WTF Department: Ridiculous Bling

Here's a piece of ridiculous bling which ought to be filed in The Travel Photographer's WTF Department's compost heap, along with the Leica Hermes.

Found in this week's The New York Time's T-Magazine is a Yves Saint-Laurent travel adapter, which will cost $450 whoever is silly enough to buy it.

Mind you, the blurb tells us that fashion has come to the rescue of the stylish travelers who have had to use the "less-than-beautiful electrical doohickeys", especially since these come in cute fuchsia, black and violet leather bags.

A suggestion for the "stylish travelers": why don't you buy this doohickey from Kensington for $29 instead, and give the difference to a worthwhile charity? It does exactly the same thing and even looks the same. I realize it'll be tough without a colored leather case, but try all the same.

I have this Kensington adapter which I use everywhere I travel. Along with a locally-bought power strip, it's priceless. And if I need a pouch for it, I'll find one at the nearest Army Surplus store...it ain't gonna be in fuchsia though.

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POV: New Luggage Rules For Photogs?

The news media are reporting that the incident on the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit was certainly an attempted terrorist attack. This is causing extra security measures being implemented on all flights destined to the United States, which include body searches of all US bound travelers.

As I mostly fly Virgin Atlantic, I visited its website and it now (as of December 26) advises its passengers of additional security measures, which will cause traveling photographers considerable difficulties, especially regarding their camera bags.

The new regulations include restrictive hand baggage allowances for all passengers flying into all US airports, and have now been reduced to only one item of hand baggage.

According to Virgin, This item should not exceed 23 x 36 x 56cm, (approx 9 x 14 x 22 inches) and 13lb/6kg in weight, and should only contain the items needed during the flight.

Knowing the herd mentality of airlines, it won't be long before this restriction may be applied to all flights, in order to either economize on fuel or to generate fees on additional (or heavy) check-in luggage.

And here's the worst part of the regulations: "...should only contain items needed during the flight". This is not good news for us, folks.

Is the way forward to dump all our expensive gear in a Pelican hard case(s), check it in (and pay for it), and spend the flight praying that the case(s) and contents make it back to the US from wherever we are flying from???

And the coup de grace? From CNN's website: "There were no reported delays from Heathrow Saturday, but passengers boarding a U.S.-bound Virgin Atlantic aircraft were told there would be no in-flight electronic entertainment in the wake of the incident."

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WTF Department: Leica M7 Hermès

From the British Journal of Photography comes the news that Leica M7 Hermès edition has just been announced representing a collaboration between Leica and Hermès Paris. My readers may be interested to know that only 200 units will be available...and to make it even more exclusive, only 100 will be in orange and 100 in a green.

The Leica M7 Edition Hermès will be available in the UK from December 2009 from authorized Leica dealers at the suggested retail price of £8550 (or $14,000).

I really (I mean really as in seriously) hope to come face to face with whoever has such a camera dangling around his or her neck. It's not about the jaw-dropping price (although that's a stunner), but about the crass ostentation that it exudes. I'm reasonably certain that Leica has done some market research, and knows that there is a minuscule number of people who may be attracted to the Leica M7 Edition Hermès.

I have some ideas as to what demographics these people may belong to...but I still would like to see one, and then roll on the floor laughing.

On a more sober note, I suppose that this is more of a collector's item, like a great vintage wine or whatever it is that people collect these days. It's not really a camera that'll be used much. After all, the leather cover might get scratched!

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Rant: Email Newsletters

I use Campaign Monitor to send my (almost) monthly newsletter, which informs my subscribers of my new photo galleries and forthcoming The Travel Photographer's Photo~Expeditions™. Although these newsletters are only sent to those who subscribe through my sign-in box on this blog, I still get a spam notice, or even two, once in a while.

So here's the rant:

1. The mailing list for my newsletter is by subscription only. In other words, the person wanting to subscribe has to fill in his/her email address and his/her name in the sign-in box.

2. Upon doing so, each subscriber gets an auto-rely from me thanking them for subscribing, and saying that they can unsubscribe at any time by clicking a clearly marked link on the newsletters.

3. So why report my newsletter as spam? Even though I have a minuscule spam rate, it's annoying. Sending a newsletter costs me money, and if subscribers change their minds, the unsubscribe option is there! So use it, for heaven's sake!

The definition of spam from Wikipedia is this: "Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately."

Obviously, my newsletters are neither unsolicited or indiscriminate.

So is it illiteracy? Confusion? I'm mystified.

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The Purge: The Travel Photographer's Newsletters

I've sent out my June newsletter yesterday, and realized that it was about time to purge my ever-growing mailing list of subscribers that no longer open my newsletters with regularity. Through my email marketing service, I get an update as to which emails do not open my newsletters, and I've already started to remove them from my list.

The criteria is simple. Subscribers who haven't opened any of my four newsletters of 2009 are either not interested any more, or have moved their email addresses or haven't opened them in that length of time. Consequently, they are being removed from the list.

What triggered this review and purge is an expanding list which costs me money to send, and I have no intention of keep sending newsletters to recipients who no longer open them. Because of the number of subscribers, this purge is a laborious task which I may not complete before I travel to Morocco in a few days, but it'll be done.

I use Campaign Monitor for my newsletters, and it's a pay as you send system. I found them to super dependable, responsive and they don't tolerate spammers.

By the way, if any recipients no longer wish to receive my newsletters, all they they have to do is click on an unsubscribe link in each newsletter. I prefer you unsubscribe than not read them.

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POV: White Judges Only?

Here's an issue that came to my attention via the excellent blog Duckrabbit, which in turn noticed it on the Reciprocity Failure blog.

PDN (Photo District News) has recently announced the results of its Photo Annual 2009 Contest, and also introduced its readers to the 24 judges who adjudicated this hard fought contest. So far so good...however here's the rub: all 24 judges are white. Yes, you've read correctly....all of them are white persons.

Stan Banos at Reciprocity Failure continues his criticism by suggesting that the reasons behind this range from indifference to blatant passive racism. I don't know if I would go as far as to describe it as passive racism...perhaps it is, but my gut feel is that it's principally because of pervasive cronyism in the photography industry...a sort of comfortable "you scratched my back so i'll scratch yours" kind of thing. Of course, it may well be that only whites can scratch white backs.

Anyway, enough about what I think, and let's get someone make serious money by entering duckrabbit's competition and be the first who comes to PDN’s defense and answer Stan Banos' question as to ‘what possible, plausible excuse could exist for an all white jury from a publication of such influence?’.

A tough question to answer. Will Holly Stuart Hughes, the editor of PDN be that first responder? I hope so.

Note (June 10): Well, Holly Stuart Hughes did respond on June 9 to the various bloggers who raised this issue. Her reply is elegant and gracious and I believe is genuine. It can be read in full here, but here's an excerpt:

Yesterday some blogs circulated a note about the fact that of the 24 judges of the 2009 PDN Photo Annual contest, all of them are white. It's a valid point ,and one that everyone who works on PDN’s contests has given a lot of thought. While the lack of any judges of color wasn’t intentional, it is regrettable. Thanks to the huge number of entries it draws from around the world, the Photo Annual offers us our best opportunity to see a wide range of work from different perspectives. We should make sure our judges represent a wide range of perspectives as well.

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POV: NYT & Its Posed Photo

©Zackary Canepari/The New York Times-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times's editors published an unusual apology on Friday. The apology relates to a picture appearing in a May 5 front-page article about the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which showed a silhouetted Taliban logistics tactician, holding a rifle (above). The Times subsequently learned from the photographer that the rifle the Taliban tactician held was not his, and claims that had it known this information at the time of publication, it would not have used the photograph to illustrate the article.

PDN Pulse asks if its readers think this is over the line?

I don't think this is a major issue at all, especially since Canepari seems to have clarified the situation. Frankly, had the editors of The New York Times been half (nay, just one-hundredth) as meticulous with the blatant lies and obfuscations propagated by the Bush Administration which led to the Iraq fisaco as they are now with Canepari's photograph, as a nation we would have been the better for it, and we wouldn't be where we are now.

We all recall The New York Times published lies about the Iraqi's non-existent WMD program as fed to it by members of the previous Administration and their newspaper cronies, and subsequently "apologized" for it.

Update: For another take on the story of the staged picture, read Daniel Sheehan's post on his Photo Blog. He quotes Washington DC photographer John Harrington's view that Canepari "is likely to be persona non-grata at the New York Times, and his journalistic ethics will also likely give other editorial publications pause to hire him."

Of course, the editors of The New York Times who sold us sordid lies about the reasons for our occupation of Iraq are (with the exception of Judith Miller) not personae non gratae. Go figure.

Another Update: I knew my friend Asim Rafiqui would write of the New York Times' silliness in his The Spinning Head blog. He writes this:

"We are supposed to forget that this is also one of a number of American newspapers whose journalists failed to ask even the most basic of questions and failed to examine even the most public of facts during the build up to the invasion of Iraq. Their ethical reporters were on the front lines of journalistic jingoism, helping sell the war to the American public."

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Rant: Canon 5D Mark II & Battery

I haven't ranted for quite a while. No, correct that...I haven't ranted about a photography matter for quite a while. I've ranted about lots of stuff on this blog and even more off this blog....so it's time for a nice rant about Canon and its marketing wisdom.

If I recall correctly, the Canon let it be known that its 5D Mark II would be available at major photo retailers by the end of November 2009, in time for the holiday season. Now we know that Canon dropped the ball on that one, with the 5D Mark II still unavailable at B&H (although it's currently taking pre-orders according to 1001 Noisy Cameras), Crutchfield is out of stock, while Amazon has one for sale but at a premium.

Most of us have an innate fear of scarcity. The prospect of product being unavailable when we want (or need) it is a powerful marketing tool which spurs consumers to research where the product is available, and purchase. I believe this is what Canon is doing.

I was extremely lucky in having found one when I visited B&H and just asked the salesclerk for one. So here's what I think: Canon makes this camera available to retailers slowly and selectively. The more there's a perceived scarcity for this product, the more buzz there is (like this post)..the more buzz the more publicity. Am I hearing justified complaints that this strategy is disrespectful to its customer base? The answer is yes. Am I hearing that Canon through this strategy is, as one of my friends recently wrote me, helping non-mainstream retails stores to really soak us? The answer is also yes.

Now to top off the rant, let me mention the battery: the LP-E6 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion for the Canon 5D Mark II is also on back-order (the favored euphemism for not available) at mainstream retail stores...however may be occasionally found at other stores for a hefty premium. Another soaking.

Two days ago I ordered two spare batteries from a non mainstream online store, and I'm still waiting a confirmation of my order...

UPDATE (February 3): Having seen that the batteries were listed as back-ordered on the online store Digital Foto Club, I called to inquire as to the status of my order. Steve, the employee who took my call, told me they had received Canon shipments the day before but he would check and let me know if it included the batteries. A short time later, Steve did call to say the batteries were not expected soon and that he'd go ahead and cancel my order through Buy.com (which was confirmed).

I think that's excellent service from Digital Foto Club...honest and straight forward.

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PDN + Canon?

I received my PDN November issue yesterday, and was surprised to see its cover was a Canon advertisement for the EOS 50D. Now, I'm all for magazines to make money from advertisers, but to have PDN's cover taken over by an ad is annoying, and a turn-off.

To be clear, PDN still has a regular cover, but it's covered by another cover: the Canon ad, and ripping it off damages the issue.

A note to PDN people: I like PDN (not always, but most of the time) and Canon is my brand of choice, but this is not a good idea and certainly not one that I'd like to see again. I have to thumb through enough pages of ads as it stands to get to articles and features...so another ad layer is not welcome. I don't know if this gimmick is only for subscribed issues or for all issues in circulation.

This is worse than the ads that appear before multimedia presentations because I paid for the magazine and this ad doesn't go away after 15 seconds. Since I really don't want to have a Canon ad in my face whenever I reach for this PDN magazine, I tore it off.

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Rant: The New Yorker

The New Yorker magazine has stirred a hornet's nest for what it calls a satirical cartoonish cover that shows Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dressed in a Taliban-like garment, and his wife Michelle — dressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder — standing in the Oval Office. To add insult to injury, artist Barry Blitt added a portrait of Osama bin Laden on the wall, and the American flag burning in the fireplace. This cover is tasteless, repugnant and offensive on all levels.

I read that The New Yorker's editor says that the cover is satirizing rumors about Obama — including rumors that he's Muslim and anti-American, and defended its choice, "saying its readership is sophisticated enough to get the joke."

This is so out-of-touch (and dismissive of our intelligence) that it beggars belief as to how these people at The New Yorker think. I hope readers will find the so-called "joke" so unfunny that they cancel their subscriptions, and demand their money back. That'll be really funny.

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Rant: G8's Shameless Behavior

Here's a rant that has nothing to do with photography, but has everything to do with lack of decency and disgraceful behavior.

As we know, the leaders of the so-called G8 nations are having a summit on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. While the G8 summits are usually conspicuous by their meaningless proclamations, this one was touted as an important meeting to discuss the world's current food shortages.

So as reported by the Times of London, we learn that the G8 summit has cost almost $600 million, enough to buy 100 million mosquito nets for the African nations whose population are still afflicted by malaria. This is bad enough, but I think the most repulsive is the news that the G8 leaders discussed the international food shortages during a sumptuous eight-course dinner banquet, having already eaten a five-course lunch.

What is the matter with these people?

Times of London's G8 Leaders Feast

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Rant: My Blog My Rules

I know. I haven't been ranting for a while, and some of my readers tell me they miss my acerbic diatribes. I haven't mellowed at all, it's just that I didn't have much to rant (at least of relevance to this blog) about...however, before I lose my so-called acerbic trademark, here's my position about what gets on my blog and what doesn't.

By the way, at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico City which had over 160 attendees, I was taken aback by the surprisingly large number of photographer/photojournalists (famous and emerging) who knew of The Travel Photographer blog and of my photography. This proves to me two major facts: the power of blogging and the power of branding about this earlier on TTP (I've posted about this earlier on TTP here).

But I digress. Here are the general terms of acceptance that cover what kind of photographic work is, and will be, posted on The Travel Photographer. Firstly, this blog is ad-free, and as I'm not beholden to anyone (corporate or individual), I only post what I like. This is also known as editorial privilege...and it's what counts. There are thousands of blogs dealing with photography and some are much better than mine, so photographers can pick and choose.

My preferences are too many to list, but photo essays/stories, in multimedia or stills, appeal to me a great deal. Work by emerging photographers are always welcome, provided it deals with travel (non stock stuff) and editorial. Particularly interesting is photography that can be described as ethnographic, and deals with religious or secular rituals, tribal cultures, among others. I have a hard time with websites that have dinky photographs, but if the subject matter is really interesting, you're in. If you're a photographer with a travel portfolio better destined to the pages of Travel & Leisure magazine, you don't need this blog.

In terms of geographic preferences, while my own photography is biased towards Asian and South Asian cultures, it doesn't mean that this is true for what gets on my blog. I'm not that interested in what is generally defined as "Western" photo projects...so projects of European and/or North American provenance don't really excite me that much. On the other hand, photographic work by emerging photographers from South Asia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America are especially welcome....but please, have functioning websites.

If you want to know what photography work turns me on, drop by my website or if you have the time, explore this blog. You'll know.

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Fashion Photo Shoots: A Thought

© Raphael Mazzucco/Maire Claire Magazine-All Rights Reserved
I saw a recent post on PDN's Photo Feed about a fashion blog (Jezebel) that considered a photo shoot in Vietnam featured by Marie Claire (a fashion magazine for women) to be in poor taste, since the prices of the dresses being modeled, and shown of the magazine's pages, were far more than Vietnam's average annual per capita income.

So right off the bat, here's what I think. First of all, I'd be ecstatic if I was a photographer involved in similar photo shoots. The photographer of the Vietnam feature for Marie Claire is Raphael Mazzucco, and I'd pay money to be in his shoes...yes, I would. Beautiful women, beautiful locations...and photography. That can't be a job, can it?

Secondly, these photo shoots inject a lot of needed money into the local economies...the photo shoots require accommodations, transport, scouts, guides, local equipment, food supply, etc. We're talking a lot of money for just a few days.

Having said that, I also happen to think that the above photograph featuring a highly-paid model wearing expensive clothes, and a local Vietnamese woman sifting rice ought to ruffle our conscience. The juxtaposing of the two women in the same scene makes me uncomfortable. I'm certain that the Vietnamese woman was paid for her time...but the scene still doesn't really sit well with me. The cost of the model's dress is probably worth what the Vietnamese woman makes a year or two, and it's just a shame that there's nothing anyone can do about it.

So idealistically-speaking, while I agree with the Jezebel blog's socially-minded editors, I'd still be delighted to be the photographer on such photo shoots. Would I have photographed the same scene? Probably....but I would have made sure that the Vietnamese woman was paid for her help. But no matter what...it would have bothered me a little bit.

Whenever I travel for photography, whether on my own or on my photo expeditions, I (like many of you) face similar situations on a daily basis. I'm conscious that I carry gear worth months, if not years, of income for many people in the countries I visit, and that never fails to bother me. We all deal with this in our own way, and I hope the way I do is appropriate.

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Sunday Rant: The Selfish Photographer

I haven't really ranted for a while now...but yesterday's post about Katie Orlinky's work amongst the Muxes of Juchitan reminded me of an itch that needs to be scratched.

Before going for a week's vacation in Oaxaca late February, I posted on the Lightstalkers photo forum asking for advice as to what and where to photograph. The suggestions I received from many working photographers (both travel and photojournalists) were generous and useful... and I dutifully wrote everything down so I could follow these through while in Oaxaca. One of most intriguing suggestions was to photograph the Muxes in the city of Juchitan, roughly a hundred miles south of Oaxaca city. I was given the email of photographer who had already published a number of photo essays on the Muxes culture, and encouraged to solicit that photographer's help.

I did exactly that, asking for advice as to how to get to Juchitan, and whether there were any names I could contact. I received nothing in response except for a curt brush-off. Thinking the photographer had misunderstood my questions, I clarified what I needed, but never got a reply.

Now, here's a photographer who already published all there was to publish on the subject...as far as that photographer was concerned, the subject was done...was in the can...and was published (and presumably paid for) a few times already. No danger of meaningful competition here, and yet, the reaction was to brush-off an inquiry from a fellow photographer.

Do I expect too much from people? I don't think so. There will always be some photographers who selfishly (and in my view, sometimes illogically) guard their perceived "fiefdoms"...but, from experience, they are a minority in an industry that frequently relies on mutual assistance. I have no difficulty whatsoever in sharing whatever knowledge I have...whether this is done during my photo-expeditions, photo critiques or by answering frequent questions about my photo destinations, techniques and photographs.

So what I have to tell this selfish photographer is this: what goes around comes around. As for the Muxes, I did not have the time to travel to Juchitan, but I now know people who will take me there when I return to Oaxaca. And when I do, I'll send some of the resulting photographs to the selfish photographer.

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Sunday Rant VII

It's difficult to rant in London, while the sky is so blue and the sun is shining (albeit feebly) and where everyone is outwardly stoic, civilized and "stiff-upper-lipped", but here's a short one.

When I plan my photo expeditions, I thoroughly research my itineraries and discuss them with the local agents to ensure they are feasible, interesting and exciting. The feedback from these agents is invaluable, and I insist that they give me their honest feedback and their own ideas (the more off the wall the better), since cookie-cutter itineraries are not what I get excited about.

After circulating the itinerary to people on my mailing list, and filling most -if not all- of the spaces in the expedition, I then post the photo expedition's details on my website, without the detailed itinerary. In time, I get additional expressions of interest to join the expedition and requests for the full itinerary.

The itinerary is promptly emailed to them, and then....silence. No feedback, no replies, no reactions. By the way, the cost of the expedition is made public...the only added information they need is the day to day itinerary

Now, I realize that people change their minds, may not like the itinerary, they may find it too strenuous, they may find it too easy...a myriad of very valid reasons....that is not the issue. The issue is that these people seem to think that it's appropriate to email me a request for an itinerary, claiming to be a "world pilgrim", a "seasoned traveler", a "keen student of Asia"...and so on, but don't seem to understand that they should -out of civility- advise me that they are no longer interested. No, this behavior is both inappropriate and rude.

Is it an "itinerary grab"? Possibly...but why not grab the itinerary and email me saying that they changed their minds. Even if they're thieves they can be polite and courteous....that may even keep them in my good books. Heck, I might even send them future itineraries. Incidentally, if it's an itinerary 'grab'...good luck on getting the same price from the travel agents.

Quoting George Bush: "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."

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Sunday Rant VI

This Sunday's rant is all about photography...so the purists can rejoice this week. On a professional photography forum, I've recently seen venomous replies in response to a post from an editor of a Northern European magazine requesting photographers of South Asian images to contact him. The rather inept editor added the incendiary statement that his magazine had a limited budget, and I'm paraphrasing here...couldn't pay market rates for the photographs.

Hell broke loose, and photographers crucified the hapless editor for trying to exploit them...for trying to get their photographs for next to nothing while being handsomely paid by the advertisers of the magazine...and worse.

So here's the core of my rant: firstly, this sort of knee-jerk behavior from photographers alienates magazine editors, who may decide to shop elsewhere for their photo requirements. Secondly, this particular editor didn't ask for free submissions. That would certainly warrant the poisonous reaction he got from photographers. No, he was reasonably clear that he'd pay for the photographs, but due to budgetary constraints, the payments would be lower than prevailing market rates.

Let's examine this rationally, shall we? Corporations outsource everything...everything gets outsourced these days...from customer services to surrogate motherhoods. If I was a magazine editor responsible for its bottom line and to its shareholders, I would certainly look very seriously into outsourcing my photography needs. Globalization forces are at work in every industry...and photography is an industry like any other. If a magazine editor can satisfy his/her magazine's needs from photographers in India, Pakistan and the Middle East, at a fraction of what photographers in the West will charge... at comparable quality and delivered in a timely fashion, of course he/she would.

Globalization (and the internet/tech advances) has upended the status-quo...the South Asian photographers, the Middle Eastern photographers, the Asian photographers have all emerged as worthwhile competitors, and have proven many times over that their work is as good, frequently better, and as professional as any other. However, because their local costs of living are generally lower, they are willing to accept below market rates...rates that are or were determined by entities in the West.

There will always be magazines that only publish the best of the best...there will always be ample opportunities for the so-called 'legendary photographers'...but the rest of us will have to compete heads-on with photographers from all over the world, and must accept that ground rules have changed, and we must adapt. So let's not blame magazine editors for exercising financial acumen and waste our energy on silly arguments...let's be honest and agree that if we were offered a service (say digital printing as an example) from India or China at a cheaper cost to us than one we use in Manhattan, and provided the quality and delivery time were the same, most of us would give our business to these offshore service providers.

My suggestion to photographers who get all exercised about "lower than market" rates is simple...if you don't like what's offered, ignore it and move on....you'll live longer. The reality is that some photographers who don't have your cost of living standards will send in their work and accept lower rates. The culprits are not the magazine editors', nor the photographers who do...but market forces. Are there nasty magazine editors who will always try to nail photographers? Of course, but this is not about the bad apples...it's about the straightforward ones, who try to do the best for their magazines.

So we need to learn new skills and invent new ways of publishing our work instead of wasting our energy and credibility by piling on others who are only doing what we would do.

Let me be very clear: not paying for photographs on the pretext that 'it will enhance the photographer's career' is a scam and rip-off. I don't care whether the photographer is a beginner or a seasoned professional...it's still a rip-off. There are some exceptions to that, but very few.

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Sunday Rant V

Here's a non-photography related rant, and it's about Sunday brunch. Yes, brunch...the meal that is neither fish nor fowl...neither breakfast nor lunch and neither this nor that...the hideous meal that's supposed to combine breakfast and lunch.

Living in an area of Manhattan that seemingly has more restaurants and cafes than people, I'm getting increasingly ticked off by this in-your-face scam which restaurants love to heave on its patrons every Sunday. Why do restaurants love brunches? Because it's a breakfast with the price tag of a decent lunch. You do the math: a couple of eggs, a bunch of left-over reheated spinach (if you order eggs Florentine), maybe a few dry rashers of bacon, and worst of all a glass of orange juice mixed with plonky champagne called Mimosa, or some other revolting variation. Moreover, anyone can cook a brunch. On Sunday, the higher-paid chefs can stay home, have a proper lunch, and leave the "understudies" to cook on brunch days.

The argument for the brunch scam is that people wake up late on Sundays, and take their time before having their first meals. I have no problem with that. These people can have a late breakfast wherever and whenever they want. What I have a problem with is that the majority of restaurants in the area do not offer lunch on Sundays...just brunch at lunch prices. In fact, I've sat down in restaurants on Sundays a few times and got haughty looks because I asked for a "lunch" menu...snotty up-and-down looks as if I had just walked in from the Gobi desert.

You want to know why they don't offer you a lunch menu and a brunch menu on Sundays? Because a three-year old would immediately realize that brunch is a scam...and would order from the lunch menu. The restaurant owners wouldn't like it and the chefs would hate it.

I admire whoever started this brunch scam...I really do. Charging lunch prices for a three-dollar breakfast and getting away with it is chutzpah with a capital C.

That's my rant and that's why I don't do brunches.

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Sunday Rant IV

This is not really a rant...really.

As TTP is ad-free, I barely look at emails from companies that offer me discounts to place their ads...but this one was different. This time it was from a company that I like a lot. The email from this reputable photography retail company proposed that if I placed its ad on the pages of TTP, I'd get a commission of 2-3% for every item bought through this mechanism. It's called Affiliate Program.

I replied virtually instantly that, while I was appreciative of the proposal, The Travel Photographer blog would remain ad-free as long as I maintained it. I counter-proposed by asking if the company would support my Kashmir expedition/workshop by offering the same small discount to its participants.

I realize there's an enormous difference between the readership numbers of TTP and the small number of participants in the Kashmir photo workshop. It's obviously a numbers game, and the 12 participants in the workshop may not be worth the trouble from the company's standpoint, but it was worth a try.

There's no answer yet from the company in question, but I'm hopeful. It would engender considerable good will. Am I expecting too much from a successful company that is built on trust, good will and reputation? Perhaps.

Now here's a better rant: A website that seems to aggregate posts relating to cruises and travel, uploads every one of my posts on its pages (with the required link to my blog). Whether my blog posts are about photojournalism, my Kashmir photo expedition or photo contests, they'll be on it, and yes, even my rants get mentioned. It's like having someone repeating every word I say....isn't that annoying?

By the way, the only post of mine that was not copied on this blog is the one in which I extend my wishes to all TTP readers on the occasion of the Muslim celebration of Eid el-Adha.

I wonder why?

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Sunday Rant III

I've been itching to rant about the absurdity of the so-called "teddy bear affair' in the Sudan, and on the plight of this unfortunate English teacher. Yes, I know...it has nothing to do with travel or editorial photography, but it has a lot to do with being opinionated as I am.

The events in Khartoum are absurd and insane, and if it wasn't for Gillian Gibbons being in a scummy Sudanese jail for a week or so, it would be farcical. The thought that naming a teddy bear Mohamed (which, by the way, was done by Ms Gibbons' students) would insult Islam is just risible and ridiculous. This is not comparable to the publication of caricatures of the Prophet of Islam in a couple of Danish - followed by a few European- newspapers. That incident was insulting, demeaning and certainly done with the intention of fomenting hatred against Muslims in Europe. In that case, Muslims were right in protesting and demonstrating, as well as boycotting Danish products (which badly damaged Danish exports). In the case of the "teddy-bear", the Sudanese government and its ignorant cohorts have accomplished nothing but bring ridicule to Islam...it is they who are blasphemous by tarnishing Islam with this ignorant behavior, not Ms Gibbons nor her students. I'm sure that 99.9% of Muslims feel the same way.

Here's the real reason for the Khartoum farce...the Sudanese government has its ongoing problems in Darfur, is facing threats of sanctions from the West and from the United Kingdom, and felt it needed to extract revenge to show its people that it had teeth after all. Nobody said that the Sudanese government was bright or respectable...but the unfortunate Ms Gibbons walked right into the mess.

It's sad to see the Sudanese government's success in provoking a bunch of illiterate ruffians to call for the punishment (and even execution) of Ms Gibbons, and by doing so, has heaped ridicule on a world religion....their own. I know that the Muslim leaders in Britain are voicing their disgust and some have acted at this inanity, but where are the voices and actions of the leaders of the well-known Islamic institutions in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries? Where is the voice of the clerics at Al-Azhar University in Cairo...the repository of Islamic thought and theology? Why don't they travel to Khartoum and put some sense in the Sudanese? Wouldn't that show the world what Islamic leadership ought to be? And while they're at it, they should tell the Sudanese government that its repugnant actions in Darfur are un-Islamic.

And to think that the Muslim world was once one of the most intellectually fertile regions of the world!

I owe my primary and secondary education to teachers from the UK like Ms Gibbons, and I'm sorry she's going through this horrible experience. Hopefully, she will return home to her family safely and promptly.

Update on 12/03/07: It's been reported that Ms Gibbons was granted a "pardon" from the president of Sudan, and was flying home.

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Sunday Rant II

Here's my rant for this sunny and cold Sunday morning...and it has nothing to do with travel or editorial photography.

Most of us know there's a shocking difference in terms of depth of coverage and intellectual content between CNN and CNN International cable channels, but the disparity is also evident on its websites as well.

It'd be too long to list disparities in the news items, but I thought its Quick Vote features illustrate this well.

Here's an example from yesterday's editions:

CNN International had these questions on its Quick Vote feature: "Do you think former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be successful in his attempt to return from exile to Pakistan this time?" and another: "Will Australia's Kevin Rudd be a better prime minister than John Howard?.

For its American web audiences, CNN had this question on its Quick Vote feature: "Will you spend more, less or about the same for holiday gifts?"

God help us.

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