South Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan

[r.e.]

I'm planning a trip and would appreciate names of photographers who have published good books of photographs for these countries - social documentary, architectural/archeological or landscape, not front-line war stuff.

Thanks.

[Henry Ambrose]

This guy:

http://www.fazalsheikh.org/

I saw his pictures at the Art Institute Chicago several years ago.

[Struan Gray]

This stuck in my memory: www.masoodkamandy.com

Also, Galen Rowell published lots of photos from the mountain areas of Pakistan, touching on the war with India, but also general Nat. Geographic style reportage. When I visited in 1987 he was always referred to in tones of awe, by local political leaders and more ordinary people.

If you have a good climbing library nearby, Victor Saunders included a fair bit of background material in his book about Karakoram climbing, "Elusive Summits", although much of it is the standard and-then-and-then-and-then of expedition writing and will bore the non-climber.

Eric Newby's "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" is a classic of British travel writing. I don't know if he includes Afghanistan in his "What the traveller saw" book of photographs. For more general background Peter Hopkirk's popular history books are a good guide.

For South Africa, David Goldblatt and Roger Ballen are the obvious internationally-known names.

[r.e.]

Thanks, this is exactly the kind of thing that I'm looking for.

Henry, I had a look at Sheik's books on-line and ordered one. Amazed to discover that Amazon is selling off his book on Afghanistan for $17 a copy.

Struan, Kamandy's photographs of Amman bring back good memories. I was there two months before the invasion of Iraq. Never saw so many journalists and photographers in one place in my life, hanging out at the Amman Hilton and a bar called Books@Cafe, waiting for the Iraqi government to hand out visas. Apparently Kamandy spends time teaching photography at the university in Kabul. I may try to contact him. A Short Walk is my favourite travel book.

[Oren Grad]

Eric Newby's "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" is a classic of British travel writing. I don't know if he includes Afghanistan in his "What the traveller saw" book of photographs.

Two pictures only.

[r.e.]

This thread has given me a good start on this. Did some research on Goldblatt, which led me to a Cape Town gallery called Michael Stevenson that I think I want to visit when I get there. Just ordered a copy of Goldblatt's most recent book, David Goldblatt: Photographs, published as part of a retrospective exhibit of his work that was held last year at Arles.

[chacabuco]

http://www.simonnorfolk.com/

[davinci1490]

This guy:

http://www.fazalsheikh.org/

I saw his pictures at the Art Institute Chicago several years ago.

very powerful images!!

Thank you for posting

[Struan Gray]

r.e., I see from your sailing postings that you are in the UK. In which case I heartily recommend a visit to the RGS map room and library in London. Not only do they have a vast collection of classic ethnogaphic and exploratory reports from the twilight of empire, but they maintain a library of expedition reports from recent times too. All RGS-supported expeditions are required to submit a report, and many more register their data with them. All those university trips to improve drinking water supplies in Chitral or to study the populations of lesser-spotted sand sparrows in Windhoek are catalogued and available for study.

They have an online database too:

http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Fieldwork...nd+Reports.htm

[r.e.]

Struan,

I'm not from the UK, but I go there often. What a great idea, visiting the RGS map room and library. I used to buy their magazine, Geographical, but I haven't seen it on local newstands in a long time. The database is wonderful.