Oaxaca Portraits: Photography by Barbara Tili

Here is the Best of the Week from Barbara Tili, who was born and raised near Milan, Italy, moved to London, and has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for the last four years where she practices architecture.

During the Oaxaca Faces Portrait Photography Workshop in Teotitlan del Valle with photojournalist instructor Matt Nager, Barbara switched completely to manual mode from using the automatic setting on her camera.  Manual mode gives the photographer total control over making the photograph.

You get the soul of a person when they are looking at you, Barbara said.

Barbara Tili, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Door1-lr Farmer-lr Couple at the market-lr  Woman-lr Woman in pink-lr Woman at the market 3-lr artist 2-lr Beauty-lr Alonso-lr Carpet Man2-lr

Barbara became more comfortable approaching people for photographs. She learned to spend more time with each subject, ask them to change expression, look in a different direction, and move locations to achieve a fresh effect.

.Blue wall 3-lr Little girl-lr Man at the church-lr   Pink background-lr Woman 1-lr Red bench-lr Soledad1-lr Woman at the market 1-lr Policia-lr Woman 2-lr

Matt explains that the difference between street photography and portrait photography is how you interact with the subject. On the street you are taking photos on the fly, finding candids and the details of the scene to compose a nice picture.  Portrait photography requires dedicated time with your subject, attending to lighting, depth of field, aperture and shutter speed. It is seeing eye to eye.

Do you want a Day of the Dead 2015 photography workshop this October? We are hiring a new instructor! If yes, send me an email.

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