And if you’d like to see the rest of the photos from Expulsion, you can find them here!

“The monkey general Hanuman was a very close aid of the Prince. When the Prince’s lovely wife Sita was kidnapped and taken prisoner, the Prince asked Hanuman to help him rescue her. Hanuman didn’t hesitate. He called the monkey army together and devised a plan. First they would construct a bridge across the ocean. Then they would cross waters to the land where the Princess was being held, fight off her captors, and bring her safely home. One-by-one, the monkeys started lifting heavy boulders, and placing them on the sea. They would heave one huge stone after the other, and put them all down close together to form a causeway. But, as they were working, they noticed something strange. After struggling to move a big stone into place, the monkeys turned around to get another boulder. When they returned with the next stone, the one they had just left had disappeared. This happened again and again, until, finally, they went to inform Hanuman, their leader.”

-As retold by Toni Shapiro from The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Website

So if you’ll recall from my last entry, the Art’s Council of Long Beach asked The Coral Youth Institute to produce a commercial for use as a promotional tool for The Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach, CA to encourage the Cambodian Youth of Long Beach to learn more about their culture. The first part of the shoot covered the story of Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso, which was the subject of my previous entry here. The second part of the shoot was a simple taped interview session of several of the students in full costume. And once again, since getting the kids dressed up for the shoot was a major undertaking, several of the parents from KAA wanted me to capture some portraits of the kids once the commercial filming was done. So here’s a few shots from the shoot. Enjoy!

Btw, if you would like to find out how the story of Hanuman and Sovann Macha ends, you can visit The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Website here for another rendition retold by Toni Shapiro.

“There is a Cambodian legend that, once, a long time ago, there lived a goddess and a giant who were studying with the same teacher. A wise and powerful hermit who lived deep in the forest, the teacher possessed a magic ball, which he wanted to present to one of his devoted students. However, it was difficult for him to judge which of his star pupils, the goddess Moni Mekhala or the giant Ream Eyso, both of whom were just completing their studies with him, was more deserving of the ball. He decided to offer his pupils a challenge: The two were told to collect the morning dew. The first of them to present the hermit with a glassful of this liquid would be the winner. And the winner would receive the magic ball.”

-As retold by Toni Shapiro from The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Website

So a few weeks ago the Art’s Council of Long Beach asked The Coral Youth Institute to produce a commercial for use as a promotional tool for The Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach, CA. The commercial is being made in an attempt to encourage Cambodian youth, both male and female, throughout the Southern California region to learn more about their culture and tradition through the long standing art of Cambodian Classical Dance. At the same time, several of the parents from KAA wanted me to capture some portraits for them after the commercial filming was done since that was one of the few times outside of a performance in which the kids would be dressed up in full costume. And just as an FYI, it takes multiple dressers an average of an hour to literally sew one dancer into one of the costumes that you’ll typically see on my blog, gallery, and site in general. And when I mean sew, the dressers actually do sew the dancers into costume just as it has been done since the very beginning of Cambodian Classical Dance during the Angkor period. So since getting the girls dressed up for the shoot was a major undertaking, it only makes sense to kill two birds with one stone as the old saying goes. But that’s enough from me for now so enjoy the photos!

Oh and one last thing before you go. If you’re interested in reading more about the story of Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso you can visit The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Website here for a rendition as retold by Toni Shapiro. And for more pictures of the actual dance shot live during a performance by Khmer Arts Academy you can visit my Moni Mekhala and Ream Eyso gallery here.

Now, Sophiline also happens to be Julie’s dance instructor and when she found out that they were asked to perform at the Fellowship Concert, I instantly knew that I wanted to be there to cover it. Fortunately I was given the okay to do so by John Shapiro, Sophiline’s husband, and before I knew it September 24th rolled around and I was winging my way east to Washington, DC for this special occasion. I can honestly say that it was an honor to see Sophiline Cheam Shapiro perform in person at such a special event and I will be forever grateful to have seen it.

Anyways, on to the photos. As you’ll see, I’m only posting the photos from Sophiline and Khmer Arts’ performance of “Shadow” during the concert here on my blog. The rest of the photos from the entire concert will be available at my online at my client print gallery here at the NEA Heritage Fellowships Concert Gallery. And as always, enjoy!

Event: National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships Concert
Date: September 24, 2009
Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore
Location: North Bethesda, Maryland

Ok now that we’ve got the big announcement out of the way, I’m sure some of you are wondering what the real changes are aside from a new look. First of all Sojourn Foto has gone to a blog only site versus the old flash site that we used to run. I decided to make the change to a blog only site simply because it was much easier to update and much easier for the majority of the readers out there to view without the long wait. Plus I’ve decided that this site should finally live by a motto that I’ve always believed in: simplicity is sophistication.

The second and most important change is that Sojourn Foto has re-branded itself to concentrate primarily on my one true passion: Travel Photojournalism. Initially when Sojourn Foto was created, I had decided that while I loved travel photography, wedding photojournalism was the path that Sojourn Foto was headed towards in the future. However, after working as an assistant for two of Southern California’s top wedding photographers and covering a few weddings myself I decided that while I loved being a wedding photographer, my passion was still in travel photography and I could no longer deny that. It was a tough decision to re-brand Sojourn Foto but it’s one that I know is right because that’s where my heart truly belongs when it comes to taking photographs.

Now that doesn’t mean I plan to stop shooting weddings, other events and portraits forever. As a matter of fact you may see more of the aforementioned posted here than ever, it just simply means that my main focus will be on travel photography as I plan be more selective about which weddings, events and portraits I will shoot so that I can concentrate more on creating my own unique style of travel photography.

So what does the future hold for Sojourn Foto? Well as of now I can only simply tell you that I will be studying, learning and working hard to hopefully create a vision that will be unique to other travel photographers out there in an attempt to do what I’ve always wanted to do with my photographs: tell the story. And once I feel that I have reached a comfortable level, I plan to then publish my own photo book containing my best work in hopes of telling my story to the rest of the world. So with that said, keep an eye out for updates and I hope you enjoy the new Sojourn Foto!

Oh and before I go, I would like to introduce my new limited edition fine art series called “Portraits of an Apsara”. The first ever set was printed just this last month and auctioned off for charity at the 2009 Cambodian Heritage Camp for adopted Cambodian children this last July. Thankfully the series was a big hit with the families and hopefully that’s an indication of what’s to come in the future. If you’re interested in purchasing a set for yourself, each of the four 8×12 prints will come matted and framed in an 11×17 flat black frame and will be signed by myself and the dancer in the photos. The limited edition series will be limited to 100 framed and signed prints while non limited edition sets can be purchased as well but will only come as 4×6 prints in a 5×7 matte. Please contact me directly for more details.

Portraits of an Apsara