Palma's Place

Background on the Workshop

The Workshop

The workshop was grueling.  The instructors forced us into a minimalist style of photography, one camera, one lens (a wide angle lens), no tripod, no filter (except a UV protective filter), shooting in manual (no automatic settings by the camera- ISO, F-stop, and shutter speed were all controlled by the photographer), and no retouching of the photographs in Photoshop or other program (no cropping, no retouching, no nothing).  I wish I had known this before packing, I could have left behind half the stuff I brought on the trip, oh well.  What this style of shooting forced us to do was 1) master the technical aspects of the camera, getting the correct exposure; 2) get close to our subjects, with the wide angle lens there is little choice but to get close; 3) focus on composition, since we could not correct mistakes in Photoshop.  

All of these things helped me to improve my photographs by at least an order of magnitude.  All but one of the photos I have posted here were untouched in postproduction (there is only one photo where I cropped and changed the color levels to save an image of a person- anyone who can tell me which picture will get a nice bottle of wine from my "cellar"), save for rotating vertical images and saving the files at a smaller side to speed up sharing on the web.  Its amazing when you get the exposure right.

I shot between 2,500 and 3,000 pictures during the 5 main days of the workshop.  From these, I would eliminate ~90% during the "C" edit, where the exposure was wrong, the subject was out of focus, or the composition just did not work.  Many of these were insurance shots, to make sure I got the proper exposure or while shooting a person the picture captured a blink or something.  During the "b" edit, I shifted through the pictures that were technically ok and where the composition worked for the best 25 or less.  There were maybe 50-100 per day at this stage.  By the end of the week, maybe 10 per day made it into my "a" edit, which were the best images from that day.  These were then reviewed by an instructor.  From here, 2-5 images were then shown during the class critique where all three instructors then reviewed the images and selected the one or two images that would be considered for the end of workshop presentation showing our best work.  As I said previously, five of my shots ended up in this presentation.  This really focused my attention on what makes a good photograph.

The workshop ran from February 23-29th, 2008.

Usually the schedule ran something like this:

7am                wake up

8am                breakfast

9am to 1pm   edit and review top 25 pictures from previous day with one of the instructors and then a critique of the best pictures before the whole class. Usually finish  the "b" edit and then the "a" in preparation for the instructor reviews.

1pm                lunch

2:30pm           travel to the location for the day's shoot

4-6pm             shoot at the location

7pm                return to the hotel and head out for dinner

9pm                back at the hotel for some social time with the instructors and students

11pm              download pictures from the days shoot

12-3am          edit pictures, usually just the "C" and maybe the "B" edits

We visited 6 main locations, spending usually from 1-2 hours:

Day 2-

Mitla- "World of the Dead," a Zapotec ceremonial center, later occupied by the Mixtecs, is now the site is an archaeological site that includes a Spanish colonial church built from the stones of the Zapotec and Mixtec buildings, along with a Palace, walls with mosaics, colums, and other remnants of this important ceremonial center.  Mitla is in the center of a region that produces Mezcal, a spirit made from the agave plant, similar to Tequila.

Tlacolula de Matamoros - Here we shot at the church and inside the covered market, where the Chorizo and the grass hoppers made for an excellent lunch.

Day 3-

Teolitlan del Valle - Here, we were able to shoot inside Sophia's workshop, where she is a master candle maker, using traditional skills to make candles for weddings and other key celebrations.  We also got to spend time with a family in this leading location for Zapotec weaving.  Finally, we went to the main square and church to shoot in good light and where we made new friends.

Day 4-

Monte Alban - Sitting at about 6,400 feet above sea level, this is one of the earliest cities in Mesoamerica was founded around 500 BC.  It was the political, economic, and ceremonial center for the Zapotec people until about 750 AD.  The light was not good, but we did what we could with it and ended the day with shooting hand puppets with two other students and one of the aids from the workshop, which we turned into a slide show for the class, bringing some good laughs.

Day 5 -

Santo Domingo Church, Oaxaca- We shot inside the museum and the church next door in some of the best light we had on the whole trip, just before sunset.  The shooting lasted a bit later, and I got some good night shots here.  I also met a number of the guards, who became the subject of several of the pictures shown here.

Day 6- 

Villa de Zaachila - Livestock market here was the final shoot of the day.  It was a chance to mix with the people and the livestock, cattle, oxen, sheep, and goats.  It made for a fun and lively morning.

Here is a link to the workshop I attended, "Photography Workshop: On Assignment in Oaxaca, Mexico" offered by National Geographic Expeditions.

The Setting

Ciudad Oaxaca is the capital of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico.

We were based out of the Hostel de la Noria, a converted colonial mansion two blocks from the Zocalo, or main square of Oaxaca.

Acting as a guide, source on the local culture, and transportation coordinator was Pablo, a guide and anthropology teacher in a local high school.  He was a great source of knowledge and would make a great guide if you are planning a trip to Oaxaca.  His contact information is:

Pablo E. Gonzalez Marsch

marsch@prodigy.net.mx

Movies made in Oaxaca include:

Plunder of the Sun

Under Fire

Apocalypto

Source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/mexico_pol97.jpg