The World Press Photo 2009 awards required its jury to review and screen over 97,000 entries, and choose just 64 winning images (or series) representing the best visual reporting of 2008's global events. Quite a monumental task considering the effort I put in reviewing my own photographs following one of my photo-expeditions.
The high-resolution slideshow is via Lens Culture, and comes with captions identifying each photographer, the agency or media responsible for the image, and a brief explanation of what is depicted in each image.
The Frontline Club (I need to really make an effort and drop by this week while I'm in London) has featured a presentation by Reza, the Iran-born photojournalist who photographed most of the globe for National Geographic and other major international publications. He presented and talked about a selection of work from his new book War + Peace.The presentation lasts for a little less than two hours, which makes me wish that they had edited it...but it's certainly an interesting insight into a photojournalism legend.
In the course of his photo reportages across the world's trouble spots, this modern-day Ibn Battuta has met a cast of extraordinary characters, befriending personalities as diverse as the Dalai Lama and the late Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panshir.
Throughout the 1970s and '80s, Reza worked for Agence France Presse, served as Tehran correspondent for Newsweek, and was the Middle East correspondent for Time. He also served as a consultant for United Nations Programming in Afghanistan in 1989-90. In the years since, he has also photographed for Figaro, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times Magazine.
Reza's work has been published and exhibited in Canada, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Libya, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States.
In 1996 Reza won the Hope Prize for his efforts on behalf of Rwandan refugees. In 2001 he founded AÏNA, Afghan Media and Culture Centre to bring a free press to a nation silenced by the Taliban. He was again honoured in 2005 when Christian Poncelet, president of the French senate, presented him with the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite, the national award for distinguished public or private service. And in 2006, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe presented him with the Principe de Asturias Medal. That same year, he also received the Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Here's another SoundSlides slideshow by photographer Chico Sanchez, featuring the dance of the Chinelos. Chinelos is a traditional dance performed in the state of Morelos, Mexico in which colorfully dressed dancers dance and wave flags accompanied by traditional tunes played by a brass band.
According to Wikipedia, the town of Tepoztlán is known for its chinelos but the dance exists throughout Morelos in towns like Yautepec, Coacalco, Cuautlixco, Atlahuahuacán, Oaxtepec, Jojutla and Totolapan, as well as in certain towns in the state of Puebla.
Many of Chico Sanchez's documentary/travel photography slideshows have been featured on The Travel Photographer blog; latest of which was The Island of Dolls and others.
Not to be outdone by the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal's Photo Journal published this striking photograph of a burqa-clad woman walking in an old Kabul bazaar. Ahmad Masood of Reuters most probably spot metered the brightness of the woman's clothing to throw the rest of the background in darkness...an effective technique to highlight primary subject such as this one.
The Boston Globe's The Big Picture is consistent in bringing remarkable photographs from various sources and covering interesting current events. It recently featured Scenes From Pakistan following the country's announcement that it would accept Islamic Sharia Law to be implemented in its Swat Valley region, as part of a truce with local Taliban leaders. In this particular feature, it acknowledges the artistry of AP photographer Emilio Morenatti. Emilio was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year by Missouri School of Journalism for its Pictures of the Year International competition.
The above photograph is of a Sh'ia Muslim worshiper receiving medical care in a clinic, after flagellating himself with knives in a procession in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
While in Kochi a few days ago, I met a young shopkeeper who had participated in a Ashura procession in Bangalore. He showed me a short video clip recorded on his cell phone of his bleeding profusely from the head, and he solemnly assured me that his wounds healed miraculously within two hours.
The Theyyam Photo Expedition ended last night, and I'm about to leave Delhi in a few hours. As I usually do, I will post a detailed "post-mortem" on the whole expedition as soon as I get a chance to review my notes.
The 4-5 days we spent at the various Theyyam ceremonies and performances in the Kasaragode area of Kerala were nothing short of an orgy of non-stop photography, and the access we enjoyed was unprecedented. In the meantime, here's a teaser of a Theyyam performer...I intentionally chose a blurred image to convey the sense of sporadic motion which characterize these rituals.
Theyyam is a 2000 year old performance-ritual exhibited only in the northern Malabar region of Kerala. The word is a corruption of "daivam" or god in local dialect. The unusual head dresses, intricate and elaborate make-up, costumes and body painting are nothing short of extraordinary.
I realize that my readers are waiting for new posts, but I'm still traveling on my Theyyams of Malabar photo-expedition in the Kerala region of India, and will return to posting as soon as I can.
