Via Ram Rahman

I just received a note about “Heaven on Earth: The Universe of Guruvayur Temple (Kerala)”, a slide lecture by Pepita Seth on Thursday, October 21, from 7-9 pm at the Julius Held Lecture Hall (304 Barnard Hall) on the Barnard College campus. To get to Barnard Hall, take Subway#1 to 116th St. and enter at 117th St.

Ram says:

Pepita is English and has been photographing Theyyam rituals in Kerala for 20 years. She was married to actor Roshen Seth. She has amazing pictures of the rituals in the Kerala temples because she has been totally accepted as an insider by the temple managers. She is Weiss International Fellow at Barnard just now and doing a series of talks for their world theater program.

The slide show will be followed by audience discussion moderated by Vidya Dehejia and Jack Hawley, then a reception from 9-10, in the James room, on the 4th flr. of the same building.

I am going to try and make this one, after a long day at the PhotoPlus Expo. Gotta love NY for its photography resources. If any of you reading this show up, I'll be the one with a green backpack. Step up and say hello. I would love to meet ya.

A blog post on Tiffinbox has been selected for v.2.0 of The Scian Melt.

What is The Scian Melt? Read about it here. I will most likely be hosting the December 1 version, so bookmark this site, or subscribe to it.

Via Shawn G. Henry, VP Editorial Photographers

Digital Issues in the Editorial Market, a panel discussion sponsored by The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and Editorial Photographers (EP) will be held on Friday, October 22, 2004 at Javits Center/PhotoPlus Expo, from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Seminar Rms. 1E04 & 05. This is free!

Join an extraordinary panel of photojournalists in a discussion of the impact of digital technology on the editorial market: Barbara Alper, Alan Chin, Shawn G. Henry, and Brad Trent moderated by Peter Howe. The focus of the discussion will center on how to successfully integrate digital capture into a creative and profitable editorial photography business. Topics to be discussed include:

The Transition from Film to Digital
Pricing Digital Production VS Film
Managing the Workflow
Delivering the Job
Satisfying Clients While Maintaining Your Bottom Line

Biographies:

Barbara Alper is a New York City based photographer and  regular contributor to The New York Times, Barron's, Wall Street Journal; she works with a number of corporate clients and has acted as a consultant to Olympus.  Her works are included in the collections of Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris,The Brooklyn Museum, New York, FNAC Galeries, Paris, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, International Center of Photography, New York, L'imagerie, Lannion, France, Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, The New York Public Library, The Polaroid International Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London and The Wagstaff Collection.  She has exhibited widely throughout the United States and Europe. Barbara Alper is represented by Mega Press Agency (Japan) and Stock-Boston (USA).

Alan Chin has spent recent years covering conflicts in Iraq, Afganistan, the Middle-East, the former Yugoslavia & Balkans for outlets such as The New York Times, Newsweek, and Gamma. His current images appear regularly in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Boston Globe, The International Herald Tribune, New York Newsday, The Guardian (UK) as well as Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Brill's Content, Marie-Claire, MacLean's, Maxim, Seventeen, VERY Style Guides.  His photography is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and Alan has been nominated twice of the Pulitzer Prize for photography by the New York Times, 1999 & 2000, for coverage of the Kosovo conflict.

Shawn G. Henry has over 16 years experience as an editorial and corporate photographer; for almost three years, he's shot digitally exclusively. He's photographed for clients ranging from FleetBoston & Fidelity Investments to National Geographic & Newsweek, and his work appears regularly in Business Week and Forbes. He is the vice president of EP.

Brand Trent over the last 22 years has worked for such editorial clients as Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, GQ, Premiere, Business Week, Newsweek, Men's Health and Texas Monthly. For some reason General Motors, IBM, The NFL, Dow Plastics, Pepsi, Pacific Bell, NBC and AT&T have all seen fit to let him shoot their advertising! And until about a year ago he could be heard declaring that digital had ZERO chance of getting a toe-hold in the mainstream professional market! In that year's time he has gone from shooting 100% film to about 95% digital; and aside from the completely sick cost of his digital backs, doesn't really miss the old way of doing business!

Peter Howe with over thirty years experience in the photography industry has worked as a photographer, editor, agent, writer and curator. Presently he is occupied as an author and commentator on the subject, and is a regular contributor to many of the publications that deal with photojournalism, including the Digital Journalist, American Photo, Columbia Journalism Review, and also to USA Today. He recently curated the critically acclaimed exhibition “War in Iraq: The
Coordinates of Conflict” at the International Center of Photography in New York. He also consults with and advises independent photo agencies and individual photographers on strategies for the digital organization, storage and licensing of their work.

Howe was the Picture Editor of the New York Times Magazine and Director of Photography for LIFE magazine. On three occasions he was awarded first place for magazine picture editing in the National Press Photographers Association, University of Missouri's Picture of the Year contest, and won four National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors. From 1997 to 2000, he was Vice President of Photography and Creative Services for Corbis, where he was responsible for the company's acquisitions worldwide, photographer relations and copyright and contract concerns as they relate to the digital environment.

Via Shawn G. Henry, VP Editorial Photographers

WAR ON PHOTOGRAPHY II, a panel dicussion sponsored by Advertising Photographers of America (APA) and Editorial Photographers (EP) will be held on Friday, October 22, 2004 from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Javits Center/PhotoPlus Expo. It should be listed under session number: Special 2-F in Seminar Room: 1E08 and it is FREE!!!

Last year's War on Photography was lively and standing room only. The distinguished panel of three IP lawyers and three shooters return to the Javits Center with fresh reports from the front. This year's theme is “The long term consequences of short term decisions and whether you will survive”. Topics will include: newspaper and publication contracts, stock agencies, negotiating techniques, business forms and copyrights.

Panelists: Litigators Ed Greenberg and Erica Galinski, former APA President Jeff Sedlik, Miami Shooter and EP President Brian Smith, Los Angeles based editorial and advertising shooter Michael Grecco, and photography rep and former Apix president Adrienne DeArmas.

Macworld magazine has announced the 7th annual Macworld Conference & Expo Digital Art Contest. The contest is in conjunction with the annual Macworld Expo in January, in San Francisco, California. Deadline is November 18, 2004.

The 2003 gallery hosts an eclectic group of inspiring winners.

No, you don't have to own a Mac to enter or win. Just skills.

Via Melanie Huff

The National Geographic will again offer one photography internship to a student during the summer or fall of 2005. The program is an opportunity for a young photographer to experience first-hand the rigors of life in the professional world. It is also an opportunity for us at the Geographic to scrutinize the work of those in whom we may have further interest. We are proud that many of our regular “shooters” are former summer interns.

The internship is primarily for college students – undergraduate or graduate. While we will also consider someone not currently in school, the purpose of the internship is experience and encouragement to those who aspire to be a photojournalist. Interns must be US citizens or have appropriate student work documents.

The intern is expected to shoot pictures in the same way as National Geographic staff and freelance photographers. Assignments might be anything from single pictures for the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE to stories for WORLD and TRAVELER to chapters for one of the Society's books, or assisting NGS photographers on location.

The internship is for fourteen weeks at a salary of $480 a week. When on assignment away from the city, the Geographic pays all expenses. Transportation expenses to and from Washington at the start and conclusion of the internship are covered by the Society. The intern is responsible for his/her own housing.

To apply, send us a portfolio of recent work (no more than 30 images), a resume, and a letter of recommendation from a photography teacher or established photojournalist. We are interested in strong photojournalism and your ability to produce a visual narrative. Portfolios may be in the form of slides, prints or clippings of any combination, in color and/or black and white. CDs are nor recommended.

All PORTFOLIOS MUST BE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN JANUARY 31, 2005. You should expect to hear from us one way or the other by early March 2005.

Applications should go to:
Kent J. Kobersteen
Director of Photography/Senior Editor
National Geographic
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-4688

Oregon attorney Bert P. Krages who also happens to be the author of Legal Handbook for Photographers has a PDF that you may download listing out your rights as a photographer. Print it out and keep a copy of it, for whatever it is worth the next time you are out photographing a protest or Homeland Security comes knocking on your door. And of course, have your attorney's name and number on the back of your printout.

“In the period from 1500 to 1800, Asians and Europeans often met as equals. Indeed, at centers of dominance such as Ming and Qing China, Tokugawa Japan and Mughal India, the encounter took place on Asian terms.”

Fascinating art and history on exhibit in London.

NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/13/arts/design/13enco.html?oref=login

October 13, 2004

East and West: A Show About How the Twain Did Meet, 500 Years Ago
By ALAN RIDING

LONDON – It is tempting to imagine that Europeans' fear of putrid food led a Portuguese navigator to open the sea routes to India and, in the process, alter the history of Europe and Asia. It was almost that simple. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the Turks seized control of the overland trade routes from the East, and Europe was suddenly short of the Asian spices needed to preserve its food.

In that sense, the arrival of Vasco da Gama on the Indian coast in 1498 saved the day. It also provides the departure point for the rich story told in “Encounters: The Meeting of Asia and Europe, 1500-1800,” the latest in a series of ambitious thematic exhibitions organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum here. “Encounters,” which follows recent shows on English Gothic, Art Deco, Art Nouveau and the Victorians, runs though Dec. 5.

In their eagerness to make exhibitions appear relevant, museums often try to connect history to today. In this case, the parallels need no underlining. In an age in which Europeans and Americans are trying to come to terms with the real and potential might of Asia, “Encounters” reminds us that we have been there before. Even globalization is not new. Half a millennium ago, distant lands came to know one another through trade.

The first object in this exhibition, a magnificent six-panel gold-leaf screen showing a Portuguese trade mission landing in Japan about 1630, captures the mood of bustle and excitement. From left to right, it depicts the arrival of a ship carrying seamen, merchants and priests; cargo being unloaded before curious bystanders; and men carrying caged peacocks, perhaps as gifts for Japanese merchants sitting in open-fronted rooms in the background.

Alas, there is no equivalent illustration of cargo vessels docking in Lisbon, bringing everything from tropical hardwood to live elephants for distribution across Europe, and helping turn the Portuguese capital into Europe's richest city. But “Encounters” amply illustrates the range of exotica arriving from Asia: porcelain, ivory, pearls, rubies, silk, hand-painted cotton, lacquered furniture and myriad spices (nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cinnamon among them).

With its great navigating tradition, Portugal led the way, establishing more than 100 Asian trading posts, from Goa in India to Macao. But by the end of the 16th century, it faced competition. Spain, fresh from its conquests in the Americas, made the Philippines its colony in 1565, while England, France and the Netherlands, then still more interested in trade than in empire, worked through their East India companies to penetrate India, China, Japan and Indonesia.

The New World also played a role. Mexican silver crossed the Pacific from Acapulco, Mexico, to Manila and then financed the purchase of prized Asian products to be shipped to Europe. By 1800, when Europe began imposing imperial rule on parts of Asia, an extraordinary cultural exchange had taken place: Europe had influenced Asia with its art, technology and firepower, while Asia had infiltrated European taste and style.

“What is fascinating about this period is that it was characterized by fluidity and hybridity, not by dichotomy,” Anna Jackson and Amin Jaffer, who organized “Encounters,” write in an introduction to the show's accompanying book. And they add: “In the period from 1500 to 1800, Asians and Europeans often met as equals. Indeed, at centers of dominance such as Ming and Qing China, Tokugawa Japan and Mughal India, the encounter took place on Asian terms.”

This, indeed, was one of Europe's discoveries: Asia was anything but backward. Not only had intra-Asian trade from the Red Sea to China flourished for centuries, but Asia's rulers were also rich, powerful and initially unimpressed by the paltry gifts brought by the foreigners. Appearing in thick woolen garments to meet rulers dressed in silk, the European merchants neither looked nor smelled the part of envoys from great kings. One Japanese court writer described them as “unnamable creatures somewhat similar in shape to the human being.”

Organized into “Discoveries,” “Encounters” and “Exchanges,” this show traces how the Europeans adjusted to the “Asian terms,” even to the point of prostrating themselves before rulers to win trade deals. In time, social interaction and Christian proselytizing increased. By the 18th century, Asian luxury goods were not only the rage in Europe, but Asian craftsmen were also adapting their designs – for instance, Chinese wallpaper – to European tastes.

The Victoria and Albert dwells extensively on India because of Britain's subsequent rule of the subcontinent (and the museum's own valuable Indian collections). But India was also far more open to outside influence than, say, China, which limited foreigners to coastal trading posts like Canton, and Japan, which traded only with the Dutch East India Company from 1639 to 1854. No style, though, would influence European drawing-rooms more than chinoiserie.

Among the almost 200 objects on display here, there is a splendid array of Chinese porcelain, including the so-called Gaignières-Fonthill vase, dating from 1300 to 1330 and said to be the earliest surviving piece of Chinese porcelain to arrive in Europe. From the 17th century on, European craftsmen often adorned Chinese vases, as well as bowls and plates, with silver mounts. Mother-of-pearl caskets from India were similarly transformed into something still more luxurious.

Conversely, Indian, Chinese and Japanese craftsmen made Christian religious objects, from beautifully woven vestments and carved pulpits to rock-crystal statues of “Child Jesus” and painted scenes from the New Testament. The show also includes a late-17th-century Japanese edict banning Christianity, but a Christian presence survived in both India and China. A Chinese woodprint of the Crucifixion carries the legend “Birth Records of the Deeds of God Who Became Man.”

Along with clock-making, cartography, astronomy, mirrors and guns, Europe also introduced Asia to Renaissance-style painting, including the novelty of perspective. Thus, just as Europeans were delighted to paint portraits of visiting Asians dressed in their traditional clothes, some Asians enjoyed being painted as Europeans, as in the 17th-century portrait of the bewigged “Yongzheng Emperor in European Dress.”

Many delightful paintings in “Encounters” record meetings of East and West, usually seen from an Asian perspective, with Europeans shown kowtowing to Indian or Chinese rulers. Later, European men are portrayed in Asian garb, lounging on carpets, while their new Asian wives or mistresses are balancing precariously on chairs.

Some images are quite explicit. One amusing late-18th-century Japanese woodblock depicts a bearded, fully dressed Dutchman making love to a Maruyama courtesan, who is burning incense to combat his body odor. He is talking, and a written text gives her reply, which suggests that she is not being satisfied. A more bucolic watercolor from the mid-17th century illustrates “The Private Pleasures of the Portuguese Commander-in-Chief.”

The exhibition ends with “Tipu's Tiger,” a work rich in political symbolism. In the late 18th century, as India's Mughal Empire was crumbling, Tipu Sultan, ruler of the southern region of Mysore, ordered this object, an automaton of a Bengal tiger devouring an Englishman; it even reproduced the roar of the tiger and the cries of its victim. But in 1799, after Tipu Sultan was defeated and killed by the British, “Tipu's Tiger” was seized by the East India Company. Today its capture is seen as symbolizing the end of three centuries of East-West coexistence and the beginning of direct British rule of India.

Photo District News announced that the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund has awarded a $5,000 Fellowship Grant to Kalpesh Lathigra for his project, Brides of Krishna: Indian Widows.

London-based Kalpesh is a friend. I am incredibly happy for him and proud of his achievements. Wishing him many more feathers in his cap. Congratulations!

The annual PhotoPlus Expo is around the corner and I expect to report from NYC's Jacob Javits center where it will be held. Other than the usual mix of vendors under one very big roof, the expo also has some amazing workshops and seminars. I have applied for a press pass but I am not certain if I will receive one in time. What I would like to report back is the kinds of things that are discussed at the workshops and seminars. And, of course, the world's newest photo gear will be on display.

How many of you would like to know what this year's Expo has to offer? The more emails I get from you, the better my chances are for trekking into NYC on Thursday and Friday. So, this is your turn to chime in.