Photographers: Get Featured & Win a Photojojo Gift Card!

Yes, that's right, the first Latitudes photo contest in 2013! Every month or so Latitudes will pick a photo from one of the members to be featured on the homepage. Sounds fun right?

We decided to up the ante a bit, from now on we will choose a different category every month. This month's category, befitting the upcoming Chinese New Year is: "Celebrations, Festivities and Good Times!" You can interpret this theme any way you want...nights out on the town, birthday parties, fireworks...as long as the images had something to do with Southeast Asia. Get featured on Latitudes and you win a $25 Photojojo Gift Card. A what? Well, this gift card you can shop around at the awesome Photojojo store, full of nifty photography gadgets.

30th Malaysia International Salon of Photography Exhibition 2012

By: Diana van Oort

The Photographic Society of Malaysia (PSM) has been actively promoting various kinds of photography activities, popularizing and upgrading the level of Malaysian photography. The bi-annual Malaysia International Salon of Photography Exhibition provides an excellent platform for photographers from all over the world to exchange views, learn from each other and explore international perspectives while pursuing high technical photographic skills.

Throughout the years, there has been an increase in the participation of photographers from more countries and that has increased the level of photographic excellence. The participating photographers come from around the world: Singapore, Hong Kong, Belgium, France, Germany, UK, Taiwan, Denmark, Canada, Ukraine, New Zealand, India, China, Malaysia, Slovenia, Indonesia, Vietnam, US, Macau, Australia and Sweden. 1,700 entries are selected amongst 6,000 entries from 22 countries for this year’s competition, which is about 2,000 entries more than last year. Out of these 1700, 100 were chosen as award winning entries and will be on display.

Coming of Age: Forgotten Faces of a Greying Asia

By: Diana van Oort

A friendly, wrinkly face greeted me, when I looked at the announcement of the exhibition. This was something I wanted to see. Looking at all these beautiful, old Asian faces in both black and white and color evoked different emotions. Sometimes you felt joy, hope, saw wisdom, other times sadness and a deep loneliness. Coming of age is an exploration of senescence, the state of being old.

David Tay Poey Cher, President of the Photographic Society of Singapore, and former CEO of Singapore Press Holdings Magazines, traveled two years through Asia to capture the different stages and aspects of ageing. He has a deep appreciation for common elderly people who are often forgotten and overlooked. ‘Because they evoke an emotion. Most people appreciate pretty images, but it is emotional images that move them’, David explains.

A guide told me the interesting stories behind the photographs. Following the tradition of street photography, David took his time, he talked to the people, listened to their stories and only then he made his photographs. He didn’t want to be just a passer-by.

“AS PAINT GOES BY…” a Photo Essay by Beatriz Mousinho & Tania Won

As Paint goes by is a photo essay made by Maria Beatriz Mousinho (Portugal) and Tania Won (Russia). Beatriz is an artist who does different solo projects and for her it was first time to work with a partner. Her first exhibition was in 2008 in Holland, her last was in Indonesia in 2011. Tania Won is a photographer who lives on Bali (Indonesia). She started her life as a photographer in 2006 and had her first foreign solo exhibition in February 2012 in Cambodia.

...A broken shell is as beautiful as a shell that is perfect...”
(Martim, 5 years old)

Beauty exists in everything and in every stage of its existence. Wrinkles are statements of life on the skin, memories of moments that once existed. They create patterns, transforming a historyless surface into a map indicating the travelled roads and paths, through mountains and deserts, rivers and seas of life.

Old age people show different skin maps, and in their beauty and diversity can be read how they have lived their existence.

We have chosen 11 different women in Bali, Indonesia, with ages ranging from around 75 to over 100. Their lives differ, some worked hard, some lived more stronghearted than others, some still have a bright and strong energy that makes them look like young girls, some collapsed in their sorrows.

Study Group Photography: The Story behind the Image

Study group Photography and New Media by Tino Djumini

Spotlight Media and Cemara 6 Art Gallery in Jakarta, in cooperation with Latitudes, organize a study group photography! In this study group  the basics and practice of photography and new media are presented to beginners and advanced photographers. The idea and concept behind the image and the engagement with the subject are the main areas of the courses. We start with a short history of photography and how the medium developed over the years, from the analogue camera, pinhole and photogram to the digital SLR that dominates today’s photography practices. The course encompasses a wide range of aspects emphasizing the importance of photography and its ability of changing the way people look at daily life reality.

And the Winner is…

Congratulations Awis Shinoda, your picture will be featured on Latitudes in February! You win a Sweex Digital Key Chain that let's you take up to 69 of your favorite pictures with you wherever you go! We loved the lines and curves depicted in this work. Congratulations again and see alll of you next month, when we pick another featured photograph! Keep uploading your pics into your Latitudes profile and on our wall and see your work featured on Latitudes.nu!

Lush Life, Photography Lia S. Daliani, Jakarta

Lia S. Daliani shows her work in the Cemara 6 Galeri, Jl. H.O.S. Cokroaminoto no. 9, Menteng, Jakarta.

And the Winner is…

The Transport Transport Photo Contest was a big success! Over 50 photo's were send in, all interpreting the theme of transportation in their own way.

All photos were taken in Indonesia, where photography seems to have become the nation's favorite pastime. We'd like to thank all photographers for participating and keep documenting life in all its facets. Photography after all, is a way to reflect and share.

Now it's time to announce the winners!

Capturing Perception, Through the Lens of Photography in Malaysia

By: Melissa Lin

Through the lens of photography we realize and capture our histories and stories. Where words fail, images help us to understand ourselves and each other better. Historically, photography in Malaysia has evolved, aesthetically and subject wise, with the rapidly shifting lifestyles and multitude of influence that has shaped this land into what it is today.

Technology has of course played a prominent role in determining how the medium of photography has diversified and branched out into being a tool and a medium for all to use, democratizing it, as photography is no longer afforded to those technically skilled with film, manual cameras and the darkroom.

Latitudes ‘Transport Transport’ Photography Contest Update

Thanks all photographers for your great contributions to our Transport Transport Photo Contest! In this update some info on how to upload photographs (as some of you seem to have trouble uploading photos, a sign for us to make this process a lot easier in the future). Also we will show you the latest contenders.

Vote for you favorite by clicking on the photo and then press 'like' or comment underneath!

How to Upload your Photo

You can upload your photo(s) by completing the following steps:

1. Create a profile and sign in.

2. Go to Photo on the dashboard above and select Upload New Photo.

3. Choose a file and create a new category, name it Transport Transport. You have to select this category, or create a new one for every photo you want to upload.

4. Add a title and description in English.

5. Click Upload and wait. It might take a few minutes. The photo will appear in your gallery. Click on it, copy the url link and paste it on our Facebook Wall (and spread it around to gather votes).