Tag Archives: portraits

Oaxaca Portraits: Photography by Barbara Szombatfalvy

Posted on Sunday, February 8, 2015 | Comments Off

Our 2015 People of Oaxaca Portrait Photography Workshop ended with a Best of Week show and fiesta dinner following it. We invited the Teotitlan del Valle families to the presentation who welcomed us into their homes to take their pictures. Each participant selected twenty from hundreds of photos they shot during the week to show at the fiesta. For the next few days, I will publish their work here.

Barbara Szombatfalvy, Durham, North Carolina

This is Barbara’s second workshop with us. When she first came to Oaxaca two years ago for the Day of the Dead Photography Expedition, she was most comfortable using automatic settings and taking photographs of animals. Now, it’s manual settings and connecting with the subject! Thanks to instructor Matt Nager, photojournalist from Denver, Colorado.

Barbara says that what she learned was invaluable: how to use natural light, how to approach people and engage them, how to use editing software to make a great photo even better.

Thank you, Barbara, for giving us these spectacular photographs.

If you want to join our next photography workshop, contact Norma Hawthorne.

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Posted in Photography, Teotitlan del Valle, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged class, course, culture, faces, Mexico, Oaxaca, photography, portraits, Teotitlan del Valle, workshop

Day 4: Portraits in Oaxaca Artist Studios

Posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 | Comments Off

Our Oaxaca portrait photography workshop group spent yesterday up and down Macedonio Alcala with our cameras, and then sent off for a portrait session at Boulanc bakery that is top ranked on Trip Advisor.

After a fine lunch at Cabuche on Hidalgo between Reforma and Xicotencatl, we made a stop at La Chicharra graphics arts studio where we had an appointment to visit artist Alan Altamirano.

Then, we visited the graphic arts studio of Fernando Sandoval who does the printmaking for Francisco Toledo, Sergio Hernandez and Fernando Olivera to name just a few.

The studio was active yesterday with two artists from Spain who are working with Sandoval to create etchings that are on exhibition at the Museum of Oaxacan Painters.

Above, Maestro Sandoval is working on a copper plate to get it ready for the printing press, a precise and delicate process.

Working with natural light, we adjust the shutter speed, exposure and “film speed” on our digital cameras to get excellent shots in what many might call obscure environments. Rarely will we use the flash of our cameras, which tends to result in photo glare.

Even in times of serious creativity, there are moments of jest!

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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Photography, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged Allen Altamirano, art, Francisco Sandoval, graphic arts, Mexico, Oaxaca, photography, portraits, studio

Day 3: Portraits of the Lupita Lazo Family

Posted on Monday, February 2, 2015 | Comments Off

Today, our portrait photography workshop participants visited three families in Teotitlan del Valle who had graciously accepted our request to take their photographs. One of these is the family of Lupita Lazo.

Several months ago I wrote about Lupita Lazo’s diagnosis of breast cancer (a growing problem in Mexico) and her need for financial help. So many of you responded with gifts of all sizes and we were able to raise over two thousand dollars to help to cover a mastectomy, early chemotherapy treatments and pain medications.

Lupita is hopeful. So is her doctor and her many friends. She has completed four rounds of chemo, with the fifth and most powerful dosage coming up on February 10. There will be three more rounds after that.

The doctor says she is strong. Lupita has changed her diet. She is eating mostly chicken and no red meat, no dairy and lots of fresh fruits and raw vegetables. She tells me that a regular tonic is a mix of beet, carrot, parsley and orange juice. Since she is now unable to work, Lupita’s oldest son Hugo has quit university and is working to help with household expenses. Hugo is twenty years old. Danny is sixteen and Cristobal is ten. Lupe is a widow.

It was a wonderful experience to be with the family today. Lupita is joyful and positive. Her three boys are loving and giving her lots of care, as are her many friends. It meant a lot to us to share this time with them in their home.

For the photographs, some of us are using iPhones and some of us are using digital cameras. In low lighting, we are learning about using the reflector to take advantage of natural light coming into dimly lit interiors. We are not using flash or any artificial lighting, adjusting the settings on our cameras to accommodate each situation.

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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Teotitlan del Valle, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged breast cancer, class, course, family, health, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photography, portraits, Teotitlan del Valle, treatment, workshop

Day 2: Portrait Photography in the Markets

Posted on Sunday, February 1, 2015 | 4 comments

First stop is the small village of San Juan Guelavia for the last day of the Feria del Carrizo. This pueblo, just across the highway from Teotitlan del Valle, is famous for its finely woven baskets made from strips of bamboo. We spent about an hour here before going on to the bigger regional Tlacolula Sunday tianguis.

San Juan Guelavia is a friendly town. If you ask, Podria tomarle su foto? Would you agree to have me take your picture? most people will respond positively. Of course, we always ask first because otherwise how would one get consent to take a portrait with eye contact from the subject when he or she is no more than two feet away?

At the Tlacolula market, when we asked, the response was predominantly NO. Some people wanted a fifty peso propina (tip). Others asked us to buy something and then they would consent.

One group of men said they didn’t want to be taken advantage of, to have their photos used in a magazine, even when we explained that we were amateurs taking a workshop to learn photographic techniques.

What do you think about paying someone to take their photo?

I managed to get some people to agree based on engaging them in conversation, admiring their work, and just trying to figure out who might be receptive. It’s important not to take rejection personally!

After lunch at Comedor Mary, on the edge of the permanent market facing the side of the Tlacolula church, we decided to return to Teotitlan del Valle where we settled in to Drupa’s Cafe. They are so generous here. With excellent WiFi, hot chocolate, pannini sandwiches, coffee and chai latte, we met here with Matt for a learning session on lighting and reviewed each of our ten best photos from Day One, that included feedback for improvement.

These photos here represent my person eleven best of almost two hundred photos I took today. And, finally, below, a husband and wife of many years, separated by their hand-woven baskets, wait for customers in San Juan Guelavia.

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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Photography, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged bamboo baskets, digital photography, market, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photography ethics, portraits, San Juan Guelavia, Tlacolula, weaving

Looking for Secundino and His Textiles, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca

Posted on Thursday, January 8, 2015 | 2 comments

On Monday around noon, I pick up Ester at her brick bungalow nestled under the shadow of Picacho, Teotitlan’s holy mountain. We drive down the cobbled hill, across the small bridge over the Rio Grande, now a trickle in the dry season, to get Janet, an expat friend who lives here during the winter months.

We are on our way to visit Secundino, Ester’s eighty-seven year old father who still weaves cloth in the old serape style. His blanket weight wool is soft, very soft, not suitable for rug use. He uses undyed sheep wool that he cards, cleans and spins himself. His is a lost art.

Ester says he has a couple of textiles finished and for sale, so we are eager to see them. Secundino only produces about six pieces a year.

We arrive midday to discover that the rugs are gone, bought up by an exporter. Secundino is not at home. He is out in the countryside in his fields of corn. Though we are disappointed, we make the best of it, stay to visit with Ester’s mother, sisters and nephew with his pet chicken.

This is another opportunity to use my just acquired used wide-angle Tokina 11-16mm lens. I’m liking the results!

Secundino was the drum major in the village band for decades leading the way in all the processions. His drums hang like trophies on the wall above his bed. Ester tells us that he joined the village band this year at Las Cuevitas and the family was so happy he could take part again. A mended broken hip and advanced age doesn’t hold him back.