Beyond The Frame: Nepali Circus Workers

Image Copyright © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Samantha Appleton's work on the Nepali circus girls which I featured on TTP a few days ago (link) reminded me of my unannounced visit to an Indian circus in Chhattisgarh during a solo photo expedition.

I recall that my fixer Babu had a difficult time persuading the circus manager to allow me in and photograph. He didn't mind me spending as much time as I needed to photograph the clowns putting their makeup, or the mangy lions (covered with tumeric powder to heal their sores), or any of the stagehands...but he was adamant that I could not photograph the Nepali acrobat girls unless he was present. He claimed -with a straight face- that it was to ensure that I didn't ask them to pose in ways that would "embarass" them.

I photographed the young women with the manager hovering nearby, muttering directions as to how they ought to stand and telling Babu that the shoot was taking too long. The Nepali young women were uncomfortable despite their nervous giggling, and my entreaties that they ought to relax. Realizing that the shoot was pretty much useless, I stopped and moved to another area of the circus. Babu told me that the manager had used crude language when instructing the women and that they feared him. I could not then, nor do I now, judge whether that particular manager was physically abusive...but what I sensed was these women were frightened of him. Interestingly, the acrobat in the middle made sure that the cross around her neck was visible when I started to photograph them.

What I didn't know then was that traffickers, both Indian and Nepalese, who are in constant touch with Indian circus management, have a thriving business of procuring girls from in and around certain specific Nepali regions by convincing the parents and the families to send their young daughters to circus industry by making false promises and distorted claims of fortune, and especially by bribing them. These children are brought under a contract for 3-10 years and once signed they became bound. Their meagre salaries are collected by parents and they remain trapped forever and are unable to leave the circus even if they want.

A number of NGOs are fighting this sad problem, and some have succeeded in rescuing many Nepalis from these circuses. One of these NGOs and charities is the Esther Benjamins Trust whose worthwhile work is detailed on its website.

Esther Benjamins Trust

Pentaxians?

The PENTAX Imaging Company has announced the launch of a community-based website developed for PENTAX photographers. The website features videos that share the stories of four Pentaxian photographers. One is a former NASA scientist and computer technology executive turned urban street photographer, another is a former Doctor of Medicine turned freelance international surf photographer, a third is a professional nature photographer and a fourth is a cruise ship marketing executive who picked up her first digital SLR two years ago and now freelances on the side as a photographer.

I think this is a great idea for a camera company to have...Pentax is reaching to non-working photographers and beginners with this slick website, and is creating a community of like-minded people. I wish Canon had a similar one to supplement its professional websites...I think a similar approach to Canon owners could be a huge success...or has it done before?

PENTAX has another companion website designed to give photographers the opportunity to be represented in a gallery.

The links are Pentaxian and Pentax Photo Gallery

[Thanks to Imaging Insider]

Noor

Noor was officially launched during the 19th Visa Pour l’Image festival in Perpignan, and is a collective of nine independent documentary photographers, pooling their resources to make impact on world views and opinions through photography.

Noor will promote, sell and exhibit the work of its founding member photographers:

Samantha Appleton
Jodi Bieber
Philip Blenkinsop
Pep Bonet
Jan Grarup
Stanley Greene
Yuri Kozyrev
Kadir van Lohuizen

Noor is the Arabic word for light...and before seeing the list of photographers, I hoped it would've been founded by some of the emerging and talented photographers of the Near and Middle East, however that's not the case.

Here's NOOR (Firefox works better)

Getty Images: Reportage

Image Copyright © Palani Mohan-All Rights Reserved
Reportage is a new website by Getty Images and home of photojournalism work from renowned photographers, and emerging new ones in documentary photography.

It's well produced, and contains galleries of marvellous photographs by Paula Bronstein, Chris Hindros, Farah Nosh, Spencer Platt, Amy Toensing, David Turnley, Reza and Ghaith Abul Ahad among others...most of whom have been featured in one way or the other on TTP's pages.

There's no question that this is an "inspiration stop" for all photographers, whatever we may think of large photo agencies.

Getty Images' Reportage

Samantha Appleton: Nepali Circus Girls

Image Copyright © Samantha Appleton-All Rights Reserved
Samantha Appleton has worked on stories in Iraq, malaria in Africa and fishing communities of Maine. Most of her projects are self-motivated and concentrate on the social and political consequences of conflict and neglect.

She began her journalism career as a writer and became a fulltime photographer after assisting James Nachtwey in 1999-2000. Since then she has been named one of the "30 Under 30" photographers featured in PDN, received the Kodak Professional Award, attended the 2005 World Press Master Class, and won first place from Pictures of the Year for her September 11th feature. Her primary clients are TIME magazine and the New Yorker magazine.

Out of her galleries on her website, I chose the comparatively tame gallery of the Nepali Circus Girls. I had a personal experience with that subject matter when photographing in Chhattisgarh, India. In Raipur, I visited an itinerant circus and persuaded the manager to let me photograph the performers. I spent a few moments photographing Nepali female acrobats but couldn't speak with them unless the circus manager was present. They were shy, downcast and unwilling to say anything...nor even to accept a small tip...within sight of the manager. There was a lot of tension while I was photographing, and my fixer confided to me that the manager had threatned the girls not to speak with me. I may post a photograph or two of these women in a few days.

Samantha Appleton's website .

PhotoPlus Expo: New York City

PDN’s PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo (PPE), the largest and most comprehensive photography expo and educational conference, will be held October 18-20 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Apart from the usual hoopla, there'll be many 2-3 hour long seminars given by industry professionals. Here are some that are relevant to travel photography:

Travels To The Edge by Art Wolfe
Mutlimedia Storytelling by Brian Storm
Travel & Photography by Lou Jones.

If this is of interest, visit its website to register.

Daniele Mattioli: Chinese Street Opera

Image Copyright © Daniele Mattioli-All Rights Reserved
Daniele Mattioli was born in Italy, and started his carreer by working as a photo researcher at the Anzenberger Agency which now represent him. He worked in Australia during the 2000 Olympic Games, and developed a profound interest in Asia that eventually drew him to Shanghai.

Following his numerous visits to Shanghai, and as a consequence of his editorial work, he is now based in Shanghai.His editorial work has appeared worldwide in publications such as The New York Times, Time (USA), GQ, Vanity Fair, Geo (Korea), and various others.

Mattioli's website is flash-based, and I encourage you to explore its galleries...the photograph above is from his Chinese Opera, which was photographed in the streets of Bangkok!!!

His website is here