Dan Bannister: East Africa

Photo © Dan Bannister -All Rights Reserved

Dan Bannister is a commercial, industrial and editorial photographer based in Calgary, Canada, who having joined my recent Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul Photo~Expedition™ last year, recently traveled to East Africa to further expand his inventory of travel imagery. His new gallery of East Africa includes a broad spectrum of lifestyle, travel and editorial images.

His travel and editorial images appeared in The New York Times, Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, and various in-flight magazines.

Dan also updated his website, and I encourage you to visit it as it now boasts large photographs and is truly magnificent.

On a personal level, I can say that Dan was one of the most enjoyable participants I've had the pleasure to travel with on my photo-expeditions.

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Eid El-Adha

Photo © Muhammed Muheisen/AP (courtesy Lens Blog New York Times)

Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid El-Adha or  the"Festival of Sacrifice" in commemoration of the belief that Ibrahim (Abraham) was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail to God. Observant Muslims celebrate it by slaughtering animals to commemorate God's gift of a ram to substitute for Ibrahim's son, and distributing the meat amongst family, friends and the poor.

It's also an occasion for everyone (but mainly children) to wear newly-bought clothes in order to celebrate it in style.  Many young boys wear suits and ties, while young girls show off their fancy dresses as in the above photograph by Muhammed Muheisen of a couple of Yemeni girls dressed as angels, complete with pink diaphanous wings, in the back streets of Sanaa.

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My Book: Bali Island of Gods: Now Available

I'm excited to announce that my new photo book Bali: Island of Gods is now available from Blurb. There are two main versions of the book (82 pages of black & white photographs) on Blurb's bookstore. A large (13x11 inches) landscape hardcover version and a standard (10x8 inches) landscape version.

All the details are available on a page of my website Island of Gods. If you choose to buy, the links will take you to my bookstore on Blurb, which has previews of the book.

I know...the timing of the publication is great! Just in time for the holidays.

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The Haj In 1885 And Now

CNN has featured an interesting clip of images and audio dating from 1885 of Mecca and of the Haj ritual. It's accompanying article tells us that Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages, and an advisor to the colonial government of the Netherlands East Indies, visited Mecca in 1885 taking photos and making sound recordings. He had converted to Islam, and was therefore allowed to gain entry to the city.

The article is an interesting read, especially since it seems Snouck had to leave his camera equipment behind to a local Saudi, who continued making pictures, possibly becoming Mecca's first home-grown photographer. (My thanks to Gul Chotrani who sent the article to me).

Contrast the scenes in the CNN clip (it has an annoying advert at its start) to the following photograph; one of the many posted by The Boston Globe's The Big Picture of Muslim pilgrims circling the Kaaba at the center of the Grand mosque in Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.  (Click it for larger photograph).

Photo © REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

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Mohamed Hassan: Photojournalist

Photo © Mohamed Hassan- All Rights Reserved

Mohamed Hassan Abd El Aal (Mikko Hassan) lived and worked in Cairo, and graduated from the Akhbar El-Yom Academy with an honor degree in Journalism. He worked as a press photographer in the daily newspaper El-Shorouk El Gedid. Apart from covering political issues, protests and demonstrations, he was interested in documenting the traditional manufacturing processes in Old Cairo. One of these features gleaned him first prize in the 2009 Annual Press Photography Competition of Egypt.

I met Mohamed (aka Mikko) at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul. He wasn't in my class, but approached me, rather shyly, and expressed his pleasure in seeing that one of the instructors was of Egyptian heritage. He told me that although he had seen my name on the roster of instructors, but had taken it for Lebanese. Mohamed participated in Guy Calaf's class, and had been awarded a scholarship.

I reviewed Mohamed's portfolio which, as he wrote in his biography, had photographs of his explorations in the deepest corners of Old Cairo. He did them during his one day week-ends, on his own time, deriving nothing of it except his own pleasure and self-improvement. I sensed his enthusiasm for photography, saw his talent and his eye for composition, and predicted to him that he'd be one of Egypt's best photojournalists.

It was not to be. His trajectory was very sadly cut short because of a fatal freak accident a few days ago. He will be missed by many.

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop family reacts: Eric Beecroft, the co-founder of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, announced that a permanent full scholarship in Mikko's name will be made available, and his work is featured on the FPW's front page.

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Erika Larsen: Lavvos & Reindeer

Photo © Erika Larsen- All Rights Reserved

Erika Larsen is a photographer and film-maker who's recently been doing work in the Scandinavian Arctic with families of Sami reindeer hunters.

She worked as a magazine photographer since 2000 specializing in human-interest stories, cultural issues and the daily life of people connected to the natural world. She's recognized by World Press Photo, American Society of Magazine Editors, Society of Photographers, New Jersey State Council of the Arts and is a Fulbright Scholar.

The Sami peoples are also known as Lapps (although this term is considered as outdated, and often derogative), and are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia, but also in the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. They traditionally survived by hunting and fishing, and in more recent years, by herding reindeer, which have also become their staple food. Reindeer meat is most commonly eaten fried, or is is often dried for later consumption.Lavvos is the name for the Sami's tents.

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Enrico Martino: Tango Soul

Here's a wonderful multimedia essay by the talented Enrico Martino on the ageless, eternal and graceful dance of Argentina, the tango. Originating in Spain or Morocco, the tango was introduced to the New World by the Spanish settlers, freed African slaves and gauchos in Buenos Aires around the 1880s.

Tango is not a dance, but a particular way of seeing and enjoying life...it's a way of life, where seduction by both sexes is disguised by dance moves and steps. But no one is fooled...in my view, tango is another word for seduction.

This multimedia will be one of  the pieces that I shall use as examples for my future students at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop...in Buenos Aires. I especially liked the man's voice-over...soulful, melancholic...and also virile and passionate. Perhaps the Ken Burns effect is used a little too much for my linking, but the sequencing of the black & white photographs is wonderful all the same.

At one point, the narrator tells us that no foreigner can write tango. Yes, I absolutely agree.

Enrico Martino is an editorial, geographic and documentary photojournalist specialized in travel and cultural assignments requiring in-depth research. He's a contributor to Italian and international magazines, to include Meridiani, "D"-Repubblica, Epoca, Espresso, Panorama, Focus, Gente Viaggi, In Viaggio, Airone, Panorama Travel, Sette, Traveller, Tuttoturismo, Elle, Marie Claire, Merian, Spiegel, Die Zeit, Jeune Afrique, Altair, Rutas del Mundo.

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