When the shutters go down, the street artists get to work. Below is a snap I took this morning in Brick Lane with my Sony-Ericsson c905. Click the image to see some more.

Awesome images from all over Asia.

This one from Bangladesh.

Some striking and disconcerting images by G M B Akash.

The curious story of Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Maldives.

10,000 tourists go to the Maldives per week

330 tonnes of rubbish dumped on Tilafushi island every day

Rubbish now covers 50 hectares or 120 acres.

hand sorted by 150 Bangladeshi workers

Striking hotographs by Elin Hoyland. Guardian article here.

Foto: Deshakalyan CHOWDHURY/SCANPIX

Take a look.

15 months overdue…still no salary. From The Guardian yesterday. Andrew Biraj/Reuters.

See more of Andrew Biraj’s work HERE.

bangladesh 1971 Photographs (pdf document )

Bangladesh Film Festival London April 2008 (pdf document)

Let me know if you are going along….might see you there. Have people noticed that “The Architect” has now become a film about Bangladesh? Its inclusion is quite bizarre. How can a film about an Estonian-born philandering architect - who happened to get the contract for building Bangladesh’s parliament -  be a film about Bangladesh??

Elegance is not a word people commonly use to describe old Dhaka. But check this gorgeous old thing. I snapped this shot in december of 2006 and I made a mental note that if it was ever to come on the market….

I just walked in through the gate and started snapping away. The darwan had no problems with it. And after a few minutes the owner came out and greeted me. We had a pleasant chit-chat and I went on my way. In Gulshan, they would have set the dogs on me. Thats the difference.

I have been Flickr-ing.

G M B Akash’s 2008 porftolio is now there for you to see. Some great shots there but the ones re drug users look a little…… without any text? A little piece of reality with striking colours but without any conscience? Don’t know. Don’t get me wrong I am a keen amateur and I love photography but without context the photographer imposes his own preferences about style and composition and taste over and above the “condition” he is photographing?

If you drive around Dhaka, you will find street urchins and adults approach you with paperback books. Copyright is not a major headache in Bangladesh, and facsimiles of popular books will be on offer - just like the foreign DVD market. Anyway, a couple of years ago I let slip my high moral principles about intellectual property and bought a Lonely Planet Guide for 100 takas. I have lots to say about parts of it…but overall it was not that bad. I say this grudgingly because Lonely Planet guides are notoriously xenophobic in my opinion. Its guides to Ecuador, Peru and Colombia - my honeymoon destinations - were all full of xenophobic bilge. Anyway, I look forward to this new installment on Bangladesh. And just by chance, whilst using the social network browser Flock ( its damn good - try it!) I discovered these photos on Flickr from a recce trip by the Lonely Planet Guide photographer ( presumably). Take a look. Very interesting shots.