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9 Ekim 2012 Salı

POV: Highlights Of Vietnam's Photo-Expedition/Workshop

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Looking back at my recently completed my Vietnam: North of the 16th Parallel Photo Expedition/Workshop, here are my main favorite photographic experiences.

But before listing them, let me make the point that it's the people one meets on such trips that make them memorable. In my case, it was spending a few hours listening to Mr Dao's life story in Hoi An, with Mr Nguyen Bao in Hanoi and with Mamei near Sapa.

1. Street Photography in Hanoi:

Hanoi is a dream come true for street photographers. Its residents virtually live their lives in the streets...conducting their daily routine in the open, eating and interacting with each other in the open. This obviously gives rise in innumerable opportunities for amusing and ironic life vignettes. I could easily spend days upon days wandering Hanoi's streets and alleys; especially those of the Old Quarter.

Actually, street shooting in all the cities and towns on the itinerary was the highlight of the trip. Whether it was Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An...walking in the streets with a camera in hand is just a sublime experience for those who like this style of candid photography like I do. The only problem? Too many scooters parked on the sidewalks!

2. Cao Ä�Ã i in Hue:

Driving into Hue from Da Nang, I had noticed an unusually looking structure and saw a sign that proclaimed it to be a Cao Ä�Ã i temple. I just could not let this opportunity go by, especially as I thought the only temple was in Vietnam's delta. Following telephone calls and my visit with Maika Elan, we secured the approval of the head priest to photograph its daily prayers. I can't emphasize enough how gracious and welcoming the congregation was...despite our many faux-pas during their prayer ritual.

This was a big deal for me as I always wanted to witness the rituals of this new indigenous religious tradition.

3. Model Photo Shoot in Hoi An:

Many of the walls of Hoi An are painted yellow-ochre, which symbolizes wealth. The town is a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port of the 15th to 19th centuries, and is a delight to walk through. With Maika, I set up a photo shoot with one of her acquaintances who posed for us along one of its photogenic streets.

I'm not a fan of frozen and posed portraits, but the exercise in itself is both fun and educational. The best for me was to capture unposed moments such as this one when a child looked out of a window while the model adjusted her ao dai.

4. The Hilltribes of Sapa & Bac Ha:

I greatly enjoyed wandering in the markets of Sa Pa and Bac Ha...especially the latter where the Hmong and Dzao, and a handful from over 10 other tribes, attend Bac Ha's famous Sunday market to buy, sell, barter and eat. I'm still scratching my head as to the genetic mystery behind this Hmong child's blond hair.

I wandered in these markets for hours...occasionally using my Canon 5D Mark II, but relying more on my Fuji X Pro-1 in my street photography style...shooting from the hip to capture as much candor in my photographs as possible.

An audio-slideshow was born from these wanderings, and can be viewed on my Vimeo page.

5. Halong Bay:

Being cooped up on a boat...even for 24 hours...and even if it's a luxury cruise...is not my kind of thing. However, I must agree that Halong Bay is visually gorgeous, and amply deserves its World Heritage listing. I only include it as a highlight because its land-seascape is beautiful.

As I wrote elsewhere, I included this 24 hours cruise on our itinerary in the hope that the group participants would use the time to complete their audio slideshow projects. Some did and others didn't.

6. Vietnamese Buddhist Funeral:

On the way back to Hanoi from Halong Bay, we encountered a funeral. Both Maika and I went ahead to seek permission from the family to attend it and to photograph the rituals. I wasn't optimistic, but the head of the family readily agreed provided I lit an incense stick and presented my respects to the memory of the deceased. This I did, and planted the stick at the shrine. The deceased was born in 1925, and his name was Cu Pham Van Bao.

I was invited to drink green tea, and sat amongst the head table along with our host. The funeral rite is called le dua tang, and some of the mourners (presumably close relatives and families) wore coarse veils of gauze.

Being allowed into their midst at a time of sorrow by these Vietnamese mourners is a testament to their graciousness and kindness.

7. Catru: Vietnamese Religious Music:

We attended a Catru concert held at an old building in the heart of Hanoi's Old Quarter. High-brow and very traditional, this musical genre was already played during the 15th century during ceremonies at the Vietnamese court, but during the 1950s fell in disrepute due to its association with opium and similar nefarious activities.

The musician/singer in the above photograph is Ms Pham Thi Hue, a famous practitioner of this art form, who performed beautiful musical pieces during the hour-long session.

8. The Vee Sign:

Perhaps it's moving from the high brow (above) to a low brow topic, but many people hate the V-sign that Asians seem to do when being photographed. The V-sign was flashed as soon as young Vietnamese women asked me to take their pictures while celebrating the pre-Lunar festivities in Hanoi streets. They also did it when they posed for photographs with me. Not only are the Vietnamese youths camera-friendly (very friendly!) but they also know cameras. I was frequently stopped and asked about the X Pro-1 and the M9...but not once about the 5D II which many of them already have.

But I got used to the V-sign, and always expected it...I won't go so far as to say it's charming, but it certainly was part of the scene all around me when photographing the celebratory activities where I call the "street of the gaudy decorations". I got different interpretations for it. Some said it was a way to say "Hi"...and others said it was the peace sign.

9. Meeting A Vietnamese Star:

Ms NgÃ´ Thanh VÃ¢n is a top Vietnamese actress, and was filming a movie in Hoi An. It's by total serendipity that we saw her. Very approachable, she was charming and we exchanged a few words. NTV (as she's known in Vietnam) asked me where I was from, and what was I doing in Hoi An.

I naturally took as many photographs as I could of her on the set without interfering with the going-ons.

If this brief encounter is not a highlight, I don't know what is.

The Travel Photographer's Vietnam Daguerreotypes

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Here's the second of my Vietnam-related projects following my recent photo expedition-workshop....Vietnam In Daguerreotypes. This one is a gallery of stills, modified with Alien Skin Software to look like daguerreotypes. I recently installed the software and I'm amazed at its versatility and range of options.

I expect processing photographs with this software comes with some destructive element to it, but according to my very brief research, there are web tutorials that show you how to process photographs and keep their integrity intact.

The photographs were made with a Canon 5D Mark II (mostly with a 17-40mm), a Leica M9 (with a 40mm Voigtlander f1.4) and the Fuji X Pro-1 (18mm f2.8 XF Fujinon).

Very labor-intensive, the (real) daguerreotype is a direct-positive process, creating a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of a negative. Exposure times for the earliest daguerreotypes ranged from three to fifteen minutes, making the process nearly impractical for portraiture. Modifications to the sensitization process coupled with the improvement of photographic lenses soon reduced the exposure time to less than a minute.

In comparison, the processing of a still photograph using the Alien Skin Software takes less than a minute, if that.

My first Vietnam project is an audio-slideshow titled Hill Tribes In The Mist, which is on my Vimeo Channel.

In Brief: The Fuji X Pro-1 In Vietnam

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There's no question in my mind that I am very fond of my Fuji X Pro-1 and satisfied with its performance, as I've used it quite a lot during my just completed Vietnam Photo Expedition-Workshop, especially in situations which warranted candid photography (aka shooting from the hip, for me) such as during the crowded Sunday market in Bac Ha.

Many photographs on my recently completed audio slideshow Hill Tribes In The Mist and The Indigo People were made with the X Pro-1...and I'm quite happy at the results.

However, not all is rosy. While viewing some of my image files at the market, I noticed that perhaps 50 or so of my images (out of probably 1000) were really blurry. Since these images were consecutive on the "roll", it meant I made an error and it happened accidentally.

I can't recall now how I rectified this, but I think it was by reverting the focus mode lever to Single AF which had somehow slipped to Continuous. Being on the latter setting meant that the camera's focus was continually adjusted according to the scene, and with the constant movement of people in front of the lens, it may have been this that resulted in blurry images...remember, I shoot from the hip (or from the waist).

Not good that. And irritating.

The other issues I have with the X Pro-1 are these: the Exposure Compensation Dial and the lens aperture ring can easily and inadvertently be knocked off my preferred settings without me noticing it until I look at the LCD monitor and view my images. By that time, I've missed my shots.

My Preferred Settings (Aperture & Exp Comp Dial)

I suppose a piece of black tape would keep the focus mode lever and the Exposure Compensation dial where I like it. But I would've hoped that the Fuji engineers had made these less prone to inadvertent movement.

Another peeve: I carried three batteries, and inserting them the right way took some head scratching. Should they go in this way or that? An easy fix would be to use some nail polish to mark the batteries in a way that eliminates the guesswork.

This I can do.

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

NEW LINO SKETCHES FROM CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - September 2012

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Here are scans of the 11 lino sketches I produced while in Chiang Mai this past month. I only wish I had more time to add a few more images to this edition, there is definitely a couple of temples i visited with unique and special things i would have loved to have captured as images for a print. Guess there's always the next time. Now it's time to get started cutting and printing these guys.

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat ???

Wat Sri Suphan

Wat Phra Singh / Monks

Wat Phra Singh

Wat Sri Suphan / Buddha

Wat Taad Kham / Behind the Vihara

Wat Chiang Mun

Wat Pan Whaen

Wat Prasart / Buddha

Wat Taad Kham / Alter behind main Vihara

8 Ekim 2012 Pazartesi

POV: Highlights Of Vietnam's Photo-Expedition/Workshop

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POV: Avedon Would ROFL

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On my final full day in Hanoi, I walked over to Hoan Kiem lake with the intention of photographing people enjoying this popular and scenic area, and came across a group of young photographers (seemingly all hobbyists) surrounding the woman seen in the above photograph. After a few words of halting English, I understood they were members of a photo club or group, who were photographing one of their friends...perhaps as an assignment or just for fun.

I asked her (and her friends) if I could also take a picture, and they all readily agreed. Using my M9 with a Voigtlander 40mm set at f 1.4 to enhance the bokeh, I made a few frames and left.

A few days later, I posted the photograph on my Facebook page with this lighthearted title: "Here's My Future Career Plan: Hang A Shingle In Hanoi's Hoan Kiem Lake....And Photograph The Pretty Ladies."

In fact, I had seen a number of local professional photographers taking pictures of people with Hoan Kiem lake as backdrop...and wondered how they made a living, now that almost everyone had a digital camera of some sort.

Whilst some two dozen FB friends liked the photograph and commented on my post, two seemed to have been offended by it, and left comments which, in essence, criticized it because it "sexualized women".

Yes, I kid you not. A lighthearted post...self-deprecating perhaps...leads two of FB friends to accuse me of sexualizing women. Of course, once I asked them to remove their comments, they claimed they were being lighthearted as well. Sure they were.

Brilliant intellect it's not of course...but this is where we are. We give ourselves the right of interpreting and criticizing other people's intentions and actions (even if we don't know them personally).

I take a walk in Hanoi, take a picture or two of a woman (only after her permission, as well as that of her friends), write a lighthearted post of the experience...and I get a couple of cheap and vulgar shots in return.

I wonder what would Avedon have said in reply to these puerile comments...how would David Bailey have reacted if these two had said the same about his portraits of Jean Shrimpton? I'm hardly comparing myself to these two giants of fashion photography...but the fact remains that they are men making photographs of beautiful women. Is that the problem?

In any event, the silly comments were quickly removed by their authors...but I urge everyone who's on Facebook (or any other social media) not to ignore comments that may impugn their reputation...comments that are made intentionally or innocently and especially if, as they said, the comments were made"in a lighthearted way".

Don't let it go...ever!