Palani Mohan: Kolkata's Rickshaw Pullers

Courtesy Getty Images' Reportage

Palani Mohan describes the rickshaw pullers of Kolkata as "human horses" who work for 18 hours a day, hand pulling/carrying people and goods for a pittance. There are over 18,000 rickshaw wallahs in Kolkata, and although the state government declared this "inhuman" and "barbaric", and tried to ban rickshaws from the city's streets. This was rejected by the pullers themselves, and huge protests ensued.

Most of the rickshaw pullers are impoverished Biharis, who come to Kolkata to earn money to feed their families back in Bihar. Some describe their lives as "cursed". with most of their earnings going to rent the rickshaw itself, leaving almost nothing for their families.

I love these black & white environmental portraits, and as documenting rickshaw pullers will be one of the aims of my Kolkata Photo~Expedition/Workshop, I'll be providing this post's link to its participants.

Palani Mohan was born in Chennai, India, and moved to Australia as a child. His photographic career started at the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, and since then he has been based in London, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and now Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.

His work has been published by many of the world's leading magazines and newspapers including National Geographic, Stern, Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times. He also published three photographic books. His work has been recognized with awards from World Press Photo, Picture of the Year, National Press Photographers Association, American Photo and Communication Arts. He is represented by Getty Images' Reportage Group in New York.

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Daniel Berehulak: Holi

Photo © Daniel Berehulak-All Rights Reserved

Daniel Berehulak documented the kaleidoscopic Indian festival of Holi in the holy city of Vrindavan in February 2010, and the power of his photographs in terms of composition and color is enhanced by his website...large colorful photographs; who can resist?! His photographs are a feast for the eyes, especially to those who love pink!

Many of his photographs were made in the streets of Vrindavan, and in the temple of Bankey Bihari which is virtually subsumed in colored powder thrown by the devotees and the revelers. Holi is the Hindu festival of color, and Vrindavan is especially famous for its observance of the festival since it's said that Krishna celebrated Holi with his consort Radha there.

You can also see Daniel's photographs on The Frame.

Daniel Berehulak is an Australian photographer, who initiated his photographic career in 2000. He started working for Getty Images in 2002 as a sports photographer. In 2005, he assumed a staff position for Getty Images as a news photographer based in London. He's currently based in Delhi, covering South Asia and beyond. Apart from many awards, Daniel's work was featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Guardian and other publications.

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Nagore Sessions: Sufi Song

A recent article appearing in The New York Times on music used in some of the city's yoga centers led me to the Nagore Sessions. These are Sufi chants accompanied by percussion from the Middle East and contemporary Western instruments.

While the musicians are from many different nationalities, faiths and backgrounds and came together to produce the Nagore Sessions, the singers (Abdul Ghani, Ajah Maideen and Sabur Maideen Babha Sabeer) are Sufis from India. They usually perform at religious and social ceremonies at the Sufi shrine of Nagore Dargah in coastal Tamil Nadu.

This song follows the qawwali style as it includes verses praising God, but I'm also told that it's sung in Tamil. Traditional Qawwali songs are mostly sung in Urdu and Punjabi, and a few in Persian.

Finding this is timely, as one of the highlights of my forthcoming In Search of the Sufis of Gujarat Photo Expedition™ is to document the Gujarati Siddis who have retained their Sufi heritage.

One of my long-term projects involves the various Sufi traditions in the Middle East and South Asia, and the Nagore Sessions reminds me of my work with the Gnawa (aka Gnaoua) of Morocco. These are also traditional Sufi music performers, albeit with African roots. During the Essaouira Gnawa festival, a number of international performers played fusion music alongside the Gnawa musicians....incredible mind-blowing stuff!!

I've produced a multimedia photomovie Gnawa: The Sufis of Africa of some of the performers at the 2009 festival.

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Sophie Gerrard: The Coal Cycle Wallahs

"I load the bike then push it for 50 kilometers. It takes me 2 days."

Here's The Coal Cycle Wallahs story; the work of Sophie Gerrard, a British freelance documentary photographer in the UK and India who specializes in environmental and social issues.

The Coal Cycle Wallahs documents the impoverished men who haul coal along Jharkhand's steep and twisting forest roads. As the Indian Government owns all the resources under the land, these coal-wallahs are technically stealing the coal from mines...but the authorities turn a blind eye.

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India, carved out of the south Bihar in 2000. It shares its border with Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal. It's home to the largest coal belt in Asia, but is been plagued by poverty, lawlessness, bad governance and corruption for over 50 years. It has experienced Naxalite-Maoist insurgency.

Sophie holds a Masters degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography from the London College of Communication. Her work was recognized with a Jerwood Photography Award and selected as a UK winner by The Magenta Foundation.

Her clients include The Guardian, Greenpeace International, Geographical Magazine, Foto8 Magazine, The Big Issue, and The Independent on Sunday Magazine. Her photographs are held in private collections including Coutts & Co and The Sir Elton John Collection.

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Marji Lang: Gujarat

Photo © Marji Lang-All Rights Reserved

Marji Lang is a French travel and documentary photographer, whose color-full photographs in her India galleries just jump at you.

She's fallen in love with India and has already traveled there four times. Over the past 10 years, Marji traveled in South East Asia, and was influenced by Henri Cartier Bresson and more recently by the work of her compatriot and Indiaphile Claude Renault.

She rarely plans ahead her trips, and just takes it a day at a time. No specific hotel reservations nor fixed itineraries. She prefers making her photographs with a human presence...but is not against making a few that are devoid of people (such as the one above). Marji only uses a 24-70mm lens.

I was interested in her Gujarat gallery as some of her photographs are of Jain female pilgrims (sadhvi) in Palitana, one of our stops during my forthcoming photo expedition In Search of Gujarat's Sufis next month.

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