Asia Without Borders Photo Contest

Asia Without Borders Photo Competition is organised by Asian Geographic, and sponsored by Canon, Jet Airways and Lowepro among others. The photo contest is open to special photographs from talented photographers that capture a striking image of Asia’s land, people, architecture or wildlife.

As in all and every photography contests, I strongly encourage all interested photographers to make sure they carefully read the contests' terms and conditions, especially since misunderstandings between organizers and contestants over terms, prizes and other issues sometimes occur.

posted by TTP's robotic assistant

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G.M.B Akash: Bangladesh's Tribal Life

©G.M.B Akash-All Rights Reserved
G.M.B Akash’s is one of the "young Turks" in photojournalism, and has made his imprint in the international photography scene. He's the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands, and received numerous international and national awards. His work has been featured in over 45 major international publications including: Time, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Geo, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Guardian, Marie Claire, The Economist, The New Internationalist, Kontinente, Amnesty Journal, Courier International, PDN, Die Zeit, Days Japan,and Sunday Telegraph of London.

In 2006 he was awarded a World Press Photo award and released his first book “First Light”. He was also recognized as one of 30 Emerging Photographers (PDN 30) by Photo District News Magazine in 2007.

I chose his gallery Tribal life in Bangladesh, whose introduction informs us that these tribes live primarily in the Chittagong Hills and in the regions of Mymensingh, Sylhet, and Rajshahi. Reading further, I came across this sentence; a situation that is really replicated across many countries of the world, not only among tribals.

"The women-folk are more hardworking than the males and they are the main productive force."

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Senol Zorlu: Portraits

©Senol Zorlu-All Rights Reserved
Senol Zorlu is a Turkish photographer living and working in Germany, who has an incredibly beautiful website. I hesitate to describe it as "slick" because of the word's connotations, but it merits at the very least the descriptive adjective of "cool". I don't know how efficient this website is terms of SEO and impressing photo buyers, but the photography and his portraits are certainly worth stopping by, and enjoying it.

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NYT: Afghanistan's Opium Scourge

©Lynsey Addario/NY Times-All Rights Reserved
"Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of opium, is drowning in a sea of its own making. While the country’s narco-traffickers ship vast quantities of the stuff to Europe and the United States, enough of it stays behind to offer a cheap and easy temptation to the people at home."

The New York Times featured a photo essay by Lynsey Addario titled Drowning In Opium and an article by Dexter Filkins re-affirming the necessity for a new playbook on the issue of Afghanistan. The article tells us that Afghanistan produces more than 90% of the world’s opium, and that the money earned from narcotics accounts for more than half of the country’s gross domestic product, and that it also funds the Taliban insurgency.

Seeing the Afghan President in the news visiting the White House these days makes me wonder as to the degree of pressure put on him by the Obama Administration. Karzai's governance's corruption is pervasive, and the Afghans gravitate toward the Taliban as a reaction to the misrule.

I read in the British newspapers that Vice President Biden walked out of a meeting with Karzai last year, which might be a prequel to what may be the current attitude at the White House. We must realize that Afghanistan is a failed state, and is not salvageable through military interference. I'm sure there are various scenarios being examined by policy makers, and hopefully some will be workable.


posted live from Cairo

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WSJ: Rajasthanis

©Arko Datta/Reuters-All Rights Reserved
The Wall Street Journal's Photo Journal brings us the above photograph of Rajasthani villagers, attending a wedding in the Ore Village near Abu Road in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan. I believe the villagers in their red turbans are Rebari tribesmen, who are largely nomadic in their lifestyle. One of them has traces of pink dye on his tunic...remnants of his participation in a Holi celebration.

I chose to feature this photograph for two reasons; the precious expression of the fellow in the forefront, who seems to be utterly suspicious of the photographer's motives, and the second is to give me an excuse to bemoan the lack of color in Cairo, where I am at this time. Somewhat flippantly, I described Cairo as being " beige on beige on beige with traces of beige." How I wish Egyptian villagers would have the Rajasthanis' innate sense of color!

posted live from Cairo

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Haiti

Ruxandra Guidi is a freelance radio and print news correspondent. During a five-week IRP Fellowship, Guidi traveled to Haiti to examine the effects of foreign aid on human rights, violence and povety. This Soundslides gallery, with photos by Roberto "Bear" Guerra and music by Luis Guerra, depicts the harsh living conditions in Haiti, a country gravitating from one humanitarian crisis to another.

The International Reporting Project (IRP) provides opportunities to U.S. journalists to go overseas to do international reporting on critical issues that are under covered in the U.S. news media.

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Horst Friedrichs: Mali

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Here's a Soundlsides on Mali by Horst Friedrichs. It's in German but worth your while for the photographs even if you're a non German speaker.

Horst is photographer/photojournalist, who studied photography in Munich. He freelanced with Stern, The Independent and The New York Times in the nineties, and traveled to Venezuela, Pakistan, Mali and Japan. He produced a numner of books, among which is the well received Troubadours of Allah (what a glorious title!) depicting the Sufi singers (I tried to find his gallery on the Troubadours, but wasn't successful).

Posted by a TTP robot in London

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