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Photograph © Palani Mohan-All Rights Reserved
Vanishing Giants - Elephants of Asia is a collection of images by Palani Mohan, who devoted 6 years and traveled to 11 Asian countries to create this intimate glimpse into the world of the Asian elephant, a creature which (even as its African cousin flourishes) is threatened as never before.

It's been described as "a tale of two species; that of the elephant, and the humans with which it shares its abodes. It's a love story, and a war story, a history of animosity and attraction, a study of shattered symbiosis. For all through Asia, it seems, a love-hate relationship thrives where elephants and humans co-exist.

Palani 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.

Palani Mohan's Vanishing Giants slideshow.

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Here's VIVID, a blast of colors that will surely jolt your senses into overdrive! It's a collection of "color-caffeinated" photographs by Palani Mohan of various (mostly of the Indian Holi festival) scenes of tremendous color.

Palani 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. Palani's 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.

The Travel Photographer blog previously featured Palani Mohan's work here.

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Image © Palani Mohan-All Rights Reserved
On Tuesday, March 11, 2008 the Asia Society is holding a discussion & book signing: Vanishing Giants: Elephants of Asia, a look at man's relationship with Asian Elephants, with photographer Palani Mohan. (Details follow).

From the invitation, we gather that Vanishing Giants - Elephants of Asia "is a collection of extraordinary images that will provoke, intrigue and enthrall. Palani Mohan devoted 6 years and traveled to 11 Asian countries to create this intimate glimpse into the world of the Asian elephant, a creature which – even as its African cousin flourishes – is threatened as never before.

But this is far more than simply a book of elephant photographs. Rather, it’s a tale of two species; that of the elephant, and the humans with which it shares its abodes. It’s a love story, and a war story, a history of animosity and attraction, a study of shattered symbiosis. For all through Asia , it seems, a love-hate relationship thrives where elephants and humans co-exist."

Asia Society
725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, New York City
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
6:00–6:30pm: Registration
6:30–7:30pm: Photo Slide Show, Discussion and Audience Q & A
7:30–8:30pm: Meet the Author & Book Signing Reception

For full details: Asia Society: Vanishing Giants

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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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CNN brings us this short video, which was produced by Alex Zolbert, who traveled by train north of Delhi to witness and photograph the Dvitya Shahi Snan, or Second Royal Bath, on March 15, at the Ardh Kumbh Mela.

Photographs by Palani Mohan are included in the piece. Palani's 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.

As I wrote on my earlier posts about the Hardiwar Kumbh Mela, exuberant hyperbole (and imaginative press releases) describe it as the largest gathering of humanity. It is not. The distinction belongs to the Maha Kumbh Mela which occurs after 12 'Purna Kumbh Melas', or after every 144 years. It was held at Allahabad in early 2001, and was attended by over 60 million people, making it the largest gathering in the world. I would also say that, in my opinion and having been to both Allahabad and Hardiwar, that the latter is an unappealing city and its ghats are not photogenic.

Whether it's over-hyped or not, all of the photographers who attended it over the past few weeks had a wonderful time, and captured magnificent images.

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Image Copyright © Palani Mohan-All Rights Reserved
Reportage is a new website by Getty Images and home of photojournalism work from renowned photographers, and emerging new ones in documentary photography.

It's well produced, and contains galleries of marvellous photographs by Paula Bronstein, Chris Hindros, Farah Nosh, Spencer Platt, Amy Toensing, David Turnley, Reza and Ghaith Abul Ahad among others...most of whom have been featured in one way or the other on TTP's pages.

There's no question that this is an "inspiration stop" for all photographers, whatever we may think of large photo agencies.

Getty Images' Reportage

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The 2010 Angkor Photo Festival is to be held between November 20 to November 27 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The event is a unique photo festival in South East Asia,  and it's now in its 6th iteration, having had its inaugural gathering in 2005.

In 2010, 110 photographers including 50 Asian photographers are showcasing their work, in keeping with festival’s mission of highlighting emerging Southeast Asian photographers. These works are curated by  well-known figures in photography, Yumi Goto, Antoine d’Agata, and Françoise Callier .

This promises to be a real cornucopia of established and emerging photographic talent, with the participation of Olivia Arthur, Munem Wasif, Paolo Pellegrin, Shiho Fukada, Sohrab Hura, Rony Zakaria, Palani Mohan, Agnes Dherbeys and John Stanmeyer, amongst many others.

To keep up with developments, you can also drop by Angkor Photo Festival's Facebook Page

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The Angkor Photography Festival, the first of its kind in South-East Asia, was created in 2005 by Gary Knight, Christophe Loviny and Jean-Yves Navel. This year, for the third time, the temples of Angkor will become a hub for famous and passionate photographers from across the world.

The festival’s program cuts a broad swathe through the world of photography in Asia and plays host to “concerned” documentary photography and fine art photography. This year, the festival presents this part of the world through the eyes of photographers from Europe (Agnès Dherbeys Olivier Föllmi, and Simon Larbalestier among others), from the United States (Stephanie Sinclair, John Stanmeyer, and others), from India (Altaf Qadri, Dar Yasin and Palani Mohan) and many more.

The whole programme for the festival is available here

Angkor Photography Festival website