Here’s the work of Rose Schierl; the second participant of the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™ to send images to post on this blog.
Rose has been photographing since 2005, and only gone digital two years ago. She hasn’t gone through any formal photographic education per se, but attended various short workshops, and those set by Arizona Highways. Rose won an award at a juried show for one of her photographs in 2009. She’s also an accomplished diver, and before the photo expedition was on a diving vacation for a couple of days in the north-west of the island.
So far, it appears the fire-walkers at the end of the Kecak dance performance we attended in Ubud was a favorite subject for the group members. Rose managed to capture one of them kicking a blast of glowing embers (above).
One of the shoots I organized during the photo-expedition was at the house of a wayang kulit (shadow puppet) master, where we were treated to a private performance The wayang kulit is an extremely important vehicle of culture, serving as carrier of myth, morality play, and form of religious experience rolled into one. Here, the master is moving one of his shadow puppets during the performance.
Here’s a Balinese villager who was attending a night odalan in Bitra village. The temple anniversary was one of the most interesting we’ve been to during the 2 weeks photo-expedition. Not only did it involve the requisite day-time religious prayers and offering in an exquisite forest setting, but it included performances of Barong and Arja dances.
Rose captured a dancer during an evening Legong performance at Ubud’s palace. The performance included various dances, such as the Gabor, Baris, Kraton and the Taruna Jaya.
It’s all over the blogosphere…Canon announced the EOS 60D, a sort of “replacement” for the 50D. According to the reviews, the 60D body is plastic, and uses SD cards instead of the CF.
It’s certainly built for video. It has a pop-out, tilt-and-swivel rear screen which, even if it’s Canon’s first on an SLR, would just drive me insane. Video can be shot at different sizes and speeds. 1080p is available at 24p, 25p or 30p frame rates.
According to WIRED’s Gadget Lab, its 18MP sensor (like the LCD panel) is the same as in the 550D or Rebel T2i, its AF system comes from the 50D and the 63-zone exposure meter comes from the 7D. So it’s dubbed the “Frankencam”.
It will go on sale in September for $1,100 body-only.
Santa, I have no interest.
Matt Allard is a Team Leader- Cameras for Aljazeera International based out of Kuala Lumpur covering Asia/Pacific and the sub continent, and has produced a movie documenting the changing culture of geishas. Due to the world financial crisis, even well-entrenched traditions have had to adapt in Japan, as elsewhere, and geishas in Kyoto have had to follow suit.
Matt used a Canon 7D, 5Dmk2 and 7 lenses to shoot this assignment. The lenses used were a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS II, 50mm f1.2, 135mm f2, 24-70mm f2.8, 100mm Macro f2.8, 16-35mm f2.8 and a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8. All interviews were shot on the 70-200mm. All the audio was recorded on a Zoom H4N using either Seinnheiser radio or shotgun mics. It was edited using FCP and ran on Aljazeera English on the 19th August 2010 around the world.
Also from Matt Allard is this movie depicting the same modern day girl transforming into a Geisha in Kyoto, Japan. It was made using a Canon 7D and a 5D Mark 2 using a Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro and a Canon 16-35mm f2.8. The ambient light and the angles used by Matt are just perfect…the colors are beautiful.
We were fortunate to encounter a number of cockfights during the Bali: Island of Odalan Photo~Expedition ™.
I say fortunate because, while cockfights are gruesome and certainly bloody, they offer glimpses into a tradition practiced on the island (and elsewhere in the world) for ages. All animal rights activists and many other lay people consider it a horrible blood sport which ought to be banned. In Bali, cockfights are known as tajen, but have been forbidden since 1981 since it’s considered gambling. Notwithstanding, it continues to be practiced as a ritual to expel evil spirits, and feverish gambling by bebebotoh (always men) is the norm when it occurs.
The area where the cockfight occurred was full of men, who were engaged in gesticulating and yelling their bets according to the color of the roosters. In the middle of the circle formed by the crowd, the bebebotoh were stroking their prized roosters, preparing them for the fights. Others were tying razor-sharp spurs to the birds’ legs, while others were busy carving up carcasses of those that had been vanquished.
There seemed to be a sort of hierarchy. A older man, dressed in better quality clothes than the rest of the throng, was sitting very calmly in the midst of the frenetic betting activity, taking it all in. He clearly was a main player of some sort here. I couldn’t tell whether he participated, or whether he was the “banker”. He may have been a wealthy gambler who joined these cockfights to satisfy his passion.
My movements were restricted, as the men were in no mood to allow anyone to obstruct their view of the cockfights. However, I managed to photograph at will, and recorded some raw ambient sound, which includes the crowds yells and bids.
The roosters’ demise is quick…the “combat” is short lived and takes about a minute or two for one of the roosters to fall. Thereupon, it’s carried away and eviscerated to be consumed later.
As a side note: I often witness similar rituals; some secular and others religious, and I always try not to pass judgment on the practice. While I personally consider cockfighting to be cruel (as I do of bullfighting), I also respect the right of the Balinese (and others) to practice it, especially when it has a religious significance. Unfortunately in this case, it was all unapologetic gambling.
Having said that, I found the atmosphere electric and compelling, and I am at work on an audio-slideshow of the two cockfights I’ve witnessed in Bali this time. It will include the one I’ve described above, and another which was part of a melasti on a beach.
“Photography is part history, part magic.”
-Seamus Murphy
Here’s a multimedia piece published by VII The Magazine with stills and audio by Seamus Murphy titled Phoenix Afghanistan.
Seamus began photographing in Afghanistan in 1994, and for two decades, he has worked extensively in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and most recently America on an ongoing project during what he calls “a nervous and auspicious time.” His accolades include six World Press Photo Awards.
Phoenix Afghanistan compares photographs of life in Kabul from 1994 to photographs in 2010. You’ll notice that the 1994 photographs are in black & white, whilst those of 2010 are in color, thereby enhancing the contrast between the two eras.
I wish I hadn’t found found the narrative by Seamus to be so stilted…he was probably reading off a sheet of paper rather than having a conversation or reminiscing aloud. Same like good photography, compelling narration is a difficult skill to learn, and requires training.
When someone made a bet for 20,000 pounds on David Beckham scoring the first goal in a game for Manchester United a few years back, it caused a mild outrage amongst hardcore football fans. The real question is whether fans are still fans or is it just becoming a game of “chance” where the main motivation for watching a game is money and how much you will win or lose.
Its not that long ago when sport stars had day jobs and playing in Saturdays ballgame was merely a sideline. These were the days when players played for the love of the game and money had no real impact on it. In many ways, sports betting changed the face of sport. Not only did it injects a huge amount of money into sport, it change the playing field altogether.
In virtually every game these days there is a lot more riding on it than just pride. professional punters have a lot at steak on every single game and the days of a game being just a game is over. With sports betting growing steadily every year you got to ask the question whether this is changing sport for good?
It does not take a conspiracy theory to argue that when there is that much money at steak, bribes and match fixing is more than just a probability. Although the lid was blown wide open on cricket with ex-South African captain Hansie Cronje found guilty of throwing matches many argue that it was just the tip of the iceberg. While many Ausssie players were implicated, governing bodies acted swiftly to cover it up and “save face” because they knew that any suspicion of match fixing can ruin any sport.
We all know that money talks. Athletes have short careers and the lure of loading up before an immanent retirement will always be there. Regardless of whether matches are getting fixed or will get fixed in the future, betting is changing the way sport is played, the way its perceived and ultimately the way money flows through it.
Why I chose a title like the above? this is because many people are afraid of math problems. you know why? I think you are probably the same as they remember that they previously had difficulty with math problems. Or they think that they can not understand math because math is always difficult, “I can not do this” Or they do not know how to expose this problem to find out what the real question. If I did not solve the problem in the second minute they think that they will never get it. Or they do not know where to start to finding a Math answers.
It is true that mathematics involves some very complex equations and numbers as above. The best way to solve complex problems is to break it into pieces smaller which is a part of Math problem solver. Most mathematical concepts are made of “small part” or skills you may have learned in the past that form the building blocks of your mathematical foundation. Once you can break down a specific problem, you’ll probably find us weak in some basic concepts or key step that determines the issue. One of the best ways for us to reinforce these concepts is to review and practice concepts to get a lower value than their current grade. Mathematics is not interesting!
The biggest problem for parents who have children who are in school found that most of our kids get a lesson that mathematics is boring when compared with other subjects. Schools have a further highlight the problem by providing an attractive landscape that helped trigger the child’s interest and curiosity of arts and language subjects but not for mathematics. But the math can be made very attractive when dealing with real life problems and applications are not limited in our everyday lives. Many times, the math is a challenge that can be incredibly satisfying to conquer. Take too much, sometimes I want to have plenty of time to spend with my kids I teach math, but I do not have the time, so I sometimes use the services of a tutor to train my child
Besides math, I discovered that my son did not like algebra for example College algebra .. you may also experience the same thing with me, that is getting your child to ask “Why learn Algebra 1 ?” If you are a parent, it’s a question that you will no doubt hear as your children learn the subject. If you are a student, this is a very natural question to ask, “What good is learning algebra in the first place?”
But do not be confused, we parents have a responsibility to explain to our children, although the algebra is difficult, these lessons are very close to our everyday lives. try to express to your children that, all leads to algebraic mathematics that we learn to grow, such as addition, multiplication, decimals, Linear equations, and the like, seems to have a concrete meaning. These concepts are all related to the number in some other way and therefore we can more easily wrap our brain around the concept. After all, I can take six pencils and gave two to friends and using the math I can figure out how much my left holding a pencil in my hand. We all can imagine situations where the basic math serves us well – count your change at the grocery store for example.
In short, basic mathematics deals with numbers. Because we are all taught how to count at a young age the basic mathematical concepts, although challenging at first, appear to have practical value – even for children.
Enter algebra. Suddenly, we were asked to deal not only with numbers but with our comfort letters. And do not stop with this. Your children begin to see the brackets and exponents, and the whole potpourri of other symbols that seem unreasonable at all. The fact more than any other single fact many people to learn algebra. At the beginning of your child are required to learn certain rules about how to calculate things in algebra. You must study the legal steps that must be done before anyone else, and if you do it in reverse order you get the wrong answer!
This causes your child’s frustration. With frustration, despair follows in a short time. And so the mind began: “Why should I learn this?” “When did I ever use algebra in real life?”
What type can you solve problems using only the skills you learned in Algebra or something like Algebra solver ? I invite you to take a trip to go back to your childhood. We’ve all been to the playground and had a great time to see-saw, merry-go-round, and slides. At one time we all really impressed with a trip to the playground, but the algebra can help you understand them. Physics of all the toys to play can be understood fully only use algebra. No calculus required or Square root calculator. For example, if you know someone is heavy at the top of the slide and you know the height of the slide that you can roughly calculate how fast you’re going when you get out from under the slide.
At a look, let’s say someone sitting at one end and you know that a person lose weight. You want to sit on the other side look, but not at the end – you want to sit opposite your partner in the middle between the seats and the pivot point. Using algebra, you can calculate exactly how much weight you have to balance the see-saw.
So my conclusion is, indeed algebra and mathematics is a subject that is very difficult for our children, but really these two subjects are very important and very close to the affairs of our daily lives. Then we as parents need to instill the idea that math and algebra is friend, math and algebra is easy. and should never be afraid to master it.
Last week, I was travelling between Chennai (madras) and Bangalore, fighting a sudden bout of viral which grounded me and my husband for a while and that is when the mail came by, adding a cheer. Backpacker , the blog has been selected by Singapore Tourism to feature the country against the backdrop of the Youth Olympic Games. I was asked if I would like to go to Singapore and that a fellow sports journalist from India would also be there , along with other members from international media. This was definitely a great surprise and a wonderful opportunity and I really jumped at it. Ive been to Singapore many times before and have been sponsored by the STB about ten years ago, when I was working for CNBC . They had launched their campaign then and I had directed and scripted a few episodes of the travel show Way to Go on Singapore. That was of course a decade ago and it was my second trip to Singapore. Ive gone a couple of times again after that , my last trip being a couple of years ago with my parents. I wonder what is it that draws me to to this country This trip if of course very special, as Ive earned it , thanks to the blog.I leave tomorrow and will be back with more travel stories. Until then..
It was an orchestra by nature. The crickets and the cicadas would start and reach a cresendo , when the drizzle turned into a downpour . The birds would then become silent and when the rains slowly became a drizzle, they would start chirping and singing, only to be overpowered by the chorus of the crickets and the cicadas again. The frogs would join in , as the pitter patter continued and listening to this orchestra, I lost a sense of time.I did manage to take a few more pictures of the birds, but there were many that missed the lens
A leaf bird was enjoying the powder puff
A teal was busy calling while a bronze winged jacana was looking for his chicks
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In a lake close by called Bishtama Kere, I found a father bronze winged jacana with his little chicks. The chicks walked away without heeding the parent’s advice and for more than 20 minutes, the father was calling out to his chicks. We couldnt see the chicks for a while, so I wasnt sure if the jacana could either. After a while, the chicks landed and we were privy to the conversation between them as they nodded and bobbed their heads in a very rhythmic fashion while probably arguing between them. Later one of the chicks got under his father’s belly and shoved his beak up there, asking him to pick it up.
A family of night herons were probably breeding here as well..
A common kingfisher looks on
An ashy prinia sits still
My trip to Leh _Ladakh last year was made memorable, not just because of the landscapes, but due to some wonderful people I met during my stay there. Ive left behind so many friends there and my heart goes out to the many tourists and residents of Leh who have battled nature’s fury . I dedicate my entire trip to the people of leh , who are always ever so smiling and courteous
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