The Photography Menace

Have you found yourself in situations where there are more photographers than there are artists at some public cultural events?

Unfortunately, often these photographers are also a little aggressive and they seem to believe that their right to click pictures is more important than the right of the public to watch the cultural event. They want to be in the front to click their pictures and some times they are willing to fight with each other to get the pictures they want.

If you think that I am exagerating, take a look at the picture below. Can you count the number of photographers surrounding the artists in this picture? And do you think that these photographers were really worrying about hundreds of spectators who had gathered in the city square to watch this cultural event?

Recently, I found myself in the middle of a fight among people wishing to click photographs. Fortunately, I was not involved in the fight, and as soon as I could, I slipped away to a calmer place. But the episode made me think about what had happened, how the world of photography is changing and the feeling that over the next years, probably the things are only going to get worse.

If we are organising a cultural event, I think that it is important to have clear rules so that photographers do not disturb the event. By photographers, I mean both - those with different kinds of digital cameras, as well as those with their smart phones.

THE FIGHT

First let me tell you about the fight that I witnessed. It happened one evening in Schio (pronounced Skio), a tiny town at the foothills of Alps in north-eastern part of Italy, where I live.

The cultural event was about the uniforms of the soldiers of Republic of Venice from 1797. It was almost near its end. I had found a place to stand in one corner of the square near the stairs of an underground parking. A guy with a nice SLR camera had taken position on the stairs, and set up his camera. For the finale of the event, they were going to fire the cannons. More people had joined us, including a lady clicking pictures with her smart phone, since we had a good view of the cannons.

The lady with the smart phone kept on moving from one side to other, to click pictures from different angles. I saw the man with SLR camera standing on the stairs, moving left and right, trying to get a visual of the event and avoiding the lady. After about fifteen minutes, he could not control himself and spoke sharply, "You mind standing still instead of moving all the time and breaking my balls?"

The lady turned towards him, initially shocked and a few moments later, indignant, "How dare you speak to me like that? Behave yourself."

I think that the guy realized that he had crossed a line and had been too rude, but for some time he continued to bluster, while the woman raised her voice and soon her husband, who was standing some distance away, came and joined her. For a moment, I thought that they were going to punch each other, but somehow common sense prevailed and the SLR camera guy backtracked, while the woman moved away.

After another 5 minutes, a couple of men with their smart phones, busy clicking a video, came and took the place vacated by the woman, standing in front of the camera guy. Disgusted, the guy snorted, put away his camera in his bag, left his place on the stairs and moved to an empty area of the square, which did not have a good visual of the event.

After the event, I kept on thinking about the photographers at the event. I was also there with my camera, though I am quite laid back about clicking pictures. If I get the opportunity I am happy to click but if people come and stand in front of me, I usually wait for them to move or change place.

That evening there were hundreds of persons who took pictures. Perhaps, 20% had digital cameras. The other 80% had their smart phones. That evening I was asking myself, if we going towards wars among the photographers?

PHOTOGRAPHY AS A PUBLIC MENACE

I think that photography in public cultural events has become a serious issue that requires the setting up of some clear rules.

In the cities of developed countries of Europe and US, and even in the big cities of less developed countries, the number of people with big SLR cameras and all other kinds of digital cameras is increasing every year. Whenever there is a public cultural event, it becomes a free for all among all the photographers to get good pictures, close ups and innovative angles. Some photographers block the visual of people who have come to watch the performance, standing there in the front as if they are transparent or if they have a special right to go and do as they wish.

I am not including "official photographers" in this list, including videographers, who also block the visuals but at least they do it because they are being paid to do it. In fact official photographers are often in the middle of the performances, moving around, not really bothering about the public.

If the epidemic of different digital cameras was not enough, the proliferation of good cameras in the smart phones and the possibility of sharing "See, I am here" kind of pictures on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, has added another layer of chaos to the discourse.

Now it is not enough to worry about those with digital cameras blocking you, there are literally hundreds more with their smart phones who also want to click pictures. If they have a family member or a friend who is performing in the event, they become impossible to control, jumping around in front, and refusing to move from their places, ready to fight for it if needed.

NEW RULES FOR PUBLIC PHOTOGRAPHY

It seems that the trend of taking pictures and videos and sharing them with our friends and others, is going to spread and get bigger over the coming years. Thus, I think that photography related conflicts are going to become more common.

The good manners' guides do not tell us how to behave in so many situations in today's world like for the use of our mobile phones and  cameras, but if we want to avoid conflicts, we need to define new rules that respect common codes of decency and privacy in public spaces.

Fortunately, lately my interest in photography is on the wane. I had my first digital camera in 2005. For many years I have suffered from clickitis, defined as the irresistible urge to click pictures. I was always looking for opportunities to click pictures. I had my photoblog Chayachitrakar where I posted new pictures every day. It has more than 2000 posts.

Then something changed inside me during 2015 - suddenly I was no longer so compulsive about clicking pictures. In January 2016, I also stopped adding pictures on my photo-blog. Lately I have even been to some cultural events without my camera.

I still take a lot of pictures, but if I can't, it is not such a big deal. Perhaps it is because of this change in my attitude that I can now talk of making of rules to regulate photography.

What do you feel - do you think that photographers are becoming a nuisance at public cultural events?

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El Mina, the sea port of Gaza

I am in Gaza city in Palestine, and I am staying in an apartment in front of the sea port of Gaza called El Mina. This is a photo-essay about the Gaza sea port.

Stories about the sea port in Gaza go back to antiquity.

The port is like a "T" with the long vertical leg jutting out from the coast into the sea. As you enter the port, there is a monument with a round globe at the top. It has some names at the base along with the Turkish and Palestinian flags. It was built by Turkey to commemorate the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara and activists who had tried to force through the Israeli blockade of the port in May 2010.

As you walk down the vertical leg of the T, on the right side there are red-roofed sheds for the fishermen.

At the end, where the vertical leg of the "T" meets its horizontal leg, there is another monument that I call Aeroplane monument. It looks like the front motor of a fighter plane, set in the centre of a round-about. (PS: My friend Adriano told me that it is the propeller of a ship and not the motor of an aeroplane!)

A few days ago, one early morning, before 6 AM, I went down to take a walk at the seaport.

It was absolutely marvelous. There were few people and boats were coming back with the fish they had caught. In the boats, men sat around sorting the fishes and putting them in plastic crates. Other men took the crates and piled them in carriages run by horses to distribute them in the city.

Parallel to the vertical leg of the "T", there is another thin strip of land going into the sea for the bigger boats. A truck had brought a new boat and was putting it down.

Cats and young children from poor families with plastic bags stood around the fishermen, waiting for fish scraps.

If they came too close, the fishermen glared at them and they retreated. But the fishermen were not too hard on them. Every now and then, someone took pity on the cats or the kids, and threw a torn or headless fish at them.

The horizontal leg of the "T" on the left, it continues with the beach of Gaza. On the right side, it goes and ends suddenly in the sea, creating a small bay. If you stand at the tip, in a distance you can see the long chimneys of some industrial plant spewing smoke in the sky. Those chimneys are on the Israeli side of the border.

On the skyline of Gaza, you can immediately see the new and the beautiful Abdul Aziz Khalidi mosque, built by a rich Palestinian, who lives just across from the mosque, in the memory of his father. Next to the mosque is the "Beach camp" or the Shati refugee camp. They are widening the road along the seacoast of Gaza with money from Qatar, so soon, the Beach camp will disappear and hundreds of families living there will be shifted to the south of Gaza city.

As the sun came up, I walked to the tip of the land that protects the port. There I met an adolescent boy called Mohammed, whom I asked to take my picture. Soon we were joined by a group of his friends who all surrounded me. “I am Hindi” I said, and suddenly we were friends, many of them smiled. I already knew that in Palestine, they do not understand if you say "India", for them India is "Hindi" or "Indi".

Bollywood is well known in Palestine and many persons have told me about their love for Indian films and how these make them cry and how much they like Amitabh Bachchan!

At the port, in the morning most persons are male, you hardly see any women or girls. Children are every where, some playing and others working.

That morning walk, it was a wonderful experience.

I was back at the port, one evening as well. In the darkness, it was quiet and peaceful.

It is beautiful to wake up in the morning and see the boats come alive and see the sky change colours. In the evenings, often I sit in the balcony with a book and look at the sun going down and the persons walking around the port.

Here are a few images of the morning and evening at the port, taken from the apartment.

As I write this post, occasionally I glance out of the window at the port. Today, dark clouds are hanging low and the water has a silvery-leaded sheen. It is deserted. Except for an occasional boat that leaves a soundless trail on the water, it can even be a painting that I am looking at.

Last night it had looked so crowded but then it was the Friday night! On Friday evenings,  the seaport is like an ant hill, full of people, more persons joining them from all the sides and cars blocking the road, parked till the end of the tip of the port.

The picture below, shows the apartment building on the right, where I am staying.

To conclude this photo-essay, here is another image from my early morning walk at the port of Gaza.

The word "Gaza" brings on images of Palestinian struggles with bombs and wars. In these days, I have met so many Palestinians who seem tired of wars and bombs and who dream of decent lives for their children. This post is dedicated to them.

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Exotic tribals - Theme-parkification of traditions

As our cities become clones of other cities with similar looking sky-scrappers and malls, some times during our travels we look for "authentic experiences". This photo-essay is the first part of brief stories about the influences of a globalizing world on cultures. I feel that increasingly, we are making people a part of a "theme-park" experience, rather than engaging with them.

Introduction

The image above introduces some of the ideas that came to my mind when I started thinking about this subject. This picture was taken at Dilli Haat in Delhi (India), an "artificial village market" in the city. There you find city persons and tourists looking at the shops. And then you have crafts-persons from different parts of India who come here to exhibit and sell their work. You also have some persons who serve or entertain the visitors. Like those in the picture above, who wear "traditional" dresses and play "traditional" instruments.

They are acting a part that may not be completely false - those turbans, dresses, drums and been (the wind-instrument played by the "snake charmer"), may also be part of their "real" lives. These are only jazzed up with colours and accessories that highlight their exoticness.

Thus, Dilli Haat gives you an artificial "authentic" experience, in which make-believe and reality are mixed and stirred together. The aim of Dilli Haat is noble - to provide a market for humble crafts-persons. It markets this aim by making it a "village theme park" experience.

This is the area that I am exploring in this post by referring to some of my travel experiences about changing traditions and our search for our roots. I do not wish to give value judgements about this in terms of right or wrong. Rather, it is just a way of looking back at few episodes from my travels around the world. And I want to start this reflection with a travel experience from China in 2007.

Yunnan, China 2007

I went to Yunnan province in south-west part of China for the first time in 1989. At that time, Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, was a typical small provincial town with old houses, narrow streets and chaotic traffic, full of horse and cattle driven carriages. I don't remember seeing any tourists during that travel.

The last time when I was in Kunming in 2010, I was staying in a hotel room on the 24th floor in a city that seemed to have been made completely new. The roads were wide, the traffic smooth, the houses new. My friends had taken me around on a nostalgia trip to show me some of the old offices - the only problem was that those old places did not look like anything in my memories.

During 1960-80s, the national government in China frowned on any showing off of differences and traditions by the ethnic minorities. Thus, minority ethnic groups were supposed to dress and speak exactly like other Chinese. During the years of Mao's cultural revolution, often their traditional dresses, music instruments, temples, sculptures, etc. were taken away and destroyed.

During the 1990s, as China opened and its economy took off, slowly minority ethnic groups regained the freedom to express their specific cultures and traditions. To boost tourism, and probably to fill the void created by cultureless sameness, people were being dressed in ethnic costumes to add colours and folklore to places and events. Many of the old temples were reopened and their some times, their sculptures were found and replaced.

With this background information, now let me move to some of my experiences about traditions, changing cultures and authenticity, from that 2007 journey when, I had visited different small towns and many "minority areas". Yunnan is home to a big number of minority ethnic groups.

The next two images are from a restaurant in Kunming, where while you eat, there is a show of ethnic dances. This first image is of two young persons who were wearing traditional ethnic minority dresses and were standing outside the restaurant to attract tourists and to welcome the guests.

Often, persons wearing exotic dresses are used in this way in tourist places all over the world to attract and invite tourists. However, over the years, my impression in Yunnan has been that these persons seem to have become more self-confident. Probably for many of them this is a temporary work, and most of them are studying or working for better careers.

I think that most of them continue to have their roots in their original clans/groups in their villages. However, increasingly they are not wearing such exotic looking dresses in their daily lives, except for some special occasions. Thus, the image they present is for tourists and not the authentic representation of their lives in their ethnic groups.

The next picture is from one of the dances inside that restaurant. This dance had guys wearing cowboy hats from the American western movies.

Wearing cowboy hats is another sign of jazzing up the exoticness for tourists (mostly Chinese tourists). They are not worried about actual representation of traditions. Thus, new "traditions" may be made all the time. With time, I think that some such new "traditions" can grow roots and become more widespread in their communities.

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The next image is from Dali, one of the minority ethnic area, not very far from the Chinese border with India. These women working at a souvenir shop, were going out for their lunch break. They were wearing their full traditional jackets and caps like a uniform, all in the same colours.Only the top part of their dresses was traditional, below they had the practical looking pants.

The next image is from Li-Jiang, not very far from Dali. In late 1990s, Li Jiang had a bad earthquake and the old part of the city was destroyed. During the reconstruction of the old city, an artificial Li-Jiang was built - a theme park, with restaurants, discotheques, souvenir and handicrafts shops for tourists. In this Li-Jiang, the local people dressed up in their ethnic dresses and made it an exotic tourist experience.

In Li Jiang, the impression of real-meets-artificial is very strong and their boundaries are completely blurred.

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Late one night, we reached the city of Xu Chiong. I had visited it earlier in 1996. The doctor who had been my guide and had accompanied me at that time was now the governor of the city. He had treated me like some visiting royalty!

Like Kunming, Xu Chiong had also become unrecognizable - it seemed to be a brand new city made from scratch.

There was a huge square in front of the hotel. On my first night, from the window of my room, I saw a group of people playing traditional music and dancing in that square. Though I was very tired, I was very curious. So I went down to take a closer look at them.

This was not a show for tourists. Their dresses were very different and some people had no traditional costumes. They were not young persons, usually chosen for tourist shows. There was lot of clapping, shouting and some loud singing. Clearly they were having fun. I tried to ask questions through the gestures-language to find out if it was some traditional festival, but they did not understand me.

But they were very welcoming and I joined them and learned the simple steps of their dance. It was an exhilarating experience. The next two images are from that evening.

When I think of that evening, I feel that this was an authentic experience - of real people, rediscovering and celebrating something that they had lost.

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However, Chu Xiong was also the place where I had another surreal experience in terms of ethnic minority traditions. Near the periphery of the city, a Li-Jiang like new tourist centre had been created, with designer tribal houses, Venice like canals, lights, shops and restaurants. One evening, the governor took me there for dinner. It was kitsch, gaudy, fun and completely artificial.

There I came across some persons who had rented traditional dresses and had portable microphones. Men and women were sitting on the two sides of a Venetian canal, and were singing traditional tribal songs about persons pining for their beloveds, separated from them by a mighty river.

When I asked, I was told that they were enacting an old tribal tragic love-story that was famous in that area. In that story, the boy from another village, sang songs for his beloved from the other side of a river. These persons had probably grown up listening to that story and were rediscovering that tradition in an "artificial" or make-believe version. The were having a lot of fun and could not stop laughing.

The whole episode left me feeling a little dizzy in terms of its meanings of traditions and authenticity!

***
In another small town called Yong Mou-lu near the border with Vietnam, one night, I found another group of ethnic minority persons, dancing for themselves in a small dark city square. The men had their old traditional music instruments and they knew how to play them.

This time, I had translator with me, who helped me to talk to them. They had managed to hide those instruments and saved them from the destruction of cultural revolution. Hidden away, somehow they had also managed to keep their skills of playing those instruments.

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So then, how do we define authenticity and traditions? Actual tribals living in a remote mountain village, like the lady in the picture below, did not have the jewellery and the costume worn by persons who play tribals in the tourist centres. She is authentic.

As a tourist, if you are travelling, would you really want to visit these places where you will not have services and comforts, and people are not wearing exotic colourful costumes?

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The last image from the 2007 Yunnan visit is of a newly married couple in Yuan Mou-Lu.

Except in the remote villages in the mountains, almost all the young people in China today get married in very Western looking dresses and ceremonies. Wearing traditional ethnic dresses for the marriage is looked down at.

While looking at them, I felt a little sad that they had lost those traditions. Yet, at the same time, not knowing the language and thus unable to communicate with them, I also felt that some of their traditions may still be alive today, in new forms, especially in their songs and dances.

Conclusions

Today the traditions and cultures are changing faster and at a bigger scale. The changes in the past were rare and slow because interactions with outsiders were few. Now the contexts around us and the historical events force us in different directions.

I think that some of the ethnic minority groups that I had met in south Yunnan, would also have parts of their clans in India and Vietnam across the borders. It could be interesting to look at those clans to see how they have changed in other contexts.

In these reflections, my focus was more on clothes and dances. Languages, customs, rites, religions can be other areas to look at, if we wish to think of traditions and authenticity!

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My favourite squares - People's Square in Rome

If you ask me about the most beautiful square I have seen during my travels around the world, I will be hard put to answer you. From Sukhbataar square in Ulaan Bataar  (Mongolia) to the futuristic square of the Brazilian National Congress building in Brasilia (Brazil), the world is full of beautiful squares. Still, the People's square in Rome, called Piazza del Popolo by the Italians, would be near the top of the list. This post is for sharing some of my favourite photographs from the People's square in Rome.

An overview of Piazza del Popolo Square

"Piazza del Popolo" is an oval shaped square, elongated at the two ends. The picture above, showing a night view, gives an overview. It was taken from a small hill (Pincio hill) on the eastern side of the square  and shows the back of the Rome statue with two rivers sitting on his two sides.

In the middle of the square, there is an Egyptian obelisk surrounded by fountains. On the opposite end, there is the Neptune statue and the road behind it goes towards St. Peter's.

On the right side, to the north, where we see the branches of a tree, is Santa maria del Popolo church and the Flaminia gate. On the left side, we can see one of the twin churches, and the three streets between them (the Trident) going towards the centre of Rome.

Story of Nero's shrine

Historians say that this square was the site of a shrine to the Roman emperor Nero and that shrine was destroyed in 11th century, replaced by a church.

Some people believe that Nero was greatly loved by the Romans. The church did not like Nero's cult so his shrine was destroyed and his reputation was deliberately smeared by saying that he had made Rome burn and then played fiddle, while people were running around, trying to salvage their belongings. Others' say that Nero's shrine was destroyed because his ghost used to trouble the Romans.

Another story about this square is that once there was a forest of Poplar trees that gave this square its name, though now the word "popolo" is understood as "people".

The gate & the church from "Angels and Demons"

Any way, let us start a virtual tour of this square. We shall start from the northern end, which has the Aurlian walls and the Flaminia gate. Flaminia was one of the ancient roads of Roman empire that went towards Rimini on the north-eastern coast. Along the Aurlian walls was Muro Torto (crooked wall) with the un-sanctified cemetery where criminals, prostitutes and other marginalised persons were buried.

The picture above shows square side of the Flaminia gate and on the right, Santa Maria del Popolo church. This gate was designed by Michelangelo and built by Vignola in the 16th century. In 17th century, to welcome the queen Christina of Sweden, who had converted to Catholicism, welcome words were written above the gate.

The picture below shows the same gate, also called Porta del Popolo (People's gate) from the outside, from the side of the Flaminia metro and railway station.

The picture below shows Santa Maria del Popolo (St. Mary of the people) church, next to the gate. This church is full of mosaics, paintings, sculptures and is made in rich baroque style. I love the two paintings of renaissance artist Caravaggio in this church. It became even more famous because of the popular writer Dan Brown, whose book "Angels and demons", on which a film was also made, had scenes based in this church. Thus, this church is often on the tourists' visit list.

The almost twin churches

On the other side, opposite the Flaminia gate, are two churches, also known as twin churches. I love the picture of the twin churches below because it was taken on an early morning, around 6 AM and thus, the square was almost empty.

If you just take a casual look, the two churches look similar, however they are not exactly the same. The church on the right, Santa Maria dei Miracoli, has an octagonal (8 sided) dome while on the left, Santa Maria di Montesanto church, has a ten-sided dome. If you look again at two domes above and count the number of sides you can see, clearly the dome on the left has narrower sides.

As the whole square is so imposing and monumental, it is not easy to stop and look at the details. However, if you have time, stop and look carefully and each building is full of interesting details. As an example, the next 3 images show some details from the Santa Maria dei Miracoli church.

3000 years old Egyptian obelisk

Now let us look at the Egyptian obelisk at the centre of the square. The picture below is from my early morning visit in 2005 when this obelisk was undergoing restoration. Except for that one occasion, I have always found this place teeming with persons.

In the image below, you can see the dome of St. Peter's in Vatican city, against the Rome skyline. This view of the square is from the Pincio hill. Coming back to the obelisk, it is more than 3000 years old. It was brought to Rome in 10 AD by Roman emperor Augustus when Egypt had become part of the empire. For centuries, this obelisk was placed in Circo Massimo, the site of Roman sporting events, near Colosseum.

This obelisk, from the times of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, was shifted to this square in 16th century. In 19th century, 4 fountains with Egyptian looking lions were built at its base.

The images below can give you an idea of this place in summer, when the whole square seems full of people and there is hardly a place to sit here.

Piazza del Popolo in films

Gus Van Sant's "My own private Idaho" was shot here, and there was a scene where Mike (River Phoenix) wakes up at the base of the obelisk.

Many other films have been shot here. In 1945, Rossellini had shot here "Rome, open city". Via Margutta, a side street of Via del Babuino, near Santa Maria di Montesanto has the house which was shown as Gregory Peck's home in Roman Holidays (1953). In 1974, Italian director Ettore Scola had shot  here "We all loved each other so much" (C'eravamo tanto amati). In 1978, Weber had shot "Hotel Locarno" at the eponymous hotel on the side of this square.

However, the most significant film shot here was probably, "In the Year of the Lord" (Nel anno del signore) by Italian director Gigi Magni in 1969. This film was about rebellion against the rule of the Pope Leo XII in Rome in 18th century when two Carbonari resistance fighters, Angelo Targhini and Leonida Montanari were executed here. A plaque on one of the walls of the square commemorates their fight.

Rome and Neptune fountains

Let us take a look at the two fountains and sculptures on the eastern and western corners of the square. On the east, the group of three sculptures has Rome standing with the two rivers, Tiber and Anniene, sitting by his sides. In the centre, in front of Rome, is the symbol of Rome - a female wolf feeding the twins, Romulus and Remus. According to this story, Romulus had founded the city of Rome.

I was a little surprised by these statues because I would have imagined Rome and the two rivers in female forms and not as men. Around the central sculptures, there are many other sculptures on the sides and at the back, as you can see in the 2 images below.

Below, in the night image of the Rome sculpture on the eastern end of the square, you can see also see the Egyptian sphinx as well the fountain underneath.

Above the Rome group of sculptures, you can also see the terrace at the top of Pincio hill.

On the opposite side of the square, the group of sculptures is dominated by Neptune, holding the trident in his hand.

Arts, Events and People in the square

Piazza del Popolo is a hugely popular place, often the venue of music concerts and art exhibitions. The images below present some of those special events.

The image below has a Michael Jackson look-alike showing the dance steps of his idol in the square.

The two images below are from a sports function in the square, where Rome statue seems to be playing the role of the referee.

The image below has a street artist called Fabio Cicirelli showing acrobatics.

The next two images are of a wonderful art installation called "Trash People" made by Hu Schult in 2007.

Finally, to close this post, the group picture from the marriage of a naval officer in front of the Santa Maria del Popolo church.

Conclusions

I hope that you have liked this virtual tour of the Piazza del Popolo square.

For almost 20 years, I have crossed this square so many times, on my way to the meetings, as usually I needed to change the bus at Flaminia. I have enjoyed visiting this square so many times, sometimes only rushing through, at other times, sitting under the obelisk and thinking of the history this place must have seen.

This post is my way of saying thank you to this square for all the pleasure I have received from it!

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