My Work: Ocotlán Matron

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
During my Oaxaca Mini Photo-Expedition™ a few weeks ago, we drove to Ocotlán de Morelos which is located 30-40 kilometers from Oaxaca, and photographed at its weekly market. I found it much more photogenic than those in Oaxaca proper such as the Abastos and Benito Juarez markets; perhaps more authentic is a better description.

Notwithstanding, the Zapotecs are not fond of being photographed, and I had to be somewhat circumspect when photographing in such an environment. One of the photographs that almost works is the one of the Ocotlán matron above. The wall colors are great, the blue basket matches her frock, and her expression is phenomenal...but her posture is not quite as I would have liked it.

As I slowly moved to the right to adjust my framing after this photograph was made, she saw me and ran inside the store.

Ah well...perhaps another time I'll be luckier.

Francesco Lastrucci: Kashgar

Photo © Francesco Lastrucci-All Rights Reserved
Here's the work of Francesco Lastrucci, an Italian freelance photographer who specializes in editorial stories. He's currently based between Italy, New York and Hong Kong from where he works on projects involving Europe, Latin America and East Asia.

From Francesco's diverse editorial stories, including a story of the ubiquitous areca nut and betel leaf chewing in Taiwan (as indeed it is in many other Asian countries), and its marketing by beautiful young women, I chose his excellent work on Kashgar, the capital city of the Uyghur.

The Uyghur live in modern Xinjiang, the westernmost province of China, but the name Xinjiang is considered offensive by many Uyghur who prefer to use Uyghurstan or Eastern Turkestan. Kashgar is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 inhabitants, and its old city has been deemed overcrowded and unsafe for its residents, and will have at least 85% of its structures demolished. Demolitions have already begun, with many of its former denizens forced to move.

Kashgar’s old city has been called “the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia, but it is now being razed by the Chinese government which plans to replace the old buildings with new.

Sulawesi Surprise!: Lunch Break

Of course, there would be a lunch break for you if you are travelling from Makassar to Toraja Land. That was such a long journey and it would be great to take a break. For us, we had had lunch at a seafood restaurant in Pare-Pare which is about 175 km north of Makassar. Pare-Pare is a port town and is one of the major population centers of the Bugis people. B.J. Habibie, the third President of Indonesia, was said to be born there. We had lunch at one quiet eating place, quite boring place actually if not for the view of Makassar Strait that it offered...

Traveling Tip: There is something interesting somewhere!

Sulawesi Surprise!: A Bugis Wedding

Not too long ago, a man in Malaysia divorced his wife and left her and his two teenage sons to marry the maid. The local paper had reported that the 47 year old man, Saiful Zamhuri who described the Indonesian maid, Elly Nuryahati Sapei as a good girl who knew how to pamper others, solemnised the marriage in the girl's hometown in Karawang. That must be in Java. Most probably the wedding ceremony would be different from the one I witnessed in Sulawesi. While traveling to Toraja Land, we noticed many weddings taking place in some of the houses that we passed. Our guide said it was the season for weddings and at one point, stopped our bus only to gate crash a Bugis wedding. The bride and bridegroom were just leaving for the bride's house but happily went back to sit on a special platform that had been raised for them. We passed the hat round among us and collected a tidy sum for the newly weds. Then, we were treated to a traditional dance and a pretty lass went up the stage to sing a Siti Nurhaliza's number. Siti Nurhaliza, by the way is a popular Malaysian songtress and by the way, too, the Indonesian maid, Elly Nurhayati Sapei had left the 47 year old man and their child with him, claiming that she had wanted to earn extra money to bring her family in Indonesia out of poverty. What a thoughtful bride!

Can you spot the bride and bridegroom?

Traveling Tip: Attend a wedding!

Canon 7D

I thought I'd post this advert for the National Geographic camera bags because it was entirely shot with a Canon 7D. Johnnie Behiri is the photographer who produced it.

By the way, I just read that the producers of the Dr. House television series have shot a soon to be aired episode with the Canon 5D Mark II. Incredible!

Another gem I found on Gizmodo is a $6 do-it-yourself thingamajig that allows rack focus (aka follow focus). I'll drop by Home Depot and see if I can make one for my 5D Mark II. A video of a similar project is also here.

With a ATR6250 microphone affixed on my camera's hot shoe, and this home-made follow focus ring, I'll be schelpping quite a contraption.

The Canon's EOS 7D can be considered as an entry-level "professional" DSLR, positioned between the EOS 50D and EOS 5D Mark II, and I'm tempted by it because of its many still photography interesting features; one of which is its speed reaching 8 fps (for the first 16 frames) and an average 7.1 fps for 144 frames. This almost compares with the speed of the Canon 1D series dSLRs. More to follow on this topic.

The Resort World Sentosa, Singapore

There are two roll of shops at you both direction when you stand at the Main entrance of the Casino, but all of them are closed when we were there...
We moved to the right, it's direct you to the Festive Hotel.

The shops located at both direction

Beautiful lighting

The lobby of Festive Hotel was crowded. Maybe because seems like the only hotel allow visitors to hang around the lobby area...I didn't check out the room rates, but you can reach them by click here.

The lobby of Festive Hotel, Sentosa

Nice decoration

It would be nice having a mug of beer at the cafe area...

The Cafe (or Bar) of Festive Hotel

Beside that, we also discovered this...

The King of Pop - Micheal Jackson

One of the shop along the way...

Then we walked by from the same path that we came, and follow to another path which was full of branded shops at both side...
We were attracted by the 2 naked statue at the hall, and it's 18X! Haha! Some parents explaining to their kids about what was 'That'?! Interesting!

The attractive statues

There were another 3 paths branch out from here...First will be the Festive Walk, Michael Hotel and Crockfords Towers.
The 2 hotels are not allow public to step-in, Only for guest. So I did not manage to snap any photos about it...the Only way we could proceed was the Festive Walk.

Entrance to Michael Hotel

The entrance of the Festive Walk of Resort World Sentosa, Singapore

Before we entering the Festive Walk, the car which was parked at the entrance attracted me! It's another Lamborghini Gallardo! Not only one but...4 of them! She was Beautiful!

Lamborghini

It will be nice if I come earlier...The area was huge (Festive Walk)! I believe there will be many beautiful lighting around the area...isn't it?

The Festive Walk of Resort World Sentosa

Direction Signage

Lake Of Dream at Festive Walk 

(But there was no dream at all when we were there...too late...)

Unique design

The Trademark of Universal Studio

The Entrance of Universal Studio

Universal Studio Singapore was open on 18th March 2010. But it was not ready yet when we were there...What a Miss!!

Alternative entrance of the Sky Bar from Festive Walk

Wondering the different between the Sky Bar of Singapore and the Sky Bar of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia?!

Pillar of The Festive Walk

Since there was nothing at the Festive Walk (especially at that hour), we saw the staircase towards the rooftop when we entering the Festive Walk and decided to search for some surprise on it.

We were actually standing on top of the hall we passed by just now...(which have 2 statues). And the Huge  Purple Merlion really drag our attention which situated in front of us! Marvelous!

The Purple Merlion of Resort World

The beautiful lighting beside the Merlion

After about two hours explore the outdoor area, we went back to the Casino for a cup of cold drink because of the weather was too hot! That time was about 1am in the morning...and I curiously check out the traffic out there with a Surprised! It was still congested at the alley...
This is the Sleepless Resort of Sentosa, Singapore!

The traffic at the basement parking area at almost 2am

Before we left the Resort, we discovered the 'interesting scene' at the Festive Walk area...

They must the gamblers after a Serious 'fight' at the Casino who wanted to have some rest and Go back again! What do you think? (They can't be the tourists who cannot find a Hotel in this Resort.)
That is the scene where you can easily see it at Genting, Malaysia. :)

We will be visit the Resort World again in the future, and that definitely because of the Universal Studio of Singapore!

MoMA: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photo © Henri Cartier-Bresson-All Rights Reserved
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City is showing Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century" this coming Sunday April 11, 2010, and the exhibition's website is truly a delight.

Henri Cartier-Bresson began traveling in 1930, at the age of twenty-two. For nearly half a century he was on the road most of the time, and the geographical range of his work is notoriously wide. Photographs of Asia (many of which are of China), North America, Japan, Africa, Europe, USSR, Middle East are shown arranged in themes, or chronology.

The New York Times has a review of the exhibition by Holland Cotter who, in the article titled A Photographer Whose Beat Was the World, writes this rather flowery sentence:

"The third and crucial constant in his career was, of course, a camera: in Cartier-Bresson’s case, a hand-held Leica, as neat and sleek as a pistol. Whether he was traveling as a journalistic eye for hire or sauntering through Paris of an afternoon, the camera went too."

I find it impossible to decide which is my favorite Henri Cartier-Bresson's photograph, but the one above of these Indian women in Srinagar (Kashmir) photographed in 1948 has always impressed me. Is it because none of their faces are visible, or is it because one of them appears as if she's holding a couple of clouds in her outstretched hands? It's described as Muslim women on the slopes of Hari Parbat hill as they pray while the sun rises behind the Himalayas, and was taken during a period of terrible violence in Srinagar. Magnificent.

Update: The New Yorker Magazine has an article/review on the retrospective at the MoMA.

From the article/review, I learned that the French title of HCB's best-known book, “The Decisive Moment, was “Images à la Sauvette”, which means “images on the fly". The French title implies something done somewhat furtively, and has much less gravitas than the English title.