Anthony Karen: Voodoo

Photograph © Anthony Karen-All Rights Reserved
I came across Anthony Karen's work through NPR's website, on which he's described as having made a career out of breaking into secret circles from Voodoo rituals in Haiti to white-robed Ku Klux Klan initiations in the South of the US.

Indeed the work on his website centers around what he calls "intimate images of taboo people doing taboo things". His images are of swastika-clad families at the annual Nordic Fest gathering of white nationalists, Haitian Voodoo priests beheading goats and, even "Brother Number 3," a former official in the brutal Khmer Rouge regime hiding out in Cambodia before his 2007 arrest.

There are two links for Anthony Karen that are recommended: his website, and his interview with NPR which includes audio.

The Travel Photographer on Photoshop TV

I'm thrilled to see that The Travel Photographer blog was featured on PhotoshopUser TV, which is brought by NAPP (the National Association of Photoshop Professionals). Both Matt and Dave are industry icons, and present their weekly informative television episodes to an appreciative public.

My thanks to both Matt and Dave, the hosts of the program.

The episode is PhotoshopUser TV Episode 140 (June 30, 2008)

Loupe: Another Piece of "Uselessness"

Uniden, a Japanese camera accessory maker launched a new magnifying glass for LCD screens of digital cameras on their website. The magnifying glass can be used by owners of SLRs and compact digital cameras with LCD screen size of 3 inches. The images are magnified three-fold, and it's claimed that it will not scratch the surface of LCD screens.

I have no idea who will buy -and use- this utterly useless piece of equipment...unless it's an obsessive pixel/histogram-peeper, with $47 to burn.

Via CrunchGear

Nikon D700 Announced

I'm not a Nikon user, but I heard much about the newly announced Nikon D700 at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City. It was just a rumor then, but some of its specs were being discussed among the photojournalists there. It was described by a fervent Nikon user as a certain Canon 5D "killer".

The British Journal of Photography has published an article describing the D700 as having many of the Nikon D3's features, including full frame, a 12.1 million pixel resolution, a 36x23.9mm CMOS sensor and a reinforced D300 body. The price is said to be GBP 2000 ($4000), however this includes VAT. I read elswehere that it'll be around $3000 here in the US.

The New York Times also has an article on the D700

Only time tell if the D700 is really a Canon 5D "killer", or if the rumored new 5D II regains Canon's momentum.

Michael Reichmann of the Luminous Landscape shares his thoughts about the D700 and the coming match-up with the Canon 5DII here

Rant: My Blog My Rules

I know. I haven't been ranting for a while, and some of my readers tell me they miss my acerbic diatribes. I haven't mellowed at all, it's just that I didn't have much to rant (at least of relevance to this blog) about...however, before I lose my so-called acerbic trademark, here's my position about what gets on my blog and what doesn't.

By the way, at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City which had over 160 attendees, I was taken aback by the surprisingly large number of photographer/photojournalists (famous and emerging) who knew of The Travel Photographer blog and of my photography. This proves to me two major facts: the power of blogging and the power of branding about this earlier on TTP (I've posted about this earlier on TTP here).

But I digress. Here are the general terms of acceptance that cover what kind of photographic work is, and will be, posted on The Travel Photographer. Firstly, this blog is ad-free, and as I'm not beholden to anyone (corporate or individual), I only post what I like. This is also known as editorial privilege...and it's what counts. There are thousands of blogs dealing with photography and some are much better than mine, so photographers can pick and choose.

My preferences are too many to list, but photo essays/stories, in multimedia or stills, appeal to me a great deal. Work by emerging photographers are always welcome, provided it deals with travel (non stock stuff) and editorial. Particularly interesting is photography that can be described as ethnographic, and deals with religious or secular rituals, tribal cultures, among others. I have a hard time with websites that have dinky photographs, but if the subject matter is really interesting, you're in. If you're a photographer with a travel portfolio better destined to the pages of Travel & Leisure magazine, you don't need this blog.

In terms of geographic preferences, while my own photography is biased towards Asian and South Asian cultures, it doesn't mean that this is true for what gets on my blog. I'm not that interested in what is generally defined as "Western" photo projects...so projects of European and/or North American provenance don't really excite me that much. On the other hand, photographic work by emerging photographers from South Asia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America are especially welcome....but please, have functioning websites.

If you want to know what photography work turns me on, drop by my website or if you have the time, explore this blog. You'll know.

Tewfic El-Sawy: Los Migrantes

Here's a multimedia photo essay I produced about the migrants from Central America and beyond, who pass through Mexico City by hitching rides on freight trains. Their ultimate destinations are the southern states of the United States, where they hope to find jobs.

Similar to the hobos of the past in our own country, the migrants have support from generous people along the way. The last frames of the slideshow are of famished migrants given hot tamales by an impoverished household in the La Lecheria neighborhood of Mexico City. I spoke with them in my less-than-fluent Spanish, and it's impossible not to be compassionate with human beings trying their best to improve their lives by any means.

A number of participants in my class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop produced similar photo essays.

Los Migrantes by Tewfic El-Sawy

Tom Wool: ONE

Photograph © Tom Wool-All Rights Reserved
Tom Wool is a British photographer currently living in NYC. I'd describe his work as "ethnographic photography" since the work he presents on his website ONE is of 160 portraits made during his travels to Bolivia, Irian Jaya, Kenya, Morocco, PNG, Suriname, Tanzania, Tibet and Venezuela.

His biography tells us that he worked in a number of fashion publications in the 1980s, and this background served him extremely well in photographing his subjects. Tom traveled to Tibet to work on a project, and with the sale of his photographs, he raised enough funds to build a school in Tzombuk, where some of his portraits were made.

We've been spoilt by the ever-increasing web's bandwidth, and are now used to much larger images than what Tom Wool's are. Perhaps an updated website is in the planning?