Ahmed Shajee Aijazi: Under The Ramadan Moon

Photo © Ahmed Shajee Aijazi-All Rights Reserved

Ahmed Shajee Aijazi is another graduate of my Multimedia For Photographers class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop held in Chiang Mai. Titled Under The Ramadan Moon, it's Ahmed's personal take on how the Muslim community in Chiang Mai observe and experience the month-long fast during Ramadan.

This is one of the three multimedia projects that were made in color, and Ahmed exerted much effort to gather its image and audio files despite fasting himself. Difficult under any circumstance, but Ahmed persevered, and completed a worthwhile project he ought to be very proud of.

Ahmed Shajee Aijazi is a Karachi-born photographer, with a formal background in art and design. Known as Shajee (Arabic/Urdu for "courageous"), he has been involved with professional photography for over five years now. His works have received regular press coverage in reputed papers like Dawn, Express Tribune and AAJ News.

Cheryl Nemazie: Night At The Naga

Here's the multimedia work of Cheryl Nemazie, a photographer who attended my Multimedia For Photographers class at the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Chiang Mai.

She singlehandedly produced this impressive audio slideshow and spent hours, not only photographing at the Naga Tattoo parlor on Loi Kroh Road, but also with her laptop in class and elsewhere, adjusting the linear sequence of her photographs, syncing her multi layered audio track to the photographs, and preparing her photographs as best she could to preserve their integrity. During her first visit, since the tattoo parlor 's music system played the music of Johnny Cash, the employees obliged her during her subsequent photo shoots by playing it again, so as to have the same soundtrack for her project. During the project's various showing in class, we pumped up the volume so as to enjoy "Ring of Fire" and "I Walk The Line".

Cheryl attended the very first Foundry Photojournalism Workshop in Mexico, then the one in Buenos Aires last year. A successful art director and graphic designer for an international hotel chain, she decided to embark on a second career as a documentary and fine art photographer. Her recent exhibitions include Children Raising Children, Living in the Wake of AIDS, Lessons from the Ring: Main Street Gym.

Night At The Naga can also be seen on Vimeo.

Presentation Night: Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

Well, the Saturday evening presentations of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop were held at the Chiang Mai University, and I can confirm that the evening was a total success.

My Multimedia For Photographers class presentations started with Near Sky, a monochromatic photo essay documenting the production of the Chaw Fah (symbols atop the spires of temples) by Alycia Down,  followed by Close Encounters of the Foundry Kind by Amean J...consisting of clips of Foundry students expressing their expectations from the Workshop, then followed by Loun Steve, a personal insight into the life of an American expatriate living in Chiang Mai, afflicted by Tourette disease and Huntington's Disease by Christina Malkoun.

Then it was Ahmed Shajee Aijazi's turn for his personal take on Muslim life in Chiang Mai with his Under The Ramadan Moon, which depicted the Islamic tradition of fasting during Ramadan, and this was followed by Aroy May? by Adelina Abad-Pedrosa, a photo essay of the vibrant street food culture in Chiang Mai, which was followed by Cheryl Nemazie's Night At The Naga, a monochromatic look (complete with the foot thumping music of the legendary Johnny Cash) of a tattoo parlor on Loi Kroh Road.

Three of the audio slideshows were in black and white, and three were in color. All of them different from a visual standpoint and content.

NB: It is indeed a small world. I met a photographer who turns out lived on the same street I am on now in New York City...she moved a few years ago, but what are the odds of that happening? And another photographer who saw me on Sudder Street in Kolkata last October...she also stayed in a nearby hotel and ate at some of the same restaurants. Incredible isn't it?

Most of the photographers with whom I spoke to were following my The Travel Photographer blog...which chuffs me a lot.

Almost Finished....Foundry Photojournalism Workshop

Photo © Ahmed Shajee Aijazi

Well, the week passed by like a flash! The hard work during my Multimedia For Photographers class (yesterday -Friday-, my students and I spent around 12 hours non-stop in class putting the finishing touches to the multimedia projects) paid off, and the projects are very well done, imaginative and personal.

Tonight is the night when all the students attending the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop will be presenting their individual work...and I bet some haggard-looking people will be walking around like zombies by the end of the day.

Despite spending long hours in class, I find that reviewing portfolios is the most difficult and exhausting of all the tasks I do during the Workshop. It's challenging to provide honest but candid yet constructive opinons about the work presented by the photographers...much of the work I've seen during the portfolio review session was thoughtful, interesting and some outright beautiful...and all was needed was a few suggestions here and there.

Roost Cafe (Salad Bar) at Jalan Dhoby, Johor Bahru.

Roost Cafe (Salad+ Bar) (N1.45717 E103.76424) also located at Jalan Dhoby of Johor Bahru which is another few shops from the Roost Juice+ Bar. The cafe is at the first floor of the corner shop of the row, where you won't miss this prominent cafe if you drive from Jalan Trus.

Roost Cafe (Salad Bar) at Johor Bahru

We visited the cafe after our dinner at Roost Juice Bar, and this cafe seems like only selling drinks and salads...
It's located on the first floor and it was a total different atmosphere compare with the Juice Bar...there is a non-air contional area once we reach the first floor...the Furniture is Awesome! The tables and chairs have a special design and all made by old timber!

There were some high bar stools which modified and made from used paint container! I was attracted by the design!

The bar stools which made from used paint containers...

Then we walked into the another session, air-conditioned...I was Amazed!

The indoor and air-conditioned area of Roost Cafe (Salad Bar)

The bookrack stunned me for a moment! Excellent design!
Well...at least the First I saw it at Johor Bahru!

The Unique Bookrack

Let me show you all the different desgin of the seats and tables...

Table and chairs made by cardboard.

Stool made by recycle newspaper

I like the cardboard set and the newspaper stool very much!

Shopping trolley chair!

I couldn't snap all the tables and chairs in the cafe because of others customers around...visit yourself and witness it! :)
Beside the furniture, the creative lighting also became part of important decoration to the environment...

The Creative lightings of Roost Cafe

Didn't expect the empty Jagermiester bottle can be so nice after filled in the bulbs...

The area created an calm environment and its a nice place for friends gathering...I like it unpretentious, simple and utilitarian...

All the design, furniture and lighting made and created by the owner himself. Well, I'm happy and appreciated that the owner of the cafe (Mr Wong) is generously sharing his creativity to the public, will find a chance to chat with him in the future...
I wish I can buy one of the wooden set at the outdoor area...:)

The special water tap at the washroom

It will be a good arrangement that having dinner at Juice Bar and enjoy the Yogurt Coffee at the Roost Salad+ Bar. The operating hour is from 6pm-12am. I will be back for SURE!

Do visit it if you like this Roost Cafe, feel the different experince!
I call it The Art Cafe!

Location map fo Roost Cafe (Salad+ Bar) at Jalan Dhoby, Johor Bahru.

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My Work: I'm Getting Serious Now....Muay Thai

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I was very glad to have attended a late night Muay Thai at the Loi Kroh dingy and grubby boxing ring. I had access to wherever I wanted to go, which included chatting up the bar girls (and the ladyboys) who work at the bars and drinking spots surrounding it. The most incongruous was a store selling Muay Thai paraphernalia such as gloves and shorts at the entrance of the area, and owned by a veiled Muslim woman. She didn't seem to be fazed by the going ons at the abutting girlie bars.

I had my Fuji X Pro1 fitted with the 18mm lens, and used it whenever the fighters came close to the edges of the ring such as the one above. I also had my Canon 7D with a 70-200 as reserve when I needed the reach.

I am buzzed by the scene in that area....the hardness of the Muay Thai fights and the "softness" of the bar girls...two extreme, and probably motivated by the same thing; the need to make money.

Tia And Thom Of Loi Kroh...And The Lovely Bar Girl

All Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Loi Kroh Road is an interesting byway in the Old City of Chiang Mai, and a section of it in particular has been a magnet for the type of street photography I do.

Lined with girlie bars with television screens and billiard tables, it also has its shares of tattoo parlors, Texas-style saloons, and fortune tellers. It's also where I met Thom who's a bartender/bouncer at one of the girlie bars in an alley that leads to a grubby Muay Thai boxing ring.

I also meeting Tia, a little person, who supposedly is a Muay Thai fighter but is more of a clown (as I discovered later on). He is a very effective poser...and looks fierce in his outsized gloves.

As for the lovely young woman who was tending bar at one of the many establishments, I assured her that by placing her photograph on my blog would bring her not only luck, but many suitors.