Travel Photographer Asia 2016 Contest Winners

Photo © Yen Sin Wong- Courtesy TPA 2016 

Ahsan Qureshi of Travel Photographer Asia has announced the winners (and best 50 photographs) of its 2016 contest in which more than 3000 images were submitted for consideration.

The winning photograph is "Jump Over" by Malaysian photographer Yen Sin Wong**. As a judge, I was immensely impressed by the quality of the submissions (which made the judging extremely tough), and by the fact that amongst the 50 top submissions, 6 are monochromatic. In my view, it took courage from these six photographers to submit entries in black & white to a travel photography contest. Color is frequently the instinctive choice for submissions to travel photography contests. I also noticed that the judges seemed to generally coalesce behind photographs that told a story, and that were more complex than simple portraiture. Naturally, all submissions were anonymous to the judges.

** see update.

Congratulations to all the winners and to all who submitted...you gave the judges a very difficult task to do. Well done. For those interested in the prizes, check them here.

However, Travel Photographer Asia is much more than a photographic contest. It is also a travel photography festival consisting of photo talks, an exhibition and photography master class & workshops for the professional and amateur photographer.

I shall join photography luminaries Ms Huang Wen, Mr. Che' Ahmad Azhar, Dr. Shahidul Alam and Mr. Vignes Balasingam in giving photo talks during the festival. My photo talk will focus on travel photography, and I'll touch upon its challenges and rewards, how to approach people and build trust, how to take the right photos for an article, how to build up a story with photos, and how to brand yourself. I will share how I started as a travel photographer, how I built my travel photo workshops business from scratch and how I go about developing personal projects. 

Julie Higelin | Thisksey Gustor Festival

Photo © Julie Higelin-All Rights Reserved

Julie Higelin brings us her images of the Thiksay Gustor festival which usually takes place during the month of November in Ladakh. It is held from the 17th to 19th day of the ninth month of the Tibetan calendar. This short (two-day) festival is held at three different Ladakhi monasteries—Spituk, Thiksey and Karsha Zanskar.

The festival commemorates the assassination of the 9th Century Tibetan apostate king Lang Darma by a Buddhist monk. The assassination is re-enacted during the festival by burning effigies symbolizing evil. Morning prayers are offered to bring divine peace to those who take part in it. After the two day celebrations, there are a ritualistic events and dances by Black Hat dancers. 

Julie Higelin is a Belgian self-taught travel photographer who, rather than pursuing a full time career in physiotherapy, traveled the world and developed a passion for a nomadic existence, learning photography at the same time. She started off her photographic career by taking on an assignment for an NGO in Madagascar, and her road map was set. 

She has photographed in India, Ladakh, Madagascar, Romania and Guatemala amongst others. She generally uses a Canon 5DMark3, and a Canon 24-70mm F2.8 L and a 16-35mm F2.8 L.

Travel Photographer Asia 2016 Kuala Lumpur

I'm very pleased to be included amongst a panel of prominent individuals in the photography industry scheduled to give photo talks at the forthcoming Travel Photographer Asia 2016 event in Kuala Lumpur at the end of May.

In association with with “Fuji Film X“, Travel Photographer Asia 2016 offers a unique and ultimate travel photography festival consisting of a photo contest, photo talks and photography master class & workshops for the professional and amateur photographer.

The photo talks will be given by:

Ms. Huang Wen, currently the Secretary General of the Chinese Photojournalists Society, and one of the biggest names in Chinese photography. She is also is the director of the International Business Development Division of the News & Information Center, Xinhua News Agency

Mr. Che' Ahmad Azhar, currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Creative Multimedia, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia. He taught in the field of Visual Communication and Photography for eighteen years. 

Dr. Shahidul Alam; well known for having established the  Drik Picture Library, The Bangladesh Photographic Institute, Pathshala, The South Asian Media Academy and others. A member of advisory board of National Geographic Society and the first Asian to chair the International Jury of World Press Photo. 

Mr. Vignes Balasingam is a photographer and curator based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is the director of the OBSCURA Festival of Photography and the Monsoon Artist In-Residence program. He has curated over 40 exhibitions featuring international and Malaysian photographers.

And myself.

Kiki Xue | Ethno-Fashion

Photo © Kiki Xue - All Rights Reserved

I've written up a number of posts about the fusion of fashion and travel photography, and this is certainly not the last. It is no surprise that I am frequently influenced by fashion photographers' aesthetic, by how they set up their shoots, and by the postures and poses adopted by the models, the color schemes and the lighting. It would be an exaggeration to say that this kind of photography inspires me, but it certainly leaves a visual and and subconscious residue which I reach for when I'm photographing in the various countries I travel to.

Having spent all of 2015 and almost half of 2016 photographing hầu đồng ceremonies in Vietnam to produce my forthcoming photo book: Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Việt Nam, I've realized that much of my resulting images were instinctively influenced by fashion photography, especially those that had an Asian theme to them.

One of these influences is certainly Kiki Xue; a Chinese photographer who is currently base in Paris. Inspired by Irving Penn, Xue uses a digital Hasselblad, and creates an artistic atmosphere in his photography.

With one exception, I failed in convincing any hầu đồng practitioner to pose for me as in a fashion shoot. The exotic costumes they wear during the ceremonies are religious, and wearing them outside of temples during ceremonies is considered a sacrilege. Nevertheless, the mediums offered me ample opportunities to photograph them during their ceremonial incarnations. 

Photo © Kiki Xue - All Rights Reserved

Dom & Liam Shaw | Vida Cubana | Fuji X Pro 2

© Dom & Liam Shaw- All Rights Reserved 

My Twitter feed is not entirely useless after all!

It brought me to a blog post by two Yorkshire-based wedding photographers who, after a street photography stint in New York City, continued their adventures to include 15 days shooting during the Easter break in the streets of Havana (and Trinidad).

Not only are the super-saturated photographs of Havana just a joy to view, but they were made with the newly released Fuji X Pro-2.

There are a number of world cities that are especially spectacular for  street photography; New York City, Kolkata, Hanoi and many others...but in my view, Havana is probably ranked amongst the top five, and these photographs certainly support my contention.

I was in Havana in 2000 (during the Elian Gonzales controversy) attending a photography workshop with Costa Manos, and it was a revelation. I was a photo novice at the time, but I immediately realized the incredible magnetic pull this city had to photographers.

To accompany this post, I chose one of the couple's photograph featuring Wilke (or Wilki), a well-known 'Habanero' to visiting photographers. He earns a living by dancing in various bars and by posing as a model on account of his elegance, white sideburns and enormous cigars. His dancing partner, Adelaide, is also a fortune teller. I met them during my week-long stay in Havana, and they introduced me to a private session of Santeria.

Traveling to Cuba for US citizens has become much easier recently, however Cuba's infrastructure hasn't yet caught up with the influx of tourists coming from its northern neighbor. Lack of hotel rooms, exacerbated by underdeveloped airport facilities, results in frustrated travelers.

As many things in life, I guess it's a trade-off. 

Taylor Weideman | Poy Sang Long

© Taylor Weideman - Getty Images | Huffington Post

Here's another festival I would love to photograph...so in the bucket list it goes. The annual Poy Sang Long festival is a three-day long rite of passage for young Buddhists from the Shan ethnic group in Thailand.

The festival marks the initiation of 7-14 years old boys, as novices in the Buddhist community. It essentially consists of these boys taking novice monastic vows and participating in monastery life for a period of time that can vary from a week to many months or more. It's widespread in Myanmar, but the practice crossed into Thailand, where Shan immigrants have brought over their traditions.

The festival goes on for three days, as the boys are dressed like princes in imitation of the Buddha, himself a prince before setting out on the religious path, spend the entire time being carried around on the shoulders of their older male relatives.

Photographer Taylor Weidman's lovely images of the Poy Sang Long festival were featured in The Huffington Post. The accompanying article tells us that the photographer followed two youngsters, as they prepared for their initiation. The two boys are neighbors from Chiang Mai who traveled to Mae Sariang, a small town in northern Thailand near the Burmese border for the ceremony.

The festival of Poy Sang Long in Thai is called Buad Loog Gaew, which means "ordaining the beloved sons", and is held in early April when, in the city of Chiang Mai, pre-teen boys are inducted into the Buddhist novice-hood.

Taylor Weidman is a photojournalist based in northern Thailand. As photographer for Getty Images, his work has appeared in many of the world's most prestigious news outlets, including The New York Times, TIME, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business Week, BBC, The Guardian, GEO, Der Spiegel, and others.

Jorge Silva | Chinese Opera | Boston Globe

Photo © Jorge Silva - Courtesy The Boston Globe

A recent photo essay appearing on The Boston Globe's The Big Picture got my attention because it featured photographs of the performances of a Chinese opera in Bangkok. 

Chinese opera is a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China, and elsewhere in Asia where Chinese have established presence, with roots going back to the early periods in China. Together with Greece tragic-comedy and Indian Sanskrit Opera, it's one of the three oldest dramatic art forms in the world.

Many of the features that characterize modern Chinese Opera developed in northern China, particularly Shanxi and Gansu Provinces. These included the use of certain characters: Sheng - the man, Dan - the woman, Hua - painted face, and Chou - the clown.

Chinese opera was virtually killed off during the years of Mao Tse Tung's rule, but was revived in 1976. Since then, there are more than thirty forms of Chinese opera that are regularly performed throughout the country. The most well known are the Qinqiang Opera type, the Beijing Opera, the Shanghai Opera and the Cantonese Opera.

The reasons for my interest in Chinese opera are multifold. I've photographed a performance of Hát Tuồng in Hanoi in 2012. It is one of the oldest art forms in Vietnam, and is said to have existed since the late 12th century. It’s believed to be influenced by Chinese opera performance techniques, but subsequently evolving and changed into a new form embodying Vietnamese characteristics and nature. I wanted to photograph its performers more in depth at the time, but was constrained to do so because I was leading a photo workshop, and couldn't devote enough time to it.

Hong Kong Airport

On my return from Hanoi last month, I viewed a photographical installation in Hing Kong's airport featuring a number of images of Chinese opera performers, and thought it'd be a great forthcoming project.  It would touch all the bases I like: culture, history, music, fashion, and artistic performances. Perhaps I was subconsciously hooked to it after viewing the famous movie, Farewell My Concubine.

Although I'll be in Kuala Lumpur at the end of May, Chinese opera is only performed on certain occasions, however I'll try to do some research beforehand.

Leonid Plotkin | Followers of The Real

Photo © Leonid Plotkin-All Rights Reserved

I've featured the work of photographer of Leonid Plotkin a few times already, and I'm glad he he has just uploaded photographs of his walking pilgrimage with Sufis from Delhi to Ajmer in Rajasthan to attend the annual Urs of Nawaz Gharib.

He and I share a passion for documenting the esoteric traditions and rituals of Sufism in the Indian sub-continent, and I'm quite certain that our paths have crossed there in May 2013. He was the only non-Indian I saw at the festival, apart from the photo workshop group that I was leading at the same time.

Sufism has a history in India evolving for over a millennia. Islam literally walked into the subcontinent since the 8th century. Sufi mystic traditions became more popular during the 10th and 11th centuries of the Delhi Sultanate, and these have existed since then. Sufism helped to build a syncretic medieval culture tolerant and appreciative of non-Muslims, and its saints contributed to a growth of stability, vernacular literature, and devotional music in the subcontinent.

Many Sufis make the pilgrimage from various Sufi dargahs in Delhi to the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (aka Nawaz Gharib) on the anniversary of his death. Hundreds of devotees walk the distance of about 400 kilometers (250) miles over the period of ten days.

Leonid took part of this walk, and photographed its participants on Followers of The Real. Many of his captions are very interesting so read them when you view the images.

He is a freelance documentary photographer and writer. His work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The Observer, The Economist, Penthouse Magazine, Student Traveler, Budge Travel, Discovery Magazine, MSN.com and others.

Eric Mencher | Tradition!

Photo © Eric Mencher-All Rights Reserved

I ought to feature the work of photographers who work with iPhones more often on this blog, especially if they are as talented as Eric Mencher.

Not only is he talented, but he also has a number of galleries on his website of images made with his iPhone of religious traditions in Guatemala, of Maya villages of Lake Atitlan and life around San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Most are in monochrome, but he includes brilliant color photographs made in both Guatemala and Mexico.

Having been to Antigua in 2014 and photographed in its cobblestoned streets during its annual fiesta of Santiago de los Caballeros (also in monochrome), my favorite gallery is of the religious traditions, fiestas and processions in Guatemala.

Eric frequently uses the iPhone's Hipstamatic app as well as its native camera. In the Hipstamatic mode, he uses the Lowy lens with the BlacKeys Super Grain, Blank Noir, Ina’s 1982 and Robusta films. He also likes the AO BW film with both the Akira and John S lenses, as well as the Watts lens with the D-Type Plate film.

Eric Mencher is a documentary photographer concentrating on long term projects and everyday street photography. His recent projects include life along the Lincoln Highway (the first cross-country road in the United States), contemporary life in the Maya villages of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, religious traditions in Guatemala, and life around San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

He was a photojournalist at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and covered assignments all around the world, including the post-apartheid era in South Africa, the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda, life under Fidel Castro in Cuba and the civil war in Chechnya.

You can read an interview with Eric here.