Canon 5D "Mark II"

A bunch of websites are claiming that Canon Germany confirmed that a successor to the EOS 5D will be announced at Photokina in Cologne during the last week of September. Since all these websites have predicted such a successor for quite a while, there's no reason to believe them now...or is there?

As far as I know, no one has published verifiable information as to what Canon is working on at this time, but my gut feel is that Canon will not allow Nikon take the lead with its recent products, including the D90 with its video capability.

While there are rumors that the 5D successor will be a 21.1 MP full-frame 5 frames per second machine, with LiveView and a 3.2" High Resolution Screen (LCD). However, I suspect that 21.1 MP is not reasonable as it would take away a very large chunk of market share from Canon's $8000 1Ds MkIII. I also happen to think that Canon may also feature a camera with video capability.

The Nikon D90's feature of recording cinematic-quality movie clips at up to 720p HD (1280 x 720 pixels) is an immense step in the right direction, and opens up all sorts of opportunities.

The merging of still and motion photography is what most photojournalists need to meet the industry's current challenges...and Canon will not let its supremacy slip away.

Wishful thinking? Perhaps.

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Matt Wright-Steel: Texas Mountain Trail

Photograph Matt Wright-Steel-All Rights Reserved
I ought to post on more domestic photo essays and galleries, and Matt Wright-Steel's new portfolio titled Texas Mountain Trail allows me to do just that...beautifully composed (and large) images of typical Texan landscapes by a very versatile photojournalist. I particularly liked the photograph of the rusty crucifix in the old cemetery. I wonder whether Matt used Lightroom to enhance the images?

Matt uses large images to showcase all of his galleries, joining the ranks of photographers and photography websites that do not shy away from using this format to provide us with a better visual experience.

Matt Wright-Steel is a documentary photographer focused on culture and the human experience, and attended the recent Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City.

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Digital Photo Pro Mag: Jeff Hutchens

Photograph Jeff Hutchens-All Rights Reserved
Digital Photo Pro magazine has published an interesting 3 page interview with globetrotter photographer Jeff Hutchens titled The Frozen Mood.

At a time when travel photographers are facing a diminution in work assignments and gigs, and existentialistic navel-gazing questions such as "is travel photography dead?", it's refreshing to see an in-depth article and interview with a young but well-established travel photographer.

Hutchens traveled to more than 40 nations in his 29 years and has had plenty of adventures and misadventures. He moved with his family to northeastern China when he was four, after his father was hired to teach English to Chinese students. He and his brother attended a Chinese preschool and learned Mandarin.

I liked what he said on his China photographs: “I always experience China the same way: the cacophony of Mandarin tones; blurring bicycles and black slacks; the barrage of reds turned oddly luminescent by the haze of the polluted sky.”

Jeff Hutchens' website

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Angkor Photo Festival: 23-28 Nov 2008

For the fourth time, the Angkor Photography Festival will take place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from the 23rd to the 28th of November 2008.

The program for 2008 includes six evenings of audiovisual presentations from around the world curated by the festival, the workshop tutors, as well as by two internationally renowned photography editors, Sujong Song and Christian Caujolle.

The 2008 festival will also host a series of free photography workshops, present its outreach programs and hold a fund raising photography auction for the Anjali children’s project.

Press Release with PDF of the Press Photos 2008

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Does Size Matter? Yes It Does.

Photograph Joseph Rodriguez-All Rights Reserved
Realizing that viewers/readers are enamored with large photographs, two national newspapers have recently featured large photographs of current events. The size of these photographs are in the range of 1000 x 650 pixels (which is the favored size for displaying my own images on my web galleries, and certainly for my multimedia slideshows). The response to the Boston Globe's The Big Picture is phenomenal, and if you haven't visited it yet, you should.

Interestingly, the staid Wall Street Journal has followed suit with its equally attractive Photo Journal which features a photo essay on Katrina stories by photographer Joseph Rodriguez.

For anyone interested in photojournalism, these two websites ought to be bookmarked. The Big Picture's photographs from the Olympics are just extraordinary.

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Nikon D90: Is This The Future?

On the heels of Canon announcing its new EOS 50D, Nikon has revealed details of the D90, which features a video mode.

Nikon claims that the D90 is the first mid-class DSLR to offer a movie function. It allows you to shoot movies in three different motion JPEG formats: 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels and 1,280 x 720 pixels. The video mode is compatible with Nikkor’s range of lenses.

Nobody should have doubts that this is the future for photography. Imagine the possibilities for photojournalists, travel photographers and others to have this function!

Just a caveat: The Nikon D90 link that shows off its video capabilities has a note that the videos shown were taken using D-Movie function, then converted to Flash Video format for ease of handling. Image quality varies from the original.

And if you want to hear the N90's shutter sound, knock yourself out by clicking here.

David Pogue has a friendly review of the D90 on the New York Times, which makes the point that the "era of the video S.L.R. has begun."

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Magnum Workshops in NYC

Magnum announced that its Magnum Workshop New York on October 20-31, 2008 will be a five day practice oriented workshop taking place at MILK Studios, a New York photography studio, located in the heart of Chelsea and the arts district. Each workshop will have a maximum of 12 participants.

The following Magnum Photographers will be leading the workshops:

Session 1: October 20-24, 2008
Alex Webb (with Rebecca Norris Webb)
Bruce Gilden

Session 2: October 27-31, 2008
Constantine Manos
Chien-Chi Chang

For further details, visit Magnum Workshops

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Joshua Broggi: Mali

Photograph Joshua Broggi-All Rights Reserved
From New England, Joshua Broggi traveled to over 30 countries to photograph and research. He tells us that his "focus is on non-western cultures and their distinct complexities in a post-colonial and globalizing world." I particularly liked Joshua's gallery of photographs of Mali, as exemplified by the above portrait of a young girl.

Due to increasing restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities on foreign residents of Tibet, Joshua has recently returned to the United States.

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New Canon 50D

Canon announced a new camera to its EOS series with the introduction of a mid-range digital SLR. The EOS 50D has a new 15.1 million pixel resolution CMOS sensor (with 1.6x crop factor), and is capable of shooting 6.3 frames per second. It's the first DLSR to have Canon’s new DIGIC 4 image processor.

While many see the 50D as an upgrade of the 40D, Canon says it intends to sell both cameras. The 50D also features Canon's 'Integrated Cleaning System' and a liveview mode, which also allows users to use three ways to auto focus - Quick AF, Live AF, and new Face Detection Live AF.

The 50D will be available at the end of September. The price is said to be $1400...not bad.

For a listing of the specifications, go to DPReview.com. The Wired blog also has a post.

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Rubin Museum of Art: Bhutan!

My favorite museum in New York City, the Rubin Museum of Art, will be featuring Cham ritual dances in public spaces in and around New York City. These events will be free to the public, and a schedule will be posted shortly on the museum's website. As soon as I receive notification of the schedule, I shall post it.

The Cham dances will be performed in New York City by 13 monks from the monastery fortress of Trongsa in central Bhutan. Depending on the locations, these dances will be spectacular! Will one be at the Rockefeller Center? I hope so.

Here's my very own multimedia sideshows: Dancing Monks of Prakhar and The People of Druk Yul.

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POV: What Is SEO?

Photograph Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
An interesting post appeared on Rob Haggart's blog, A Photo Editor (if you haven't been visiting his blog, you ought to!) dealing with Search Engine Optimization.

Haggart's post is very well thought out (don't forget to also check out the comments on his post), but reading it more than once to make sure, I was struck how my own entry about 18 months ago into the world of branding, blogging and website maximization followed his post's worthwhile recommendations. I only wish it had been written before...it would've saved me many hours!

For instance, blogging is now a must-do for photographers who seek to maximize their chances of being seen (and contracted) by photo editors, buyers and the public. Haggart goes so far as saying :"Who cares if no humans read your blog. The search engine benefits alone are worth it. "

Absolutely!

Most of the buying requests for my photographs in the months since I've started The Travel Photography blog have been made by buyers reading (or having seen) it, which they land on through Google. In fact, many of the new clients for my photo expeditions are readers of this blog...and since I've placed a subscription box for my email newsletters on it, subscriptions have jumped at least ten-fold.

More suggestions by Rob Haggart are: link the blog to one's website, and vice-versa, to exchange links with 2-3 peers in your specific industry (travel photography for me), and to make sure that the title of the blog reflects one's interest and specialization. Perhaps these are basic and fundamental to me now...but did I know all this some 18 months ago? No, I didn't.

As I said, a must-read post.

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La Santa Muerte

Photograph Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
While participating in the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City this past June, one of the projects that my class was interested in was the cult of Santa Muerte.

The cult of Santa Muerte is unusual because it's the cult of the drug lords, the dispossessed, and criminals. There are many shrines to Santa Muerte in the capital city, but Tepito is where the most popular shrines are. Tepito is an infamous barrio and its tough reputation dates back to pre-Hispanic times. The neighborhood is a warren of mean streets and alleys, lined with auto-body shops and small stores. It's here that the prostitutes, drug dealers and petty thieves come to pay their respect to the saint. It's also where the common folk; housewives, cab drivers and street vendors come to make their offerings...tequila bottles, candles, money and flowers.

La Santa Muerte

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Kevin German: Vietnam

Photograph Kevin German-All Rights Reserved
Kevin German studied photography and journalism at the Washington State University, and worked throughout the United States as a newspaper photojournalist until 2008 when he traveled to Vietnam to work on social documentaries.

Kevin's photo essays include transgenders in New York City, cock-fighting in Panama, the "Salt People" of Vietnam, and a lovely gallery of South East Asia Portraits. Under the section "Wander" is his travel gallery of Vietnam and the Philippines.

By the way, since I'm such a fan of controlled blurred images, there's one in Kevin's Vietnam gallery which is wonderful!

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Kashmir Rumbles

Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times features an article today on the current civil unrest in Kashmir, where it seems that the bitter dispute between India and Pakistan has reappeared. It all started with a dispute over a 99-acre piece of land, which has for more than two months been encouraged by both separatist leaders in Muslim-majority Kashmir and Hindu nationalists elsewhere in India.

It is sad that this festering wound has not healed. During the first few months of the year, tourists were flocking to Dal Lake in Kashmir. Eric Beecroft and I were so encouraged by the improving political and civil situation that we announced a wonderful Kashmir: Paradise On Earth Photo Workshop.

In late April, we decided to postpone it following explosions in Srinagar's main markets, and at the advice of our fixers and agents who believed the situation would get worse. Nevertheless, both Eric and I still hope that calm will prevail, and an accommodation will be sought and achieved between the two sides of the conflict allowing us to schedule the same workshop next year.

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Barbara Paul: Traditions of India

Photographs Barbara Paul-All Rights Reserved
“Traditions of India,” a photography exhibit by Barbara Paul, will be shown at the Ridgefield Library from September 3 to October 11, 2008.

Barbara Paul travels through some of the most remote regions of Asia and Africa with the goal of capturing and sharing the region’s customs, dress, festivals and way of life. She has a special interest in the fabrics and textiles of the cultures she visits. Educated at Wellesley College and NYU School of Business Administration, Barbara resides in Westport, CT. She has exhibited at the Thomas J. Walsh Gallery at the Quick Center at Fairfield University, Tibet House in New York City, Black Rock Art Center in Bridgeport, and many other venues in Fairfield and Westchester Counties.

The exhibit portrays rich and fascinating age-old traditions, from festivals swirling with color to daily activities in remote villages to religious rituals at sacred sites. All are invited to a reception on Sunday, September 14, from 2-4PM at the Ridgefield Library in Ridgefield, CT. For more information, call (203) 438-2282.

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Nat Geo's David Griffin Speaks

A worthwhile lecture by David Griffin of the National Geographic Society on the impact of photography. David, the photo director for National Geographic, knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories.

I briefly met David during the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and he came across as an extremely cordial man, and as befits a National Geographic photo editor, with a deep understanding of the current photographic environment.

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Audrey Stein: All Over The Place Too

Photograph Audrey Stein-All Rights Reserved
Audrey Stein tells us in her biography that travel is in her genes, and she's absolutely right. Perhaps like many of us who are peripatetic travelers, her childhood's favorite words were Timbuktu and Kathmandu, and as the far corners of the world have always attracted her, she photographed in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, China, Nepal, India, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America.

She accompanied Nevada Wier to Ladakh, and Phil Borges to Dharmashala, and to Ollantaytambo, Peru. Audrey's images are in the collection of the UCLA Center for India and South Asia.

Her website is Passionate Traveler...I couldn't think of a more appropriate name.

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Alex Sievers: All Over The Place

Photograph Alex Sievers-All Rights Reserved
Alex Sievers is a Dutch travel photographer, and an architect by trade. He travels on business but always carries his cameras and a tripod wherever he goes, and as a consequence has built an impressive body of travel galleries from virtually all over the globe.

I've had a hard time deciding which gallery I'd post on TTP, but because of the Olympics I've chosen Alex's China gallery...but titled it All Over The Place which is more descriptive. Do explore the many galleries on his website....A warning though: they're so many that it'll take you a while to go through all of them.

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