Evan Abramson: When The Water Ends

Ethiopia's government is building a new dam in the Omo river projected to be the largest hydropower project in sub-Saharan Africa. Almost 50% of its electrical output has already been sold to neighboring countries, but it will reduce the water flow to the Omo River and threaten the lives of some 500,000-800,000 nomadic pastoralists.

Evan Abramson's When The Water Ends photo essay examines the impact of such a massive infrastructural on the lives of the Omo Valley tribes.

Evan's photographs were also used in a 16-minute video When the Water Ends produced by Yale Environment 360 in collaboration with MediaStorm. It tells the story of the increasingly dire drought conditions facing parts of East Africa, and the eventuality of conflict.

Evan Abramson is a 32-year-old photographer and videographer based in New York, who spent two months in the region, living among the herding communities. His project focuses on four groups of pastoralists — the Turkana of Kenya and the Dassanech, Nyangatom, and Mursi of Ethiopia — who are among the more than two dozen tribes whose lives and culture depend on the waters of the Omo River and the body of water into which it flows, Lake Turkana.

Quite a number of photographers have photographed the tribal people of the Omo Valley, and I'm certain they, as well as many non-photographers, are lamenting the change that will befell the region.

Faces of a Vanishing World: Joey Lawrence

I've posted a few times about Joey Lawrence (he also goes by Joey L), the young photographer who's been involved in commercial photography, photojournalism and music videos around the world by the age of 17, and who now has the established reputation of being a pioneer of new aged digital hyper-realistic photography, lighting and manipulation.

Joey has released a documentary titled Faces of a Vanishing World available for purchase on DVD or as an instant download. The official trailer for the documentary is above. Joey also says he's donating a portion of all the documentary's sales to Survival International, who are supporting the tribal people of the Omo Valley defend their rights, protect their lands and determine their own futures.

I am always a little hesitant in accepting cliches such as "vanishing world", "dying cultures", etc...because cultures are usually more resilient that people think, but in this instance, I'm convinced the Omo Valley tribes are under severe threat.

This relates to the Ethiopian's government building a massive dam that will block the south western part of the Omo River. The Lower Omo Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site, in recognition of its archaeological and geological importance, and is home to several tribes.

I have neither acquired the DVD nor have I downloaded it...but from the trailer and from Joey L's quality of work, I'm certain it'll be money well spent.

Esther Havens: Ethiopia

Photo © Esther Havens-All Rights Reserved

It's very easy to like and admire Esther Havens. She is a humanitarian documentary photographer who focuses on social-awareness campaigns with Non Profit Organizations around the world, and spent the past two years capturing stories on water projects in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Haiti and Central African Republic.

She traveled to over 40 countries and, as she says "...seeks to open hearts and minds to see the third world conditions in a way that might challenge them to make a difference".She's especially supportive of charity:water, which she urges everyone to support.

Her website has many galleries of her travels to Ethiopia, Uganda, CAR, Iraq, Rwanda, Mozambique, Jordan, Nicaragua, India and others in Asia and South America.

The above photograph is from Esther's Ethiopia gallery.

John Kenny: Omo Valley & Africa

Photo © John Kenny-All Rights Reserved
Here's a real treat for those of us who are enamored with Ethiopia's Omo Valley tribes (and we are many), and a treat for "Africanphiles" in general as well. A real trove of magnificent portraits of handsome and beautiful African native people, ranging from the Omo Vallley various tribes to Kaokoland's Himba.

John Kenny's website presents around 100 of these portraits along with a handful of African landscapes, and is a must-have bookmark for anyone with an ethnographer interest.

John started his photography career about 7 years ago, and is self-taught. He first arrived in Africa in 2006, and keeps returning to photograph because he's fascinated to encounter societies that are able to survive in some of the most arid, isolated and difficult environments.

He tells us that he chose to make each and every one of these portraits because the individuals attracted him, and gave him a sense of wonder. He photographs without using flash or studio equipment, preferring natural sunlight. He also tells us that he travels alone, or with a local guide...and uses local transport to get from one place to the other.

I chose a color photograph to accompany this post, but I suggest you visit John's toned monochromatic portraits. The tones of his photographs are earthy, rich and vibrant...perfect for his subjects.

Via Greg Pleak

Darren Ornitz: East Africa

Today I'm featuring the work of Darren Ornitz, who as a freelance photographer, traveled for 14 months in Africa and Asia including Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Yemen and Oman.

Quite a number of photographs in Darren's East Africa gallery are of Lalibela, one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, and a center of pilgrimage for much of the country. The population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, and having spent a few days there photographing during the Epiphany celebrations, I can only describe it as "Biblical".

Part of the East Africa portfolio are some photographs of Zanzibar, and more specifically Stone Town. A UNESCO listed old city, Stone Town was David Livingstone's base when preparing for his final expedition in 1866. The above photograph is of Stone Town.

Darren studied at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse until transferring to Fordham.

Chris Blade: Omo Valley Tribes

Photo © Chris Blade-All Rights Reserved
Yes, I know. I'm being repetitively Omo Valley-centric this week...but I recently discovered a handful of photographers who produced lovely work from this area, and decided to string Omo Valley galleries one after the other. Once again, tea leaves readers (ie followers of my photo~expeditions) should not see anything in this.

Today, I feature the work of Chris Blade from Omo Valley, although his website also has galleries of the beautiful Ethiopian Simien Mountains, Lalibela and Gondar, and Axum.

Christopher Blade is a graduate from the Royal College of Art in London, and has advanced degrees in glass making and design. He manages the National Glass Centre in Sunderland. He designs and makes bespoke art glass often inspired from his extensive travels as a travel photographer. His travels have taken him to Ethiopia, Israel, Africa (he was invited by a British adventure travel company to photograph from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe & through Botswana & the Okavango Delta, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho to Cape Town), China, Nepal, Tibet, Mongolia and others. I'm glad he included a gallery titled Palestine...as it ought to be.

I liked his horizontal images on the Ethiopian galleries I've visited (some very nice ones of Lalibela, including interiors).

Marco Paoluzzo: Omo Valley

Photo © Marco Paoluzzo-All Rights Reserved
Yes, it does seem that I'm on an Omo Valley streak...and why not? Here's another photographer who showcases his work in Ethiopia. His work doesn't stop at the Omo Valley, but explores many of the country's corners.

Marco Paoluzzo is a Swiss photographer who worked as a freelance photographer for advertising and industry, and then took up travel photography in 1996. His work appeared in the National Geographic Traveler, Geo, Altaïr, Traveller UK, Stern, Paris Match, Nikon News, Leica Fotografie International, and Die Zeit amongst others. He has also published a number of travel photography books.

I was tempted to feature Marco's work of Ethiopian Christianity instead, but I'm sure you'll explore his website on your own. He's been virtually everywhere, so give yourself time to explore his galleries.

As I frequently recommend, photographers ought to update their websites and showcase their work using large images! And to those of you who may be tempted to read tea leaves, the many Omo Valley postings on The Travel Photographer Blog do not suggest that I am planning a photo~expedition there in 2011. I'm just sayin'.

By the way, it just occurred to me that many of the Omo Valley galleries I've seen so far are of simple portraits, rather than environmental portraits (or tableaux, as I like to call them) with other subjects in the background, etc. The one above is one of the few in Marco's gallery. It's not criticism at all, but just a reflection of what is practical in such an environment. My own Omo Valley gallery is made of simple portraits as well.

Sarah Elliott: Women of Omo Valley

Photo © Sarah Elliott-All Rights Reserved
Sarah Elliott interned for James Nachtwey and assisted Stanley Greene, and traveled extensively around the world pursuing social issues. Her work was opublished by The New York Times, The LA Times, IHT, The Guardian, Monocle, The Observer, Financial Times and the Red Cross and many more.

Sarah's galleries include images and essays from Rwanda, Kenya, Somali Pirates, New Orleans, Rajasthan, The Mormons, Tibet, Tonle Sap Lake and portraits of the Women of the Omo Valley. These are 26 frontal portraits of the tribal women, ranging from the Mursi to Karo. These are simple black & white portraits, quite different from the work of other photographers like Brent Stirton, who used strobes for his environmental portraits of the Omo tribes.

The Omo Valley has considerable resonance amongst those who've either been to the south of Ethiopia and those who want to go. It is currently believed that the area has been a crossroads for thousands of years as various cultures and ethnic groups migrated around the region, and it's been said that “If Africa was the mother of all humanity, then the Omo River was its main artery”. Having been there in 2004, I believe that.

The area is home to eight different tribes whose population is about 200,000 and it's been reported that a hydro-electric dam is under construction on the Omo river. When completed, it will destroy a fragile environment and the livelihoods of these tribes, which are closely linked to the river and its annual flood.

(Via Photojournalism Links)

Hans Silvester: Omo Valley Fashion

The May-June issue of American Express' Departures magazine features the work of photographer Hans Silvester, a German photographer, who documents the extraordinary body painting of the Surma and Mursi peoples of the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia.

The Surma and Mursi tribes are body painters. They paint their bodies with natural pigments made from the earth. They paint themselves and each other in a tradition that has remained unchanged for millenia. They use their bodies as canvases, painting their skin with pigments made from powdered volcanic rock and adorning themselves with materials obtained from flowers, leaves, grasses, shells and animal horns.

Hans Silvester was born in Lorrach, Germany, and is now based in southern France. He is recognized for a wide-ranging body of work and a protracted study of his subjects, most frequently nature, animals and the environment.

As the issue of Departures isn't yet on-line, many of the Omo Valley Fashion photographs can be found on The Daily Mail issue of February 2008.

Antonio Perez Rio: Omo Valley

Photo © Antonio Perez Rio-All Rights Reserved
Antonio Perez Rio is a Spanish emerging photographer with a special focus on documentary and travel photography. He has two degrees in Law and Social Work, as well as a specific training in creative writing. He has traveled to more than 20 countries, and speaks Spanish, English, French and is learning Arabic.

Antonio tells me that he plans to join the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Istanbul (June 2010) to broaden his already considerable skills.

His Omo Valley slideshow features many of the tribes found in southern Ethiopia, including the Hamer, Karo and the Arbore. Antonio's use of flash brings to my mind the photographs made by Brent Stirton in the Lower Omo Valley.

Antonio also documented the various religious traditions of Benin, and the photographs can be found here.

For those of us who keep tabs on upcoming travel photographers, I predict we will see much more of Antonio's work.

Ed Ou: Journey To The Promised Land

Ed Ou is a Canadian-Taiwanese photojournalist living and working in the Middle East, who covered his first big story during the Israel – Hezbollah conflict from southern Lebanon in 2006, when he was studying Arabic and International Relations in the Middle East.

Since then, he has worked with Reuters and the Associated Press covering diverse stories such as the ongoing conflict in Somalia, child soldiers in Uganda, California wildfires, faith and conflict in the Holy Land, and even fashion in New York City. He is also a featured contributor to Reportage by Getty Images.

Ed was selected by Photo District News as one of the 30 Emerging Photographers of 2008. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Guardian UK, and many other publications. He speaks English, French, Chinese, and Arabic.

I chose to feature Ed's portfolio titled Journey To The Promised Land, in which he documents some of the Falash Mura, and the surrounding controversy in allowing 40,000 Ethiopian Christians, with claims to Jewish ancestry, to immigrate to Israel.

Mariela Furrer: Timket, Ethiopia

I'm often asked to lead a photo-expedition to Ethiopia and I always demur, citing the infrastructural difficulties (mostly in the South) of setting up such a trip, and the concomitant high costs. However, as can be seen in Mariella Furrer's Timket gallery, Ethiopia is one of the most visually and culturally magnetic countries in the world. These images bring back the emotions I felt when hearing the beautiful chants at dawn during the Timket festivities.

Mariella Furrer is a photographer and photojournalist who has lived in Africa her whole life. She attended the Documentary Photography & Photojournalism Program at the International Center of Photography in NYC, and has since been working as a freelance photojournalist based between Kenya and South Africa.

Mariella has been awarded grants from the 3P Foundation, France and the Hasseleblad Foundation, Sweden. She has received an Honorable Mention from UNICEF Photo of the Year 2005 and has been nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography 2006.

Timket is the Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of Epiphany, and is celebrated on January 19 or 20.

For my own photographs of Northern Ethiopia, including those of my few days in Lalibela during Timket, drop by Footsteps in North Abyssinia.

Joey L. : Ethiopia

Once in a while, I come across work by a young photographer that is so interesting, so adventurous, so visually compelling, so extraordinarily edgy and so cerebral....that I spend many hours just staring at it. And yes, I'll admit it...it's so good that it's incredibly annoying. I'm a purist and certainly not a fan of photo manipulation, but the imagery I've seen by this photographer is really excellent.

Joey Lawrence is 19 years old (no, that's not a typo, he's really 19..or maybe 20 by now), and has been shooting commercial photography, photojournalism and music videos around the world by the age of 17. He already has a reputation of being a pioneer of new aged digital hyper-realistic photography, lighting and manipulation. All his techniques were self-taught or the result of trial and error with no formal educational training.

His website is replete with phenomenal photography: particularly his work in Ethiopia's Omo Valley of the Mursi and other tribal groups, as well as of Abyssinian Christian holy men, and in India amongst the Aghori sadhus (The Aghoris commune with the dead, live among the dead and practice rituals with corpses in order to make contact with the divine mother, Kali, to whom they pray). As a sideline, I wonder how Joey managed to get access to this secretive and reclusive sect!

I'm bookmarking Joey Lawrence's website for many repeated visits. What a talent by a young man who has his whole life ahead of him to produce incredible work both in terms of quality and content!

Here's a clip (about 11 minutes) of video of Joey Lawrence (he's on the left), his assistant and crew in Ethiopia...working and playing. You'll see how he photographs some of his subjects using strobes and lights. The clip was personally very entertaining because I recall being at some of the very same spots in and around the Omo Valley...Jinka has a special place in my memory because it's where I indulged in tej, the potent (make that very potent) home-made brew of fermented honey.

Sylvain Savolainen: The Afars

©Sylvain Savolainen-All Rights Reserved.
Sylvain Savolainen is a photographer and reporter based in Geneva, and is regularly published by international newspapers and magazines such as Geo, La Stampa, IHT, The New York Times and Le Figaro. In Paris, he worked with Sygma and Gamma agencies, and currently Cosmos and Grazia Neri partly distribute his work. He is also a contributor to the French and Swiss national radios. In 2007, he won the Swiss Press Photo award for the best foreign feature of the year.

Sylvain has documented many ethnic groups, including the Afars. The Afars, or Danakil, are an ethnic group in the Horn of Africa, residing principally in the Danakil Desert in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, as well as in Eritrea and Djibouti. They constitute over a third of the population of Djibouti, but the majority still remain nomadic pastoralists, raising goats, sheep, camels and cattle in the desert.

Here's Sylvain's Those Who Gaze Into The Horizon: The Afars

BBC: Lalibela's Bet Maryam

Photo ©Karoki Lewis-All Rights Reserved
I'm not too fond of the BBC these days as a result of its unconscionable decision not to air the Gaza appeal, however it has recently published an interesting audio slideshow with photographs and audio by Karoki Lewis, and produced by Phil Coomes

As part of a series looking at religious pilgrimages around the world, Karoki recorded the all night ceremony at Bet Maryam (Church of the Virgin Mary) in Lalibela, Ethiopia, as they celebrated Orthodox Christmas in early January.

I recall being in Lalibela during Epiphany in 2004, and being part of, and photographing the pre-dawn rituals of the ancient celebration was an unforgettable experience. Ethiopian Christianity dates back to the 4th century, and as the festival of Epiphany nears, Lalibela’s population swells with 60 thousand pilgrims.

I visited the beautiful cross-shaped Church of St. George, but the awning that is visible in the slideshow wasn't there...so it must be a new addition. It certainly preserves the stone church from the elements, but it's also hideous.

(Via duckrabbit multimedia)

Peter Gasser: African Tribes

Photo ©Peter Gasser-All Rights Reserved
Every now and then, I'm confronted with photographic work of such superlative quality that my jaw literally drops. Peter Gasser's photography is such work.

Peter Gasser is a Swiss photographer, and his biography as penned by Professor Helmut Gernsheim on his website reveals his affinity for precision work. While Professor Gernsheim commends Gasser's landscape work, comparing it to that of Ansel Adams, Brett Weston and Paul Caponigro, it is his ethno-photography that left me speechless.

Peter Gasser has exhibited his work in European and United States galleries, and is the recipient of a number of awards including the official recognition from the Swiss Confederation. His photographs are at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Art institute of Chicago, International Museum of Photography, Rochester; Center for Creative Photography, Arizona and others.

While all of his galleries are collectors' items, it's his images of the African Tribes that I liked the most...even more than his work from Ladakh. The black & white portraits of the Karo and Hamer tribes people of Ethiopia's Omo Valley, of the Himba of Namibia and of the Samburu of Kenya leap out of the pages...as if lifelike.

No question about it in my mind...this is jaw-dropping work.

My thanks to Alia Refaat, a freelance photographer from Egypt, for directing me to Peter Gasser's website.

Ethiopia's Saint by Cyril le Tourneur d’Ison

© Cyril le Tourneur d’Ison/LightMediation-All Rights Reserved
From the Lightmediation Photo Agency comes this very interesting photo story by photographer Cyril le Tourneur d’Ison. It's this kind of photographic storytelling that merges ethnography and religious traditions which interest me the most in travel photography, and this subject matter is particularly captivating because it's virtually unknown...at least to me.

The sacred remote shrine of Sheikh Hussein is in the desert of Bale Province in south-eastern part Ethiopia. Similar to the marabouts of Morocco, or the Sufi saints in India and Pakistan, Sheikh Hussein was renowned for his miraculous powers. For the past 700 years, his shrine has become the site one of Ethiopia's most extraordinary pilgrimages where on a bi-annual basis, up to 50,000 pilgrims, most coming from Ethiopia's remote villages, make an arduous journey to pray at the shrine.

The more I come into contact (either directly myself or through the work of other photographers) with all kinds of religious traditions, the more I realize that all are similar. The above photograph shows pilgrims prostrating themselves on the way to the shrine, reminding me of the Tibetans doing the same around the Potala Palace, on the way to Mount Kailash or circumbulating the Swayambunath stupa in Kathmandu.

It's a real shame that the photographs are not displayed in higher resolution, but I suppose it is what it is because of Issuu's high compression. It's even a greater shame that this photo essay is not produced as an audio slideshow!

To open the document, click on the page below:

Get your own - Open publication

Ethiopia's Nomad Warriors: Salgado

Photograph © Sebastião Salgado-All Rights Reserved
Rolling Stone magazine published black & white photographs of Ethiopia's Nomad Warriors by Sebastião Salgado. The tribes of the Omo Valley such as Hamer, Mursi and the Sumer are featured in this essay of images by a master photographer. In my view, the images are too small to appropriately convey these people's beauty and charisma, and I look forward to perhaps seeing them elsewhere.

A Sebastião Salgado quote that always stays with me:

"If you take a picture of a human that does not make him noble, there is no reason to take this picture. That is my way of seeing things."

For a sample of my own images of the Omo Valley tribes, go here.

News: Art Collection

All Photographs © Tewfic El-Sawy
I've recently sold 10 of my photographs to a major international bank headquartered in London. The distinctive aspect to this transaction is that the photographs are part of the bank's permanent art collection, and are printed on 40" by 25" (approx) canvases. My sales of photographs are traditionally either for stock or to magazines.

Most of the photographs chosen are of adivasis from Central India, and the rest are from Ethiopa's Omo Valley, Rajasthan and Bhutan.

The bank's art collection include photographic works by Philip Lee Harvey, Desmond Burden, Steve Bloom, Remi Benali, William Chapman, Boaz Rottem, among others.

Brent Stirton: Omo Valley/Bull Jumping

© Brent Stirton/Courtesy Discovery Channel
I've featured Brent Stirton's fabulous work on the Omo Valley a few months ago, and now bring him back with a Quicktime movie of the bull-jumping ceremony (click the small arrow above to start it).

The bull-jumping ceremony is an important ritual performed by some of the tribes of the Omo Valley region of southern Ethiopia, and is considered a sort of a rite of passage in a tribal man’s life. Bull jumping is a prerequisite for a man to take a wife and have children, and it involves him undergoing a number of rituals before leaping onto and running over the backs of cattle.

I witnessed the bull-jumping ceremony not far from Turmi, a village in the Omo Valley, and was taken aback (an understatement) by a preceding ritual involving the women of the Hamar tribe tribe being whipped by the men in their families.