Image Heven

The medieval village of Gorbio. Ancient stones support modern technology. A young girl sits on her step, waiting for the page to load.

To see how others in the City Daily Photo community have interpreted today’s theme please click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Please don’t forget to check out my shop, because I know, my Calendars 2010 are a wonderful gift to give for someone you love, or for a good friend or just to pep up the gray walls in your office! Thank you!

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
I thought New York City’s weather on Sunday was just perfect for a few hours of street photography on Chinatown’s Mulberry Street, but ended up spending an interesting time at Columbus Park (Mulberry and Bayard). This is the only park in Chinatown, and is built on what was in the 19th century the most dangerous slum area of immigrant New York.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Now, it’s the venue of choice for hundreds of Chinese residents, a few of whom I saw were practicing tai chi, while others (mostly women) were playing mahjong and card games, and groups of men were engaged in numerous games of xiangqi. Many more occupy the benches, socializing with their neighbors or with strangers, listening to the songs of birds in their cages.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
At the corner of Mulberry & Bayard, there was a large band of traditional musicians accompanying a handful of elderly Chinese opera singers, surrounded by an appreciative audience. I had come prepared…and brought my audio recorder to capture its unmistakable sounds. The musicians used a panoply of Chinese traditional musical instruments, such as the yangqin, a sort of dulcimer with a near-squared soundboard, and played with two bamboo sticks, as well as the jinghu, a small two string fiddle, a circular bodied plucked lute called the yueqin and the recognizable gu and ban, a drum and clapper.

I was racking my brains all evening trying to remember the title of the movie that featured Beijing opera characters, and which won the Cannes Palme d’Or. It’s Farewell My Concubine, the 1993 Chinese film directed by Chen Kaige, and adapted from the novel by Lilian Lee.

As a past breeder, exhibitor and judge of Old English Sheepdogs, I appreciated the amount of work that has gone into the coat of this beautiful cat. And I was astounded at how well-behaved all the cats were. They had to be handled by complete strangers – ie the stewards and the judges – and they didn’t turn a hair, pardon the pun. Nothing like the cats I know around here…

Paul Melcher is his blog Thoughts of A Bohemian has penned an interesting and provocative post on the Black Star Rising blog, and one that I am in full agreement with.

Paul Melcher’s premise is best summarized by this quote from the post:

“Once upon a time, cameras, processing, access and distribution were the privilege of the few in photography. The business was an Old Boys Club with high barriers to entry. But now, anyone can join.”

Actually, the walls surrounding the Old Boys club have crumbled like the Berlin Wall in 1989.

I’ve taught at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshops in Mexico City and in Manali (India) in 2008 and 2009, and I was struck at how few “Old Boys” there were. The preponderance of attendees and instructors were outside of the so-called “inner circle”. Young talented photographers from Latin and Central America, and more from South Asia and South Eastern Asia that I ever thought existed, joined these workshops and demonstrated fresh outlooks to photography and the creativity to break rules, taboos and barriers.

And as Melcher says, it’s all about your Point Of View. So forget infantile tribalism masquerading as networking…stop wasting time on Tweeter and Facebook…forget trying to cannibalize other photographers’ ideas, projects (and yes, even photo itineraries)…and develop your own vision…your own POV…your own sphere of creativity…ignore the dying throes of the old and go take some photographs instead.

With The Travel Photographer blog, along with many others, introducing the work of talented emerging photographers to tangible new opportunities as it has, and will continue to do, the walls of the “Old Boys” club have indeed crumbled to dust. Good riddance!

This weekend there’s a cat show at the Palais de l’Europe in Menton, so a good opportunity for me to practice with my new camera – a Panasonic Lumix GH1, which is a micro four thirds with a 14-140 lens – my first interchangeable lens camera and almost (not quite) a ‘big girls’ camera’ – and it’s light enough to carry around for hours. Much to learn tho with all the bells and whistles…

This superb little camera is a Panasonic variant of the Olympus micro-four thirds concept that would seem absolutely right for anyone who wants a light, small and seemingly perfect system. If you think I wrote the previous sentence, I didn’t (!) – of course it was my mentor, Chuckeroon (see below) who I think secretly works for the Olympus publicity department)

This cat is waiting to be judged. I like the way the cat’s eyes seem to match the colour of the trees outside in the Jardin Biovès.

So a beautiful pussy cat and a dedication to Chuckeroon of Richmond upon Thames Daily Photo who has now helped me choose my last two cameras and nursed me through the teething troubles and a million questions each time. What a friend! Thank you, dear Chuckeroon.

And a thankyou also to Richard from Zurich who was in on early discussions as to which camera to buy and approves the choice.

I knew neither of these great people before City Daily Photo – how fabulous and fortunate it is to have such valued blogging friends.

Photo © AP Photo/Hassan Ammar-All Rights Reserved
I wish Eid Mubarak to my Muslim readers, and I refer them to The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture for great photographs of the event.

Friday, November 27th, was the start of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim “Festival of Sacrifice”, which is based on the tradition that Ibrahim was willing to sacrifice his son Ismail to God.

As I posted in a POV a couple of days ago, Muslims celebrate it by slaughtering animals to commemorate God’s gift of a ram to substitute for Ibrahim’s son, distributing the meat amongst family, friends and the poor.

Speaking of Islam. I frequently read Asim Rafiqui’s blog, The Spinning Head, and one of his latest posts will certainly resonate with all fair-minded persons.