Sharon Johnson-Tennant: Diffusion & Magical Mystery Tour

Pilgrimage Home (Ladakh)- © Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

Kitchen , Stok Monastery-© Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

Morocco-Photo © Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

Morocco- Photos © Sharon Johnson-Tennant-All Rights Reserved

di·aph·a·nous/dīˈafənəs/

Adjective:  Light, delicate, and translucent.

Here are a number of photographs by Sharon Johnson-Tennant, a multi-faceted award winning photographer in Los Angeles and a participant in my 2010 Tribes of Rajasthan & Gujarat Photo~Expedition.

These photographs are part of a larger number she sent me in connection with her forthcoming exhibition named DIFFUSION; a compilation of 9 years of Sharon's work from travel all over the world. She describes the photographs in this exhibition as "images that seem to have stopped in time, things in plain sight but not always seen" such as the two top ones made in Ladakh, a remote area of India. Apart from India, her travels have taken her to Malaysia, Burma, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and the Philippines.

The exhibition's opening night is March 3, 2012 (7-10 pm) at the Robert Berman Gallery, in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. The exhibition will continue until March 31st.

As for the lower photographs, they're part of Sharon's larger body of work (still in progress) which she calls Magical Mystery Tour. Those were recently made in Morocco at twilight. That time of day in terms of light, coupled with the natural reticence of Moroccans to being photographed pushed Sharon to alter her techniques to meet these challenges.

On my blog, I frequently describe photographs as powerful, emotive, and/or well composed.  For Sharon's new photographs, I happily add diaphanous and ethereal to all these adjectives.

For further examples of Sharon's talents, visit her new website...you'll see the versatility of her work.

Ania Blazejewska: People of Ladakh

Photo © Ania Blazejewska-All Rights Reserved

To start the week on a pure travel photography note, here's the work of Ania Blazejewska. She is a freelance travel photographer based in Poznan, Poland. Having graduated with a degree in political science, her embrace of travel and photography led her to Asia and northern Africa.

Her work was recognized in various Polish and international photo contests, and her  freelance photos and articles were featured in a number of Polish-language travel portals. She has photographed in Cuba, India, Ladakh, Laos, Oman, Morocco, Srl Lanka and Nepal...to mention just a few.

Many of her travel photography is of people, and photographed in portrait mode...in vertical format. I chose her Ladakh gallery to feature here, but don't leave her website until you've explored her many other galleries. One that I particularly liked as well is her Living As A Burmese Monk photo essay.

Incidentally, Ania is one of the many photographers who uses PhotoShelter for her website and galleries.

If you want to learn how to sell your prints, PhotoShelter has issued a free downloadable PDF guide to help you out.

William Widmer: Between Giants

Here's Between Giants, a feature on a small community in Ladakh by photojournalist William Widmer.

The Changpa are one of several groups of indigenous nomads who inhabited the high plains of Ladakha for generations, and are finding their traditional way of life threatened by modernity and influx of tourism.

William Widmer is a freelance photographer based in San Francisco, who's interested in shifting concepts of community. While most of his work is focused on subcultures within the United States, he also produced photo essays (including multimedia) of India and others. He also works at liveBooks, a company that provides customized, editable websites for photographers.

Don't miss his Soundslides essay on SOFOSH, an NGO involved in childcare, adoption and foster care for children.

Dennis Cordell: Ladakh

Image Copyright © Dennis Cordell - All Rights Reserved
I found Dennis Cordell's remarkable portraits of Buddhist novices at the Gyudzin Tantric Monastery School in Ladakh on Flickr, the popular online photo management and sharing application. However, I haven't found much information on Dennis apart from a few words indicating that he's a Tibetan translator. I hope he reads TTP and provides me his biography and background.

I did find the Gyudzin Tantric Monastery School's website, where I learnt that there are no major centers of Buddhist teaching in Ladakh, and that this monastery fulfills that role. Students receive instruction in general subjects up to 8th grade and are trained in Tantric ritual tradition along with learning of tantric texts. After completing this course the monastery provides instruction in five major branches of Buddhist teaching. Those are Paramana, Vinaya, Madhyamika, Abhidharma and Prajnyaparmita texts. Students shall then have the options to persue a further five years study in tantric teachings to receive a Geshe Nagrampa Degree.

Dennis's Flickr page has many more of these portraits of novices, along with portraits of Indian sadhus. Well worth a visit!