this just in
FRIENDS IN FAR OFF PLACES
As always I am rambling with my thoughts here going in no particular direction. I have been here for almost a week and as a dark cloud started to cover my heart I go to meet Atta Ullah. The short version is he is a rug seller that has taken a shine to my friend, colleague, Delhi drinking buddy, and all around cool chick Line Wolf Nielsen. She introduced me to him when I mentioned I needed help with as story. Like I said, she's cool like that. He took me out showed me the market, introduced me to migrant day laborers, had tea with me, and when we parted ways he hugged me and kissed my cheeks as if I was his own son.This may have been the best day here so far. I keep saying that I'm a decent photographer but my best skill is making friends. No matter where I go people look out for me. I am trying to continue my efforts to pay the kindness forward. It's the epitome of wishful thinking to hope that the rest of my days are like this. I have a little over a week and a half until the election is behind me(more wishful thinking). Til then I'm keeping my head down and my wits about me. More later. 
Atta Ullah being his charming self.
IN AFGHANISTAN
I am out of Delhi and away from my usual downtime shenanigans. I'm back to work on my third election in the last year. I have landed in Kabul and will be in Afghanistan for the elections until August 25th at the earliest. If any of my favorite editors need an assignment covered please give a ring to either of my Afghan numbers: +93-799-244-383(primary) or +93-787-598-436(what self respecting international photojournalist only has one) or email at me@keithbedford.com. I am checking it a few times a day. WOULD YOU LIKE WINE WITH YOUR DINNER?
Note: I wrote this a week ago. I just could not post it until the NYT story ran. In rare display of in flight lucidity I am awake through a haze of scotch and Xanax. One prescribed and one not recommend with the other. Usually I am not a happy flier. This time I find myself awake, charming and a just a bit flirty as my air hostess hands me a glass of wine and my in flight meal over my reporter as we glide along mid-way between Colombo and Delhi. I managed to pull out a few hours of sleep from my pharmaceutical induced coma before being awakened by Ritika asking if I would like wine with my dinner. Why yes my dear I would like a glass of wine. It was been a trying twelve days and a glass of wine and your pretty smile would certainly wash away some of my aches, pains, and frustrations for a trip that was only partially successful. After several days of asking we were finally given the go ahead to visit the IDP camps that house the nearly 300,000 people displaced by the war between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers. We spent roughly 11 hours of travel by car and five hours of waiting before being escorted by a military press handler for a little over an hour of time spent in the camp. Below is some of what I made as the aforementioned press guys screams at me to only make positive pictures. Lovely. For a better idea of the situation see Lydia Polgreen's story here. She's a pleasure to work with it, a much better writer and delivers more insight than I do. I am after all sleepy and enamored with my air hostess.
WHERE AM I AGAIN? OH, RIGHT. SRI LANKA.
I am in Sri Lanka for the next week or so on assignment. I have been dying to make my way back here since 2006. It's been well worth the wait. I can be reached at +94 .77 . 663 .5339. I am not sure what the week after brings. If a gig comes through I will be in Southern Punjab until the end of the month. We will see.
AN OFF DAY IN DELHI
photo by Sanjit Das
I have had a pretty busy couple of weeks. I have been to an different state every week since the start of the elections here and I am really tired. A few days ago I helped my friend Sanjit light portrait of a CEO for a matrimonial website where this picture was taken. I look like such a man of leisure lounging on his estate in this picture. The sad part is it only reminded me of how tired I am. Since I don't have an estate of my own with a pool to lounge by I did the next best thing an exhausted photojournalist could do. I took the day off. Keep in mind it is 110(f) here. II went to the pool, took a swimming class, flirted with a pretty blonde, grocery shopped for a dinner party, and had several beers and dinner with Sanjit and Suzanne.I pretty much fucked off the entire day. No archiving, no editing, no shooting, no research, just an day off. After weeks of politicians, rock throwing, flash bangs and tear gas, writing, archiving, researching, shooting, early mornings, and late nights, I think I earned a little break. Tomorrow I am back to work. Today can be my Sunday.
BACK TO THE GRIND
It's been a busy week since coming back from Kashmir. I've been to one embassy or another to work on a j-visa to Pakistan, hosted a new friend, prepared for the Stumping Grounds gallery show, and spent a couple of mornings at an akharas (wrestling gym) to shoot Kushti. Kushti, is a traditional style of Indian wrestling that takes place in a clay pit on a soil mixed with ghee(denatured butter). Each wrestler is responsible for tending to the soil as well as adhering to a strict regimen of exercise, a diet of mostly milk, almods, ghee, chapattis, and eggs, and celibacy that is meant to give them both physical and spiritual strength. It's been fun to watch. I'm trying to get back to a promise I made to myself in an earlier post that I would do more portraits. I'm also working on a short multi-media piece that I hope to have finished before heading to Pakistan next week. I'm crossing my fingers. I have been behind on my archiving, captioning and photoshop work the last couple of weeks and really need to catch up. I've had more fun working and living here the past few weeks, but I really need to get back to the grind. TEAR GAS DAYS AND H*@H H@%H NIGHTS
In Kashmir covering the fourth stage of India's election. It's been four days of long days of shooting, walking, eating, drinking, the more shooting, walking, eating drinking, and then more shooting eating, drinking, topped off by a pretty wild day of tear gas, rock throwing, and angry threatening rock mob. What more can you ask for? Despite all of this, Kashmir has given me some of the friendliest and giving people I have ever met, the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen, and the best time I have since being in India. Srinagar,how I love you.
A GOOD WEEK
Today I got a nice surprise. I am in both Time and Newsweek's Asian and Middle East editions. I have been hitting the pavement pretty hard the last two months working on a project and trying to cover the election issues a bit(see below). I got a double truck in Newseek and half a page in Time. To say I am over the moon is an understatement. The ego boost helps but it's really good to get the sense the I have good news judgement. After being sick for the better part of the week and suffering a great deal of heart ache this is the sort of thing to lift the spirits.
SEPARATION ANXIETY
It's easy to see why I would be so home sick as I write this post. I am in the state of Orissa to cover Christians celebrating their first Easter after secular violence against them last August by Hindu fundamentalist. All of this with the upcoming election as a backdrop. So far things seem pretty quiet with everyone on their best behavior since there are a ton of para-military soldiers keeping watch. I am sitting around boiling because we are going through the second power outage in six hours. Another reason to get a wireless card and a bgaan asap. It's not just the feeling of missing home but the loss of high speed internet, the cool breeze of an AC or at least a fan, Starbucks coffee(yeah I know it's corporate evil, but I'm addicted), and consistant power. All these things I take for granted at home. All of these things come here when they come and not a minute before. People stretch out relax in the shade and wait it out. I stress that my pictures have not filed. My pal Scott Eells who spent years in the trenches here says patience needs to be my new mantra. With that in mind I am taking a deep breath, drinking chai on a hot street in a dusty town and enjoying the site of beautiful women in pretty saris. I realize I am actually starting to like it here.
THESE FRIENDS OF MINE
I have always thought that my greatest talent was the ability to make friends. I have been kind of lacking in that department since I left New York. I've been so moody lately that you can see the dark cloud over my head clear as day. As luck would have it a few people from home are in town and a few new people have stepped up to the plate to help me though the transition. I usually only post work that is"serious' but we had a great time taking pix of each other, drinking, laughing and catching up. I feel I get a little more creative when I have other people to bounce my ideas off of. It's good to hear other voices sometimes and not just the one in my head. I need to remember that no man is an island. THESE FRIENDS OF MINE - Images by Keith BedfordFollow Me
