulling and tugging at the cordon ropes.

Equally impressive is Veejay's photo essay on the Badjao, the indigenous people of the seas who settled on the coasts of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga in the southern part of the Philippines.

fantastic world travel