Jonas Bendiksen: The Places We Live

Jonas Bendiksen began his photography career as a 19-year-old intern in the London office of Magnum Photos. Eventually leaving office life to travel through Russia and pursue his own work as a photojournalist, he worked on numerous projects throughout the world, including his ongoing project about the world's slums.

The installation for "The Places We Live" project was developed and produced in cooperation with the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, where it was launched a year ago.

From 2005 to 2007 Jonas Bendiksen documented life in the slums of four different cities: Nairobi, Mumbai, Jakarta and Caracas. The Places We Live is the result.

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Bhutan: Land of Druk Yul Photo Expedition

Due to a last minute cancellation caused by a personal change in circumstances, the Bhutan: Land of Druk Yul Photo Expedition currently has room for only one participant. The dates of the photo~expedition are from September 23 to October 7, 2009.

If you're interested, click on the photo~expedition link, review the terms and itinerary and register at the earliest if it works for you. This opportunity will only be available until July 16.

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My Work: Manali Street Barbers

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Alongside a participant (who's somewhat visible in one of the mirrors) in my multimedia class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Manali, who's presenting a photo story about street barbers, I photographed some of them in one of the main alleys of the small town. It seems that these particular street barbers have been working on the same site for over 35 years, and they (as evidenced by the constant stream of clients) have a thriving business, despite their protestation to the contrary.

The Foundry Photojournalism Workshop is, by all accounts, a terrific success and its finale is today in the evening where some 70 students will present their work, after a face off with their instructors in a "friendly" game of cricket.

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Palani Mohan: VIVID

Here's VIVID, a blast of colors that will surely jolt your senses into overdrive! It's a collection of "color-caffeinated" photographs by Palani Mohan of various (mostly of the Indian Holi festival) scenes of tremendous color.

Palani was born in Chennai, India, and moved to Australia as a child. His photographic career started at the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, and since then he has been based in London, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and now Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.

His work has been published by many of the world's leading magazines and newspapers including National Geographic, Stern, Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times. He also published three photographic books. Palani's work has been recognized with awards from World Press Photo, Picture of the Year, National Press Photographers Association, American Photo and Communication Arts. He is represented by Getty Images' Reportage Group in New York.

The Travel Photographer blog previously featured Palani Mohan's work here.

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Gnawa Festival: What Worked/What Didn't

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
To end the recent string of post-expedition navel-gazings, here's what I think worked and didn't in terms of gear during the Gnawa Festival photo-expedition. As readers of this blog know, I opted for a minimalist equipment load, and stuffed my Domke F-3X with the following:

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II
* Canon G10
* Canon 17-40mm f4.0
* Canon 28-70mm f 2.8
* Canon 24mm f1.4
* Marantz PMD 620 Audio Recorder
* Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (w/LR2 and SoundSlides)
* A 250gb G-Tech Mini G-Drive External Hard Drive

I used my 5D Mark II fitted with the Canon 28-70mm f2.8 about 70% of the time, the 70-200 f2.8 about 20% of the time and the 17-40mm f4.0 the balance. The 24mm f1.4 never left the bag this time. Wherever I went, I felt I needed the flexibility of zooms, and a prime wouldn't be useful in the situations where I photographed. I experienced initial difficulty in focusing on moving subjects, and blamed my 70-200 lens until I realized that I hadn't turned on my camera's AI Servo AF mode!

I have to say that my beloved 70-200 f2.8 is on its last legs. I guess it dropped too many times in Orissa, on Angkor Wat's stone slabs, in Bali's rice paddies and elsewhere. It now wobbles and rattles and, while it still works, it also earned a well deserved retirement...maybe as door stop.

My experience with the G10 was an unhappy one, and I left it aside after a few tries. I had high hopes that it would be a perfect street camera for the alleys of the medinas, but it frustrated me and I gave up after a while. Larry Larsen, a member of the photo-expedition, used his as a point & shoot and seemed reasonably content with its images. Perhaps he managed his expectations better than I did. I have no doubt that in the right hands and used in the appropriate conditions, it's a fine little point & shoot. However, in my case I expected something more...but I didn't have the time nor patience to work at it.

I thought the PMD 620 recorder performed quite well in the rather extreme situations I put it through. Since most of the Gnawa performances were held in small zaouias, the din of the iron querqab (castanets) used by the Gnawa caused significant distortion in the recordings. Moving around to better positions was impractical, so I had to choose a spot where to stand or sit, record and photograph...not exactly an easy thing to do. I tried using Audacity's filters, but the distortion on some of the sound tracks is still too harsh. As one expert told me when I complained, distortion happens and we have to live with it (or not) sometimes.

Both the Acer and the G-Tech Mini G-Drive performed flawlessly. No complaints there.

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Carsten Bockermann: India's Ambassador

I expect that the seasoned India travelers bemoan the slow reduction of the beloved Ambassador cars on the country's roads. It's manufactured by Hindustan Motors and in production since 1957. It's based on the Morris Oxford III model first made by the Morris Motor Company in the United Kingdom from 1956 to 1959.

I recall my first road trips in India were in a pristine (and many times, in less so) white Ambassador, with its seats covered with white cotton sheets and a wheezing air-conditioning that spewed tepid breeze, if at all. The drivers were frequently dressed in starched white shirts and white trousers. These days, the vehicles that drive me about are Japanese models, bland and bearing weird model names.

No doubt Carsten Bockermann felt the same way, since he now produced an ode to the Ambassador in his Moving India; a slideshow documenting the Ambassador's assembly line at the Hindustan Motors factory at Uttarpara in the state of West Bengal.

Carsten Bockermann is a German photographer who specializes in photographing everyday life in different cultures around the world using a combination of direct reportage and visually interpretative style. His work appeared on The Travel Photographer blog here.

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Niki Taxidis: Nepal & Tibet

Here's the work of Niki Taxidis, an Australian-born freelance photographer who worked in remote areas of Australia in health care and forensic sciences for over 12 years. She spent two years as a crime-scene examiner and photographer and has volunteered in health care, education and photographic projects both overseas and within Australia.

Don't skip the entry page of her website, which opens up with a lovely piece of Tibetan music.

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