Quote >>> Who am I? Where do I belong? Who determines my future? Society has no answer to these restless questions. Our sense of identity, kinship and community, are at worst shattered by the experience of migration and at best are thrown into uncertainty.

The universal declaration of human rights talks of a world "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status". The reality, particularly for the economic migrant, is very different.

Physical, emotional, social and intellectual exclusion reinforce a migrant's sense of displacement and alienation. The powerful may glide over such barriers, touching down for business, for pleasure or even out of guilt. For those without power, parting is painful, and each barrier crossed, like the ferry ghats of the big rivers, broadens the distance they must travel to return.

Expectations, dreams, duties and needs circumscribe the life of an economic migrant. The single hope, to change one's destiny, is what ties all migrants together, whether they be the Bangladeshis who work in the forests of Malaysia, the bonded labourers in the sugarcane plantations in India, the construction workers in the Middle East or
the hopeful thousands bound for the promised lands of Europe and North America. They see migration not merely as a means to economic freedom, but also as a passport for social mobility. The wealthy can purchase the future they desire. But a migrant who chooses to rewrite an inherited destiny swims against the current and faces the wrath of
the gatekeepers who shape that destiny. <<< Unquote

---Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam explores issues and experiences of migration, transition and resettlement in an important new exhibition, Migrations, at Gallery Oldham from 19 July to 27 September. Migrations is co-produced by Gallery Oldham and Futuresonic in partnership with Drik, Bangladesh.

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The Offstone exhibition Photo Essays V 2 comes to an end this weekend 27th July. I'll be taking it down on Sunday.

Autopsy time? Have received huge numbers of feedback through the email and these are the top 10 results (drum roll.....)
(we start at 10 and work our way to #1)

10. Layout idea of hanging prints simple, spacious but workable
9. Saturday afternoon photo talks helpful and relevant
8. 'What's your next photo essay project?'
7. 'The prints are warping (!!!)'
6. 'Do you have Vicki's number?'
5. Where in Thailand (wrong country) did you shoot this story?
4. 'There's only ONE toilet'
3. 'What film did you shoot with?'
2. (receiving phone calls) 'Where's the Museum?'
1. 'Great Food!' (at the opening reception)

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I managed to get my only photo submission (titled 'What is Snow?') accepted by the selection committee of the National Day photo book, 'What Makes Us Singaporeans'. No money involved they did give me a couple of free tickets for the parade on 9 Aug at the National Stadium. I'm happy and a few of the other guys at Offstone had their entries accepted as well. Cant wait to get my hand on one of the 150,000 copies they've printed. Give me a call if you need your copy autographed! (heh heh heh!)

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I continue to track closely the Tour de France bicycle race on the internet daily. Why? Try riding a bicycle at almost 50km an hour for 3 straight weeks around France (a week of it in the high mountains).

Its a test not only of the human body but of the human spirit for victory and, to many of the racers, for simple survival. Its the very epitome and reason why humans have survived ages while logic dictates that we should've been rendered extinct as a species a thousand years back (then again, that could still happen looking at what's happening with the environment these days)

Its been one fascinating Tour with Lance Armstrong being attacked daily in the mountains and still holding and building on his lead. Tyler Hamilton won the last mountain stage of the Tour, riding against and surmounting a field of more than 150 of the top cyclists in the world with a fractured collarbone!

This Tour HAS also got to be a coup for english speaking riders. Lance in yellow, 2 Aussies heading up the points competition and Tyler and Baden with a stage victory each.

I'd bet a hundred bucks that this'll turn into a Hollywood movie one day.

The other fascinating parallel that I've drawn from the Tour whose combatants ride some of the best racing bicycles in the world is that common fascination with equiptment...not unlike the world of photography.

I quote the Tech Talk section in www.letour.com '..... While not exactly having the best Tour de France of his career (finishing 68th in today's stage), Dario Cioni can take some solace in the fact that he does have one of the most beautiful bikes in the peloton.....'

I'd just replaced a couple of critical words and it now reads like '......While not exactly having the best photos of his career (finishing 68th in today's photo salon), Dario Cioni 's Leica/Contax/etc etc can take some solace in the fact that he does have one of the most beautiful cameras in the group of 70....'

The parallels we draw in life.....

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Bp Kristupa, one of the founders of www.fotografer.net (FN) (an Indonesian photography forum very much like Offstone) dropped by in Singapore for a couple of days. Got to meet him and his lovely wife (Happy) and gotta say, he's a champ of a guy.

He was buying photo equiptment like crazy 'photo supplies and equiptment is too expensive in Indonesia!' (the salesman at Cathay Photo....I could tell.... he wanted to give me a big hug and a kiss!)

Met up with several Indonesian photo buffs who're located here in Singapore like Gladia, Kartono and Leonny and husband.

FN is barely 9 months old and has a registered membership base (free) of 6000 photographers. Due to FN's young age, this number should at least double over the next year and continue growing.....AND this does not even include photographers who have no access to an Internet connection and/or even a scanner!

With the help of an Indonesian speaking staff at the office, I got myself registered at FN and a first step into its members' photo gallery was intimidating. I found the quality of photo submissions of a high standard (well the number of 'mundane snapshots' seemed to be in the 3-5% region!) Don't believe me? Go visit the gallery yourself.

What I really liked about it is that each member can upload ONLY ONE photo every 24 hrs (well....at Offstone, we have guys posting 24 photos in ONE hour....kidding, but u get the idea) AND only after that member had given a critique to at least 2 submissions by other members. That's gotta force the guys there at FN to REALLY think and cull their works and post only what they feel are their best efforts.

They seem very generous and overly kind in their comments though with very few daring to dissect a work and give an objective critique. I'm going in there to rock the boat a little with my critiques .....and maybe post a couple of my bin shots to generate more forthright comments (Pak Kristupa, if you're reading this, I put on record now that this is what you've encouraged me to do!)

The other serious problem I have at FN are the names of members. I just can't doggone figure out if I'm speaking to a male or female (you tell me...what is the gender of folks with first names like Riza, Gladia, Faris and Aie???!!!)

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Yudhi Soerjoatmodjo who owns the 'i see' gallery in Jakarta has touched base with me yesterday. I'm so happy! One of Indonesia's pre-eminent art photographers, he was very cordial and would be glad to meet up with me. He 'enjoyed visiting walkeast.com' which also made my day (the egoistical bastard that I am)

I'd better do some homework before we meet lest I blurt out something stupid like 'What's your favourite focal length?'

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