Ethiopia's Nomad Warriors: Salgado

Photograph © Sebastião Salgado-All Rights Reserved
Rolling Stone magazine published black & white photographs of Ethiopia's Nomad Warriors by Sebastião Salgado. The tribes of the Omo Valley such as Hamer, Mursi and the Sumer are featured in this essay of images by a master photographer. In my view, the images are too small to appropriately convey these people's beauty and charisma, and I look forward to perhaps seeing them elsewhere.

A Sebastião Salgado quote that always stays with me:

"If you take a picture of a human that does not make him noble, there is no reason to take this picture. That is my way of seeing things."

For a sample of my own images of the Omo Valley tribes, go here.

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Kumari: Nepal's Living Goddess

Photograph © Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
I read on the National Geographic’s website that Nepal has just chosen a new Kumari, the living goddess, a few days ago. The Kumari is essentially Nepal’s virgin goddess, whose body houses the spirit of Taleju (an incarnation of Goddess Durga).

There are stringent rules for a girl to be chosen as a Kumari. She must belong to the Shakya clan (a community of goldsmiths), her family must be extremely pious Hindus, she must have 32 characteristics of physical perfection (including a set of 40 teeth), and she has to prove her fearlessness by spending a night in a dark room with decapitated carcasses.

The chosen Kumari will be taken away from her family (it’s a huge honor), declared a living goddess, and installed in her royal chambers. She will not talk to ordinary mortals, her feet won’t touch the ground and she won’t venture out of her palace more than a handful of times a year. She loses her status with the onset of puberty, and returns to her family.

To me, taking a child away from his or her parents is cruel, but I can't judge whether the Kumari tradition constitutes child abuse or not. With many traditions that are not ours, Western sensibilities frequently over-react, and we view such practices through our own set of prisms. However, there are also a number of Nepali organizations that criticize the Kumari tradition, and I feel these are the best suited to do so and are the most qualified to establish a dialogue between traditionalists and modernists.

A National Geographic video can be seen here

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In Harm's Way

Here's In Harm's Way, a film produced by CBS/Warner Brothers following war photographer Zorial Miller and photojournalist Alissa Everett through Gaza and the West Bank.

However, while the above link can only be seen in the United States, the film can now be seen on You Tube.

Zoriah Miller is the freelance photographer who published pictures of dead U.S. Marines on his blog, which led him to be ejected from his U.S. military embed in Iraq. He was featured on The Travel Photographer here (Link) and here (Link).

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Bhutan's Coronation

Photograph © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
The Himalayan nation of Bhutan crowned its fifth king Thursday after a two-year wait for the precise moment deemed most auspicious by court astrologers. At precisely 8:31 a.m. local time King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, 52, placed the Raven Crown on the head of his son, 28-year old Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, giving him the title of Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King.

The ceremony was held in Thimpu's Tashichho Dzong, a 17th century white-walled fortress that serves both as administrative headquarters and a monastic center. Bhutanese came from all over the country for the ceremony, including nomadic yak herders who trekked for days from the icy Himalayan mountains of northern Bhutan, as well as members of the country's Hindu minority.

While traveling in Bhutan earlier last month on my Land of the Druk Yul photo-expedition, we saw frenetic activities for this coronation. Unfortunately, I don't know its Dzongkha equivalent, but I extend my congratulations to Bhutan.

The above image is of a Black Hat dancer practicing on a ceremonial trumpet at the Tamshing tsechu last month.

Update: For photographs of the coronation, including some by Paula Bronstein of Getty Images, visit The Boston Globe's The Big Picture.

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David Rochkind: Kenya

Photograph © David Rochkind-All Rights Reserved
David Rochkind is based in Caracas, Venezuela and covers news and produces feature stories all over Latin America and elsewhere. His images and stories have been published by The New York Times, Time magazine, Glamour, Stern, The Observer's Sunday Magazine and CARE.

He was chosen as one of Photo District News' 2008 New & Emerging Photographers To Watch.

Although most of David's portfolios are of Latin or Central America, I chose his powerful portfolio of images made in the urban slums of Mathare, Kenya to highlight on this blog. Has the fact that our President-elect has Kenyan parentage influenced me? Perhaps.

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Chobi Mela V: Photo Festival

The dates of Chobi Mela V: The International Festival Of Photography in Bangladesh have been delayed to 29th January 2009 - 20th February 2009.

Among other reasons, the organizers have had to delay Chobi Mela V due to the overwhelming response and the large number of high quality entries. They also claim that Chobi Mela V will be bigger, better and more diverse than any of the previous festivals.

For further information, visit Chobi Mela V

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Yes We Can

Photograph © Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune-All Rights Reserved

"This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can."
-Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

And we did...and we shall...and the United States and the world rejoices.

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