Zackary Canepari: Kathputli

As my many posts on TTP show, one of my favorite photographers is Zackary Canepari who has recently shown off his talent with Kathputli Is My Home on 100Eyes, an excellent photo e-magazine published and edited by Andy Levin.

Kathputli Colony slum in North Delhi is an illegal settlement or shantytown, which is both home and a mecca for the thousands of itinerant and non-itinerant magicians, acrobats, jugglers, musicians, dancers and puppeteers who perform in the vast Indian sub-continent. Whether performing in the marble lobbies of top hotels or in the back streets of impoverished slums and villages, the nearly all of the 1,500-3,000 families in the colony are professional performing artists, and consider Kathputli thier home.

Canepari's talents are obvious in the feature. His super-saturated medium squarish format photographs frame his subjects perfectly, and bring out the captured moment of the expression.

I've visited Kathputli a few years ago (and posted about it here), and intend to re-visit it this coming January. Kathputli Is My Home will serve as my inspiration.

My thanks to Graham Ware for reminding me of this feature.

Bhutan: Pow (Shamanism)

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
My recent field reports on the Bhutan photo-expedition generated much interest as to our shaman (known as "pow" in Bhutan) photo shoot, and since it will take me quite a while to edit my photographs, here's one of the images while he pow performed his exorcism.

In Bhutan, traditional households will frequently call on the healing powers of a pow when a member of the family falls sick or is suspected of being inhabited by evil spirits. I was told that in this case a young boy had been taken to the local hospital because of his lack of appetite, but the doctors couldn't find anything wrong. His parents then decided to call on the traditional healer to rid him of what they perceived were evil spirits.

The event was held in the front room of the modest house, and most of the family's neighbors and friends attended the preparatory ritual, and the exorcism itself. The ritual involved trances, various implements (such as a drum and small leafy branch), along with incantations.

Tyler Hicks: Kandahar

The New York Times features Tyler Hicks' photography on its LENS blog with a gallery titled Under The Radar In Kandahar.

While I've seen much better from Tyler Hicks, these black & white photographs are nevertheless gritty and raw, and certainly worth a look. More interesting to me is the article which accompanies these images, in which Mr. Hicks speaks (or writes) of the dangers he faces during his assignment in Afghanistan.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the city — there’s always a possibility that you’re moments away from being killed,” said Mr. Hicks, 40, who has been working in Afghanistan for The New York Times since 2001. “So you shave off risk anywhere you can. It’s that bad.”

I found it also remarkable that he admits often photographing from the relative safety of his car, driven by his local driver. I wouldn't have guess it from viewing these photographs. He also works early in the morning when there are fewer people on the street, dressed in traditional clothing.

Hakka Dwellings: Ryan Pyle

Photo © Ryan Pyle/GlobalPost-All Rights Reserved
The GlobalPost website features Ryan Pyle's Chinese Hakka Houses, which are also known as Hakka Tulou "apartments" in Yongding county, Fujian province. These structures are indigenous to the Hakka minority group and other people in the mountainous areas in southwestern Fujian.

In 2008, UNESCO granted the Tulou dwellings World Heritage Status, and cited these structures as "exceptional examples of a building tradition and function exemplifying a particular type of communal living and defensive organization."

Having seen these buildings in Ryan's slideshow, these are typically large enclosed buildings, rectangular or circular in configuration, between three and five stories high, housing up to 80 families. Unfortunately, the slideshow feature doesn't include many interior shots of the apartments or of their occupants themselves.

Ryan Pyle obtained a degree in International Politics from the University of Toronto, moved to China permanently in 2002 and began taking freelance assignments in 2003. He became a regular contributor to The New York Times covering China, where he documented issues such as rural health care, illegal land seizures, bird flu and environmental degradation. He also has published magazine work, such as the Sunday Times Magazine, Der Spiegel, Fortune, TIME, Outside, Forbes and Newsweek.

William Darlymple's Nine Lives

Despite Thai Airways' efficient service and the knowledge that I would have a row all to myself as the flight was only half full, spending 12 hours on the flight from Bangkok to London wasn't something I looked forward to. However I bought William Dalrymple's new book Nine Lives to keep me company during the long haul flight.

I had high expectations that this book would be highly enjoyable and informative, and was glad to have found it in paperback version at the airport's bookstore. I'm almost 2/3 through it and have to say that, whilst it's not as well written as the author's previous books, it is nevertheless extremely educational.

Nine Lives is described as an Indian Canterbury Tales, and introduces us to 9 characters with varied and different lives. I thought The Nun's Tale (a poignant portrait of a Jain nun), The Dancer of Kannur (a Theyyam performer) and The Red Fairy (a Sufi female ascetic) to be the most magnetic of the characters, and provide an extraordinary insight in their worlds that most of us can't imagine.

I wish I had read The Dancer of Kannur before my Theyyam of Malabar photo expedition, and will re-read The Red Fairy before my periodic visits to the Sufi shrines in Delhi.illiam

Bhutan Field Report: Group Photograph

Photo © Ugen Dorji-All Rights Reserved
Well, all good things have to have an end and the Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul photo-expedition came to its end a couple of days ago. Our stay was extended for 24 hours due to heavy rain in Paro which meant that our scheduled Druk Air flight was unable to take off to Bangkok, but we made it out the following day October 8th. I had the foresight to advise the group members to give themselves an additional day in Bangkok as a buffer against such an eventuality.

In my view, the highlight of the trip was a photo shoot during which we documented a traditional exorcist at work in a farmhouse. He was called in to exorcise evil spirits out of a child and a middle-aged woman. In due course, I will post a photo gallery of these photographs. A totally photo journalistic event which led itself extremely well to some of our collective interests and photo styles.

The group photograph above was taken by Ugen Dorji, our guide, fixer and the go-to-man all through our 15 days expedition in Bhutan. Don't be fooled by the serious expression adopted by these photographers...it's only for the camera.

From the left: Graham Ware, Jenny Jozwiak, Kayla Keenan, our wonderful driver Norbu, Kim McClellan, Carlos Amores, Dan Bannister, Nuray Jemil and group leader Tewfic El-Sawy. The photograph was made against the rock painting of Guru Rimpoche on the way to the Tango monastery in Thimpu.

I shall post a complete verdict of the Bhutan: Land of the Druk Yul photo expedition in due course, however I will not disclose the location and details of the exorcism's photo shoot for obvious reasons. Our land travel agent and I worked hard to make this photo shoot happen as it did, and I have no intention of sharing this information with others, especially as we were told that this event was rarely witnessed by non-Bhutanese.

Bhutan Field Report: Ura Goempa

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Besides the tsechus festivals in Wangdue and Tamshing, we were privileged in attending a funerary ritual at the Ura monastery. It appears that a prominent judge in the Ura valley region had died, and funerary rites were being held at the ancient monastery and goempa, as we arrived. Having secured the permission from the head monk of the temple, we trooped in the main chamber along with around 30 monks, who started chanting.

We were told that this was the first time that foreign photographers were allowed to photograph inside the goempa (temple) as it hold extremely sacred wall murals. We had given our assurances that we would not photograph them. The ritual was the first of its kind that I've ever witnessed in Bhutan. It involved monks stretching a sacred string from the altar where the holy statutes are kept to the seat of the head monk. This string is designed to facilitate the transmission of the deceased soul to the heavens.

Another interesting event was the monks' debate at the Kharchhu monastery, which overlooks the town of Jakar. Around 300 monks meet in its main courtyard and debate philosophical issues of the Buddhist tradition. The debate is held in Sanskrit language and is intensely heated. This is another event I've never witnessed before. Depending on the quality and diversity of the images I've captured, I'll probably produce a multimedia essay on this particular debate in due course, as I've also recorded some of the audio.

While waiting for a lunch of pizza and spaghetti bolognaise at the Swiss Guest House Restaurant, I was interviewed by the Bhutan National Television.

We are two-thirds through our photo-expedition, and many of us have exceeded 100 gigabyte in images already!