Sunday, 18 April 2021
Sunday, 28 March 2021
I Am Not A "Virus"
These photographs were made during the AAPI Rally Against Hate in NYC's Columbus Park. March 21, 2021. The protestors demanded justice for the victims of recent shootings at massage businesses and to denounce racism, xenophobia and misogyny.
Hundreds of people of all ages and varied racial and ethnic backgrounds gathered in Columbus Park in Manhattan's Chinatown, and in similar rallies across the country.
All photographs © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved
Monday, 14 December 2020
Emile Bocian's Chinatown (Manhattan)
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Photo © Emile Bocian | Courtesy of The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA). |
The Museum of Chinese in America and The Center for Jewish History have just published a joint online exhibition featuring the photographs of Emile Bocian. These images document New York’s Chinese American community from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s.
During his years as a photojournalist in Chinatown, Bocian amassed an archive of approximately 120,000 photos and negatives, largely featuring the places and faces of his adopted neighborhood; which is the largest Museum of Chinese in America's photograph collection.It's particularly interesting to me as I gifted about 40 high resolution monochromatic photographs to MOCA earlier this year. The photographs were made during my weekly walks in Chinatown during the earlier days of the COVID19 pandemic, when its streets were largely empty and devoid of their usual energetic bustle. I expect these photographs -whether they are exhibited in public or not- will serve as a historic record of Chinatown for generations to come.
Sunday, 6 December 2020
Best of 2020
With international travel at a standstill for most of 2020 due to the pandemic, it's the first time that my "Best Of The Year" do not include -or are all of- photographs made on trips to foreign lands, but are of street photographs in New York City and of a fashion storytelling audio slideshow, also in NYC. These are not necessarily the best photographically or aesthetically, but are those which retrospectively resonated the most with me.
The first photograph (they are not in any preferential or chronological sequence) that I chose for the list is that of the hand of a protestor holding a sign demanding for a change in America. It was made on June 6 at a demonstration in Washington Square Park triggered by the murder of George Floyd by policemen two weeks earlier in Minneapolis. Due to Covid19, I was extremely concerned while attending the protests despite face masks/coverings being mostly prevalent. However, it was to witness history being made by courageous people hungry for a societal change.
For more: Stolen Lives and I Can't Breathe.
The next photograph was made on Bayard Street; in Manhattan's Chinatown on April 15...the peak of New York's lockdown. A depressing sight especially knowing that Bayard Street is normally abuzz with shoppers, tourists and workers. A lone elderly man, probably on a trip to buy essentials despite most stores were shuttered, was seen shuffling slowly in front of the popular grocery/meat store.
Following the protests calling for Black Lives Matter and other grievances in various boroughs of New York City between May 30 and June 2, 2020, substantial looting and break-ins from criminal gangs were seen in the shopping districts of the city. As a consequence, unsightly wooden boards were erected to protect stores and boutiques from further damage. Some of Manhattan's SoHo streets witnessed a flurry of activity from artists and others aiming to use these boards as canvases for their art and messages.
It was emotionally invigorating to see the colorful artwork which brought life back to the shopping canyons of SoHo. I spent a pleasant few hours on June 7 walking along its cobblestone streets, photographing the artists, non-artists and random volunteers who contributed to the beautifying project.
It was not until mid-summer that I started to see almost back to normal signs in Chinatown. I had recently added a 50mm lens to my GFX50R gear, and started to experiment photographing in panoramic format known as 65:24 or X-Pan. I had to explore the outer reaches of Manhattan's Chinatown for panos as its main streets such as Mott et al were too congested with vehicles to get the scenes I sought.
In Mid-May, signs of life were returning to Manhattan's Chinatown with shoppers scurrying about to buy their daily shopping...some were wearing gloves, masks and face-shields, and not even stopping to catch up on gossip as they delighted in doing a few months earlier. On Mott Street, I was struck by a long line of Chinese residents -mostly elderly, but a few younger- waiting for the distribution of free food by a small restaurant. The effort was funded by individual donations, and publicized by concerned politicians such as Yuh-Line Niou (NYS Assemby Member).
As many other photographers have done while spending most of their days indoors, I experimented with still life photography. Flowers from a neighborhood florist (or Trader Joe's) became my models -either fresh or dried- set against a large sheet of black card stock, and with diffuse light from a window.
The only project that provided the identical adrenaline I usually experience on my travel was a photo session with Lise Liu in Manhattan's Chinatown, and which allowed me to produce the audio slideshow "Looking For Mei Wu".
Sunday, 22 November 2020
The Glorious Pain | Hát Tuồng
Here is an interesting cultural -and possibly - less known art form which still exists in Vietnam, albeit on its last legs.
Hát Tuồng is one of the oldest art forms in Vietnam, and is said to have existed since the late 12th century. It’s believed to be influenced by Chinese opera performance techniques, but subsequently evolved and changed into a new form embodying Vietnamese characteristics and nature.
The Glorious Pain is produced by the Vietnamese Department of Entertainment Program and is part of a prominent documentary series of the Vietnam Television aired monthly during prime-time on VTV1 Channel. The Glorious Pain is also among the projects covering traditional culture of Vietnam which receive funding from the Film, Archive and Music Lab (FAMLAB).
I was alerted to this documentary by Nguyễn Thị Hồng Ngọc; a friend and a freelance photographer based in Hanoi.
Tuesday, 27 October 2020
The Spirit Medium And The Model
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved
It's been 4 years -almost to the day- when I was traveling to Hanoi on my Hau Dong: Spirit Mediums of Vietnam photo book tour, and memories of these wonderful two weeks are unexpectedly flooding in.We naturally kept in contact throughout the intervening years, and it's only recently that I saw photographs of her modeling her own colorful and idiosyncratic clothes in various parts of Hanoi. I am certain she isn't doing it professionally, but I'm glad she possibly heeded my (and others?) advice, even though it took her much of these 4 years to get there. In the above photograph by Nguyen Tra Mi, Lotus is holding her Tây Bắc jacket; indigenous to the region in the north of Vietnam.
Sunday, 25 October 2020
Color Grading With ON1
Truth be told, I never was fan of Adobe Photoshop nor of Lightroom, and for photo processing/editing relied on Iridient Developer, the image-conversion application designed specifically for OS X, especially as I'm a Fuji X and GFX user. I also used Color Efex Pro to refine what Iridient could not provide. For black and white work, I used Silver Efex Pro2 which -in my view- is superlative in monochromatic conversion.
While I never retouch my travel and street photographs, preferring to apply a photo journalistic ethic to these two types of photography, I have progressively come to the realization that the third type of my photography; namely fashion story-telling, does require a different way of post processing...hence ON1.
I am also a relatively recent aficionado of color-grading, getting inspiration from Japanese photographers who seem to favor this look...hence ON1 (again). Color grading is the process of enhancing the color, saturation and contrast of an image. Photographers use it to create specific moods in their photos. One can add blue hues to make a picture appear cold, or yellow and orange to make it look warm. The Japanese color-grading "look" is generally cinematic blue-green such as the one in the top photograph of Lise Liu.
The ease by which ON1 -with its presets- can achieve this color grading look, as well as others means that I am able to process the photographs by choosing one or more of the presets in a few moments...and manually refine the final results should I choose to.
ON1 also offers a program ON1 Portrait AI 2021 which easily allows the user to apply what I call "plastic surgery" to the faces of one's subjects. However, I am more used to another program called Portrait Pro that essentially has the same functions.
I am not linking to any of these programs since this post is just to record what I use insofar as the fashion-storytelling work that I do, and is not an advertisement.Sunday, 4 October 2020
Sung Kwan Ma | Hanoi Portraits
Saturday, 19 September 2020
Looking For Mei Wu
Readers can either view the photo film on Vimeo (above) or alternatively on YouTube.
Friday, 4 September 2020
A Photo Session in NYC's Chinatown
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved
After the long 'drought' brought about by COVID-19 which essentially grounded me since the beginning of 2020, I received a well needed boost of endorphins when I met with Lise Liu in Chinatown's Pell Street on a Sunday morning for a photo session.
I had arranged with her to wear one of her qi pao/cheongsam as she was to take on the role of the imaginary Lily Wu looking for traces of her long deceased grandmother in the narrow alleys of Chinatown at a time when the area was controlled by gangsters. The photo-film is tentatively titled "Looking For Mei Wu".
My favorite Chinatown streets are Pell and Doyers streets, and this is where Lise and I made many of the photos. Doyers -in particular- is special since within its curve was hidden secret gambling and opium dens and even prostitution caves. Pell Street is also interesting as it used to be where the headquarters for gangs and their criminal activities.
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved |
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved |
I used the fabulous Fuji GFX50R and the equally impressive Fujinon GF 45mm f2.8 all through the session, and while I had the X-Pro2/18mm for transitional takes, I didn't use it.
Wednesday, 29 July 2020
POV: NYC's Chinatown As The Antidote
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | Click for larger view | GFX50R 16:9 aspect ratio |
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | Click for larger view | GFX50R 16:9 aspect ratio |
However for me, it goes beyond all of these attributes. Covid-19 has removed any international travel plans off my calendar. In January 2020, I had been set to travel for two weeks to Japan, then after news trickled in about the virus in Tokyo, I switched over to Taipei where I had arranged for a number of photo sessions. Naturally, this didn't happen and I had to cancel my flights in early March.
Especially during these unusual times, Chinatown in Manhattan has been a godsend to me; a travel junkie whose photography comes alive in Asian environments. I am fortunate to live just a 20 minutes walk from Chinatown and its streets. My frequent walks on its streets provide me with an Asian-fix, a rush similar to caffeine to a coffee-lover...and goes some way in papering over the emotional fissures arising from being unable to travel to Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and my other favorite destinations.
I've become so comfortable photographing in Chinatown that I'm planning a photo session with a New York-based model to produce fashion-storytelling photo films. This will happen once New York City gets even safer than what it currently is...fingers crossed.
Tuesday, 28 July 2020
In Praise of the Qi Pao/Cheongsam
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | Shanghai |
It was a long one-piece loose fitting meant to cover the whole body from neck to feet, and was only worn by the Manchu class. It was meant to be very conservative and unrevealing, and was only after 1900 that the Han Chinese adopted the style, but in so doing made some modifications to the original design.
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | Shanghai |
In the view of couturiers, the qi pao is a garment that embodies traditional Chinese etiquette and culture. With collars that stick upwards rather than folding, the qi pao causes the wearers to raise their heads and push out their chests. It also discourages glancing right and left. This explains Maggie Cheung's famous scene in which she walked up the staircase without looking at Tony Leung!
Tuesday, 21 July 2020
The 65:24 Aspect Ratio | Street Photography
Chinatown 65:24 by Tewfic El-Sawy on Exposure
I recently decided to experiment with the 65:24 aspect ratio option in my GFX50R (and for that matter, the GFX50S). As I often do street photography in NYC's Chinatown, it was natural I start this experiment on its crowded streets. After just a morning of doing just so, I realized that its long, thin panoramic "letterbox format" style gets quite addictive...so I returned a few times since, and tried to improve the technique.
This aspect ratio option replicates a wide panoramic 65x24mm negative, which is approximately equal to the width of two standard 35mm frames side by side. The well known Hasselblad XPan's 65x24mm film negative size is one the better known examples. It is quite challenging especially in street scenes of Chinatown, and it pushed me to see differently; almost peripherally.
Saturday, 11 July 2020
The Qi Pao, Pill Box Hats & Shanghai Fashion 1930s
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved |
During that dynastic period, women of Han descent wore two piece outfits while the Manchu women wore a long robe. With the advent of unity in China, women all over the country began to wear the qipao. Early on in the 1900s, the qipao was loose-fitting, generally long-sleeved, and worn with unadorned, plain hairstyles. The modern version of the dress, now recognized as the ‘standard’ qipao, was developed in Shanghai in the 1920s, and became more form-fitting and with a high cut, and frequently worn with hairdos known as "finger waves".
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved |
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Uncredited Photo. Source Pinterest |
Friday, 3 July 2020
GFX50R Firmware | New Film Simulations
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved |
The firmware includes many technical improvements which I have yet to test or experience, but for the time being I tried one of its new film simulations; the Classic Neg mode which simulates the color negative film traditionally chosen for "snapshots". I also quickly tried its “Eterna" mode, which replicates the colors and tonality of Fujifilm’s motion picture film...but I need to spend more time to determine if it's useful to my style of photography.
The other addition is the “Smooth Skin Effect” which is supposed to smooth the appearance of human skin, ideal for portraiture. Naturally, all these film simulations and additions are for JPEGs only.
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy. [crop of above photo + vignetting] |
The next one to experiment with is the "Eterna" simulation. It's aimed at movie-making, but it might be useful in still photography too.
To be continued...
Wednesday, 1 July 2020
My Work : Expecting Godot?
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Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved |
I noticed this man leaning against a half painted plywood board on Mott Street; pursed lips, hands in his pocket, and waiting for something or someone. I hadn't noticed that his belt was well used...possibly either not his or he had lost a lot of weight.
What I did notice was the sun gleam reflected on the plywood board that looked like a dancer...it was as if the man was hypnotized by her movements.
For post-processing, I used the ON1 editing software and chose one of its new vintage wet-type presets, and added some contrast and saturation.
Tuesday, 23 June 2020
The Plywood Art of SoHo
