OAXACA 2023

Finding your vision

A workshop with Alex Webb & Rebecca Norris-Webb hosted by La Luz Workshops
February 18 to 25, 2023

For ten days in February, I had the unique opportunity to spend nearly all of my time thinking about or making photographs. The week-long intensive workshop with the Webbs—and the city itself—was a magical experience. In Oaxaca, we met wonderful locals who welcomed us into their homes, learned about mezcal, textiles, and alebrijes, attended festivals for lent, and witnessed colorful wedding processions. And the food was incredible.

Each day of the workshop, we walked a lot and took many pictures, and each evening we selected some to share with the class and for the Webbs to critique the following day. Through the workshop, I learned to approach people on the street and make portraits, to be a more intuitive editor and made progress toward developing my personal voice or vision. Along the way, I was introduced to new photographers and forged lasting friendships. This is a personal journal of that experience.

Thanks to Alex and Rebecca for creating the workshop, it was a huge honor to have my pictures reviewed by photographers whose work I admire and who have influenced me. Thanks to La Luz Workshops for facilitating, Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo for hosting, and to all the participants who made the week so much fun. 

This workshop is about finding your unique vision of the airy southern Mexican city of Oaxaca by using the camera to explore the region directly and spontaneously. Open to serious amateurs and professionals alike, from fine art to documentary, we will emphasize the development of your own personal way of seeing.

The workshop has two main components: spontaneous photographing and intuitive editing.

By the first afternoon, participants will be working on an assignment they will choose for themselves.

For the rest of the workshop, we will meet in the mornings and critique each student’s ongoing work as a group. Throughout the workshop, we will try to build a coherent set of images for each photographer that represents his or her photographic stance or attitude toward Oaxaca, Mexico.

APPLICATION

I am drawn to photography that captures a place through its natural and built architecture and, in so doing, an element of the human experience. My hope for this course would be, through critique and discussion of daily work, to hone my vision. I’ve explored each place I’ve lived and traveled to with camera in hand, looking for images that connect with my reading of a place and understanding of the world, aiming to make photos that resonate with the larger themes of our shared experience.

INDEX

Finding your vision
Lens on journal
Oaxaca City
Day one
Day two
Day three
Day four
Day five
Day six
Day seven
Reflections
Lessons logged
Gallery