POV: Fuji X-T1 Goes To Vietnam

Fuji X-T1/Zeiss 12mm f2.8-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"It is the photographer, not the camera, 

that is the instrument."- Eve Arnold

Well, this is the first time I travel on a photographic expedition without a DSLR (or two or three) since I started them in 2000 (or even earlier).

Yes, I traveled for almost 3 weeks to Viet Nam with two Fuji cameras and a Leica M9...and a bunch of lenses. I wrote about that in fuller details in a post titled The "Unbearable" Lightness of Fuji X Series. On my return, I tallied an estimate of my usage statistics, which are as follows:

Fuji X-T1 + Zeiss Touit 12mm f2.8: 75%
Fuji X-Pro1 + Fujinon 18mm f2.8 : 10%
Leica M9 + Voigtlander 40mm f1.4: 15%

And asked myself if I missed my Canon 5D Mark II and my panoply of primes and zooms?

Not once was the answer.

I've been a loyal Canon user since I've started photography, and I have nothing but praise for its cameras. I shall still retain my Canon 5DII and a bunch of lenses for as long as I can. However, I realized that my style of photography has evolved during the past few years...prompting me to splurge big time on a Leica M9, and not too long ago on a Fuji X-Pro1.

The evolution of my way of seeing, the lightness of these two cameras and the quality of their images laid the foundation for my being ready and very receptive for a DSLR replacement. Traveling to photograph Holi in India earlier this year, and having to hold the 5DII at shoulder-length to photograph inside temples and avoid color powder/water bequeathed me a short-lived tennis-elbow like pain, but it made me realize that DSLRs are really heavy computers with lenses attached to them.

And I only used a fraction of its menu settings. 

The arrival of the Fuji X-T1 on my radar screen was timely. As I said, I was ready, willing and able to replace the DSLR with a smaller tool...and there's no question in my mind, especially after my using it in Viet Nam, that it is a DSLR-killer for me. 

I am not a fan boy of anything. Cameras are nothing but sophisticated tools. I used Canon cameras, I use a Leica M9, a X-Pro1 and now a X-T1. They're all good cameras...there are no bad cameras in this day and age. They're all technologically very advanced, and it's largely a matter of choice, familiarity, and ergonomics what works for you and what doesn't.

Fuji X-T1/Zeiss 12mm f2.8-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I won't get technical in this POV. There are tons of bloggers more qualified than I am who have dissected the pros and cons of the Fuji X-T1, and from what I read, the large majority agree that the X-T1 is a game changer.

During my Viet Nam photography expedition, I've worked with the X-T1 on a daily basis. Shooting normally or shooting from the hip in the streets, it performed extremely well. The quality of its built is excellent, and it feels just right...its weight, its controls and its ergonomics are right.

I always say that the Leica M9's overall feel is just right. It's a thoughtful camera. So is the X T-1. Totally different cameras of course...but both are well built and well thought out.

It feels like cheating to be able to frame a scene, twiddle the exposure compensation knob (placed on top of the camera), and see what happens to it in the utterly brilliant LCD. Everything I need is on top of the camera. Yes, there are small annoying quirks...some are due to operator error, and some are of  the "it is what it is, so work with it" kind.

I sort of rolled my eyes when I learned that the X-T1 had a tilt-screen. Trust me, I don't do that anymore. It's quite useful for low shots and for shooting in the streets. The shutter is quiet. I was shooting with people who had Nikons...and they sounded like Big Berthas.

The CH is about 8 frames per second, and while there seems to (occasionally?) be a sort of grey-out between shots at that speed, it didn't bother me. I doubt if it's really 8 frames per second, but it's fast enough for me.

Fuji X-T1/Zeiss 12mm f2.8-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

The auto focus needs to get used to. The AF-S is pretty good. Maybe not as good as the Canon 5DII, but I learned to live with an occasional lapse. I have not used the AF-C yet, but my understanding is that it needs to be fiddled with in the camera's settings. 

What else? Ah yes. The battery life sucks. The LCD just sucks the juice out of these small batteries. So I was quiet happy to invest in a battery grip, and work in the field with two batteries in the camera. I had to rely on the "back-up" battery when I was out all day shooting...and I had an extra battery stashed away just in case. I also saved juice by turning off the display, and keeping my chimping to the absolute minium.

The X-T1 is weather-sealed. I photographed in the rain (steady rain-drizzle...not a monsoon downpour) and it was fine. I just wiped off the drops with my scarf and that was it.

The humidity was intense all through the trip, and I lost tons of water...but despite it all, the X-T1 didn't feel slippery. Really good grip...and good solid knobs (except for the four-way pad on the back).

I found that I had to really make sure that battery compartment in the grip was locked properly. It sometimes didn't...but it might also have been my error.

I'm not going to get sucked in a debate about the merits of full frame versus cropped sensors. Would I prefer that the X-T1 be full frame? Perhaps, provided the lenses still remained light and compact....and I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. And from what I've seen, the IQ of the X-T1 is really formidable, and its high ISO capabilities are impressive. So that debate is not for me.

I used the Zeiss Touit 12mm f2.8 lens on the X-T1 most of the time. Occasionally, I used the Fuji 18mm for street work, and the 18-135mm was only used during the fishermen photo shoot, and one time around Hoan Kiem Lake.

I very much like both the prime lenses I own. They're sturdy...workhorse kind of lenses, and they reflect my shooting and framing preferences. The 18-135mm zoom lens -while quite good and responsive- is nowhere close to the prime lenses as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps I've moved away from zooms. It's a very useful lens to have, and some may consider it the only lens they need for travel. I don't disagree that it is all that...but personally, I'm into prime lenses.

So far, much of my post-processed work from the Viet Nam photo expedition was in monochrome. I shot in B&W with the M9, and color with the X-T1 (and then both processed/converted to B&W using Silver Efex).

These photographs are featured on Hanoi Noir. Try guessing which are Leica and X-T1.

And the audio slideshow below is of the same photographs.

John Rowe | The Donga

Photo © John Rowe-All Rights Reserved

For a complete change of pace, here's an Ethiopian feature.

The Donga  (also called Saginay) is the stick-fight practiced by the Suri, a tribe in the Omo Valley. The Suri  adopt stick fighting - which is a traditional way for young men to impress girls. The often bloody fight is a demonstration of bravery, and underscores the men's desire to become cattle warriors.

Generally, stick fighting is practiced so young men can find wives. The ideal time to stick fight is just after it rains, and involves various Suri villages. With 20 to 30 people on each side, the stick fights can be extremely dangerous despite having referees to make sure that rules are followed. It's said that the fights have recently led to fights with guns, in which people have been wounded.

Sometimes when a young man has a dispute over a woman, he challenges his rival to a stick fight. His village joins him by starting the age-old ritual by singing, and carrying their fighting sticks that are carved in the shapes of penises (of course).

The Donga is a gallery of incredibly compelling monochrome photographs of this ritualistic fight by photographer John Rowe.

John Rowe is a photographer and film maker who first trained at the US Navy School of Photography when he was 18 years old. He's also a successful businessman who has founded and managed companies which develop software and digital media for the entertainment industry.

He has also devoted a tremendous amount of time, energy and financial assistance to humanitarian work in Africa. He is also helping to save babies born in the Omo Valley from the brutal tradition of Mingi. Mingi is a tradition practiced for many generations by tribes of the Omo Valley like the Kara, labels certain children as “cursed.”

For more on John's efforts on this worthwhile cause, drop by PetaPixel's post on the subject.

Between The Three Volcanoes | Tewfic El-Sawy

BETWEEN THE THREE VOLCANOES

(click on image)

During the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in La Antigua last week, I managed to squeeze in a few hours of street photography.

Using my Leica M9 and a Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 (and occasionally a Fuji X Pro-1 with a Fujinon 28mm f2.8), I walked the quaint cobblestones streets of La Antigua, not straying too far from its epicenter, Parque Central.

I titled this gallery as Between The Three Volcanoes, since La Antigua is cradled by three volcanoes; Acatenango, Volcán de Agua and the Volcán de Fuego.

Many of the photographs in this monochromatic gallery were made surreptitiously, using the shooting from hip technique I work with in the streets of New York City...aka shooting blindly (sort of). I don't see it as a furtive method, but simply as a way to capture the candid expressions of people in the public eye and in the streets.

Furtive or not, I seldom photograph (or show) pictures of the homeless or the handicapped wherever I go. In La Antigua, I photographed a person in a wheelchair being pushed by a woman who had the most interesting of expressions...but despite that, I decided against including it in this gallery.

I decided early on that I'd photograph in monochrome, and resist being seduced by the colors of Guatemala...whether the colors of the indigenous people's dress, or La Antigua's walls of red, mustard-yellow and orange. The Leica M9 has a setting with which my photographs were monochrome in jpg and color in dng...so I had the best of both worlds.

Some 10 years ago, I photographed in La Antigua (and some parts of Guatemala) during its spectacular Semana Santa, and comparing my photographs now and then, I am amazed by the difference and by the gradual evolution in my style. My photography used to be more for stock at that time, and now it's pure documentary-travel photojournalism.

I've chosen to feature this gallery on Medium, which allows photographs to be viewed is 1400 pixels on the long side.

POV: Leica M9 Monochromes "Outta De Box"

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy/Leica M9+Voigtlander 40mm

Let me say it up front so there's no misunderstanding: I'm not a "fanboy" of any camera beyond considering them as utilitarian tools I use to make photographs. Some are better suited for particular photographic work, others are better ergonomically suited to my hands and way of thinking, etc. I have the exact same attitude to cameras as carpenters have to their hammers or pliers.

That out of the way, I have an admiration for the Leica M9's monochrome image quality. I frequently use a setting that allows it to shoot a monochrome jpg and a color DNG at the same time, and I am quite amazed at the quality of the monochrome jpgs right 'out of the box'. The  above photograph is an example...nothing but in-camera conversion.

Yes, the majority of the monochromatic jpgs out of the Leica M9 are -at least to my eyes- just right. Unless I specifically want to enhance these jpgs by adding some vignetting or burnt edges, there's no need for spending any time on Silver Efex, Photoshop, Lightroom presets...nothing. Boom!

Does it mean that the Leica M9 (and a quality prime lens) is my primary camera? No, it isn't, but when I need (and feel like it) to shoot monochromes, I choose it over my other cameras. When I was in Sa Pa a few weeks ago, I deliberately chose it with a Voigtlander 40mm for a bout of monochrome photography in its streets and market. I did the same in Ha Noi.

There are many aspects of the M9 that are, in comparison to the X-T1 and the X-Pro, outdated...even primitive. It's widely recognized that its ISO is almost unusable above 800, that its LCD sucks and its battery life is a little better than abysmal. However, its CCD sensor (when coupled with quality glass) churns out admirable jpg monochromes.

I gripe about the M9...but despite its annoying limitations, it has become analogous to the well-balanced well-worn hammer that fits in the hand of the carpenter as if it always belonged there.

Ah! If only it had auto-focus! But using -when possible- the zone focus system resolves this to a certain extent, provided the ambient light allows the use of f8 or f16.

I'm not as sanguine about the M9's color images though. I realize I'm amongst a tiny minority perhaps, but I'm not as enamored with the color images I've seen out of the Leica M9. The images produced by the Fujifilm X-T1 are -to my taste- superior in color rendition than what I'm able to get with my M9.

Seeing where I am photographically at this time, I would buy the Leica M Monochrom if I could, and use it whenever I needed to produce monochrome images, and then rely on the Fuji X-Pro1, and X-T1 for color...or on the Canon system that's been gathering some dust in my closet.

Hà Nội Noir | Audio Slideshow

Street photography has almost become an obsession. Arriving Hà Nội with my body clock completely out of whack didn't stop me from taking a quick walk about the streets of its Old Quarter.

As the oldest continuously developed area of Vietnam, Hà Nội's Old Quarter has a history that spans 2,000 years and represents the eternal soul of the city, and walking along some of its more than 36 streets, I remembered their names: Hang Gai, Hang Quat, Hang Bac and Hang Ma.

A majority of the street names in the Old Quarter start with the word hang, which means merchandise or shop. Hang Gai, where my hotel The Golden Silk Boutique is, offers silk clothing ready-made and tailored, embroidery, and silver products.

One of the assignments given to the group participants was Hà Nội Noir; a series of monochrome street photographs depicting the teeming life found in the small streets of this capital city. Over the course of the few days I spent in Hà Nội, I walked its 36 streets (well, almost all of them) and shot mostly from the hip as is my custom to capture impromptu scenes and candid expressions.

Most of the photographs were made with my new favorite combo: Fuji X-T1/Zeiss 12mm f2.8. Others were made with a Leica M9 and the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4.

 

Prantik Mazumder | Guatemala

Photo © Prantik Mazumder -All Rights Reserved

The play of light and shadows!

A few months ago, I was in Antigua (Guatemala) at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and realized how visually interesting the contrasty play of shadows and light was in this part of the world, especially when the sun is at the top of the sky, and creates strong and compelling shadows.

And here comes a gallery of monochromes featuring just that...black and white photographs made in various towns of Guatemala; from Sacatepequez to Chichicastenango. Essentially street photographs made by a photographer that I regard as extremely adept at capturing the contrast of shadow and light, and its nuances.

Prantik Mazumder is a self-taught photographer, originally from Calcutta, India, and moved to North America for his graduate studies. Currently settled in Ithaca, New York, he's pursuing a career in scientific research.

This is not the first time I feature Prantik's work on this blog, but it's the first time that I choose his monochrome work.  He shows us work from Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, New Orleans and of his native Calcutta.

POV: Style Evolution

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Having just returned from Guatemala, I thought of revisiting the photographs I had made during an earlier trip to La Antigua (and some other towns and villages) during the 2002 Semana Santa, and comparing these to my most recent photo gallery Between The Three Volcanoes.

I rarely -if ever- photographed in monochrome at that time, relying on color (whether digital or film), using a 70-200 zoom lens for most of my shots, and essentially shooting for stock and magazines...as the top photograph (with space for text on either side of the subject) clearly is for. Storytelling or street photography wasn't part of my DNA at that time, and although I was mindful of Costa Mano's advice to shoot more complex images, I was still enamored with simple travel portraits.

Over the years, I witnessed the slow and progressive shift in my aesthetic vision (vision as in seeing rather than its more abstract meaning), and a desire of telling more in one image. Whether I succeed in "complicating" every photograph I make or not is open for debate, but I do try my best in achieving this goal...as in the lower photograph from my latest effort in La Antigua during a festive day.

It is only natural that one's craft should evolve over time, and hopefully improve with practice. But these two are different sides of the same coin. My style could've remain static, and I could've kept shooting for stock and simple travel portraits for all these years, and with time, I might have become really good at it.

Alternatively, I am much happier that my style has evolved to being a hybrid of travel-documentary photography, or as someone told me a style where "travel photography meets photojournalism". I still shoot travel portraiture on occasion, as I would shoot street portraiture, but my heart and visual acuity is now much more attuned to the 'complexity' of the lower photograph.

I may not be able to tell a story with every photograph or set of photographs, but the intent is there...bubbling under the surface, and sometimes the photographs fit together like a jigsaw puzzle...and a story is told.

Felipe Jácome | The Last Amazonas

Photo © Felipe Jacome- All Rights Reserved

The series of beautiful monochrome portraits of The Last Amazonas by Felipe Jacome is to document the struggle of indigenous women defending the Ecuadorian Amazon from oil exploitation by large oil exploration companies, backed by the government.

The portraits are accompanied by statements from the women themselves, explaining their history, culture and traditions. The color decorations are drawn using the same natural dyes used by the tribes to decorate their faces.

Faced by relentless exploitation, the Amazonian indigenous people have taken their case to their country's government, and have started muscular actions against oil companies operating in the region. These native indigenous groups accuse oil production for river pollution and soil contamination.

Felipe Jácome is a documentary photographer born in Ecuador, whose work has focused on issues of human mobility and human rights. He won the Young Reporter Competition of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and his photos have appeared in publications such as Foreign Policy Magazine, The Guardian, Vice Magazine, CNN Photo Blog and the Miami Herald. His photographs have also been exhibited in London, Geneva, Amsterdam, Quito, and Washington DC.

Amer Kapetanovic | Whirling Dervishes

Photo © Amer Kapetanovic -All Rights Reserved

The Whirling Dervishes is one of the many branches of the Islamic Sufi tradition, and is generally associated with the Mevlevi order in Turkey. The most well known Mehlevi Sufi ceremony is the Sema, which is one of many different Sufi ceremonies performed in order to achieve religious ecstasy.

Sema means listening in Arabic, and is performed as "zikr", which means the devotional remembrance of glorifying God and the Prophet Muhammad. The use of music and song can range from somewhat raucous and repetitive (as the Egyptian zikr) to the more subtle (musically-speaking) of the Sema in Turkey. In the same vein, the Gnaoua (or Gnawa) of Morocco perform their characteristic African Islamic spiritual religious songs and rhythms.

It is said that performing the Sema is a way to spiritually meditate through melodies and dancing. It brings out a person's love of God, purifies the soul, and is a way of finding God. It represents the mystical journey of individuals on their ascent through mind and love to union with God.

Although I photographed the Gnawa Sufis in Morocco, the Badawi Sufis in Egypt and various Sufi manifestations and ceremonies in India, I was only able to photograph the Whirling Dervishes in Istanbul along with hundreds of tourists; a delightful experience but not one that I found particularly intense at all . Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to visit Konya; the city where the Sufi saint Jalaluddin Rumi is buried. 

Until I do visit Konya, the wonderful (and large) monochromatic photographs of a Whirling Dervishes sema by Amer Kapetanovic will suffice. 

Amer Kapetanovic is based in Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), who's been photographing for over twelve years. Apart from commercial work, his personal photography gallery featured work from India, Turkey, France and Sweden.

The People of Tây Bắc Published on Medium

I've just published The People of Tây Bắc; a monochrome photo essay on the weekly markets of the ethnic minorities in Northwestern Viet Nam.

I've come to appreciate Medium, the rather new blog-publishing platform. Founded by Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone in August 2012, it has evolved into "a hybrid of non-professional contributions and professional, paid contributions, an example of social journalism" as described by Wikipedia.

Although it's a gorgeous platform for photographers as well, it was originally designed for writers. I use it to upload large photographs...using the edge to edge option, which provides an attractive viewing display.

The Travel Photographer's Favorites of 2014

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

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.

Kurt William Kamka | Plain Manila

Photo © Kurt William Kamka - All Rights Reserved

There are some photographers who espouse the notion that they must be invisible when shooting in the streets for their images to be successful, candid and "in the moment"...but there are also others who have no such compunctions. To me, I've got my feet firmly planted on both sides of the "aisle" provided the photograph tells a story.

Plain Manila is a collection of over 50 monochromes of the daily life in this gigantic Asian metropolis by Kurt William Kamka who, through these images, shows the people and provides us with a sense of the place, as if we roamed its back streets. As the photographer himself puts it, he sought to document "the day-to-day complexities of community life in the barrios of Manila".

Despite my frequent travels in Southeast Asia, I confess not knowing much of Manila, other than it's one of the most high-density cities in the world; even denser than Kolkata...which is a surprise. Perhaps I ought to remedy this shortcoming, and extend the trajectory of my travels to include the Philippines.

Kurt William Kamka is a commercial, documentary, street, non-profit and NGO photographer who relocated to Asia in 2011. Currently based in Manila, he document his view on the human condition.
His photos have been shown in the Leica gallery in Singapore, multiple locations in Manila and in Chicago. He has worked in advertising for some of the largest global brands including P&G, US Bank, Firestone, Bayer, McDonalds, Nikon, Samsung, UCB, Delta Airlines and others. 

Gabi Ben-Avraham | Jewish Holidays

Photo © Gabi Ben-Avraham - All Rights Reserved

I've been enjoying this photography website for a while, browsing and savoring its various galleries at a slower pace than usual,  and you'll understand why when you visit it.

Those who follow my work and this blog know that religious festivals, rituals and observances, wherever they occur and of whatever tradition they follow, are like 'catnip' to me. The more obscure and esoteric the more magnetic the 'catnip' is to me....especially if they're monochrome.

If you're like me; a fan of travel documentary work...of street photography...of dark shadows pierced by brilliant rays of sunshine...you're bound to like the broad compelling work of Gabi Ben-Avraham, an Israeli photographer who describes himself as a "hobbyist", and who only received a digital camera as a gift a few years ago.

There's certainly nothing amateurish in Gabi's work, and there are many galleries to admire amongst those he posted on his website.

The one I prefer is his Jewish Holidays, from which the above photograph is featured. It was shot during the Kapparot ritual when a rabbi swings a live chicken over the head of a woman to symbolically transfer her "sins" to the bird. Kapparot is practiced on the eve of Yom Kippur. There are also images made during the festivals of Purim, Sukkot and Passover, or Pesach. The images are brooding and dark; a perfect style for this sort of photography.

Drop by Gabi Ben-Avaraham's website, and you'll be sucked in its numerous galleries, ranging from pure street photography in Tel Aviv, to travel photography in Havana (Cuba), then to his light and shadows exercises.

Just make sure you have the time to delve in all of the galleries, and you'll agree with me. Gabi might describe himself as a hobbyist all he likes, but his work is as solid and as professional as they come.

The Music Man of Tho Ha

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

As all photographers know full well, serendipity plays an important role in offering photographic opportunities that are rarely repeated. I'm not talking of serendipitous events that happen in a flash, and that lucky photographers manage to capture in a blink of the eye by just happening to be there when it happens, but rather of unexpected opportunities that can arise from asking the right questions, sometimes from taking the wrong turn, and sometimes just a few seconds before giving up and returning home.

During The People of Tây Bắc Photo Expedition-Workshop, I decided to break off from Ha Noi's street photography schedule, and drive to the village of Tho Ha, about 45 kilometers from the capital city.  The village specializes in producing rice paper, used for spring rolls and other Vietnamese culinary dishes.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

While the village is known for its photogenic setting, we didn't find it that interesting, and were on the verge of leaving it when our interpreter Huyen stopped at an old house to ask for directions, and we were introduced to Việt.

We were welcomed in his house, and were offered brain-numbing rice wine, thankfully in small goblets. It didn't take too long for Việt to grab his many traditional Vietnamese stringed instruments, and start playing melancholic tunes. An accomplished musician, and to a certain extent, a passable good singer, Việt was very proud of his musical heritage. and we were made to understand that he served with the Viet Cong during the American (Vietnam) War, and he played music for his fellow soldiers.

Việt owns a small enterprise producing rice paper in the village, and he 's extremely proud of his son who works for a Ford assembly factory  in Hai Duong, as he is of his grandson who may have his musical talents.



The đàn nguyệt ("moon lute") being played is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument, is used in both folk and classical music, and remains popular throughout Vietnam. It's related to the yueqin, also known as the moon guitar, a traditional Chinese string instrument.

According to Xuan Tran (friend and travel agent supremo), the song is titled "Người ơi, Người ở đừng về", and it's a type of Quan Họ traditional music.

Jeremy Suyker | House of Strength

Photo © Jeremy Suyker - All Rights Reserved

I was introduced to this extremely interesting work recently featured as Editor's Choice on Maptia, and it's from a region I have rarely covered on this blog: Iran.

House of Strength is the body of monochromatic work by photographer Jeremy Suyker, and is about the pahlevani; the traditional Persian system of athletics originally used to train warriors that combines martial arts, calisthenics, strength training and music.

Wikipedia describes it as also merging elements of pre-Islamic Persian culture (particularly Zoroastrianism, Mithraism and Gnosticism) with the spirituality of Shia Islam and Sufism. The traditional gymnasium in which this type of wrestling is practiced is known as the zurkhaneh, or house of strength.

The implements used by the pahlevani are a pair of wooden clubs, a bow, a shield and a bar.

The Persian pahlevani influenced the virtual identical traditional wrestling practiced in India known as Pehlwani or Kusti. This wrestling style was developed during the Mughal Empire by combining native wrestling techniques and the Persian pahlevani. I've photographed the pehlwan wrestlers in Delhi, Varanasi and Kolkata, and the styles seem very similar.

Jeremy Suyker is a French photographer and reporter specialized in sociocultural issues. He reported on the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war, and on the historical changes in Myanmar.

He has been to Iran on several occasions since 2013, and is pursuing personal projects around the Black Sea region, Central Asia and Istanbul. His works can be found in publications like Geo, Washington Post, Newsweek Japan, Der Spiegel, L’Equipe magazine, Le Temps, Figaro, 6Mois, l’Actualité, A/R magazine and Vice.

Đạo Cao Đài | Tewfic El-Sawy

Readers of this blog know of my documentary interest in syncretic religions wherever these are observed, and Đạo Cao Đài is certainly one of those.

I've just featured Đạo Cao Đài : All Religions Are The Same on the Exposure platform, with over a very large dozen monochrome photographs made at Hue's Cao Đài temple. The photo shoot was held during my 2012 photo expedition-workshop in Vietnam. Although we were warmly welcomed to the temple by the devotees and clergy, it was somewhat hard to photograph because of the temple's columns and of the contrasting light.

In terms of number of adherents to Cao Đài, the religion is quite small with an estimated 3-6 million people following it in Vietnam and elsewhere. It was founded in 1926 by Ngo Van Chieu who claimed to have received a calling from a supreme deity during a seance.

The religion and its philosophy draws upon ethical precepts from Confucianism, occult practices from Taoism, theories of karma and rebirth from Buddhism, and a hierarchical organization (including a pope) from Roman Catholicism. Its pantheon of saints includes such diverse figures as the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, and Sun Yat-sen.

The headquarters of Cao Đài are at Tay Ninh, near Ho Chi Minh City.

The Vedic Disciples | "Wet Plate" | Exposure

I've just published The Vedic Disciples on the Exposure platform, using a digital wet plate preset to give the monochromatic photographs an ancient appearance which befits the location.

The photographs (originally in color) were made at the Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam Vedic Institute in Thrissur, and is of the activities at an ancient Vedic 'gurukul' (or training/boarding school; very similar to the Buddhist monasteries for novitiates), where the young students follow this way of teaching sacred Vedic scriptures.

There are four Vedas: Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Sama Veda and Yajur Veda. The Vedas include more than 100,000 verses and additional prose.

It is an ancient Indian educational system; currently being rejuvenated with the assistance of the Indian government. The young boys who populate the Vedic school belong to a caste of Keralan Brahmins, and are responsible to carry on the age-old tradition of chanting Vedas during religious rituals or functions. The chanting is learned by practice, and nothing is written down. 

The rhythm of the Vedic chants is followed by the young boys' moving their bodies in cadence to the verses, which reminded me how the Buddhist novices recite their mantras, or how the Islamic students recite the Qur'an at their madrasas...and how Jewish worshipers sway during their prayers. 

The tradition of Vedic chanting is often considered the oldest unbroken oral tradition in existence, while the Vedic texts date to roughly the time of Homer. It is said that the Vedas -as they are called- are a vast collection of hymns that were heard by ancient Indian sages when they were in a deep meditative state.

Jan Møller Hansen | The Sadhus (Monochrome)

Photo © Jan Møller Hansen - All Rights Reserved

I missed this year's Maha Shivaratri (or just Shivratri) in Kathmandu! Celebrated on February 17, 2015 by Hindus all over the world, it glorifies the Hindu god Shiva, believed to be the lord of cosmic destruction and dance.

It's described as starting with a night vigil leading up to the day of the festival during which many Shiva devotees fast and offer special prayers. Shiva is worshiped in the form of a lingam, a vertical, rounded column, representing the male creative force and the infinite, indescribable nature of God, and the yoni which represents female creative energy. Together they represent the union of organs, and the totality of creation.

And listen to this: flowers, incense and other offerings are made, while prayers are chanted. Bhang, an intoxicant made from the cannabis plant is consumed by many on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri.

How could I have missed it?

Anyway, to partially redress the disappointment is Jan Moeller Hansen's The Sadhus,  a monochrome gallery of about 50 portraits of these itinerant ascetics in Kathmandu; some of who attend the Maha Shivaratri festival with considerable zeal. After all, Nepalese authorities are said to have spent almost Rs 900,000 in cash, food and blanket donations to the 5000 sadhus who had come from various parts of Nepal and India to celebrate the festival at the Pashupatinath Temple premises.

It was estimated by the Nepali newspapers that around a million devotees from India and Nepal thronged the ancient Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu on Maha Shivratri festival on February 17.

Jan Møller Hansen is a self-taught photographer interested in social documentary and street photography. A senior diplomat working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Jan is presently based in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Around 24 galleries of his photographs (some color and others in monochrome) are of Nepal. Jan also photographed the Rana Tharus who live in the Tarai, a narrow strip of land which extends across 550 miles of the southern border of Nepal, next to northeast India, and whose ethnic origin are said to be  Rajput, members of a high caste in Rajasthan.