Archives for posts with tag: Travel Photog

Aug,06

Comments: 1

Culture

LaRu

Rebkong

Thangka

Travel Photog

Western China

Thangka Painters of Rebkong Valley

Time with the extremely talented artists of Rebkong valley

As some of you saw in my last blog post, I was lucky enough to spend last weekend at the LaRu festival in Rebkong valley. Rebkong is extremely famous throughout Tibet and is the artistic heart of the area. At the center of that heart is the Thangka (pronounced ‘tanka’).

Thangkas are traditional hand created paintings that represent many different things in Tibetan Buddhism, many of which serve as a sort of history of the people as well as religious purposes. Thangkas are made in several places throughout the plateau region, but the most sought out are decidedly from Rebkong valley. Rebkong valley thangkas are in virtually every monastery in Tibet.

I was able to stay at a friend’s house whose family includes well-known thangka painters. It was amazing to see them working and see the sheer quality of the craftsmanship that has been handed down from generation to generation. I was absolutely blown away by the detail that goes into these thangkas. I more than once saw them painting with brushes that literally only had a few hairs on them. On top of that some of these thangkas are huge (30 meters wide and long). Some can take over three years to produce and although they aren’t necessarily sold just as art, they can sell for more than $100,000 USD.

The craftsmanship of these thangka painters is truly amazing.

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Jul,26

Comments: 8

General

2010 WWFW-Language is your best friend

The local language can help your photography

Our Kelby World Wide Photowalk this year was amazing. I was just about to post my pictures and say “Hey! We had a great time on our photo walk… here are some pictures!” …only because I’m tired and it’s 1:05am, but instead I’m going to breach another subject. Why? Well, this photo walk reminded me of something that has undoubtedly improved my photography. Speaking the local language.

First, we did have a great photo walk at Kum Bum/Ta Er Monastery. It had been about three years since I had been out to this particular monastery – needless to say I didn’t get the memo that it had changed from a relatively quite and important monastery into Disneyland. It was insane. I got there and there were Chinese tourists literally as far as the eye could see.

In avoidance of tourists, I ended up spending 2 hours with a bunch of Tibetans who were renovating several of the buildings at the monastery – where no one was supposed to be allowed in. But here’s the thing, I could speak some of the local dialect (read: 6 sentences – very little). I’m not talking about Tibetan or Chinese – I’m talking about what they speak. I asked in the local dialect about what they were doing and if I could come in and take a look. They were so blown away that they let me just wander around — my own private personal tour of the innards of one of the most important temples at the monastery. As a 6′5″ American photographer, the local language breaks the ice even if I can’t carry on a conversation in it.

Not speaking the local language is not a death sentence in this type of situation, but it continues to open opportunities for me and have seen it do the same for other photographers – I’m not breaking any new ground here. People like to speak their mother tongue, right? They are usually extremely proud of it – significant pieces of the culture live in the language and if you can manage to utter ANYTHING , the doors start flying open. We are now free to interact however we can – it doesn’t just break the ice, it takes 100 pounds of C4 to it.

So what are the benefits? The main benefits that continue to show themselves to me are as follows:

I get access to places I’m not generally allowed to go.
People literally and instantaniously brighten up and are incredibly surprised and happy to hear a foreigner speaking their language
The subjects are usually more excited to get their picture taken.

Heck, I could write an entire blog about the benefits.

With that, I leave this to you – What are your struggles, experiences, and perceived benefits of language in photography?

(all the following shots are from this years WWPW)

Jun,11

Comments: 1

General

Markets

Penang

Travel

CHINA, HONG KONG, AND MALAYSIA (2 OF 3)

Meetings, shoots, 3 countries, and lots of me being behind a camera - Part 2

Part 2 – Downtown Penang + Batik Factory

So after my meetings and shoot(s) in Hong Kong, I headed down to Penang for a bit of business and pleasure w/ our good ol’ Digital Trekker. I have to admit, I went to Penang not knowing much about it other than it’s really really hot there and what I read on Wikipedia. One of the beautiful things about living in Asia, is that airfare is silly cheap here. I’m really glad I got to pay Penang a visit.

The morning of my first full day in Penang, I was told about a kind of clothing design they do in this part of the world known as Batik. The friend that I was with told me about how it was made, and I was absolutely blown away. Batik is made by applying wax to cloth, dying it, and then boiling off the wax – negative space design at it’s best. Certan types of Batik are made usings copper stamps w/ wax rather than applying it by hand. Nonetheless, I was impressed enough to spend about 3 hours at local Batik shop marveling at how cool this stuff is. Check out some of the designs below – hand made!

That afternoon we spent the afternoon in downtown Penang. Downtown Penang is truly a melting pot of South East Asian culture. I visited Chinese clan houses, two mosques, and ate lunch at the best Indian restaurant in Penang. I couldn’t have asked for much more.

Coming tomorrow – Shots from my first Malaysian Wedding.

Apr,08

Comments: 2

I'm a Photographer

Interviews

Travel Photog

Vision

Why

I’m a Photographer

Discussions on the life of a Photographer

I’m very excited to finally be kicking of the interview series entitled “I’m a Photographer: Discussions on the life of a Photographer.“ I was fortunate enough to pull together interviews from some really fantastic photographers – more importantly, photographers that are in completely different stages of life and different stages in their photographic careers. All this in an attempt to profile those significant differences and see what we can learn – or maybe what we have forgotten.

The main purpose of this series, as it suggests, is to ultimately discuss/profile/dissect/flush out the different stages of a our careers and what they look like – the challenges, struggles, advantages, disadvantages, day-to-day, and overall wisdom that can be taken away from photographers in different stages. It’s good to learn from each other, right?

We are going to cover a gauntlet of situations from full-time photographers, to photographers just now taking major steps into making a living with their camera, to photographers who make their living doing something besides looking through a viewfinder. I’m positive most people will be able to identify strongly with one of these photographers and at the same time hopefully learn from those a little bit further down the road than us.

Over the next few weeks, I’m incredibly excited to bring these interviews to all of you. In reading through these interviews already, I can tell your there is some amazing wisdom to be found in their words.

In the meantime go check these guys out:

Mar,18

Comments: 1

Markets

Market Scouting

This has nothing to do with St. Patrick's day

Our markets in town are all amazing places to take a camera (and avoid leaving money/phones/valuables in your pockets). One of my favorites and one of the only places on the planet (that I know of) where you will find Muslims selling Tibetan goods to Tibetans is at our local Tibetan market. The fact that I saw 4 very unique and individual ethnic groups in one setting is what makes where I live simply amazing. Depending on whose counting, we have as many as 7 unique ethnic groups in one place.

I spent close to 3 hours today with a student on a photo assignment as well as scouting some locations for a shoot on Friday. It’s always nice to come home with images you are proud of from a scouting trip – excited for Friday’s shoot (stay tuned)

Some Highlights:

Chinese girl yelling at me in English “My name is China!”
Saw a piece of Tibetan Coral that cost 50,000RMB (~$7,300 USD) ie, more than my first car.
Was told “Your head is really small for you being so big” – I have to disagree
Met a beggar that has – no kidding – “Dreams of studying Chinese Kung Fu”
Was stoked to shoot w/ a student catching on and just “Getting it”

Like I said, it’s nice to scout but at the same time come home with pictures you are proud of. -

Pictures after the break

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