29 Kasım 2012 Perşembe

The Travel Photographer's Blog Gets A Facelift

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Yes, The Travel Photographer's Blog does seem different today.

Following a coding issue that prevented some external links in some of my posts from opening, I amended its original template to what you see here.

I hope the new font provides better legibility, and that the color combination of red, white and grey along with wider margins makes for an improved layout aesthetic. I've tested it in various browsers; Opera, Firefox, Safari and Chrome...and they all behaved well. It works particularly well on large displays, but perhaps looks a bit cramped on smaller laptop screens. It works well on the iPad and with iOS6.

Well, maybe facelift is a bit much to describe what I've done...the British have a better expression for it. Let's just say I've just tarted up the blog a bit.

I hope you like it.

The Travel Photographer's Sufi Saints Expedition-Workshop

To contact us Click HERE

I know...the wait is excruciating...but it'll be worth it. It's only a matter of days and details will be announced to my newsletter subscribers and on this blog.

This, as with my previous photo expeditions-workshops, is photo-journalism and travel-documentary oriented, will largely focus on story-telling, and on how to produce audio slideshows rivaling in quality and content more elaborate multimedia productions.

In the meantime, click the image for a larger poster image. I think it's really cool.

PS. I just realized that the last 3 posts are titled 'The Travel Photographer's...'. Self-centered or building anticipation?

The Frame's Pushkar Fair

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh-All Rights Reserved

The Sacramento Bee's photo blog The Frame is featuring some 27 images of the Pushkar Fair, which started Wednesday, November 21 2012.

According to The Times of India, it kicked off "amid colorful celebrations and enthusiastic participation of foreign tourists"  and its first day highlight was a soccer match between local and tourists. This annual five-day camel and livestock fair is supposedly one of the world's largest camel fairs and has become an important tourist attraction.

You can see where I'm going with this. The Pushkar Fair, once a visually compelling event for photographers, has become a tourist attraction with all the negatives that such a description entails.

I've written up a post about the demise of the fair from a photographer's perspective in February 2007 (almost 6 years ago) saying this:

"It's absolute nonsense for serious photographers to time their stay in the town of Pushkar at the peak of the fair because it'll be full of tourists, the real camel trading occurs almost a week before the fair's announced schedule, hotels are more expensive at the height of the fair, and so on. If the idea of photographing a solitary dopey camel trader left with his final unsold scrawny camel (not to mention the gaggle of tourist-photographers who invariably will intrude in your viewfinder) excites you, go right ahead."
It seems it's gotten even worse. I haven't researched if there are any serious photo tours to Pushkar this year, but I suspect if there are any, they are very few.

Kiliii Fish: Native

To contact us Click HERE


I stumbled on the lovely NATIVE project; sepia portraits of modern indigenous people photographed by Kiliii Fish in Alaska, Oregon and elsewhere around the North Pacific rim.

Kiliii Fish is a photographer with ancestry spanning from China to Siberia, who grew up in the United States. His work consists of still photography and cinematography for portraits and for the sports/adventure. He also works with non-profits on issues from indigenous rights to environmental justice.

Photo © Kiliii Fish-All Rights Reserved


FIRST 3 LINO'S FROM CHIANG MAI TRIP

To contact us Click HERE
These are the first 3 lino's I've cut and printed based on the sketches from my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand as part of the group Volunteer Positive. (And one linocut from my friend Phra Kritsada Prueprong) The first 2.5 weeks was spent in service which afforded me very little time to actually draw on my own, most of the prints from the full series were sketched out on my last week in Chiang Mai. The only 1 of these 3 lino's that was sketched during my actual service is the Elephant sketches print. We spent an afternoon at the BAAN CHANG ELEPHANT PARK in Chiang Mai where after a educational introduction to the Asian Elephants in residence we had lunch and a few minutes to digest our food before the 2-hour trek we were about tro partake in. Having not had much opportunity to do any prior sketch work, I had the foresight to bring along a few pieces of pre-cut lino and stole away for 20 minutes after lunch and did these sketches. Let it be known, elephants do not stand still, ever. It was a challenge to get a complete sketch, which explains why there are so many partial elephants in this print.

The print of the Monk is in fact a dear friend I made while in Chiang Mai. He is a 20 year old Monk named Phra Kritsada Prueprong originally from a village outside of Chiang Mai in Loei province. We were paired up as part of something called "Monk Chat" which is an event that creates the opportunity for local monks to practice their conversational skills with English speaking foreigners. On this particular morning, Kritsada and I took a tour of a few of the local temples and I decided that since he would share with me, I would share with him by having us both work on a lino sketch. I offered to take his drawing back to NYC with me where i would cut it out and print it for him. I had no idea that he could actually draw and was quite talented. It turned out to be an incredible opportunity for the both of us.

The print of the banners was from Wat Phrasingh in Chiang Mai. I'm not sure of the exact purpose of the banners, but if you look carefully, you will see representation of 3 Birth Year Animals. As there were many more banners there, I assume that's what they were there to represent.
SKETCH OF ELEPHANTS ON LINO


PARTIALLY CARVED LINO


INKED LINO



FINAL PRINT



PORTRAIT OF "DAVID" - BY KRITSADA PRUEPRONG


PORTRAIT OF KRITSADA - BY DAVID BERUBE


WAT PHRASINGH - CUT LINO



WAT PHRASINGH - FINAL PRINT

28 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba

The Travel Photographer's Sufi Saints Expedition-Workshop

To contact us Click HERE

I know...the wait is excruciating...but it'll be worth it. It's only a matter of days and details will be announced to my newsletter subscribers and on this blog.

This, as with my previous photo expeditions-workshops, is photo-journalism and travel-documentary oriented, will largely focus on story-telling, and on how to produce audio slideshows rivaling in quality and content more elaborate multimedia productions.

In the meantime, click the image for a larger poster image. I think it's really cool.

PS. I just realized that the last 3 posts are titled 'The Travel Photographer's...'. Self-centered or building anticipation?

The Frame's Pushkar Fair

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh-All Rights Reserved

The Sacramento Bee's photo blog The Frame is featuring some 27 images of the Pushkar Fair, which started Wednesday, November 21 2012.

According to The Times of India, it kicked off "amid colorful celebrations and enthusiastic participation of foreign tourists"  and its first day highlight was a soccer match between local and tourists. This annual five-day camel and livestock fair is supposedly one of the world's largest camel fairs and has become an important tourist attraction.

You can see where I'm going with this. The Pushkar Fair, once a visually compelling event for photographers, has become a tourist attraction with all the negatives that such a description entails.

I've written up a post about the demise of the fair from a photographer's perspective in February 2007 (almost 6 years ago) saying this:

"It's absolute nonsense for serious photographers to time their stay in the town of Pushkar at the peak of the fair because it'll be full of tourists, the real camel trading occurs almost a week before the fair's announced schedule, hotels are more expensive at the height of the fair, and so on. If the idea of photographing a solitary dopey camel trader left with his final unsold scrawny camel (not to mention the gaggle of tourist-photographers who invariably will intrude in your viewfinder) excites you, go right ahead."
It seems it's gotten even worse. I haven't researched if there are any serious photo tours to Pushkar this year, but I suspect if there are any, they are very few.

Subscribe to The Travel Photographer ©2012 Tewfic El-Sawy

Captain Tristram Speedy: Travel Photography At Bonhams

To contact us Click HERE


Why would I mention Bonhams, an auction house, on The Travel Photographer's blog?

Well, it's because Bonhams is holding an auction of a rare photographic album of 180 Ethiopian images by Julia Margaret Cameron, Felice Beato and others. These images include a number of self portraits of Captain Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy(1836-1910), a well-known English explorer and adventurer during the Victorian era, who was also known by his Amharic name 'Báshá Félíka'.

He was a fascinating character who was an Indiana Jones of his time, with a long association with India, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Born in Meerut (India), Captain Speedy was a red-haired bearded man 6'5" tall, who learned to speak Amharic, adopted Ethiopian native dress, and was photographed by Cameron in various guises such as a Bedouin chief, a Nubian chief, a Nubian warrior and much more. He was the inspiration for a number of popular books.

I am enormously interested in news like that because it merges history, Africa, Asia, adventurism, exploration and photography. Despite my abhorrence of colonialism, I consider men such as Richard Francis Burton and now, Tristram, as quintessential eccentric explorers, as orientalists and ethnologists, and as remarkable linguists with an extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures.

They just don't make men that way anymore.

For those who don't know Julia Margaret Cameron: she was a British photographer born in Calcutta, known for her portraits of celebrities of the time. Her photographic career was short, spanning eleven years of her life (1864–1875), and got her first camera when she was 48 as a gift from her daughter.

As for Felice Beato (1832-1909), he was an Italian–British photographer, and one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. His work provides images of such events as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Second Opium War.

The Heavens Atheist Gospel Trombone Choir @ Joe's Pub 10/16/12

To contact us Click HERE
Jacob made a new CD where he's playing all of the trombone parts - dubbing himself in.  Since he couldn't play all the parts live, he put together this great ensemble for the gig.  There will be at least a couple more opportunities to catch it.  I was psyched to see Kenny Wolleson at the drumkit in addition to 5 trombones that included Curtis Hasselbring and Josh Roseman and Brian Drye on baritone horn and trombone.  The listing below says Curtis Fowlkes but I don't think he was there that night.  It was great and a lot of fun.

Show Description

Celebrating the release of The Heavens: The Atheist Gospel Trombone Choir: seven of NYC's most soul-stirring trombone players gather for an astonishing testament to the power of reason. Playing music from the album as well as arrangements of classic tunes by the Famous Blue Jay Singers, Madison's Lively Stones, and the Mississippi Nightingales. with 
Jacob Garchik - lead trombone, compositions; 
Josh Roseman, 
Curtis Hasselbring, 
Jason Jackson, 
Curtis Fowlkes - trombones; 
Brian Drye - baritone horn; 
Joe Daley - sousaphone; 
Kenny Wolleson - drums

http://www.jacobgarchik.com/theheavens.html
From the mind of Jacob Garchik comes an astonishing and astounding testament to the power of reason. A nine part suite for trombone choir, the record features up to eight trombones, two baritones, two sousaphones, and a cameo by a pint-sized-sounding slide trumpet. All of the parts were recorded by Garchik in his Brooklyn home studio.

FIRST 3 LINO'S FROM CHIANG MAI TRIP

To contact us Click HERE
These are the first 3 lino's I've cut and printed based on the sketches from my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand as part of the group Volunteer Positive. (And one linocut from my friend Phra Kritsada Prueprong) The first 2.5 weeks was spent in service which afforded me very little time to actually draw on my own, most of the prints from the full series were sketched out on my last week in Chiang Mai. The only 1 of these 3 lino's that was sketched during my actual service is the Elephant sketches print. We spent an afternoon at the BAAN CHANG ELEPHANT PARK in Chiang Mai where after a educational introduction to the Asian Elephants in residence we had lunch and a few minutes to digest our food before the 2-hour trek we were about tro partake in. Having not had much opportunity to do any prior sketch work, I had the foresight to bring along a few pieces of pre-cut lino and stole away for 20 minutes after lunch and did these sketches. Let it be known, elephants do not stand still, ever. It was a challenge to get a complete sketch, which explains why there are so many partial elephants in this print.

The print of the Monk is in fact a dear friend I made while in Chiang Mai. He is a 20 year old Monk named Phra Kritsada Prueprong originally from a village outside of Chiang Mai in Loei province. We were paired up as part of something called "Monk Chat" which is an event that creates the opportunity for local monks to practice their conversational skills with English speaking foreigners. On this particular morning, Kritsada and I took a tour of a few of the local temples and I decided that since he would share with me, I would share with him by having us both work on a lino sketch. I offered to take his drawing back to NYC with me where i would cut it out and print it for him. I had no idea that he could actually draw and was quite talented. It turned out to be an incredible opportunity for the both of us.

The print of the banners was from Wat Phrasingh in Chiang Mai. I'm not sure of the exact purpose of the banners, but if you look carefully, you will see representation of 3 Birth Year Animals. As there were many more banners there, I assume that's what they were there to represent.
SKETCH OF ELEPHANTS ON LINO


PARTIALLY CARVED LINO


INKED LINO



FINAL PRINT



PORTRAIT OF "DAVID" - BY KRITSADA PRUEPRONG


PORTRAIT OF KRITSADA - BY DAVID BERUBE


WAT PHRASINGH - CUT LINO



WAT PHRASINGH - FINAL PRINT

27 Kasım 2012 Salı

The Frame's Pushkar Fair

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh-All Rights Reserved

The Sacramento Bee's photo blog The Frame is featuring some 27 images of the Pushkar Fair, which started Wednesday, November 21 2012.

According to The Times of India, it kicked off "amid colorful celebrations and enthusiastic participation of foreign tourists"  and its first day highlight was a soccer match between local and tourists. This annual five-day camel and livestock fair is supposedly one of the world's largest camel fairs and has become an important tourist attraction.

You can see where I'm going with this. The Pushkar Fair, once a visually compelling event for photographers, has become a tourist attraction with all the negatives that such a description entails.

I've written up a post about the demise of the fair from a photographer's perspective in February 2007 (almost 6 years ago) saying this:

"It's absolute nonsense for serious photographers to time their stay in the town of Pushkar at the peak of the fair because it'll be full of tourists, the real camel trading occurs almost a week before the fair's announced schedule, hotels are more expensive at the height of the fair, and so on. If the idea of photographing a solitary dopey camel trader left with his final unsold scrawny camel (not to mention the gaggle of tourist-photographers who invariably will intrude in your viewfinder) excites you, go right ahead."
It seems it's gotten even worse. I haven't researched if there are any serious photo tours to Pushkar this year, but I suspect if there are any, they are very few.

POV: The Facebook © Kerfuffle

To contact us Click HERE
I'm not a lawyer, but in my previous career incarnation I had to peruse, study and negotiate many complex legal documents...so the recent kerfuffle with many photographers posting some legalese jargon on their Facebook pages prompted me to reread its Terms of Service.

But first, here's what the photographers in my network of friends posted on their walls. Simply stated, this means that everything on their pages is copyrighted and cannot be used by Facebook et al.
In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, writing - published and unpublished, personal/professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berne Convention).For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times! (Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws. By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook's direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates...
Well, while it may look impressive, it's utterly useless. 

First and foremost, creators always own their intellectual property and posting it on Facebook won't change that. What is at stake is that Facebook, according to its terms of service, is granted a license by users to use it and display it. If you use Facebook, that's what you agreed to upfront...but it doesn't mean your copyright is at risk.

Facebook is very specific about this:
You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition: For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.
However, if posting some legal mishmash on your Facebook gives you comfort, go ahead cut and paste it.

Facebook users must realize there are no free lunches. The social network is a business and seeks to generate profits for its shareholders. People who are serious about privacy issues, their name and brand ought to be careful and choosy about what they post on Facebook, while others go further and use their walls on their own terms; only sharing information they want to share for good and valid reasons.



FIRST 3 LINO'S FROM CHIANG MAI TRIP

To contact us Click HERE
These are the first 3 lino's I've cut and printed based on the sketches from my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand as part of the group Volunteer Positive. (And one linocut from my friend Phra Kritsada Prueprong) The first 2.5 weeks was spent in service which afforded me very little time to actually draw on my own, most of the prints from the full series were sketched out on my last week in Chiang Mai. The only 1 of these 3 lino's that was sketched during my actual service is the Elephant sketches print. We spent an afternoon at the BAAN CHANG ELEPHANT PARK in Chiang Mai where after a educational introduction to the Asian Elephants in residence we had lunch and a few minutes to digest our food before the 2-hour trek we were about tro partake in. Having not had much opportunity to do any prior sketch work, I had the foresight to bring along a few pieces of pre-cut lino and stole away for 20 minutes after lunch and did these sketches. Let it be known, elephants do not stand still, ever. It was a challenge to get a complete sketch, which explains why there are so many partial elephants in this print.

The print of the Monk is in fact a dear friend I made while in Chiang Mai. He is a 20 year old Monk named Phra Kritsada Prueprong originally from a village outside of Chiang Mai in Loei province. We were paired up as part of something called "Monk Chat" which is an event that creates the opportunity for local monks to practice their conversational skills with English speaking foreigners. On this particular morning, Kritsada and I took a tour of a few of the local temples and I decided that since he would share with me, I would share with him by having us both work on a lino sketch. I offered to take his drawing back to NYC with me where i would cut it out and print it for him. I had no idea that he could actually draw and was quite talented. It turned out to be an incredible opportunity for the both of us.

The print of the banners was from Wat Phrasingh in Chiang Mai. I'm not sure of the exact purpose of the banners, but if you look carefully, you will see representation of 3 Birth Year Animals. As there were many more banners there, I assume that's what they were there to represent.
SKETCH OF ELEPHANTS ON LINO


PARTIALLY CARVED LINO


INKED LINO



FINAL PRINT



PORTRAIT OF "DAVID" - BY KRITSADA PRUEPRONG


PORTRAIT OF KRITSADA - BY DAVID BERUBE


WAT PHRASINGH - CUT LINO



WAT PHRASINGH - FINAL PRINT

The Heavens Atheist Gospel Trombone Choir @ Joe's Pub 10/16/12

To contact us Click HERE
Jacob made a new CD where he's playing all of the trombone parts - dubbing himself in.  Since he couldn't play all the parts live, he put together this great ensemble for the gig.  There will be at least a couple more opportunities to catch it.  I was psyched to see Kenny Wolleson at the drumkit in addition to 5 trombones that included Curtis Hasselbring and Josh Roseman and Brian Drye on baritone horn and trombone.  The listing below says Curtis Fowlkes but I don't think he was there that night.  It was great and a lot of fun.

Show Description

Celebrating the release of The Heavens: The Atheist Gospel Trombone Choir: seven of NYC's most soul-stirring trombone players gather for an astonishing testament to the power of reason. Playing music from the album as well as arrangements of classic tunes by the Famous Blue Jay Singers, Madison's Lively Stones, and the Mississippi Nightingales. with 
Jacob Garchik - lead trombone, compositions; 
Josh Roseman, 
Curtis Hasselbring, 
Jason Jackson, 
Curtis Fowlkes - trombones; 
Brian Drye - baritone horn; 
Joe Daley - sousaphone; 
Kenny Wolleson - drums

http://www.jacobgarchik.com/theheavens.html
From the mind of Jacob Garchik comes an astonishing and astounding testament to the power of reason. A nine part suite for trombone choir, the record features up to eight trombones, two baritones, two sousaphones, and a cameo by a pint-sized-sounding slide trumpet. All of the parts were recorded by Garchik in his Brooklyn home studio.

Boutique Hotels New York Ny

To contact us Click HERE


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26 Kasım 2012 Pazartesi

The Travel Photographer's Hanoi iPhoneography

To contact us Click HERE


Stephen Mayes, a director at the VII photo agency, recently made a splash in the blogosphere with an interesting interview featured on WIRED's Raw File blog, in which he expressed his view that mobile phone photography is a "pure implementation of the digital phenomenon", and that images made with these devices were not documents as such but rather a stream, or waves of visuals.

He also raised the point that the popularity of these images and the apps that make them are about a nostalgia for the past.

Although I am on Instagram, and use it and other apps quite frequently with my iPhone, I have yet to join the streaming aspect of it, preferring to take my time in sharing the images when I choose to, rather than joining the torrent. This will probably change once I figure out how to have two accounts on Instagram; one for my personal stuff and the other for my travel documentary photography.

That said, one needs to be careful with wily-nilly streaming, because the quality (or lack thereof) of the mobile images affects one's branding and reputation.

Whilst I grapple with this thought, you may want to sit back and get a feel of Hanoi's street life via my iPhone photography. 

The Travel Photographer's Blog Gets A Facelift

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Yes, The Travel Photographer's Blog does seem different today.

Following a coding issue that prevented some external links in some of my posts from opening, I amended its original template to what you see here.

I hope the new font provides better legibility, and that the color combination of red, white and grey along with wider margins makes for an improved layout aesthetic. I've tested it in various browsers; Opera, Firefox, Safari and Chrome...and they all behaved well. It works particularly well on large displays, but perhaps looks a bit cramped on smaller laptop screens. It works well on the iPad and with iOS6.

Well, maybe facelift is a bit much to describe what I've done...the British have a better expression for it. Let's just say I've just tarted up the blog a bit.

I hope you like it.

The Travel Photographer's Sufi Saints Expedition-Workshop

To contact us Click HERE

I know...the wait is excruciating...but it'll be worth it. It's only a matter of days and details will be announced to my newsletter subscribers and on this blog.

This, as with my previous photo expeditions-workshops, is photo-journalism and travel-documentary oriented, will largely focus on story-telling, and on how to produce audio slideshows rivaling in quality and content more elaborate multimedia productions.

In the meantime, click the image for a larger poster image. I think it's really cool.

PS. I just realized that the last 3 posts are titled 'The Travel Photographer's...'. Self-centered or building anticipation?

The Frame's Pushkar Fair

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh-All Rights Reserved

The Sacramento Bee's photo blog The Frame is featuring some 27 images of the Pushkar Fair, which started Wednesday, November 21 2012.

According to The Times of India, it kicked off "amid colorful celebrations and enthusiastic participation of foreign tourists"  and its first day highlight was a soccer match between local and tourists. This annual five-day camel and livestock fair is supposedly one of the world's largest camel fairs and has become an important tourist attraction.

You can see where I'm going with this. The Pushkar Fair, once a visually compelling event for photographers, has become a tourist attraction with all the negatives that such a description entails.

I've written up a post about the demise of the fair from a photographer's perspective in February 2007 (almost 6 years ago) saying this:

"It's absolute nonsense for serious photographers to time their stay in the town of Pushkar at the peak of the fair because it'll be full of tourists, the real camel trading occurs almost a week before the fair's announced schedule, hotels are more expensive at the height of the fair, and so on. If the idea of photographing a solitary dopey camel trader left with his final unsold scrawny camel (not to mention the gaggle of tourist-photographers who invariably will intrude in your viewfinder) excites you, go right ahead."
It seems it's gotten even worse. I haven't researched if there are any serious photo tours to Pushkar this year, but I suspect if there are any, they are very few.

Antonio Gibotta: Holi

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © Antonio Gibotta-All Rights Reserved

In contrast with the currently underway Pushkar fair whose authenticity is marred by its popularity amongst foreign tourists; a topic I posted about a few days ago, Holi festival is one event I encourage most photographers to attend despite the potential damage to one's cameras from the dyed water and powder that is thrown during it. It's one of the events still outstanding on my list of Indian religious festivals, and it's one I blogged about repeatedly.

Today I add another Holi photo gallery by Italian photographer Antonio Gibotta.

Like his father, Antonio became a photographer and specializes in human and social issues. His international photo galleries include work from India, China, and Africa. Browse through his website, and don't miss his lovely black & white work from Kashmir. He won a number of recognitions and awards from international publications and contests.

25 Kasım 2012 Pazar

The Travel Photographer's Blog Gets A Facelift

To contact us Click HERE
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Yes, The Travel Photographer's Blog does seem different today.

Following a coding issue that prevented some external links in some of my posts from opening, I amended its original template to what you see here.

I hope the new font provides better legibility, and that the color combination of red, white and grey along with wider margins makes for an improved layout aesthetic. I've tested it in various browsers; Opera, Firefox, Safari and Chrome...and they all behaved well. It works particularly well on large displays, but perhaps looks a bit cramped on smaller laptop screens. It works well on the iPad and with iOS6.

Well, maybe facelift is a bit much to describe what I've done...the British have a better expression for it. Let's just say I've just tarted up the blog a bit.

I hope you like it.

The Travel Photographer's Sufi Saints Expedition-Workshop

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I know...the wait is excruciating...but it'll be worth it. It's only a matter of days and details will be announced to my newsletter subscribers and on this blog.

This, as with my previous photo expeditions-workshops, is photo-journalism and travel-documentary oriented, will largely focus on story-telling, and on how to produce audio slideshows rivaling in quality and content more elaborate multimedia productions.

In the meantime, click the image for a larger poster image. I think it's really cool.

PS. I just realized that the last 3 posts are titled 'The Travel Photographer's...'. Self-centered or building anticipation?

The Frame's Pushkar Fair

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Photo © AP / Rajesh Kumar Singh-All Rights Reserved

The Sacramento Bee's photo blog The Frame is featuring some 27 images of the Pushkar Fair, which started Wednesday, November 21 2012.

According to The Times of India, it kicked off "amid colorful celebrations and enthusiastic participation of foreign tourists"  and its first day highlight was a soccer match between local and tourists. This annual five-day camel and livestock fair is supposedly one of the world's largest camel fairs and has become an important tourist attraction.

You can see where I'm going with this. The Pushkar Fair, once a visually compelling event for photographers, has become a tourist attraction with all the negatives that such a description entails.

I've written up a post about the demise of the fair from a photographer's perspective in February 2007 (almost 6 years ago) saying this:

"It's absolute nonsense for serious photographers to time their stay in the town of Pushkar at the peak of the fair because it'll be full of tourists, the real camel trading occurs almost a week before the fair's announced schedule, hotels are more expensive at the height of the fair, and so on. If the idea of photographing a solitary dopey camel trader left with his final unsold scrawny camel (not to mention the gaggle of tourist-photographers who invariably will intrude in your viewfinder) excites you, go right ahead."
It seems it's gotten even worse. I haven't researched if there are any serious photo tours to Pushkar this year, but I suspect if there are any, they are very few.

FIRST 3 LINO'S FROM CHIANG MAI TRIP

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These are the first 3 lino's I've cut and printed based on the sketches from my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand as part of the group Volunteer Positive. (And one linocut from my friend Phra Kritsada Prueprong) The first 2.5 weeks was spent in service which afforded me very little time to actually draw on my own, most of the prints from the full series were sketched out on my last week in Chiang Mai. The only 1 of these 3 lino's that was sketched during my actual service is the Elephant sketches print. We spent an afternoon at the BAAN CHANG ELEPHANT PARK in Chiang Mai where after a educational introduction to the Asian Elephants in residence we had lunch and a few minutes to digest our food before the 2-hour trek we were about tro partake in. Having not had much opportunity to do any prior sketch work, I had the foresight to bring along a few pieces of pre-cut lino and stole away for 20 minutes after lunch and did these sketches. Let it be known, elephants do not stand still, ever. It was a challenge to get a complete sketch, which explains why there are so many partial elephants in this print.

The print of the Monk is in fact a dear friend I made while in Chiang Mai. He is a 20 year old Monk named Phra Kritsada Prueprong originally from a village outside of Chiang Mai in Loei province. We were paired up as part of something called "Monk Chat" which is an event that creates the opportunity for local monks to practice their conversational skills with English speaking foreigners. On this particular morning, Kritsada and I took a tour of a few of the local temples and I decided that since he would share with me, I would share with him by having us both work on a lino sketch. I offered to take his drawing back to NYC with me where i would cut it out and print it for him. I had no idea that he could actually draw and was quite talented. It turned out to be an incredible opportunity for the both of us.

The print of the banners was from Wat Phrasingh in Chiang Mai. I'm not sure of the exact purpose of the banners, but if you look carefully, you will see representation of 3 Birth Year Animals. As there were many more banners there, I assume that's what they were there to represent.
SKETCH OF ELEPHANTS ON LINO


PARTIALLY CARVED LINO


INKED LINO



FINAL PRINT



PORTRAIT OF "DAVID" - BY KRITSADA PRUEPRONG


PORTRAIT OF KRITSADA - BY DAVID BERUBE


WAT PHRASINGH - CUT LINO



WAT PHRASINGH - FINAL PRINT

I'm tired ... (a stream writing exercise)

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Today is the first day since the Blogathon started that I'm really tired. It's been a long week at work, and writing a post seems almost too laborious at this point. But instead of lying here on my bed staring at my computer with sheer exhaustion lingering in my eyes at 11pm on a Friday, I'm writing about it.

This is what the Blogathon taught me last year—no matter how tired you are, or if you think you have nothing to write about—that blog post needs to be published! No thinking, just writing. Even if you write about how tired you are, well that's something. And look, I just wrote one hundred words. They may not be the best one hundred words I've ever written, but I wrote them, and now my post is done. Exercise complete.

Photo: Juliane Riedl