LO MA STORY

Lo Ma is a thirteen years old girl living near Buriram, in the backward region of Isaan, Northeast Thailand. She has a simple family and goes to school: a normal life. But she has a passion that makes her special: she loves Muay Thai boxing, and she's very good at it.
When I started working on this story dedicated to women in Muay Thai I thought of a more professional approach. Covering clubs and major competitions, visiting large venues and even stadiums. But the family-size experience of Lo Ma is too compelling. The gym, just a hut between the house and the rice field. The father training her every afternoon. The mother, former boxer herself, overlooking alongside grandmother and sisters. The little niche decorated with boxer's posters where she sleeps. It's one of these simple life stories that nobody is telling anymore, but that should be told for it's simplicity in this time of forced complications.
I followed her, the whole family, to a match during the festival in a Buddhist temple. She prepared herself like the other boys in the open ground. Her father spread oil on her body, put on her gloves, and then she was ready to walk to the ring, to the sixth match of the night. The public was as passionate as was with her male counterparts before, and her opponent bigger, and more angry.
She won. But I had to ask if she had indeed. There were no jumps, jubilation, screams. What is fascinating in Lo Ma is the way she lives all of this: the shy simplicity of a thirteen years old girl that punch and kick like she was playing with a doll.
I'll keep looking...

WHO IS THE SNAKE? WHO IS THE VICTIM?

The King Cobra village, in northern Thailand, has developed a local business out of a problematic co-existence with a large community of Cobra snakes, up to 3 meters long poisonous unfriendly wanderers. The Cobra Fight is a show where villagers, old and young, confront a snake in a proof of courage. In fact the villagers keep the poor Cobras even at home, in wooden boxes, feed them with smaller snakes and pat them on the head like friendly pets. Therefore the fight is really a family matter. Where one member of the family is indeed a real snake!
But looking at the show my preference for other animals over humans comes back, even with such improbable counterpart. Looking at the face of the "human fighter" just about to swallow the head of the King Cobra, I can't avoid wondering who the most dangerous is. The proud villain used to wander the countryside chasing rats, and now is a prisoner, a gladiator called to fight in a ridiculous arena. As I said for the Corrida, that i still like (I would prefer to be a Corrida Bull then a cow slaughtered for steaks!), let it be, but allow me to be a fan for the Cobra! (This guy was bitten 47 times: we are not even, but...)

BANG RAK HOTEL

I'm making friends in Bang Rak, the Bangkok quarter where I live. I love the area for it's mix of modernity (above the first floor) and popular street life (at ground level). You can find everything here, and I mean everything.. From computer parts, even Apple, to Som Tam salad.. from the Chinese Christian school below my window to the massage shop with improbable "therapists".. from a fake Rolex to an original Timberland shirt.. The Sky Train rolls in front of my residence leading to the uptown glitters; the Chao Phraya river flows nearby, and the public boats carry you to the historical temples and palaces, or to the anonymous condominiums downstream..
It's hot, it's humid, it's polluted.. but I smoke my cigar under the Saphan Taksin bridge and feel very reassured by the waves of life going around me. With my job I have come to know several people at every social level, and here social level has quite a big relevance.. It's not India with it's Casts, but it's not that much different. Being a "Farang", a Western foreigner, I'm off the social scale comparison, thanks God!
Of all the acquaintances made, those that I find more reliable are the homeless residing on the sidewalks. The elder lady above sleeps on the same step every night from October: I wonder what will be of her 10pm bedtime punctuality when the monsoon comes. The guys below at least have a decent protection from the overpassing highway, and certainly don't worry about security having the police booth right at their feet. The darker side of the "city of nightlife" is not really dark after all: everybody can see it, and make his own opinion, and do something if they wish..
Wake up guys, this is the Asia of contradictions.. But talk silently please: the old lady needs a good sleep til sunrise comes..

..AND ABOUT THE TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER PRESENT (AND FUTURE)

As a follow-up to the recent post concerning the Travel Journalist destiny, let me talk of a matter much closer to my -and probably most of the readers- personal life and profession: what is the sense of being a Travel Photographer nowadays. First of all let me clarify that I define "Travel Photographer" only the one focused on presenting places and cultural venues, not those dedicated to the larger news arena, a field of photography formerly known as Reportage and today going under the less fashionable definition of Documentary. Somebody likes also the name Photojournalist.
I can't be too short in making my point or I'll be misunderstood. The travel editorial market was really born in the 80's: travelers were still a small number and magazines were showing dream destinations. The photographers had an easy life: show how nice or interesting a place is at the best of your skills. And not much skills were requested! Plus money was flowing: in a rich environment, airlines and tour operators would finance any project to attract tourists. So good to remember the old days!
In the 90's the market was mature. Many travel publications were produced everywhere. But the mass tourism was a reality by now, therefore the target was adjusted: mass oriented presentations or sophisticated suggestions on specific destinations, or interpretations on the way to visit famous places. Go to Paris, but stay in a boutique hotel, and look at Montmartre in this "artistic" way. Personally I can say it was the best of times, professionally: I was allowed the peak of experimenting in photography. With the first digital manipulation of scanned images I published stories of the Fiesta in Pamplona in a red dominance; the Oktoberfest pictures had the tone of beer; Salvador and Manaus were only partly turned to B&W.. And, above all, it was free interpretation of the places: out of focus, panning, night lights were all right!
Then came the dreadful new century, Internet developed, printed paper started being obsolete.. Confusion reigned. Why would any young guy, under-educated on laptop and cellphones, buy a magazine? And these started struggling for impossible ideas, in fact for a reason to exist, to stay alive.. An impossible task, that have lasted ten years nonetheless..
Here we are, asking ourselves what has become of our profession, or our photographic language.. With this history in mind is not difficult to understand how desperate the task is this time! Telling how a place is in the time of mass travel and communication in a globalized world is ridiculous.. Interpretations are considered eccentric, and they have no space for publication anyway.. Travel suggestions are ok, but organizing trips through the web is so easy and cheaper.. What should we photograph? And how? but, above all, why? For Whom?
My answer is a cross-border migration. For years now what I shoot, and the way I shoot it, can be defined in between "Travel" and "Documentary" photography (even if, for professional clarity, I keep two separated sections on my web site). If showing how a place is has lost interest, telling stories that happens there, especially in a global environment, has not! I'm not saying that there is a large, concerned public for it, but we must make for what we have: the small part of humanity still capable of using the brain in a personal way.
In other words the Travel Photographer should become a Photojournalist dedicated to show not how the world is but rather what is going on in it. Culture is changing fast, many will say it's disappearing in a globalized market: but this reality needs to be told, denounced through specific stories. Identify these significant stories and tell them in an effective way is today's task. Again, not an easy task when the editorial counterparts don't offer you any feedback, as it's happening nowadays.
Finally, about photographic style. Experimenting in color, light and composition to make a story more effective is a must. We live in a time when technology is revolutionizing everything: it would be suicidal for photography -both as language and philosophy- to avoid it's self-evolution. And really upsets me when I hear comments on what is or is not "real photography" based on the chemical history of the media: like saying that music on CD is not good because it's not on vinyl... But the photographer should never forget that the content (it's subject and the situation he's capturing) is it's primary target. Searching the "photographic effect" for itself may be right in fine-art, it's definitely not in photojournalism (see also my older post on it). I see too many images that are nice, sometimes strong, but then I end wondering what they want to say besides the aesthetic beauty.
And the final question remain. If photography is, as it is, communication, we cannot going on without a public to communicate to, and the media to do it adequately. Is this public still there? And will it be there in the future under-educated-globalized society? I'm afraid of the answer.. I prefer to avoid it...

DO I REALLY NEED A LEICA TO THINK DIFFERENT?

I've been shooting only with the latest Nikon cameras for the past five years: D3X and now a D3S that has just replaced my gloriously performing D3. And mostly with zoom lenses. The 24-70 is what stays on my bodies most of the time. In my "small" bag are also a 14-24, a 70-200, a 28 f1,4, and a 85 f1,4. That's it. Nothing compared to the years of 3 bodies-12 lenses in a back-breaking Temba bag. And I have no nostalgia for film: D3X is producing images that are better then Velvia while D3S is shooting in a darkness where even 3200ASA would make it impossible to see. Plus, and is not little problem for the travel photographer, I go through airports with no fear of X-ray machines and load problems.
Yet I keep having nostalgia of my Leicas sitting at home for years. Bodies and lenses that were with me in the most memorable trips, in the most difficult situations. Film bodies (M6 and M7), not digital. Too complicated to use them in such mixed works as a several month "trip" requires.
But what is that make the "Leica difference"? No, not quality: Nikon fixed lenses have nothing to envy to the German counterparts. It's the way of approaching photography that is completely different: the need to think twice to overcome the optical "rigidity"; the need to interact with your subject rather then the technical ability to "steal" an image; the lightness of a small body that makes you look inconspicuous..
So, last week in Phnom Penh I decided to give Nikon a Leica try.. I put my (very old) 28 on the D3S and decided that that would be the only lens for the whole reportage. It was a good experience: the need to think twice is a good exercise for the eye.. And I think I'll repeat it..
You can see the Phnom Penh story on my website, and make an opinion for yourself.. Keeping in mind that what really matters is your eye and vision, your idea, last and least your camera!

MASSES: DID I CONTRIBUTE TO THE DESTRUCTION? AND A REQUIEM

Angkor 17 years after is "same same but different".. Same grandeur and beauty.. Same angles of peace, of deep shadows, of hidden atmospheres.. But different in the crowds that now climb on it's stones, take snapshots in front of the carvings, scream in the corners of the temples.. Tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world (but mostly Chinese) have transformed the place in yet another mass-tourism destination, to be visited with no real interest in mind: just another souvenir photo to show friends back home, of this place "in Asia", no more to add..
I've been complaining of this over and over again. Useless to criticize this business that moves crowds with no real interest or knowledge in the most beautiful places in the world, de facto destroying any atmosphere and pleasure to visit them. Who am I to denounce, coming from Florence, one of the first and most notorious victims of this?
To those that affirm the right of everybody to visit nice places I answer that only people moved by real knowledge and interest should be allowed to go. To go just because a place is in a organized itinerary is just human pollution, depriving really interested people from fully enjoying something they may have been wishing to visit for years.
But my real point is more personal: did I contribute with my work to this pollution? Was my travel photo-journalism encouraging this dramatic evolution (like some friend suggested)?
No, not really, thanks God!!! What I've been publishing for years were ideas and particular destinations.. The magazines I worked for were in fact suggesting how to avoid the clichés and look to different places, or how to look at the same places in a different light. An elite mission that has sinked with the decadence of culture altogether.
It's news of last week that the Italian travel magazine VS has folded. VS was in fact what was left of the original Weekend magazine, the most prestigious travel publication in the 80's and 90's. On it's pages I published the most experimental works: digital manipulations as early as 1996. Video recorded images in 1998. A way of seeing that not even CN Traveler US had started yet.. And many friends contributed to that effort..
Paolo, the last editor, told me last week that "he'll spit to those that will talk of quality again".. and he's probably right, since quality did not save the magazine, the jobs, the message.. Still I think it was worth doing it: for the few and fewer people that appreciated it, for the sake of personal accomplishment, for ourself... Thanks guys, it was great! Let's start something as good as that! Just for the sake of it!!!

3 NEW STORIES ON THE WEBSITE

3 new stories are now on-line in the website. Modern dance in Phnom Penh and Koh Kong, the Thai Hong Kong of the future, on the documetary side. And Malacca & Penang in the travel section. These are works from November 2009.
Also, the 2010 Calendar download will still be available for some time.

IS TRAVEL-JOURNALISM GOING TO SURVIVE?

This crisis has put the most of us travel professionals in a state of complete confusion, if not real depression. Let me make my point.
The job of travel-journalist (I'll talk of the travel photographer in a future post) was in dire waters well before the economy crashed: uncertainty on subjects and contents, the reality of the Internet real time information, the few space for publications left, the miserable compensations, had everybody complaining. But the financial crash came like a storm, pulling down the dead branches to which many of us were still hanging, barely... Travel magazines are now folding in scores, and news publications are equally reducing the space dedicated to travel.
If you look at this from a detached point of view, it's a good thing. What we were doing was of scarce interest to the multitude, good only to fill pages between and advert and the other. If we pride what we do we could only be frustrated by this reality.
But here we are, with a lot of ruins under our feet, and with the difficult task to rebuild a profession that must be new, different, interesting to the public. Easily say then done. Especially for the large number of under-talented professionals that were parasites to the system and produced more sponsored works then real information.

The way I see it (as I said in previous posts, and I know that to many I'll say something very obvious) is that being a pure travel-journalist (telling and showing how a place is) is real nonsense today. Same nonsense is jumping disorderly from a travel story to a documentary one, and back. The task is to identify reasons to travel, reasons that are in fact "stories", and tell them in a modern way with the advantage (not the conservative rejection) of the new technologies. This, in fact, is much harder then what it may appear: the hidden obvious is transparent to experienced eyes, and to imagine what the larger public may be attracted to, is everybody guess. And note that I say the "larger public": to produce something for an passionate few is easy, but "evolutionary" useless. We need to target a large scale audience!
Because the real problem, my friends, are the media! Talented journalists may develop interesting ideas and present them in a modern, even interactive way, but they are left in a confusing vacuum if there is no a counterpart to discuss and then publish them making sure that they reach this large audience. And publishers will be the real obstacle to the revival of our profession if they don't show the guts and the will to invest in talent and ideas like the big names did in the past. It's money at the base of everything, of course we know, but is only investing in quality and ideas that projects become economically remunerative.

So, on the optimist side, wishing and hoping for a market that will recover, publishers that will invest and (the toughest part) a public that will be interested, we should start on our paths of evolution, or revolution, and be ready for the coming "new". Because is us that must create this "new"!

IN PRAISE OF IDLENESS

Bertrand Russell is the philosopher I love the most, probably the thinker that most influenced my whole way of life. The title of this post is also the title of one of his best essay. It came to me while I was thinking on how to describe Vientiane state of mind. Maybe it suffice to express the whole of nothingness..
Laos is renown for this quietness that dominates life in all of it's aspects, so a capital city that incarnates this dimension is no surprise. But contradictions abound all around.
This is a Socialist country with a deep Buddhist soul. Language and culture are close to the Thai one, but the dynamism of evolution is left stranded right across the Mekong. French culture is still evident in every aspect, with baguettes, official international language, cafè on the corners, but is China that is really overtaking Vietnam as the new political wing on the country. And people are mild and gentle, yes, but capable of not forgiving the Hmong minorities 50 years after the war against America is finished. In fact still persecuting them now that are repatriated by the Thais.
But the overwhelming impression is this silent tranquillity in which life seems to happen somewhere else, hardly touching you. So strange in the heart of South East Asia, the place where everything seems to be evolving fast, everybody being on the run. Is not like the reflexive state of meditation foreseen by Russell: is more a condition of disillusioned acceptance of a condition in which your say has no relevance. More renounce then peace.
How will Laos enter our photo-journalistic project on the Mekong basin? Hard to say.. What they'll do about this fundamental component of their culture and economy will be decided by somebody else somewhere else.. So disarming..

MUST BE A VOCATION...

Last night I headed to Siam, the heart of the "glamorous" Bangkok, to participate the New Year celebration. Bottle and glasses on hand and all the classic paraphernalia ready. Thai dinner at the Paragon, walk down Sukhumvit road (only for pedestrians last night!) and almost at the epicentre of Central World.. Then the sound of a Buddhist prayer came out of Wat Pathum Wanaram Ratchaworawam, the temple surrounded today by gigantic shopping mall. What can I say, must be what remains of years shooting religious subjects, or an hidden vocation for the spiritual side, but I walked in to find a rare ceremony to celebrate not only the new year but rather the coincidence of the (bright, over standing) full moon.. The atmosphere was fantastic, the other side of some (rather subdued) pagan celebrations out on the road..
Well I made it back on Sukhumvit one minute before midnight, right on time to open the bottle and find myself wet with champagne and holy water from the monk's benediction.. And definitely happy for such a beginning!

2010: BACK&FORWARD... FAST FORWARD

2010 is almost here... welcome! 2010 will reveal us some important news.. News about what our job will really need to become to survive. And what our life will become if we really want to follow up the news. Some guys are already opting for the way back: film, black and white, and a different job to make enough money to live. Others are decidedly going forward: photo, video, audio, mixed together and web-ready. Some keep covering news, in a good way sometimes, and wish for the world to show some interest. Many seat and wait. They wait to see where we are really heading, planning to join on the way. As usual they will not make it.
Me? Well, "me" is planning to keep doing what "me" likes, finds interesting, and hopes others will find interesting too. Mostly "me" will try to put a lot of evolution in his photographic style, in his way to show a situation and his way to tell a story.
2010 will be a difficult year. But is in difficult times that the best comes out, or disappear forever. Happy 2010!

VENTURA X-MAS

Many (but really many, many) years ago, feels like another life, while shooting the book on LA for Bonechi publisher, I was driving with my friend Graziano my convertible on the Ventura Highway going to Santa Barbara to visit my friends at Islands magazine. Then the radio played Ventura Highway by the America, and, gosh, the feeling for two former DJ was amazing.. like being in the real thing come true from just a song..
Yesterday I had almost the same feeling hearing the children of the Christian school just outside my window in Bangkok singing Christmas songs. Well, honestly my first reaction was "I can't escape X-mas even in Buddhist Thailand!" But then, well, I had to realize that the world is coming to this. This amazing mix of cultures and traditions that will make everybody better (??!!??)...
It's useless to escape life.. Better try to understand and embrace it with all what it takes.. After all, before Christians transformed it, this was the pagan celebration of the winter solstice, the beginning of nature rebirth after the fall.. Let's look at it this way.. I don't know how real this rebirth will be in our world, but better be part of it then consider it an alien celebration..
So, "Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence"...

ETHIC & AESTHETIC

I was at a documentary photography show here in Bangkok recently. Some well known photographers (I'll skip the names) are exposing some strong images of news events around the region. At first I was impressed, but then the familiar sensation of uneasiness came to me.
The photos were perfect, just too perfect. Perfect balance in light, composition, combination. Nothing against it, of course: I am a strong supporter of well composed images. But I find questionable the intentions behind them. After many years of profession, living in the photography environment, doing and seeing workshops, I know that the photo itself is the real scope of many authors. The suffering of the subjects is just an excuse, a drama addition to a purely aesthetic project.
I think a great misunderstanding has developed in the photographer's scope. The famous photos of Life magazine, the perfectly composed Ethiopia and Workers images of Sebastiao Salgado, have been seen as something different from their journalistic message. Photography has become self-referential. This is a major problem that, I think, will lead to the end of photojournalism as a real profession leaving only artists on the way.
One should be honest in declaring his own intentions. Too much talking about style and technique and no mention of the situations photographed is a clear sign of this trend. Years ago, Alexandra Boulat, while we were teaching at TPW, talked to me after my slide show. She had the same feeling I had and criticized the easiness with which a tragic moment can add strength to an image. Her photos were journalistic, she died searching stories, not aesthetic options.
Young photographers should keep this in mind. Using the suffering of people as a mere addendum to their composition is not only ethically unfair, is also the betrayal of a honest documentary photographer.

CALENDAR 2010.. BUT FOR YOUR DESKTOP ONLY!

Sorry guys, no printed calendar for 2010! We have to save money to keep the studio going! But I asked Walter (Manolesta) to design one for your desktop anyway.. Not same same, as they say here, but better then nothing!
You can download the images from my website at THIS LINK in different formats, depending on your screen. Only the largest are full frame, otherwise they are cropped.
If you encounter any problem let me know. Thanks! And let's wish ourself a better 2010. As Garfield says "good times are in the past, good times are ahead, one thing is sure, they are not here right now!"

A HOUSE ON THE LAKE

Just back in Bangkok after two weeks in Burma. I find the modern city a bit deceiving. Over the border the air is less tense then usual, and bits of openings are clear. You can have a telephone card, although very limited; you can browse most of the Internet except sensible sites; you can use your GMail account (all the others are blocked, probably because checking a single one is easier). People are also much more relaxed and hopeful: next year elections are seen as a great opportunity, even if other occasions have failed in the past. But to a more attentive look you can't miss the obvious: the menacing grim on the soldier faces; the privileges that the few in the establishment have, preserve and show-off; the sense of fear that emerges when one's feel has gone "too far".
Once again I understand that the international community may push the military rulers to release some of the control, convince China that it's control would be not compromised by a bit of freedom, but in the end only the people could change things. That people have the government they deserves is a fact. Burmese are really lacking the urge to react, the will to change for good. It's true that the country separation in major ethnic groups plays in the hands of the dictators, but every group seems to be minding it's own interests only. And the Burmese, the ruling group, are not willing to give up their control, with or without the military in power.
What will happen in this wonderful land is not easy to guess, although probably change will be slow, to avoid an inter-ethnic bloodshed. And when change will come everybody is ready to jump in. The cultural and artistic treasures, really unique, will be surrounded by fast development like in the rest of Asia, and most of the soul will vaporize. "Freedom" will be costly, right but costly.
Enlightened Burmese know this danger, and demand evolution rather the revolution. But the outside pressure will be too big to hold. China is already building a major containers port on the Indian Ocean and the road to carry it's merchandise there. Thailand is pumping most of the country gas. India is using it's oil. While in here electricity is scarce, gasoline expensive, vehicles 20 years old.
There is this house on the lake in Yangon. Aung San Suu Kyi lives here, less guarded then the houses of her jailers. She represents the contradictions of this nation, but also the right to determine freely everybody's own destiny. As far as the world will let Burmese awake and grow.