Amanda Koster: Salaam Garage

Photograph © Amanda Koster-All Rights Reserved
Amanda Koster is the force behind Salaam Garage Adventures, which connects travelers and enthusiasts with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Travelers commit to creating and sharing unique, independent social media that raises awareness and causes positive change. The rest of the adventure is spent touring around the region, experiencing and exploring the culture and environment with an entirely new context.

I've written about Amanda and her work with Moroccan women in an earlier post on TTP, and she's an internationally recognized photographer whose mission to raise the general public's awareness by documenting some of the world’s more compelling issues.

Her biography speaks for itself, but I'd like to highlight that "she combines her anthropology background with photographic and media-making skills to create inspiring media content as a means for powerful communication, storytelling and learning."

I couldn't have described her work any better, but I would've certainly added that her work is immensely sensitive.

Revamped Photo Expeditions Web Site

I've decided to ring the new year with a revamped website for my photo expeditions. I opted for the same color scheme as this blog, and used the same logo. I've simplified the interface and for visual effect, I added a Soundslides with some of my photographs.

Update: I changed the background color to white for legibility purposes. I also simplified the logo.

The Travel Photographer's Photo Expeditions

NY Times: Captivating Cappadocia

Yoray Liberman/Getty Images, for The New York Times-All Rights Reserved
Here's a fluff travel feature slideshow by the New York Times on Cappadocia in Turkey. The area Cappadocia is in Central Anatolia and is known for its unique moon-like landscape, underground cities, cave churches and houses carved in the rocks.These unusual rock formations were created as a result of eroding rains and winds of thousands of years.

Its troglodyte dwellings carved out of the rock, and its cities dug out into the underground, present an otherworldly appearance. During the Roman era the area served as a shelter for escaping Christians. It is believed that Cappadocia's area is 250 miles in length by about 150 miles in breadth, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I call it a fluff piece because this feature needs more photographs...photographs of the people living in these caves...of their communities...and some audio, either a narration or ambient music by the musician in the above photograph. Since it doesn't have that, it's nothing more than a page filler for the NYT.

The New York Times' Captivating Cappadocia .