Travel: tháng 1 2014

Thứ Năm, 23 tháng 1, 2014

Ruben Vicente | Varanasi Ganga Aarti

Ruben Vicente was a member of my The Sacred Cities Photo Expedition-Workshop last month which saw us photographing in the ancient city of Varanasi, and in the sacred city of Vrindavan during the festival of Holi. He is a first time participant in my expeditions-workshops.

Ruben just published his first multimedia project of the photo expedition-workshop, and titled it Varanasi Ganga Aarti. The multimedia features photographs of the nightly religious ceremony, which is held on the banks of the Ganges, on the most popular ghat; Dashashwamedh Ghat.

The aarti is a devotional nightly ritual that uses fire as an offering, usually made in the form of a lit lamp, and in the case of the Ganges River, small "boats" with a candle and flowers is floated down the river. The offering is made to the Goddess Ganga, goddess of the most holy river in India.

Ruben tells us on his own blog that because of the awful artificial light illuminating the ceremony, he decided to convert his photographs to black & white. He recorded the audio on location, and despite the amplification distortion, managed to produce a compelling audio slideshow. I described one of his images of the pandit gesturing with incense sticks as magical...

See if you agree.

Ruben Vicente is travel photographer based in Lisbon who, apart from loving photography, is an IT consultant in the financial industry.

Thứ Tư, 22 tháng 1, 2014

Bijoyeta Das | India's Jewish Tribe

Al Jazeera's In Pictures blog features non-news photo essays, and these occasionally are of ethnic minorities that are infrequently showcased on other similar mass media blogs. It has recently featured "Indian Jewish Tribe Heads Home" about the Bnei Menashe tribe who live in India’s northeastern states of Mizoram and Manipur.

Around 7000 of these Bnei Menashe members claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel; ten lost tribes refers to the ten of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel that were deported from the Kingdom of Israel after it was conquered by Assyria in about 722 BCE.

Most historians consider the Lost Tribes as nothing but a myth, and DNA studies have found no evidence of any lost tribes. Yet their emigration to Israel is supported and sponsored by a non-profit organization that aims to reconnect "lost and hidden Jews" with the people and state of Israel. Skepticism and debate over their ancestry and faith abound in Israel and India, and view this as nothing more than opportunism, and a desire to improve their living conditions.

Bijoyeta Das is a journalist and photographer. She has reported from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, South Korea and USA and holds a masters degree in Journalism from Northeastern University, and a photojournalism postgraduate diploma from Ateneo de Manila University.

Thứ Tư, 15 tháng 1, 2014

North Pole 2009: The Joys of Negative Drift!

The weekend brought a number of updates from the Arctic as teams seem to be getting into their rhythm now.

The Catlin Arctic Survey Team got their first real taste of the frustrations of negative drift over the weekend. The crew has been battling 25 knot winds (29 mph), which has made it very tough going at times, and despite a long, tough day on the ice yesterday, the woke up this morning to find that they were two miles further south than they were before they started yesterday morning. Temperatures continue to hover around -40ºC and the journey has reportedly already begun to take it's toll on the team, who are suffering from a number of bruises, aches, pains, and varous other ailments that are common in the frigid conditions. That said, they continue to take ice sample and record reading from their high-tech gear, focusing on their mission, even while progress is slow.

It's been slow going for the Victorinox North Pole Expedition as well. The team has been moving through a rubble field, strewn with giant blocks of ice, which are not uncommon in the early parts of a a journey to the North Pole. On Saturday the team covered just .97 nautical miles as they carefully crawled through the ice blocks, and around other obstacles that included a deep trench. Despite the slow going, the team is still upbeat and optimistic about their progress thus far.

The Peary Centennial Expedition is having similar issues, but in their case it's mostly thanks to the weather. In an audio dispatch they reported a "balmy" -34º F yesterday, but high winds made for poor visibility, so the team elected to take a rest day and wait for better conditions. They hoped to be back on the move today. They also noted that they are navigating using the position of the sun and through the use of the winds, as they are too close to the magnetic north pole at the moment to have their compasses be of much use.

The latest update from the Baffin Babes indicates that they are finalizing their preparation and should be heading out on the ice soon as well. The dispatch, which has no time or date, indicates that the girls are in Qikiqtarjua on Baffin Island, and were up well into the night finishing their packing. Since there is no time stamp on the post, it's quite likely that they've already set out on their journey, which will include 80 days out on the ice, skiing across Baffin Island, where they will examine the effects of global climate change on the region, and the people that live there.

Finally, Christina Franco is dismayed to be off the ice after so much preparation and planning. But, she says that she is now more determined than ever to reach the North Pole, and will return next year to give it another go. You may recall that she was forced to abandon her attempt at a solo expedition to the Pole after her stove experienced a double equipment failure, rendering it useless. The human body adapts magnificently under a lot of stressful conditions, but weeks in the arctic with out heat for your tent or the ability to cook warm food just isn't going to cut it. While it is disappointing for Christina, she is already planning to make a "last degree" journey to the Pole this year and is already planning for 2010.

Thứ Bảy, 11 tháng 1, 2014

The Travel Photographer's Favorites of 2014

I'm perhaps jumping the gun; but anticipating an imminent flurry of "The Best of 2014" articles and posts, I decided to be ahead of the pack and feature my photographs which I view as being my overall favorites of this year. I'm not claiming these are my best. I leave it to others to make that judgement.

No, these are just my own personal favorites just because I like them, and because they remind me of the precise circumstances in which I was while making them...and I can "smell" and "feel" them.

One of these favorites is the one (above) of Flower H'mong women discussing the merits of a traditional skirt being offered for sale at the Bac Ha market in northern Vietnam. I processed it with Color Efex Pro4 software to give it this sort of blurry-glow effect, which I think works well with the dark wooden background.

Another of my 2014 favorites is a photograph made in the streets of Ha Noi's Old Quarter. It's shot from the hip (as I often do when doing street photography), and shows two well-to-do affluent Vietnamese women doing their grocery shopping, while an older shopper uses her bicycle to carry her purchases. What made it one of my favorites is the contrast between the styles, the old and the new...the affluent and the less so. But despite the obvious contrast and different social status, both women in the foreground wear the traditional non quai thao conical hats, and shop at the same stores in the old neighborhood's maze of alleys and tiny streets.

One of the streets of the Hanoi's Old Quarter is lined with traditional restaurants and coffee shops, and I spent a few hours ambling along it for photo opportunities to appear. Again shooting from the hip, I stood next to this woman waiting for the right scene to develop. I used a wide angle lens, and after a cursory look at me, she was oblivious to my presence.

I liked the contrasting scene of the older woman engrossed in a game of Candy Crush (I'm not kidding) on her iPad, while a woman street vendor approaches with a đòn gánh tre (bamboo carrying pole) perched on her shoulders.

During my photo expedition-workshop to Vietnam in September, we spent a few days in Hoi An; one of my favorite towns in that wonderful country. I had arranged for a dawn photo shoot with a local photographer to photograph the traditional fishermen of Hoi An. We boated to the mouth of the Thu Bon River to photograph these large fishing nets, that are lowered into the water to catch fish during the night. They are slowly raised and lowered by the fishermen using foot-powered winches.

This is one of the many I made when the sun was rising at that photo shoot. I used my least favorite lens (18-135mm Fuji) with my Fuji X-T1, and was pleasantly surprised at its sharpness. The beads of water on the net prove that sharpness.

While at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in La Antigua (Guatemala), I took to its cobblestone streets, and photographed during the annual fiesta of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala.

La Antigua's Parque Central is a magnet for the Maya vendors of traditional textiles, and this one was awaiting the influx of tourists and celebrants to peddle her wares. Her expression is that of resignation but I also saw a glint of hope in her eyes. The Maya face discrimination, isolation and poverty in Guatemala, and selling textiles and trinkets to tourists is often the only way to make a living.

Just before the parade started for the fiesta of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, this group of young women stood with their umbrellas deployed, waiting for the signal to march. I liked the way they were standing; anticipating the signal, nervous perhaps to take part in their town's main event... dressed to the nines in the Sunday best, and totally serious. It was not easy to photograph at this time of day, with intervals of bright sun and thick clouds.

One of the most intense and difficult festival to photograph was India's Holi. Framing the frenetic action during the peaks of that festival, ducking handfuls of colored gulal, and avoiding being doused with water was a challenge, but one that -in retrospect- was not unenjoyable.

This particular photograph was made in the Banke Bihari temple, the "belly of the beast" and epicenter of Holi in Vrinadavan, the sacred city of Krishna. Unseen in this photograph is a stage where the Hindu priests periodically lift a curtain to reveal the deity, and every time the curtain is lifted the crowds go wild with fervor and joy. This sadhu caught a glimpse of the deity, and displayed his emotions by chanting and dancing. He might been also encouraged to overdo it by the presence of my cameras.

Here's another of my favorites made at the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan during Holi showing the degree of faith and spiritual belief that has infused these three women in the presence the deity. Covered with colored powder, they had just made their way through the throngs of devotees and fell to the floor in reverence and supplication.

This photograph is one of many that exemplify the reason I am drawn to religious festivals in order to document the display of human beings' utter absence of artifice when in the presence of what they believe is a higher power.

During my Sacred Cities photo expedition-workshop, we left the chaos of Holi in Vrindavan for a whole morning, and followed the pilgrims' trail for a few miles to the banks of the Yamuna river. It was there that I captured one of the pilgrims performing a personal puja by scooping water with one hand, and flicking her fingers. One can see the drops of water twirling above her head.

Contrary to what was happening just a few miles away in Vrindavan, this place was peaceful, and not a sound marred its calm.

Not only is this photograph one of my favorites for 2014, but it was also made in one of my very favorite places in India; the dargah of Nizzam Uddin in Delhi.

Here again, this photograph was made by shooting from the hip. I was intrigued by the dynamics of this group of Indian Muslims, who had come to the Sufi shrine to seek some sort of spiritual fulfillment, and I captured the moment where the man in the center glared at the woman who is both recoiling and defiant at the same time. I don't know whether the man is her husband, father or a stranger she just sat next to. I don't know if he's rebuking her or whether he's coming on to her.

Whatever it is, it's certainly a story.

Thứ Năm, 2 tháng 1, 2014

Biking MeKong Delta on 4 day - VietNam travel

Spin through the rich field and sluggish towns of the Mekong Delta on this four-day biking endeavor that takes you profound into the rural heart of the nation. Known as Vietnam's "rice bowl", the rich fluvial soil of the delta helps plentiful plantations and fields creating rice, coconuts, sugar stick and all way of intriguing leafy foods vegetables...

Revel in an exceptional biking excursion through the Mekong wide open, burnning through country terraces to find the nearby life and society. At 8:00 AM, your driver and aide will reach you at the lodging and drive you in the help van to the Mekong Delta. Touch base in Ben Tre around twelve and revel in lunch at a riverside restaurant while your group sets everything up for the bicycle visit. Toward the evening take a two hour bicycle ride through the wonderful farmland to the Cai Mon District, where you will stick with it at a nearby agriculturist's home. Cai Mon is a residential community made celebrated by its plentiful nursery enclosures and apples and oranges plantations. Upon landing in your homestay, meet the family and appreciate a welcome tea. In the late evening, join the family and help to get ready supper, figuring out how to cook delectable, neighborhood food. At night relish a mouth-watering, welcome feast with family.

See more: travel Vietnam

Begin your day the neighborhood way, waking ahead of schedule to visit the clamoring morning business sector. Come back to the home for breakfast then set out on an alternate day biking along the delightful fluvial wide open, passing through nearby towns, under verdant plantations and navigating emerald-green rice paddies. Stop along the best approach to visit the neighborly neighborhood individuals and flavor a scrumptious lunch of credible food. Touch base in Can Tho City in the late evening and register with your inn. Revel in whatever is left of the day free at your recreation.

Climb early and take a vessel to visit the Mekong's greatest coasting business sector. Here ranchers from everywhere throughout the district meet up to hawk their crisp produce. This is an immaculate chance to specimen a portion of the crisp tropical apples and oranges developed along the Mekong. After the pontoon ride, you will set out on a going visit through the wonderful farmland on a biking course voted Vietnam's best in 2006. Use the evening unwinding by the pool and appreciating the quietness of the Mekong's field and watch the nightfall over the slowing down.

Eat at the inn then revel in the morning at your relaxation. Withdraw from Can Tho around twelve, halting for lunch on the way and landing in Saigon toward the evening. Visit closes