OAXACA 2023
Workshop day one
Sunday
Entering the photography center for the first time I felt a rush of gratitude. The heat of the day was just starting to build, but there was still a coolness in the air, held in the atrium and shaded interiors of the building. The moment crystallized before me. The air. The quietness. The light—azure sky above, walking through sharply drawn shadows. The stone floor, the wood doors, the arid plants lining the courtyard. Going in. Beginning. Emerging.
PORTFOLIO REVIEW
The first day was focused on a portfolio review. We each had 30 images printed out, and we spread them on a table. We introduced ourselves to the Webbs they quickly absorbed the images and started to identify the ones they thought were working better than the others. Each session was timed at seven minutes: five for review and two to talk about what we wanted to shoot during the workshop.
They seemed to really like the work. The first picture that Alex picked out was the ribbon in French Polynesia. I don’t remember the order, but many of my favorites were selected.
“Your have a beautiful eye,” Rebecca remarked. Alex agreed with, “You definitely know what you’re doing.”
Pointing at this picture, Alex said he was inclined to take it as well, but felt there was something unresolved.
They selected almost half of the pictures. One of the participants said afterward, “It was like they didn’t know what to pick!”
ASSIGNMENT
The last two minutes were for discussing the assignment. I said that I was interested in challenging myself to take more pictures of people, or generally including more people in my work. Possibly portraits in the tradition of Alec Soth or Gregory Halpern. That I’d shot people for the first time at the festival and while I didn’t think that environment was right for me, I could build on that experience to challenge myself.
There wasn’t a lot of time between the end of the class and a presentation of the Webb’s work planned for that evening. Natalia and I walked north, to the Reforma neighborhood but didn’t find much inspiration there.
4.8 miles
1h 50m
199 photos
0 portraits
At the beginning of our walk I saw these women selling flowers and managed to ask them if I could take a picture; like the girl in the photo I was too shy to get close.
MORE GRATITUDE
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