Details soon to be announced via my newsletter!

Unique...Unusual...Hard Core...Limited to 8 experienced photographers only.

I like bare concrete walls.

Let me explain why.

Many photo tour leaders are known for setting up photographs for their groups, and it's not unusual for photographers who repeat the same photo trips with the same itinerary to end up shooting the same 'models'...albeit looking a year or two older. I've heard anecdotes of how the 'models' know exactly how to pose, which side of their face is more flattering, and know where the dotted line on model releases are.

Due to the nature of my own photo expeditions-workshops which are "event-specific" and are structured around religious or cultural rituals (the more obscure and unique the better), and because my workshops are based on the concept of "photojournalism meets travel photography", I seldom need to set up pre-arranged photo shoots as such. For one thing, the religious/cultural events that I gravitate towards during these photo expeditions-workshops are too intense, too authentic and too crowded...and consequently make set-ups unnecessary, and possibly even disrespectful.

Moreover,  the type of photographers who sign up for my photo expeditions-workshops are generally well-seasoned, experienced and are self-starters...who, not only are perfectly capable of 'de-clustering' themselves from each other, but do what good photographers do best...look for their own photo opportunities within the framework of the religious and/or cultural events.

That said, there are occasions during my photo expeditions-workshops when characters are so photogenic that they figuratively jump at me, and I just have to set-up a sort of "fashion" shoot, gather the group as quickly as I can, and start the fun. However, and as much as the characters' photogenic attributes are important, the backgrounds are also as critical.

What to do if a uniquely photogenic character presents himself/herself but no appropriate background is found? I suppose carrying some form of portable background (white, black or burlap colored cloth) would solve this problem, but what if this wasn't readily available as it was during a photo shoot at a Kathakali academy on my recent The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop?

We were photographing the pre-performance make-up session, and I was disappointed at the walls of the make-up area were painted a drab and blotchy kind of salmon pink, which didn't lend itself to an attractive background. However, a corner of the school was being newly built with walls of bare concrete. Bare concrete means gray and everybody knows that it helps in producing a consistent image exposure... so perfect!!!

The probability that we would all end up with the same image was my primary concern, but the light of day was perfect, the costume was perfect, the dancer was image-savvy and the performance was about to start. So we were shooting paparazzi-style for a few minutes...and despite the appearance of what photojournalists (and the military) describe as a "clusterfuck", we were all happy with the opportunity.

I asked the participants of The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop to send me their favorite(s) photograph from that shoot without telling them why...imagining that their photographs would be identical. They're not. Because of their experience, their difference in shooting styles and because of the dancer's adopting various poses, the results of that particular "clusterfuck" were satisfactory.

So much so that I've used my own image of the shoot for the background of my website.

That's why I like bare concrete walls...and so should you.

Photo © Charlotte Rush-Bailey-All Rights Reserved

A third-time participant in my photo-expeditions/workshops, Charlotte Rush-Bailey was just short listed on the prestigious Worldwide Photography Gala Awards (WPGA) Portrait Awards for her monochrome portrait of Fatima. Naturally, I wish her the best of luck to win it!

This lovely portrait was made at the Kodungallur medrasa near the Cheraman Juma Masjid, during The Oracles Of Kerala Photo-Expedition-Workshop. I am especially pleased that this environmental portrait is in landscape format...as I consistently encourage participants in my workshops to adopt it as much as possible as it lends itself better to multimedia, and allows a more layered composition. I'm also gratified that participants in my photo expedition-workshops, not only learn new skills on them, but enter serious photographic competitions, and frequently win.

Charlotte is a photographer who migrated to the world of photography from a corporate career that covered three decades of marketing and communications positions in a variety of global industries including energy, financial services, media, conservation, technology and professional services.

The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards (WPGA) provides a juried competitions for professionals and amateur photographers from around the world to compete in the WPGA Annual Award for the WPGA Photographer of the Year Award and the Humanitarian Documentary Grant

Anthony Pond is hardly a stranger to The Travel Photographer blog, as Kathakali, The Story Dance of Kerala is the newest one of his many audio slideshows I've already featured.

In this latest one, Tony has very ably merged stills, ambient audio with video clips to produce a 3 minute multimedia look into the backstage preparations for a Kathakali performance, and then the performance itself.

Tony was a participant in The Oracles Of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop during which I had arranged a private photo shoot involving the performers of this ancient art form. The 3 hours make-up session, and the 2-1/2 hours performance took place at the Kalatharangini Kathakali School near Cheruthuruthy. The performers' intensity was incredible, and I recall mentioning that earlier on this blog that it had been the best Kathakali performance I'd ever witnessed...Tony's stills and video have very well captured that intensity.

Anthony Pond worked for more than two decades in the criminal courts in California as an attorney for the Public Defender’s Office. Now pursuing his passion for travel and photography, he travels repeatedly to South East Asia and India, amongst other places, to capture life, the people and the culture.

Apart from being an attorney in Northern California, Kris Bailey is a photographer who's keenly interested in South and South East Asia, and is particularly attracted to unusual rituals and religious festivals. She joined my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™, which was her second expedition-workshop with me; the first being Kolkata's Durga Puja.

On her blog and Vimeo page, Kris describes herself as "Inspired by the stories of a young adventurer with a french accent and a cheap wooden guitar, Kris ran home from school one day and announced that she was going to live in Europe. Eight months later, wearing a cowboy hat and white bell-bottom jeans, Kris boarded a DC-10 bound for Brussels. She was 15 years old."

No longer with a hat and white jeans, she has just produced her audio-slideshow Red Rivulets, of her stills and ambient sound recordings made during the festival of the Oracles in Kodungallur. As readers of this blog probably know by now, this was one heck of an intense religious event, and Kris reveled in photographing it.

As background, the festival is called Kodungallur Bharani, and is a wild and unusual localized religious festival near Kochi. It is here that once a year the so-called Oracles of Kodungallur meet to celebrate both Kali and Shiva. By their thousands, these red-clad oracles arrive in this area of Kerala, and perform self mortification acts by banging on their heads with ceremonial swords repeatedly until blood trickle down their foreheads, then daub the wounds with turmeric.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy- All Rights Reserved

I'm already planning and setting up the first Photo Expedition-Workshop for 2013, and it promises to be as intense and exciting as The Oracles of Kerala...if not more so.

Provided the costs, logistics and a plethora of other factors work out, it'll follow the long line of photo expeditions-workshops for which I am known for organizing and leading, and which carry the hallmark of uniqueness because they merge off the beaten path destinations, ancient culture, religious rituals, extreme fervor and color.

And similar to The Oracles of Kerala, I believe no travel photographer has ever dared to lead and conduct a photo expedition/workshop where I am planning it to go.

As I usually do,  the details of the photo expedition-workshop will be first announced via my newsletter to those who are subscribers. So if you want to be included, just add your name to the subscription mailing list box on this blog. 

One of the highlights of my Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop this past March was spending half a day at a Kathakali school near Thrissur, and documenting the preparations and performance of this ancient art. It was totally distinct from the usual superficial performances shown at the various tourist hotels, and the professionalism of the performers was breathtaking. Apart from the talent of the performers, I was especially struck by the singing which you hear on this "photo-film".

Kathakali is one of the oldest theatre forms in the world, and originated in Kerala. It's a group production, in which actors-dancers take various roles in performances based on themes from Hindu mythology, such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The elaborate make up sessions often take longer than the performances themselves, and follow a certain ritual.

I chose to process the photographs in sepia (DxO Labs), which were made with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Leica M9, with the ambient audio recording on a Tascam DR40.

You can also watch it in HD on Vimeo.

Charlotte Rush-Bailey is a photographer who migrated to the world of photography from a corporate career that covered three decades of marketing and communications positions in a variety of global industries including energy, financial services, media, conservation, technology and professional services. This gave her opportunities to work with people all over the world, and to learn to appreciate cultural nuances and the influences of socio-political forces.

She has just produced her audio-slideshow Blood And Turmeric of her stills and ambient sound recordings made during the festival of the Oracles in Kodungallur whilst participating in my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™.

So hold on to your seats, you'll get sweaty palms perhaps...but I'm certain you'll be bowled over by it.

The festival is called Kodungallur Bharani, a wild and unusual localized religious festival near Kochi. It is here that once a year the so-called Oracles of Kodungallur meet to celebrate both Kali and Shiva. By their thousands, these red-clad oracles arrive in this area of Kerala, and perform self mortification acts by banging on their heads with ceremonial swords repeatedly until blood trickle down their foreheads, and daub the wounds with turmeric.

Living in New York City means that space is at premium, and while my office walls are literally covered from ceiling to waist-level with my photographs, paintings, etc., I still have a spot where a 20x24 inch frame can fit....but it has to be a vertical frame!

People who photograph with me know that I much prefer landscape/horizontal format, but a vertical space is all I can find on my crowded office walls. I like the above photographs equally so I need your involvement in choosing the one.

The top photograph is of a posed full length portrait of a Kathakali artist, while the lower one is of a trio of Oracles who I persuaded to stop their trances, and pose for us. Both were made during The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™.

I plan on having the elected photograph printed commercially on Kodak Professional Glossy paper then in a dark wooden frame...either black or dark brown depending on the photograph.

Anthony Pond has just produced another audio slideshow of black and white photographs made at the Vadakke Madham Brahmaswam Vedic Institute in Thrissur, Kerela, India where young novices spend five years learning Vedic chants.

It was made during my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™ when I arranged a photo shoot at this ancient Vedic gurukul (a training and boarding school very similar to Buddhist monasteries for its novitiates, or Muslim madrasas) in Thrissur, where we were allowed to attend demonstrations of this way of teaching and reciting sacred Vedic scriptures.

One of the suggestions I make during my workshops was that essays produced by its participants ought to have intriguing titles. I certainly think Anthony did well with his one.

Anthony worked for more than two decades in the criminal courts in California as an attorney for the Public Defender’s Office. Now pursuing his passion for travel and photography, he travels repeatedly to South East Asia and India, amongst other places, to capture life, the people and the culture.

You can view more of Anthony's audio slideshows on his Vimeo page.

Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

As a prelude to what equipment worked for me and what didn't on The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop, I thought I'd put up two photographs of the musical gear used by the traditional puppeteers. One was made with the Canon 5D Mark II and the other with a Leica M9. These are both jpegs out of the cameras with no post processing except for the same amount of sharpening.

So what's your vote?





UPDATE: For The Correct Answer, Check It Out On My FB Page.

Here's what worked for me on The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop and what didn't. The list of my equipment was as follows:

A Canon 5D Mark II, a Canon 7D, and a bunch of lenses (28-70mm f2.8, 70-200mm f2.8, 17-40mm f4, and a 24mm f1.4), along with a Canon flash 580ex. A Leica m9 with a Leica 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit, and a 40mm f1.4 Voigtlander lens.

For audio, I had a Tascam DR-40 Recorder, an Audio-Technica ATR6250 Stereo Condenser Video/Recording Microphone and Sony headphones.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

What worked for me and what didn't on this trip:

1) Both the Canon 5D Mark II and the 7D were used 90% of the time, especially during the festivals when capturing the action, sometimes in less than ideal lighting conditions, was needed.

2) As for lenses, I used the 17-40mm f4 (as in the above photograph) on the full-frame Canon 5D Mark II around 60% of the time, while the 28-70mm f2.8 was used for most of the rest. The 70-200mm f2.8 was used no more than on a couple of special occasions. If I hadn't brought it along, I wouldn't have missed it.

This is part of my evolution as a photographer. I started out (as some do) by using the 70-200 mm as my primary lens wherever I went. Eventually, my lenses got shorter, and my current favorite is the 17-40mm. At some point, I'll probably get the 16-35mm f2.8mm which is a great lens.

3) The M9, and its 2 lenses, was used whenever I sought to make environmental portraits, or when I had the time to compose and focus properly. In low light, it would have been close to useless, and during the frenetic action of the festivals (especially of the Oracles), I might have missed many shots had I used it.

4) I didn't use the prime 24mm f1.4 at all on this trip, and used the flash for only a few shots of the Peacock dance. Other than that, it stayed in my room.

5) I liked my new Tascam DR-40 Recorder. It performed well and the quality of it recordings were satisfactory. That said, I really needed a "dead cat" to reduce wind noise, especially when I was recording on the beaches of Kerala where there was wind.

6) Both Audacity and Soundslides were used during classwork, and both worked flawlessly as they should. 

John Spillane is from Cork, Ireland and works in IT Network support in the pharmaceutical sector. A landscape photographer, John has recently diversified into travel and people photography and to that end, traveled to Italy, Cuba, Namibia and Bhutan...as well as his native Ireland.

His interest in photography started when he was 8 with a Kodak 126 Instamatic. In the 80s, John moved to an Olympus OM10 with a 50mm lens until the early nineties when he started shooting slide film, used a tripod and started working with graduated filters and polarizers for landscapes. He started his digital photography in 2006 with a Nikon D200 purchased while passing through Singapore.

During my The Oracles Of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop, John worked on a number of multimedia photo projects and has now published his very first attempt at Soundslides with his The Usual Catch; an audio slideshow of black & white stills of the fishermen of Punnapra in Kerala.

It was his first travel experience to India. And he certainly got his India "baptism" in an unusual but unforgettable fashion when he encountered the so-called Oracles at the Bharani festival. Covered in turmeric powder, and his Nikons dangling at his sides...he told me he had never imagined it would be like that.

I was promised a pint (perhaps two) of Murphy's Irish Stout if I visited County Cork. It's a worthy inducement.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

"...the uniqueness of this photo expedition-workshop..."

That's how one of the group members started to express his satisfaction in having attended The Oracles Of Kerala Photo-Expedition-Workshop while bidding goodbye to me and the rest of the group.

Uniqueness! It's precisely what I strive for when I structure my itineraries and programs for my photo expeditions/workshops. Are all of those based on unique itineraries? Of course not...but most of them are. The Oracles Of Kerala Photo-Expedition-Workshop was based on two main Hindu religious festivals: Thirunakkara Arattu Utsavam, a 10-day temple festival, and the Kodungallur Bharani, a wild and unusual localized religious festival near Kochi. The former is a Hindu religious extravaganza with elephants, while the latter surpasses the famed Kumbh Mela in intensity. To my knowledge, no travel photographer has ever dared to conduct a photo trip/workshop covering these two festivals. 


This uniqueness of this photo expedition-workshop, as well as the positive group dynamics among its group members, certainly places it amongst the top three I have ever organized and led so far.

Spice Godown-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Now cutting to the chase, here are the planned photo shoots that worked well:


1. The Fishermen of Punnapra. 
2. The Vedic School in Thrissur.
3. The Thirunakkara Arattu Utsavam Festival. (Drummers & elephants galore)
4. The Shadow Puppets near Cheruthuruthy. (Excellent!)
5. The Kathakali performance at the Kerala Kalamandalam. (Superb!)
6. The Kodungallur Bharani aka The Festival of Oracles. (Incredibly Intense).

Vedic Gurukul-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Although the group members liked the photo shoot at the Mattencherry spice godowns, it was rather mundane, at least from my perspective. The photo shoot at the Kochi Chinese nets was passable. The photo shoot planned at the oldest mosque in India known as the Cheraman Juma Masjid was a total failure from a visual standpoint. Nothing of its original structure remains, and its artefacts are copies of the originals (lost or pilfered). I can add to this that no one can make non Muslim visitors feel more unwelcome to mosques as blinkered Islamic clerics. The short visit to the adjacent Islamic school was, in contrast, a pleasant experience with delightful young students.

I fault myself for not having double checked the information provided by our guide which resulted in our being late in attending the last day of the Thirunakkara Arattu Utsavam Festival. The local policemen saved the day by getting some of us through the throngs of people. They were very helpful, and wanted us to get to the best vantage points, and as close to the elephants as possible.

Logistically, the photo expedition worked well. All the hotels were of high standard (mostly in the 4-star category), and their staff were very helpful. I must mention here Mr Bijou, the restaurant manager at the ABAD Whispering Palms Resort, who is an encyclopedic source for Keralite religious festivals. I wished he had joined us on the trip. 

Temple Lighting-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

It was a little disappointing that the ABAD Whispering Palms Resort in Kumarakom didn't have an alcohol license, but we nevertheless managed to procure the bottles of beer so necessary for our well-being after long photo shoots. That said, the hotel provided us with a conference room where we met daily to work on our slideshows, and edit our photographs...so it more than made up for its lack of alcohol license!

The vehicle used to transport us was more than adequate, and was driven with skill by Haris Aziz, a delightful and reliable young man with a good sense of humor. He quickly became our group's go-to-man for whatever we needed. In contrast, the guide allocated to us by the local travel agent was ineffectual, and was out of depth. He was more suitable for elderly tourist groups interested in museums and history, not for a bunch of gung-ho travel photographers. I couldn't find it in me to fire him, but I should have. 

Lastly, it was immensely gratifying to witness how seriously all of the group members worked at their multimedia projects; often while exhausted. Two of the 7 photographers in the group had already attended my previous Kolkata workshop, so had a substantial head start but worked as diligently as the rest. One of us had an extremely uncooperative laptop that crashed frequently, but who never lost his sense of humor nor his interest in learning multimedia. 

To be assured that the 7 group members were fully familiar with SoundSlides and Audacity, I suggested they completed a 2-3 minutes multimedia project in less than 3 hours.

They did.

Rasha Yousif is a photographer from the island nation of Bahrain, and is only the second Middle Eastern participant in my photo expeditions-workshops since I started them 10 years or so ago. She is a portfolio manager, and has a Masters in Finance from DePaul University.

During my The Oracles Of Kerala Photo Expedition-Workshop, Rasha worked on a number of multimedia photo projects and is one of the first to publish her very first attempt at Soundslides with her Five Hundred Years Vedic School.

In most of her projects, Rasha has easily connected with people and used this ability to add personal voice clips to her sound tracks. You'll hear such a clip in her Vedic School project.

She is quite adept in using her iPhone for on-the-fly photography, and to record the progress of her work during the two weeks in Kerala.

Photo © Rasha Yousif- All Rights Reserved

I had arranged for a photo shoot at an ancient Vedic (or training/boarding school very similar to the Buddhist monasteries for novitiates, or a Muslim madrasa in Thrissur, where we were treated to a demonstration of this way of teaching the sacred Vedic scriptures.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Well, the photo shoot at the Cheraman Juma Masjid was a dud.


I had expectations that the first Muslim mosque in the whole of India, would provide an interesting back drop for great imagery, but I was wrong. The mosque was renovated a few decades back, and its original artefacts "lost". The famed oil lamp supposedly continuously since the building of the mosque by Malik Bin Dinar, who's quite an interesting Islamic personality according to Wikipedia. 


In any event, having been to the Islamic medresa earlier gave us the opportunity to see Muslim children learning the Qur'anic texts and theology nearby the ancient mosque...probably in the same style as their forefathers/mothers did centuries ago.


One of the loveliest young girls was Fatimah, who was picked up from the school by her father on a scooter, who just loved the iPhone and Instagram.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I must've traveled to India over 20 times since 1998, and criss-crossed in length and breadth reasonably thoroughly. However, I have never seen or attended a religious event of the emotional intensity and visual magnetism as the Bharani festival in Kodungallur.

It is here that once a year the so-called Oracles of Kodungallur meet to celebrate both Kali and Shiva. By the many hundreds, and perhaps thousands, these red-clad oracles arrive in this area of Kerala, and perform self mortification acts by banging on their heads with ceremonial swords repeatedly until blood trickle down their foreheads, and daub the wounds with turmeric. The Bharani festival lasts for three days.

The festival was attended by many thousands, and (in my view) surpassed the 2001 Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad in intensity and religious fervor. We all marveled at how everyone at the festival, most of whom were from small villages of the area, were so welcoming, protective and friendly.

I was perfectly placed near the local royal (or maharaja) who was mobbed by attendees, eager for his blessings. While a couple of policemen protected me from the rush of the mobs, I stayed long enough to get a couple of shots of the royal, and left that area which was becoming very risky.

An incredible close to a thrilling photo workshop.

Tomorrow the group is having a final class in multimedia, with only one photo shoot planned at the Cheraman Juma Masjid; the first Muslim mosque in the whole of India, built in 629 AD. Having experienced a short photo shoot at its medrasa this morning, we are all eager to add an Islamic flavor to our photo expedition.

The pressure was on yesterday, as I asked the participants in my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™ to complete a full multimedia project in about 4 hours. While they had worked for many hours on longer photo essays and putting those in a multimedia format, yesterday's exercise was designed to ensure they could complete a simple multimedia project within a time limit.

They were all successful.

From the left (going clockwise) is Charlotte Rush-Bailey (with a visor), Rasha Yousif, Kristine Bailey, Victoria Alexander, Sandy Chandler, John Spillane and Tony Pond.

After the hard work, we attended the rituals at the Ambika Temple. The rituals included the arrival of elephants from the Thirunakkara Festival, the cleansing of the deity after covering it with turmeric, and a dazzling display of oil-lit lamps on the streets of Udala, where these young girls were lined up carrying small trays of flowers and candles.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy

Yesterday saw the penultimate day of the Thirunakkara Festival in Kottayam, which was attended by thousands of worshippers, and is known as Pullivetta. It was a spectacular spectacular event with phenomenal pageantry including a parade of caparisoned elephants and the exchange of parasols.

Getting some of us through the throngs of people was made possible by extremely helpful policemen, who wanted us to get to the best vantage points, and as close to the elephants as possible.

The drumming and sound of cymbals were so loud that I risked rupturing my ear-drums!!!

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

As a surprise photo-shoot for the photographers participating in my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™, I arranged for a private Tolpavakoothu performance yesterday evening. Despite having seen and photographing shadow puppetry (an ancient storytelling art form) in Bali, I had never doe so in India, where it is especially indigenous to southern Kerala.

The photo shoot took most of the early evening when we photographed the preparations, whilst the performance itself (the frenetic action of some half dozen puppet masters was something to behold) took just 45 minutes.

Tolpavakoothu traces its origins to more than 2000 years, and the Thrissur area claims a particular style of this art.

The above image is of one of the Tolpavakoothu puppets, and was made with my iPhone4s.

The actual photographs of the action will be incorporated in a future photo essay.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Last night saw one of the most intense Kathakali performances I have ever witnessed (and I have seen quite a few of those in the last few years of my traveling to India). As followers and readers of this blog know, I am leading my The Oracles of Kerala Photo Expedition/Workshop™, and a two day stop in Cheruthuruthy was planned for a photo shoot involving the performers of this ancient art form, as well as attending a private almost 2-1/2 hours performance.

The performance and the earlier 3 hours make-up session took place at the Kalatharangini Kathakali School, and I, for one, sweated so much at the intensity of it all that I had to wipe my hands continuously to be able to shoot. I almost filled 3 full 16gb CF cards during that one photo shoot which started at 3:00 pm and ended just before 9:00 pm. On top of that, I probably videoed some 20 minutes of the performance with my Canon Mark II.

We will spend most of today in class to work on our individual multimedia photo essays, since we need to catch up with that element of the workshop. With all the photography we do, we really need to set time aside to work on these projects.

I am also preparing an evening surprise for the group members, which I think they will find very interesting.

The above image is of one of the Kathakali performers, and was made with my iPhone4s.

Note: This post's actual date is March 20 as it's written in India.