Submissions continue to roll in for our new student photo series.  If you are an incoming student we encourage you to review this entry for details on how to submit your own photos to display on the blog.

The first photos today come from Tamara Tschentscher, an incoming MPA student that will study Energy and Environment.

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The first picture was taken in South Africa in 2005 during a couple of months of conservation volunteer work. I have always been excited about nature, landscapes and wildlife, but that Summer I entirely fell in love with the African Savannah. This leopard cub – with its major habitat in the tree tops – was only one of many creatures that were so fascinating.

Believe it or not, but the round concrete object you see in the next  picture is an “improved, fuel-saving and smoke reducing stove” in  Ethiopia, which may save up to 50% biomass and reduces the risk of  respiratory diseases among women and children.

Like in many developing countries around the world (especially in African countries), more than 90% of energy consumption comes from biomass. In Ethiopia, the forest cover has been depleted down to 3%, fuel wood is getting increasingly more expensive and erosion more severe. The final picture shows merchants transporting coals and
fuel wood across Lake Tana, which often takes four hours or more (one way), to sell it in Bahir Dar.

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The next two photos come from Katherin McFarland, an incoming MIA student.

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The photo of the 3 boys was taken in Blue Creek Village, Belize.  I lived in Blue Creek Village during my Peace Corps service, and these were three of my favorite boys in the village. They were always willing to laugh and share a smile. The village was a Mayan village made up of about 300 people in the Toledo district in Belize. Pictured From left: Gari Ack, Atley Mas, and Clemento Mas.

The photo titled Jankunu_Dancer was taken in Dangriga, Belize. It is a close up of the Jankunu dancer during a cultural day performance. The history behind the Jankunu, (Jonkunnu, John Canoe) stems from West Africa as early as the 1700’s. In Belize, the Jankunu dance is typically done by the Garifuna and Kriol cultures. Men dress up in elaborate masks and decorations to represent colonial slave masters. The garifuna drums are played and the Jankunu dancers’ feet quickly move to and against the beat creating a limber and satirical dance for their spectators.

Submissions continue to roll in for our new student photo series.  If you are an incoming student we encourage you to review this entry for details on how to submit your own photos to display on the blog.

The first photos today come from Rahima Bensaid, an incoming MIA student.

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The first picture was taken in Chinatown, NYC.  These guys were playing bicycle polo, a fast-paced sport that’s also really fun to watch.

The second picture was taken in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.  Salvador is the home of Capoeira, and in this picture the older man is teaching the younger one how to play the pandeiro while the couple on the balcony above them watched.  It was a very quiet, cloudy day, and the few of us who were outside were lost in the beautiful sound of the pandeiro.

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The second set of photos was taken by Megan Colnar, an incoming MPA-DP student.

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Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia – The salt flats in Bolivia are one of the highest, driest places on earth. Though I went during the rainy season, a few hours later the land was already straining under the hot sun again.

Ntarama, Rwanda – In previous Hutu-lead killings throughout the 80’s and 90’s, Tutsis found refuge in churches across Rwanda. In 1994, Tutsis fled to  churches in hopes of finding safety. Instead of deterring the armed  Hutus, the churches acted as the largest centers for massacres in the  country. The remains of over 5,000 men, women and children can be found in the Ntarama Memorial.

Rajasthan, India – After this, I never complained about my seat assignment on an Indian train again.

I keep telling myself that one day I am going to take a photography class. I have always enjoyed taking photos, and my enjoyment spiked with the digital camera revolution that took place a few years back. I still remember the days of dropping my canisters of film off and coming back a few days later to pick up the physical photos. This includes when I lived in Korea, before the digital camera became mainstream, and before the Internet became mainstream for that matter, and I would develop the photos to send them home to my family.  And yes, the walk to the photo lab was uphill both ways too, in a driving monsoon or snowstorm depending on the season.

This has obviously all changed and now we possess the ability to send pictures to relatives and friends around the world mere seconds after we take them. I cannot actually remember the last time I had a photograph developed at a traditional photo lab.

Each year students from close to 100 different countries enroll at SIPA. I thought that a good way to spice the blog up over the summer would be to welcome photo submissions from our incoming students. The photos can be related to anything you wish. Travel photos, artistic photos, event photos, family and friends photos . . . anything you wish to share. I will then post them to this blog for all to enjoy.

I have Photoshop so I can re-size the photos as necessary so you don’t have to worry about size.  So if you are an incoming student and you want to participate, simply send along your photos to this address: [email protected]. Do note that it can take a while for us to post them so we appreciate your patience.

Please include the following:

• Your Name
• Your Degree Program (MIA, MPA, MPA-DP)
• Where the photo was taken
• A brief description of the photo

I’ll get the process started with a few of my own.  This photo was taken in the summer of 1994 in Pusan, South Korea. I liked the juxtaposition of the modern, plastic, corporate icon Ronald McDonald and the older gentleman in traditional Korea garb.

This picture was taken in the 50th Street Subway station of the A-C-E line in Manhattan in October of 2004. For a period of months I did a series on discarded coffee cups around the city. I entitled this one, “Separation Anxiety.”

This is not a picture I took, but rather a picture taken of me a few years ago.  When I am not reading admission applications sometimes I like to test gravity.  The older I get, the more gravity exerts its dominance over me but it is fun to keep trying.

Hopefully this gives you incoming students out there some inspiration and I look forward to receiving your photos so I can post them to the blog for all to see. Once again, send them to [email protected] with the details listed above.