(Above : Turkish beach goers on a pebbled shore near Inebolu)
A guy is entitled to a few obsessions and for me it's anchovies (hamsi inTurkish). But not just any old anchovies mind you, for me it's got to be Black Sea anchovies cooked at the source. So shooting this piece for The New York Times was a natural fit. Despite the vagaries of the Black Sea weather and a spotty hamsi catch I can't think of a better way to spend a week or two then tooling up and down the coast. Probably my favorite part of the country (and I've got a few other favs!).
For a glimpse of what it's like check out this slide show accompanied by song "Hamsi' performed by classic Turkish band Moğollar. Enjoy!
Chinese New Year, 2011 as part of my ongoing Gat Luang, Chiang Mai project I had the opportunity to spend a few evenings with a Chinese opera troupe performing at a stage near the Ping River. The troupe members were from Thailand and southern China and perform at temple celebrations across the region. When not performing many of the troupe's members live in Bangkok's Yaowarat / Chinatown neighborhood. My hope has been to try to meet up with them again as they tour through Malaysia but that hasn't happened yet. Until then here is a multimedia of our time together last year.
In 2010 I met by chance an elder of Tow Bo Temple on Cheong Fatt Tze Street (formerly Hong Kong St) in George Town, Penang. He invited me to attend ceremonies held on the ninth day of the festival, which culminate in a fantastic procession throughthe streets of George Town that ends at one of the Hokkien clan jetties on Weld Quay Road.
Tow Bo Temple is thought to be the oldest 9 Emperor Gods temple in Malaysia; scriptures at the temple date back to 1842. Families living in homes on either side of the temple, which have occupied them for five generations now, keep and maintain the float that the temple deploys in the procession.
Nine Emperor god worshippers are known by their white clothing and yellow sashes.
On the ninth day of the festival the 9 Emperor Gods are called to the temple and sent off in a boat. The ceremony begins with the raising of nine lanterns on a high bamboo pole outside of the temple. Inside the temple worshippers offer incense and food and pray. Then the temple's priest/medium calls in the Emperor Gods. Then the ceremony moves out onto the street, where arches are set up for worshippers to walk under.
While all this is going on members are beating drums outside; the atmosphere is electric and you can feel the spriritual fervor build. This helps worshippers who will be pierced though their cheeks enter a trance-like state which enables them to take the injury to their bodies dealt by quite large rods without bleeding. On the night I attended the ceremony about 6 or so devotees accepted the piercing. There's no wincing, there's no evidence of pain when the rod is driven through the cheeks of these men. It is, frankly, a little surreal to watch.
After the piercing the men are led down a sort of human chute of devotees, encouraged by clapping and drumming, and then they take their places on the temple's float. Lots of firecrackers are set off at the base of the street where it joins Carnavon, a major thoroughfare along which the procession, which includes floats from many other Nine Emperor God temples on Penang, will pass.
The procession is long and intense. Devotees follow along banging drums and in addition to their wheeled floats each temple has numerous male members carrying a sort of palanquin upon which a heavy boat rests. This boat figures in at the end of the ceremony. As the procession moves past other non-9 Emperor Gods temples (there are a LOT of temples in George Town, large and miniscule) the palanquin carriers do a sort of back-and-forth movement towards their entrances 3 times, symbolizing bows of respect.
At the pier, Tow Bo elders boarded a boat with the temples boat, which was loaded with paper offerings, joss sticks and sandlewood. They motored out to sea and set the boat ablaze. I boarded another boat with Tow Bo devotees and from that we watched the fire. We could see boats from other temples, also ablaze, floating in the distance. If the craft returns to land it is considered unlucky.
I have attended many religious events in Asia over the years. This was by far one of the most intense and exhausting.And rewarding. I hope this multimedia captures some of the intensity and raw emotion of that night.
A technical note:
I shot with 3 cameras - Canon EOS 1 Mark II fitted with a 70-200mm 2.8 IS, Canon EOS 5D Mark II with a 35mm 1.4 and Ricoh GRD3 which proved to be especially adept at capturing close in shots in a tightly packed crowd. I generally shot at ISO 800-1600 on the Canons and 400-800 on the Ricoh. I also had 2 OP/TECH USA Rainsleeves in my bag which came in handy when we had an hour-long deluge towards the end of the procession. When I met up with my contact at the temple he told me that big rain happens "every year at about the same time in the procession" -- so if you plan to attend this year, be forewarned.
Thank you to elders and members of Tow Bo Temple for their warm hospitality.
I had the great privilege to collaborate with chef and restaurateur Roberto Santibanez and writer J.J.Goode as we ate our way across Mexico City for the New York Times.Roberto brings so much depth and knowledge that I almost forgot to take photos. All I can say is that he is just an incredible guy. I can't wait to eat at both Fonda restaurants next time I'm back in the States. This is the second time I've worked with JJ (we collaborated on this piece for the NYT's) and as before, a real joy. A big thanks for making my first trip to Ciudad de Mexico an incredible experience.
My parents recently visited from the US. It was great to have an opportunity to take them around to a few of the places that I now call home. At the outlying Banteay Srey Temple a lovely woman serenaded us as we toured the temple complex. I carried her simple tune around in my head for the next several days as the soundtrack to our adventures.
On a cold, rain mixed with snow day in Kahramanmaraş I watched blacksmiths and coppersmiths transform crude lumps of metal into knives, kebap skewers, door hinges and tea pots. Brothers worked side by side in shops they had inherited from their fathers. Little was said as the pieces came out one by one, all handmade, all unique to the person that had made them.
We're back from 2 weeks in Chiang Mai. I have edits to work on from that trip and local shoots here in Penang but I'm finding that my mind is drifting back to Turkey. I'm thinking cool breezes (it's in the 90's f here) while riding the ferries taking in the spectacular views of Istanbul while drinking a cup of tea (how civilized is that).
Here is a piece I did back in June, 2010 while attending the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop. It remains a work in progess but what the heck. Put on some headphones and take a 4 minute holiday.
A quick 'mini vacation' from our Gat Luang project took us to the sleepy port town of Chiang Khong. In less than 24 hours we ate 4 fantastic meals and took in sunset and sunrise along the Mekong River. Not really what you would call 'action packed' but 'action' wasn't really what we were looking for. Chiang Khong, kindly delivered.
Confession time - as a rule I generally do not shoot 'wide open', but since I was shooting for myself I thought why not force myself to do just that. I used my 35mm f1.4 lens for these. Not 100% sure if I like the results. If you've got a comment let me know.
