travling photography

Photo � William E. Crawford | Courtesy The New York Times I don't recall writing a blog post about an article that appeared on The New York Times' Lens feature, but I could not let the wonderful photography of William E. Crawford on Hanoi Streets go without giving it its due merit on the pages of this blog. One of the photographs that I couldn't stop looking at is of this Vietnamese general. I have no idea who he is or what his history may have been...but I've met Vietnamese men (and women) of his age with similar facial expressions, whose astounding gentleness and courtesy to me -as a visitor to their country- are the most rewarding experiences I took away from my travels in Vietnam. In the Lens article, Mr. Crawford is quoted as saying  "despite the embargo and the wounds of the American War there was no obvious anti-American hostility ... the lack of hostility towards Americans, at least in the North, was a relief to me." This is so true! Everywhere I went...

Photo � Supriya Biswas | Courtesy The Human World The Human World photography contest  just announced its overall winner; Supriya Biswas with the above monochrome photograph, and four honorable mentions namely Thigh Wanna, Shoeb Faruquee, Robin Yong and Edoardo Agresti. The Human World photography contest is organized by Matteo Vegetti, an Italian photographer, and is in its fourth annual iteration.  As one of the contest's judges, I was gratified that the winning image was one of my top choices...and I'm glad the remaining judges on the panel seemed to have thought so as well. By the way, these judges are  Diane Durongpisitkul, Jing Chen, Kim Hak, Sarah Trevisiol, Probal Rashid, and Gunarto Gunawan...a truly international panel representing the USA, Thailand, China, Cambodia, Italy, Germany, India and Indonesia. My blog's readers may be interested as to the reason for this photograph being one of my top choices...and in all candor, I struggl...

Photo Courtesy PetaPixel I've recently seen a blog post by PetaPixel  (which is one of the blogs I visit very frequently for news on photography), and read that a photojournalist in Bangladesh vented his ire and frustration at non-professional photographers (or non photojournalists...and presumably non Bengalis)) who descend on the country during its largest religious festivals to make "award-winning" photographs. His issue is that these photographers staged scenes to make compelling photographs to enter in photography contests, for a chance of recognition, cash awards and other prizes. He pleads with these photographers to not come to these festivals and ruin his, and other "real' photojournalists, chances at making their own (presumably) non-staged images. I believe it's quite rich for any photographer to take such a position, and while a small part of me sympathizes with it, should the Bangladeshi authorities have no mechanism to only authorize accredited ...

Photo � Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved (GFX50s) At the end of every trip, whether I had been giving a workshop or working on a project, there's one (or perhaps two) frame(s) that I specifically fall in love with. This never fails to happen. I believe it's about developing an instant emotional bond for the subject(s) in such frames. As I often tell those who attend my workshops...the photographer has to fall in a semblance of "love" with his or her models. Whether posed or candid photo shoots, successful imagery depends on the mutual bonds that develops between these parties.  I was in Kuala Lumpur last month during the Nine Emperor Gods festival; an important Taoist religious festival which begins on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar.  While the festival itself with its unusual rituals and religious processions is a veritable feast for the eyes, for the senses and naturally for photography, I was there to photograph the performances and back s...

Readers of this blog will know that I've been interested in adding another arrow to my quiver  -photographically speaking-  for quite a while, and I'm now earnestly starting a "chinoiserie" phase  in my photographic trajectory.  As I wrote in an earlier post , " ..it is not really about fashion and/or attractive models (although it's obviously nice to include them), but about a theme. The theme of "Shanghai-1940" is one that I seek to recreate through still photography and audio, and weave a narrative into stories...akin to short movies. " Whilst in Kuala Lumpur in 2016 participating in the annual Travel Photographer Society event,  I was introduced to The Old China Cafe; an old caf�-restaurant that serves a combination of Straits Chinese and Malay dishes, and whose untouched pre-war ambiance and large traditional feng shui mirrors gave me the idea of constructing a fantasy story about a beautiful Chinese woman dressed in a clinging red qi pa...

Photo � Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved Chinoiserie (from ' chinois ' the French for Chinese) is a style inspired by art and design from China, Japan and other Asian countries. Fashion designers, furniture makers, wallpaper designers, artists and photographers have consistently been heavily influenced and inspired to produce work that reflect this aesthetic. My c hinoiserie "phase" has been bubbling for quite a while. Certainly influenced by my travels over the past two years to Hanoi, and annual visits to Kuala Lumpur, it was triggered by a couple of visits to The Old China Cafe; an atmospheric eatery in KL's Chinatown's vicinity, and which in turn resulted in a short  audio-slideshow bearing the same name. My immersive experience in the Vietnamese  H?u �?ng  rituals for my photo book was another push in this direction, especially with the fashion sense and the ethnic costumes of the mediums. Yet another influence of mine is In the Mood for Love (Chine...

Photo � Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved I had been ruminating getting involved with medium format photography for quite some time. In fact, I had used the analog Mamiya 645 many years ago, but when I tried to have its defective shutter replaced a few months ago, I was told that the lack of readily-available parts would make it difficult, lengthy and potentially costly. Then I reflected on having to get involved in buying films, have them processed, scanned et al. So that impulse came to a halt. I've been using the X-Pro2 (and a panoply of prime and zoom Fuji lenses) as my primary go-to camera since mid-2016 and was (and still am) perfectly content with the quality of its images. I also used -to a lesser extent- two Fuji X-T1 cameras which came in handy when I needed them for certain situations. So my gear needs were more than satisfied in terms of image quality and job requirements. Nevertheless, the medium format itch was still there. I read all the reviews that were availabl...

The New York Times recently featured two articles concerning the future of photojournalism, through interviews with Donald R. Winslow (editor of the National Press Photographers Association�s News Photographer magazine and newspaper) and Leslye Davis , a young video journalist and photographer for The New York Times. In essence, the viewpoint of a veteran and an another  from an 'emerging' photojournalist. Some of the statements made by both interviewees just jumped at me...total deja vu for me. Why deja vu? Well,  because I said exactly what they said during my classes at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshops and more recently during my 2016 talk at the Travel Photographer Society in Kuala Lumpur. The statements that mirror mine (or vice versa) are: " If you�re going to earn a living now, you have to be a photographer who occasionally does photojournalism. You have to be able to do wedding photography, corporate photography or event photography." (Donald...

Readers and followers of The Travel Photographer blog are probably well aware of my immense disappointment at the inertia demonstrated by the Asia Society in NYC in acknowledging my letters suggesting it recognizes the Vietnamese Mother Goddess religion as an important event in this Asian nation. As background; I had sent over the past 60+ days two letters to specific high-placed staff members highlighting that the indigenous Vietnamese Mother Goddesses religion (known as �?o M?u) and its rituals (known as H?u �?ng and/or L�n d?ng) had been included on the UNESCO's List of Intangible Heritages, and urging the Asia Society to recognize this by organizing some sort of event at it New York City (or elsewhere) location. However, there was no reply, no acknowledgment, no reaction of whatsoever nature emerging from the Asia Society. Not even a "thank you, but we are not interested" email or voice mail. And certainly no event or recognition of any sort was held...not even, a sho...

The first blog post   Shakespeare  wrote   �...the   swiftest   hours,  observed  as   they   flew...�   And indeed, the ten years since I started this blog have flown swiftly, and many milestones have been reached during that decade. Over 3400 posts. Almost 4,000,000 unique views. Over 900 travel photographers were written about; some multiple times. Over 2000 followers. Over 400 posts on India, and over 130 posts on Vietnam. More than 200 Point Of Views...some acerbic, some rants, some wide-off-the-mark, some spot-on. Personal opinions on cameras and lenses (my own tools) that I use and take on my travels. According to statistics, its readership is worldwide, and stretches from the United States to Japan. I frequently receive complimentary and thank you emails (or social media comments) from readers and from featured photographers. I started the blog whilst in London in January 2007; on a whim and named it The Travel Photographer becau...

As readers of this blog know, I spent the better part of the past two years on a wonderful project documenting/photographing/researching the indigenous Vietnamese Mother Goddesses religion (known as �?o M?u) and its rituals (known as H?u �?ng and/or L�n d?ng) in H� N?i and in the northern regions of Vietnam. A few weeks after the birth and publication of my photo book H?u �?ng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam , �?o M?u was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity. This prestigious acknowledgement was received in Vietnam with enormous nationalistic pride as it honors its heritage, and I was privileged to have had the opportunity to give three talks and multiple television interviews about my book, the project and how a non-Vietnamese was able to acquire an expertise in these rituals. On returning to New York City, still reeling from the euphoric feeling of having done a meaningful project, I decided I would try to interest one of the p...

Photo � Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved (X-Pro2 + 16-55mm) I am not an impulse buyer, not do I have the dreaded (or lauded) Gear Acquisition Syndrome but when I saw that Fujifilm announced the imminent arrival of its medium-format GFX 50S, I admit my pulse raced a little faster than usual. I own an old film Mamiya 645 along with an equally old 80mm 2.8 Mamiya lens in a drawer somewhere, crippled by an unfixable broken shutter according to the Japanese repair center that looked at it a few months ago. It has been infrequently used, so it may have been either a manufacturing defect, or a mishandling on my part. Consequently, medium format wasn't on my radar screen until the Fuji GFX 50S announcement. According to the prevailing mix of facts and rumors, the mirrorless GFX 50S will be released on February 23, 2017 at a body price of $6500. It is weather-sealed and uses the X-Processor Pro (used in X-T2/X-Pro2), and has a 51.4MP 44 x 33mm Medium Format Bayer Sen...

The Vi?t beliefs in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms, also known as �?o M?u, was inscribed  on December 1, 2016 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. And the inscription comes as an important chapter in my 18+ months journey documenting this indigenous belief system which I stumbled across during a photo expedition in northern Vietnam in September 2014. It also serves to underscore the importance of this tradition to the millions of Vietnamese who flock to it for their spiritual needs, and to gain help in achieving good health and success in their communities, occupations and social circles. I am proud to have launched my photo book  H?u �?ng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam  in Hanoi just 3 weeks before the formal announcement, and contributed in a small way to the anticipatory buzz of  the mystical world of �?o M?u and H?u �?ng. My three photo talks and my photo book were written of in more than 18 different n...

All Photographs � 2016 Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved I remember  September 12, 2014 very well. I was in Sa Pa, the famous hill station in northern Viet Nam, and despite the early morning humidity, the Black Hmong vendors were already waiting for tourists. I was walking on Fansipan Road, bantering with some of them, when I heard religious music wafting from a nondescript building. I asked the vendors and was told it was a temple. I walked in and met women dressed in red traditional clothes who, through sign language, told me that a ceremony would start at 9:00 am. This is how my two-year long journey into the world of  �?o M?u, the indigenous Vietnamese mother goddess religion and h ?u d?ng , the  ritual of spirit mediumship, started. Totally by accident. Serendipitously.  I was flabbergasted that I hadn't heard of  �?o M?u before. My so-called specialty as a travel photographer is/was ethno-photography with special interest in esoteric ...